news

Molnupiravir, an antiviral drug used to treat patients with COVID-19, appears to be driving SARS-CoV-2 to mutate and evolve, with some of these new viruses being transmitted onwards, a new study has shown. It is not clear, however, whether these mutated viruses pose an increased risk to patients or are able to evade the vaccine.

Researchers have determined how to build reliable machine learning models that can understand complex equations in real-world situations while using far less training data than is normally expected.

A new study led by Cambridge University confirms that planting hedges between roadsides and school playgrounds can dramatically reduce children's exposure to traffic-related particle pollution. Our findings show that hedges can provide a simple, cheap and effective way to help reduce exposure to local sources of pollution Hassan Sheikh The , a collaboration with Lancaster University, found that hedges can act as protective barriers against air pollution from major city roads by soaking up significant quantities of harmful particles emitted by traffic.

More than a third of newly qualified doctors are leaving UK medical schools without any education on sexual misconduct specifically relating to the medical profession according to new research led by researchers at the University of Cambridge.

A healthy lifestyle that involves moderate alcohol consumption, a healthy diet, regular physical activity, healthy sleep and frequent social connection, while avoiding smoking and too much sedentary behaviour, reduces the risk of depression, new research has found. Although our DNA - the genetic hand we've been dealt - can increase our risk of depression, we've shown that a healthy lifestyle is potentially more important.

A near total lack of transparency is making it impossible to assess the quality of corporate-led ecosystem restoration projects, a new study finds. The world's largest corporations have the potential to lift ecosystem restoration efforts to an unprecedented scale. But their involvement has to be managed with proper evidence and accountability, to make sure the outcomes are beneficial and fair for everyone.

U.S. voters who don't trust universities are also more likely to believe that human activity doesn't cause climate change, a new collaborative study from researchers at the University of Cambridge and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) revealed in PLOS Climate this week.

The new platform, called -MN-predict-, will allow doctors and scientists to identify those at risk and to design new treatments to prevent them from developing these potentially lethal cancers. MN-predict makes it possible to identify at-risk individuals, and we hope it can become an essential part of future leukaemia prevention programmes.

The largest ever study of the genetics of the brain - encompassing some 36,000 brain scans - has identified more than 4,000 genetic variants linked to brain structure. The results of the study, led by researchers at the University of Cambridge, are published in Nature Genetics today.

A large-scale international collaboration has identified new genes associated with breast cancer that could eventually be included in tests to identify women at increased risk of the disease. To our knowledge, this is the largest study of its kind Douglas Easton The study, published today in Nature Genetics , was led by teams at the University of Cambridge and Université Laval, Quebec.

Researchers have found a way to control the interaction of light and quantum -spin- in organic semiconductors, that works even at room temperature. These new materials hold great promise for completely new applications, since we've been able to remove the need for ultra-cold temperatures Sebastian Gorgon Spin is the term for the intrinsic angular momentum of electrons, which is referred to as up or down.

Findings may demonstrate a brain and behavioural basis for how nicotine addiction is initiated and then takes hold in early life, say scientists. Smoking is perhaps the most common addictive behaviour in the world, and a leading cause of adult mortality Trevor Robbins Levels of grey matter in two parts of the brain may be linked to a desire to start smoking during adolescence and the strengthening of nicotine addiction, a new study has shown.

Researchers have found a new way to measure dark energy - the mysterious force that makes up more than two-thirds of the universe and is responsible for its accelerating expansion - in our own cosmic backyard.

Researchers are developing a way to incorporate one of the most human of characteristics - uncertainty - into machine learning systems. Uncertainty is central in how humans reason about the world but many AI models fail to take this into account Katherine Collins Human error and uncertainty are concepts that many artificial intelligence systems fail to grasp, particularly in systems where a human provides feedback to a machine learning model.

Scientists have discovered how poxviruses evade natural defences in living cells, and realised that drugs to stop them doing this are already available. The drugs we identified may be more durable than the current treatment for monkeypox..and also effective against a range of other poxviruses Geoffrey Smith Scientists studying how poxviruses evade natural defences in human cells have identified a new approach to treatment that may be more durable than current treatments.

Cambridge scientists have shown that the hypothalamus, a key region of the brain involved in controlling appetite, is different in the brains of people who are overweight and people with obesity when compared to people who are a healthy weight. Although we know the hypothalamus is important for determining how much we eat, we actually have very little direct information about this brain region in living humans Stephanie Brown The researchers say their findings add further evidence to the relevance of brain structure to weight and food consumption.

An experiment on coral reefs provides the first evidence that predators use other animals for motion camouflage to approach their prey without detection. The shadowing behaviour of the trumpetfish appears a useful strategy to improve its hunting success. James Herbert-Read A new study provides the first experimental evidence that the trumpetfish, Aulostomus maculatus, can conceal itself by swimming closely behind another fish while hunting - and reduce the likelihood of being detected by its prey.

Researchers have found that robots can have a -U-shaped- effect on profits: causing profit margins to fall at first, before eventually rising again. It's important that companies develop new processes at the same time as they are incorporating robots, otherwise they will reach this same pinch point Chander Velu The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, studied industry data from the UK and 24 other European countries between 1995 and 2017, and found that at low levels of adoption, robots have a negative effect on profit margins.

An international team of researchers has found a genetic variant that may explain why some people of African ancestry have naturally lower viral loads of HIV, reducing their risk of transmitting the virus and slowing progress of their own illness. Every time we discover something new about HIV control, we learn something new about the virus and something new about the cell Harriet Groom Reported today in Nature , this is the first new genetic variant related to HIV infection discovered in over 25 years of research.

Scientists have pinpointed a genetic cause for virgin birth for the first time, and once switched on the ability is passed down through generations of females. It was very exciting to see a virgin fly produce an embryo able to develop to adulthood Alexis Sperling For the first time, scientists have managed to induce virgin birth in an animal that usually reproduces sexually: the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster .