News

A new study involving scientists from the University of Cambridge has developed innovative methods to build a better picture of how ice sheets and glaciers move. Published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka-led study used previously collected lab data to refine knowledge of how ice sheets deform as they…

The Sedgwick Museum and the Department of Earth Sciences hosted an Earth Sciences Fair on Saturday, 29th March, as part of the Cambridge Festival Family Weekend.Visitors had the chance to meet Earth scientists and explore their research through fun, hands-on activities.Highlights included an opportunity to hold Antarctic ice and hear its ancient ai…

The latest issue of GeoCam is here—and it's packed with exciting updates! Dive into our alumni magazine and meet our new Head of Department, explore fascinating insights from current and former students, and uncover groundbreaking research alongside the latest happenings at the Sedgwick Museum.Latest GeoCam issue, click on image to view:Inside this…

A Cambridge earth scientist and a data sonification expert from Anglia Ruskin University are transforming mineral data into music for the public to enjoy at the Cambridge Festival.By converting microscope images of minerals into musical compositions, Dr Carrie Soderman from Cambridge and Dr Domenico Vincinanza from Anglia Ruskin aim to inspire a de…

Scientists have pinpointed the key factors that allow pockets of warm seawater to flow beneath the Antarctic ice shelves, melting the ice from below and destabilizing glaciers inland.The research, led by the University of Cambridge, used a remarkably detailed model simulation to show how seasonal changes in wind strength and sea ice, together with …

Cambridge geoscientists are developing an atlas that could lead to a more complete understanding of how viable rare earth element deposits form and help locate more secure sources, by mapping the global distribution of critical metals deposits within unusual igneous rocks.Rare earth elements are vital components in many everyday and high-tech devic…

Researchers from the University of Cambridge were involved in a global study that pieced together events leading up to the devastating Sikkim Flood in India. The results show that human activity played a key role in the multihazard sequence.On October 3rd, 2023, a large glacial lake in Sikkim, northeastern India, broke its banks and unleashed a cat…

A new art-science exhibition at Downing College’s Heong Gallery brings Iceland’s incandescent volcanic eruptions and earth-shattering seismic tremors to Cambridge. Visitors will get a chance to get up close, and even embark on a journey inside, an Icelandic volcano—inspired by Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth.The exhibit, ‘Magma Ris…

Increasing greenhouse gas emissions are warming our planet at an unprecedented rate and scale. While anthropogenic warming has no direct historical parallel, warm episodes in Earth’s history can offer clues as to the future.A team of ice core scientists led by Cambridge University wanted to find out what happened to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet dur…

On September 19, 2021, the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma, in Spain's Canary Islands, erupted after more than half a century of quiescence.Lasting 85 days, the Tajogaite eruption was the longest recorded in the island’s history. Around 12 square kilometres of populated land was inundated with lava, nearly 3,000 buildings were destroyed, 7,000 peo…

The Fenlands of eastern England are known as the breadbasket of Britain, producing around a third of the nations’ vegetables and employing roughly 80,000 people in the agricultural food chain.Historically, the Fens were an extensive maze of wetlands and snaking rivers. Today, this landscape is maintained as productive and economically valuable farm…

A team of astronomers and earth scientists from Cambridge have found that Venus has never been habitable, despite decades of speculation that our closest planetary neighbour was once much more like Earth than it is today.The researchers studied the chemical composition of the Venusian atmosphere and inferred that its interior is too dry today for t…

The fourth Antarctic campaign of the Beyond EPICA-Oldest Ice programme has achieved a historic milestone for climate science, by drilling a 2,800-meter-long ice core to the bedrock beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. The ice core is expected to extend back beyond 1.2 million years.An international team of researchers undertook the drilling campaign at…

Kelp, a type of large brown seaweed that grows in underwater forests, plays an important role in marine ecosystems, providing habitat and food for various marine life. The seaweed grows rapidly, drawing carbon dioxide into its tissues through photosynthesis to be later buried on the seafloor. Because kelp grows much faster than on land plants, cult…

Many congratulations to Nicola Skipper, Education Co-ordinator at the Sedgwick Museum, who has been shortlisted for the 2024 Professional Services Recognition Scheme, in the category, ‘Improving our Environmental Performance’.This year, Nicola has initiated and led a major new project ‘Climate Pasts, Climate Futures’, at the Museum. The project bro…