News

During the week of 2nd to 6th of March the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge hosted the third Venture School: ‘People, Plastics and Our Planet’. Participants from various Universities, CirPlas members, entrepreneurs and professionals joined a journey that set off with an analysis of the role of plastics in the environment from their use and end…

Four researchers at the University of Cambridge have won advanced grants from the European Research Council (ERC), Europe’s premier research funding body.One hundred and eighty-five senior scientists from across Europe were awarded grants in today’s announcement, representing a total of €450 million in research funding. The UK has the second-most o…

Researchers have designed a machine learning method that can predict battery health with 10x higher accuracy than current industry standard, which could aid in the development of safer and more reliable batteries for electric vehicles and consumer electronics.The novel method monitors way to monitor batteries by sending electrical pulses into them …

Fears that electric cars could actually increase carbon emissions are unfounded in almost all parts of the world, new research shows.Reports have questioned whether electric cars really are ‘greener’ once emissions from production and generating their electricity are taken into account.But a new study by the universities of Exeter, Nijmegen and Cam…

A technique based on the principles of MRI and NMR has allowed researchers to observe not only how next-generation batteries for large-scale energy storage work, but also how they fail, which will assist in the development of strategies to extend battery lifetimes in support of the transition to a zero-carbon future.The new tools, developed at the …

In a new film, Sir David Attenborough, Dr Jane Goodall DBE and leading Cambridge University researchers talk about the urgency of the climate crisis – and some of the solutions that will take us towards zero carbon.If we are to avoid climate disaster we must sharply reduce our carbon dioxide emissions starting today – but how? Cambridge researchers…

Scientists have developed a three-dimensional imaging technique to observe complex behaviours in magnets, including fast-moving waves and ‘tornadoes’ thousands of times thinner than a human hair.The team, from the Universities of Cambridge and Glasgow in the UK and ETH Zurich and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, used their technique to o…

Digital tools could reduce carbon emissions by more than 50 per cent.A new review from our researchers in the Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES) has shown how integrating digital tools into the world’s energy systems could drastically reduce carbon emissions.The review re-assesses the famous marginal abatement…

A rapid way of turning ideas into new technologies in the aviation and power industries has been developed at Cambridge’s Whittle Laboratory. Here, Professor Rob Miller, Director of the Whittle, describes how researchers plan to scale the process to cover around 80% of the UK’s future aerodynamic technology needs.We’re seeing a transformational cha…

It's time for blue-sky thinking plus practical measures in the battle to reduce plastic waste.In Tokyo, a householder consults her 60-page ‘Garbage Separation and Disposal’ system to check whether it's a recycle day for plastic bottles or for all other plastic packaging.In a coastal village in Kenya, an order has been received for 2,000 bricks made…

The Prince of Wales launched the National Centre for Propulsion and Power last week, during a visit to the University of Cambridge. Based at the world famous Whittle Laboratory, the Centre aims to accelerate the development of decarbonisation technologies.The Centre, which is due to open in 2022, will bring together researchers from across UK Unive…

The effectiveness of non-mechanical, low-energy methods for moderating temperature and humidity has been evaluated in a series of experiments by researchers from the University of Cambridge.Temperature difference between inside and outside has a remarkably small effect on how well a room is ventilated when ventilation is primarily driven by wind. I…

Discovery means simpler and cheaper manufacturing methods are actually beneficial for the material’s use in next-generation solar cells or LED lighting.University of Cambridge researchers from the Stranks Lab and Deschler Lab studying perovskite materials for next-generation solar cells and flexible LEDs have discovered that they can be more effici…

Modified natural materials will be an essential component of a sustainable future, but first a detailed understanding of their properties is needed. The way heat flows across bamboo cell walls has been mapped using advanced scanning thermal microscopy, providing a new understanding of how variations in thermal conductivity are linked to the bamboo’…

Discovery means simpler and cheaper manufacturing methods are actually beneficial for the material’s use in next-generation solar cells or LED lighting.Scientists at the University of Cambridge studying perovskite materials for next-generation solar cells and flexible LEDs have discovered that they can be more efficient when their chemical composit…