News

The weathering of rocks at the Earth’s surface may play less role of a role in regulating our climate than previously thought, says new research from the University of Cambridge. The findings, published today in PNAS, suggest Earth’s natural mechanism for removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere via the weathering of rocks may in fact be w…

The humble blue mussel is fighting to protect itself from environmental change and increased predation by building itself a thicker shell. The unexpected phenomenon, tracked by researchers through generations of museum specimens, shows that climate change can have complex localized impacts that cannot be predicted by global experimental models.The …

David Hodell, Woodwardian Professor of Geology at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). David Hodell, who is Director of the Godwin Laboratory of Palaeoclimate Research and also a fellow of Clare College, was elected as an AAAS Fellow in …

Congratulations to Professors Marie Edmonds and Nick McCave on their 2020 AGU awards.The honourees were awarded by the American Geophysical Union for their excellence in scientific research, education, communication and outreach – having made outstanding contributions to the Earth and space sciences community.“These individuals embody our vision of…

Specially-adapted drones, developed by an international team involving scientists from the University of Cambridge, are transforming how we forecast eruptions by allowing close-range measurements of previously inaccessible and hazardous volcanoes.The team, involving twenty researchers from seven countries, used long-range drones kitted out with a r…

A breakthrough in the imaging and analysis of geological materials means that scientists can now study variations in their chemistry and structure at nano-scales, with possible applications ranging from the green energy transition to the planetary sciences.The new research is led by Matt Ball, a PhD candidate in the Department of Earth Sciences at …

Duria Antiquior, or ‘Ancient Dorsetshire’, has for many years been an important part of the Sedgwick Museum displays. The painting, which depicts a prehistoric shoreline teaming with marine life, has been described as ‘the first true scene from deep time’ to be based on fossil evidence. Today the painting sets off for Paris where it will form part …

The Vice Chancellor’s Awards scheme was established in 2016 to recognise and celebrate excellence in research impact and public engagement. Members of the Department of Earth Sciences and the Sedgwick Museum were nominated for two awards this year; Rob Theodore, from the Sedgwick Museum, for the Professional Services Award, and Sanne Cottaar and he…

Brazil’s Borborema Plateau is in the middle of the South American plate - well away from the dynamic tectonic forces of subduction in the Andes Volcanic Belt. Plate theory suggests that passive areas like Borborema should be flat and stable, with little movement of the crust. But the region, which is thousands of kilometres across and a domed shape…

A UK-led team of astronomers involving Dr Paul Rimmer, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences with affiliations at Cavendish Astrophysics and the MRC Labratory of Molecular Biology, has discovered a rare molecule – phosphine – in the clouds of Venus, hinting to the possibility of extra-terrestrial life.Astronomers have long s…

Research published today in Science presents a new record of Earth’s temperature and glaciation since the end of the age of the dinosaurs, revealing the changing state of the climate system through the last 66 million years.“Our goal was to create a new reference of past climate over the last 66 million years, which not only incorporates the highes…

A recent study, led by Dr Aleksej Popel and directed by Professor Ian Farnan, both at the Department of Earth Sciences and Cambridge Nuclear Energy Centre, has observed the surface breakdown of uranium dioxide, the primary component of nuclear fuel, shedding light on the mechanism and rate of waste leaching.Nuclear power, which currently generates…

The first complete dinosaur skeleton ever identified has finally been studied in detail and found its place in the dinosaur family tree, completing a project that began more than a century and a half ago.The skeleton of this dinosaur, called Scelidosaurus, was collected more than 160 years ago on west Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. The rocks in which it …

An international study, involving Professor Eric Wolff at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, has found that the onset of past climate changes was synchronous over an area extending from the Arctic to the low latitudes. The Last Glacial Period, a cold interval extending from between 115,000 and 11,700 years ago, was punctuate…

A multi-institutional study, involving researchers at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, has found that pulse-like releases of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere are a pervasive feature of the carbon cycle and that they are closely connected to major changes in Atlantic Ocean circulation.Ice cores from Antarctica show that, in…