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The recreational drugs cannabis, cocaine and amphetamines significantly increase the risk of stroke - including among younger users - Cambridge researchers have concluded after analysing data from more than 100 million people. Our analysis suggests that it is these drugs themselves that increase the risk of stroke, not just other lifestyle factors among users Eric Harshfield Stroke is a major global health challenge - the third leading cause of death and disability combined.

Differences in cellular pathway activity flip the switch from nocturnality to diurnality and explain a major evolutionary change humans have undergone. Early mammals were nocturnal, sleeping during the day while large predators were active. However, after the extinction of dinosaurs, several different lineages of mammals independently transitioned to become active during the day.

Robots are becoming increasingly capable in vision and movement, yet touch remains one of their major weaknesses. Now, researchers have developed a miniature tactile sensor that could give robots something much closer to a human sense of touch. The technology, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, is based on liquid metal composites and graphene - a two-dimensional form of carbon.

Researchers have identified a 'tipping point' about 2.7 million years ago when global climate conditions switched from being relatively warm and stable to cold and chaotic, as continental ice sheets expanded in the northern hemisphere. Following this transition, Earth's climate began swinging back and forth between warm interglacial periods and frigid ice ages, linked to slow, cyclic changes in Earth's orbit.

Flexible electronics are often sold on a simple promise: bendable screens, lightweight solar cells or wearable devices that can bend and flex without breaking. But what does that 'flexibility' actually look like at the molecular scale, and how does it affect performance? Researchers led by the University of Cambridge say they have taken a first step towards answering this question.

An understudied group of bacteria in our gut microbiome appears to play a central role in keeping us healthy, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. These are a fundamental and underappreciated component of human health. Alexandre Almeida In a huge global study led by University of Cambridge researchers, a single group of bacteria - named CAG-170 - has repeatedly shown up in high numbers in the gut microbiomes of healthy people.

High levels of testosterone in the blood have been linked to a greater risk of coronary artery disease in men, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Cambridge.

Cambridge researchers have revealed a detailed picture of how the human brain grows from mid-pregnancy through the first weeks after birth and identified that sex differences in brain growth are apparent from mid-pregnancy onwards. This study addresses the age-old question of whether nature plays a role in shaping sex differences in the brain Alex Tsompanidis There has long been debate over exactly how early in human brain development sex differences first emerge, and what causes them.

Scientists using data from the James Webb Space Telescope have made one of the most detailed high-resolution maps of dark matter ever produced. It shows how the invisible, ghostly material overlaps and intertwines with 'regular' matter, the stuff that makes up stars, galaxies, and everything we can see.

Scientists at the Dark Energy Survey have published their most detailed explanation yet of how the universe has expanded over the last six billion years, thanks to an unprecedented combination of cosmic measurements. The international group of researchers, including researchers from the University of Cambridge, is led by the US Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

The mpox virus appears to be circulating silently in parts of Nigeria, in many cases without the symptoms typically associated with the disease, according to new research led by scientists from the University of Cambridge and partners in Nigeria. The findings may have implications for controlling the spread of the disease.

Researchers have developed a wearable, comfortable and washable device called Revoice that could help people regain the ability to communicate naturally and fluently following a stroke, without the need for invasive brain implants. The device, whose development was led by researchers at the University of Cambridge, uses a combination of ultra-sensitive sensors and artificial intelligence to decode speech signals and emotional cues to allow people with post-stroke speech impairment to communicate naturally.

An international group of researchers says that biodiversity conservation and scientific research are not benefiting from the vast knowledge about the world's plants held by botanic gardens, because of fragmented data systems and a lack of standardisation. The digital infrastructure needed to manage, share, and safeguard living plant diversity wasn't designed to operate at a global scale.

What generative AI typically does best - recognise patterns and predict the next step in a sequence - can seem fundamentally at odds with the intangibility of human creativity and imagination. However, Cambridge researchers suggest that AI can be a useful creative partner, as long as there is clear guidance on how ideas should be developed together.

Astronomers have identified one of the largest rotating structures ever reported: a "razor-thin" string of galaxies embedded in a giant spinning cosmic filament, 140 million light-years away. Their findings, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , could offer valuable new insights into how galaxies formed in the early Universe.

Bird flu viruses are a particular threat to humans because they can replicate at temperatures higher than a typical fever, one of the body's ways of stopping viruses in their tracks, according to new research led by the universities of Cambridge and Glasgow. Understanding what makes bird flu viruses cause serious illness in humans is crucial for surveillance and pandemic preparedness efforts Sam Wilson In a study , the team identified a gene that plays an important role in setting the temperature sensitivity of a virus.

Human-driven changes to landscapes worldwide are 'thinning out' the ecological services supplied by wild birds, eroding the functions that support stable and resilient ecosystems. A variety of bird species play key roles in supporting the ecosystems that we rely on, yet we are damaging habitat quality and thus the potential for species to fulfil their critical roles.

A lab-based screening has discovered over 150 common industrial chemicals, from pesticides to flame retardants, that have a toxic effect on bacteria found in the healthy human gut microbiome. Some species of gut bacteria develop antibiotic resistance as they try to resist the effects of the chemicals.

Autistic people are more likely to report suicide-related behaviours and psychological distress irrespective of previous traumatic experiences, according to new research from the University of Cambridge.

Researchers have discovered that genes underlying specific behavioural traits in golden retrievers - from trainability to fear of strangers - also shape human personality and mental health. The findings are really striking - they provide strong evidence that humans and golden retrievers have shared genetic roots for their behaviour.