Newborn babies at risk from bacteria commonly carried by mothers
One in 200 newborns is admitted to a neonatal unit with sepsis caused by a bacteria commonly carried by their mothers – much greater than the previous estimate, say Cambridge researchers. The team has developed an ultra-sensitive test capable of better detecting the bacteria, as it is missed in the vast majority of cases.
Streptococcus agalactiae (known as Group B Streptococcus, or GBS) is present in the genital tract in around one in five women. Previous research by the team at the University of Cambridge and Rosie Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, identified GBS in the placenta of around 5% of women prior to the onset of labour. Although it can be treated with antibiotics, unless screened, women will not know they are carriers.
GBS can cause sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to an infection, in the newborn. Worldwide, GBS accounts for around 50,000 stillbirths and as many as 100,000 infant deaths per year.
In a study published today in Nature Microbiology, the team looked at the link between the presence of GBS in the placenta and the risk of admission of the baby to a neonatal unit. The researchers re-analysed data available from their previous study of 436 infants born at term, confirming their findings in a second cohort of 925 pregnancies.
From their analysis, the researchers estimate that placental GBS was associated with a two- to three-fold increased risk of neonatal unit admission, with one in 200 babies admitted with sepsis associated with GBS – almost 10 times the previous estimate. The clinical assessment of these babies using the current diagnostic testing identified GBS in less than one in five of these cases.
In the USA, all pregnant women are routinely screened for GBS and treated with antibiotics if found to be positive. In the UK, women who test positive for GBS are also treated with antibiotics – however, only a minority of pregnant women are tested for GBS, as the approach in the UK is to obtain samples only from women experiencing complications, or with other risk factors.
There are a number of reasons why women in the UK are not screened, including the fact that detecting GBS in the mother is not always straightforward and only a small minority of babies exposed to the bacteria were thought to become ill. A randomised controlled trial of screening for GBS for treatment with antibiotics is currently underway in the UK.
Dr Francesca Gaccioli from the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the University of Cambridge said: “In the UK, we’ve traditionally not screened mothers for GBS, but our findings – that significantly more newborns are admitted to the neonatal unit as a result of GBS-related sepsis than was previously thought – profoundly changes the risk/benefit balance of universal screening.”
To improve detection, the researchers have developed an ultrasensitive PCR test, which amplifies tiny amounts of DNA or RNA from a suspected sample to check for the presence of GBS. They have filed a patent with Cambridge Enterprise, the University of Cambridge’s technology transfer arm, for this test.
Professor Gordon Smith, Head of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the University of Cambridge, said: “Using this new test, we now realise that the clinically detected cases of GBS may represent the tip of the iceberg of complications arising from this infection. We hope that the ultra-sensitive test developed by our team might lead to viable point-of-care testing to inform immediate neonatal care.”
When the researchers analysed serum from the babies’ umbilical cords, they found that over a third showed greatly increased levels of several cytokines – protein messengers release by the immune system. This suggests that a so-called ‘cytokine storm’ – an extreme immune response that causes collateral damage to the host – was behind the increased risk of disease.
The research was funded by the Medical Research Council and supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.
Reference
Gaccioli, F, Stephens, K & Sovio, U et al. Placental Streptococcus agalactiae DNA is associated with neonatal unit admission and fetal pro-inflammatory cytokines in term infants. Nature Microbiology; 29 Nov 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41564-023-01528-2
One in 200 newborns is admitted to a neonatal unit with sepsis caused by a bacteria commonly carried by their mothers – much greater than the previous estimate, say Cambridge researchers. The team has developed an ultra-sensitive test capable of better detecting the bacteria, as it is missed in the vast majority of cases.
In the UK, we’ve traditionally not screened mothers for GBS, but our findingsprofoundly changes the risk/benefit balance of universal screeningFrancesca GaccioliArteida MjESHTRIPregnant woman holding her stomach
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Early-stage stem cell therapy trial shows promise for treating progressive MS
The study, led by scientists at the University of Cambridge, University of Milan Bicocca and Hospital Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (Italy), is a step towards developing an advanced cell therapy treatment for progressive MS.
Over 2 million people live with MS worldwide, and while treatments exist that can reduce the severity and frequency of relapses, two-thirds of MS patients still transition into a debilitating secondary progressive phase of disease within 25-30 years of diagnosis, where disability grows steadily worse.
In MS, the body’s own immune system attacks and damages myelin, the protective sheath around nerve fibres, causing disruption to messages sent around the brain and spinal cord.
Key immune cells involved in this process are macrophages (literally ‘big eaters’), which ordinarily attack and rid the body of unwanted intruders. A particular type of macrophage known as a microglial cell is found throughout the brain and spinal cord. In progressive forms of MS, they attack the central nervous system (CNS), causing chronic inflammation and damage to nerve cells.
Recent advances have raised expectations that stem cell therapies might help ameliorate this damage. These involve the transplantation of stem cells, the body’s ‘master cells’, which can be programmed to develop into almost any type of cell within the body.
Previous work from the Cambridge team has shown in mice that skin cells re-programmed into brain stem cells, transplanted into the central nervous system, can help reduce inflammation and may be able to help repair damage caused by MS.
Now, in research published in the Cell Stem Cell, scientists have completed a first-in-human, early-stage clinical trial that involved injecting neural stem cells directly into the brains of 15 patients with secondary MS recruited from two hospitals in Italy. The trial was conducted by teams at the University of Cambridge, Milan Bicocca and the Hospitals Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza and S. Maria Terni (IT) and Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (Lugano, Switzerland) and the University of Colorado (USA).
The stem cells were derived from cells taken from brain tissue from a single, miscarried foetal donor. The Italian team had previously shown that it would be possible to produce a virtually limitless supply of these stem cells from a single donor – and in future it may be possible to derive these cells directly from the patient – helping to overcome practical problems associated with the use of allogeneic foetal tissue.
The team followed the patients over 12 months, during which time they observed no treatment-related deaths or serious adverse events. While some side-effects were observed, all were either temporary or reversible.
All the patients showed high levels of disability at the start of the trial – most required a wheelchair, for example – but during the 12 month follow up period none showed any increase in disability or a worsening of symptoms. None of the patients reported symptoms that suggested a relapse and nor did their cognitive function worsen significantly during the study. Overall, say the researchers, this points to a substantial stability of the disease, without signs of progression, though the high levels of disability at the start of the trial make this difficult to confirm.
The researchers assessed a subgroup of patients for changes in the volume of brain tissue associated with disease progression. They found that the larger the dose of injected stem cells, the smaller the reduction in this brain volume over time. They speculate that this may be because the stem cell transplant dampened inflammation.
The team also looked for signs that the stem cells were having a neuroprotective effect – that is, protecting nerve cells from further damage. Their previous work showed how tweaking metabolism – how the body produces energy – can in turn reprogram microglia from ‘bad’ to ‘good’. In this new study, they looked at how the brain's metabolism changes after the treatment. They measured changes in the fluid around the brain and in the blood over time and found certain signs that are linked to how the brain processes fatty acids. These signs were connected to how well the treatment works and how the disease develops. The higher the dose of stem cells, the greater the levels of fatty acids, which also persisted over the 12-month period.
Professor Stefano Pluchino from the University of Cambridge, who co-led the study, said: “We desperately need to develop new treatments for secondary progressive MS, and I am cautiously very excited about our findings, which are a step towards developing a cell therapy for treating MS.
“We recognise that our study has limitations – it was only a small study and there may have been confounding effects from the immunosuppressant drugs, for example – but the fact that our treatment was safe and that its effects lasted over the 12 months of the trial means that we can proceed to the next stage of clinical trials.”
Co-leader Professor Angelo Vescovi from the University of Milano-Bicocca said: “It has taken nearly three decades to translate the discovery of brain stem cells into this experimental therapeutic treatment This study will add to the increasing excitement in this field and pave the way to broader efficacy studies, soon to come.”
Caitlin Astbury, Research Communications Manager at the MS Society, says: “This is a really exciting study which builds on previous research funded by us. These results show that special stem cells injected into the brain were safe and well-tolerated by people with secondary progressive MS. They also suggest this treatment approach might even stabilise disability progression. We’ve known for some time that this method has the potential to help protect the brain from progression in MS.
“This was a very small, early-stage study and we need further clinical trials to find out if this treatment has a beneficial effect on the condition. But this is an encouraging step towards a new way of treating some people with MS.”
Reference
Leone, MA, Gelati, M & Profico, DC et al. Intracerebroventricular Transplantation of Foetal Allogeneic Neural Stem Cells in Patients with Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (hNSC-SPMS): a phase I dose escalation clinical trial. Cell Stem Cell; 27 Nov 2023; DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2023.11.001
An international team has shown that the injection of a type of stem cell into the brains of patients living with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) is safe, well tolerated and has a long-lasting effect that appears to protect the brain from further damage.
I am cautiously very excited about our findings, which are a step towards developing a cell therapy for treating MSStefano Pluchino Early-stage stem cell therapy trial shows promise for treating progressive MS eyecrave productions (Getty Images)Mature Adult Female with Disability
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Cambridge partners with AstraZeneca and Medical Research Council on new world-class functional genomics laboratory
The University of Cambridge today announced a partnership with AstraZeneca and the Medical Research Council (MRC) to establish a new state-of-the-art functional genomics laboratory at the Milner Therapeutics Institute (MTI). The laboratory will become part of the UK’s Human Functional Genomics Initiative, contributing to the UK’s ambition of having the most advanced genomic healthcare system in the world.
Functional genomics investigates the effects and impacts of genetic changes in our DNA, and particularly how these contribute to disease. CRISPR makes it possible to test specific DNA alterations in a controlled way to investigate the effects and impacts of genetic changes in our DNA, revealing their effects on biological processes that cause disease. Finding these disease drivers is a key first step in the process of identifying potentially life-changing medicines for patients.
The new facility, which will be located within the MTI on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, will provide researchers from across the UK with access to large-scale biological and technological tools and house an advanced automated arrayed-CRISPR screening platform. It is hoped that through the use of tools, such as CRISPR gene editing to provide insights into the relationship between genes and disease, scientists will discover new opportunities to develop therapies for chronic diseases including cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic disease.
Professor Tony Kouzarides, Director of the Milner Therapeutics Institute, said: “The best science is founded on collaboration, and I am delighted that the Milner Therapeutics Institute is partnering with the MRC and AstraZeneca to launch this unique functional genomics laboratory. This will enable sharing of expertise and resources to deliver new diagnostics and treatments for people with chronic diseases.”
Professor Andy Neely, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Enterprise and Business Relations at the University of Cambridge, said: “This new collaboration with AstraZeneca and MRC is a fantastic example of industry and academia working together to drive forward science that will have a real impact on people’s health in the UK and around the world.”
Dr Jonathan Pearce, Director of Strategy and Planning, MRC, said: “We are working across UK Research and Innovation to improve health, ageing and wellbeing. Our investment in this new laboratory builds on the UK’s global leadership in genomics. Our support will enable the laboratory’s launch and provide access for researchers from across the UK. Through this investment, and the wider Human Functional Genomics Initiative, we will enhance the national ecosystem needed to improve our understanding of how genetic variance impacts health and disease.”
Sharon Barr, Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, said: “Collaboration is crucial to achieving our ambition of transforming healthcare and delivering life-changing medicines for patients, and innovative partnership such as this one, allow us to share resources and expertise to advance science. This new laboratory created as part of the Human Functional Genomics Initiative, will be world-leading and will play a central role in shaping future functional genomics work across the UK and beyond.”
The lab, which is expected to become operational in 2024, will provide a centre of excellence and national resource that combines the strengths and expertise of academia and industry. Its creation is part of a new partnership formed between MTI, AstraZeneca and MRC, and builds upon expertise gained through an existing collaboration between MTI, AstraZeneca and Cancer Research Horizons, known as the AstraZeneca-Cancer Research Horizons Functional Genomics Centre (FGC) that has been enabling advances in oncology research since 2018. The FGC is currently housed in the MTI and will be relocating next year.
MTI, AstraZeneca and the MRC’s Human Functional Genomics Initiative will share facilities, resources and knowledge working closely together to facilitate faster progress and innovations.
The facility, based at the Milner Therapeutics Institute, will support the discovery of new medicines and diagnostics for chronic diseases by applying advanced biological and technological tools, including CRISPR gene editing.
A fantastic example of industry and academia working together to drive forward science that will have a real impact on people’s health in the UK and around the world.Andy NeelyMilner Therapeutics InstituteScientist looking down microscope
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Four Cambridge researchers awarded consolidator grants from the European Research Council
The grants are part of the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme. They are given to excellent scientists and scholars at the career stage to support them to pursue their most promising scientific ideas.
Cambridge scientists, Professor Chiara Ciccarelli, Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara, Professor Jason Miller, and Dr Jenny Zhang have been named as awardees of ERC consolidator grants.
Professor Chiara Ciccarelli
Chiara Ciccarelli is Professor of Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory at the Department of Physics. She is a Royal Society University Research Fellow and a Fellow and Director of Studies at St Catharine's College. She said: “Our group studies magnets and seeks ways to write and read their magnetic state as fast and as energy-efficiently as possible. This is because magnets remain the best way, that we know of, to store digital data for a long time.
“Our ERC project, PICaSSO, explores new ways to ‘write’ magnets at low temperature by interfacing them with superconductors. Although this research is still at an early stage, it would allow the development of ultra-energy-efficient cryogenic memories, a necessary requirement for the realistic scaling of quantum computers.
“I am absolutely delighted to have been awarded a consolidator grant. It is an incredible opportunity to do great science and an important recognition of the work of my amazing team.”
Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara
Rosana Collepardo-Guevara is Professor of Computational and Molecular Biophysics at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry and the Department of Genetics. She is a Winton Advanced Research Fellow in physics, a director of postgraduate education for chemistry and a Fellow of Clare College. She said: “My group investigates the connection between genome structure and function by developing computer models and algorithms that can bridge scales, from atoms to genes, while considering the extensive chemical diversity of the genome.
“We will investigate the transformative hypothesis of phase transitions in genome organisation, which suggests that our genes are organised inside functionally diverse liquid drops. We will develop new computer models to probe how the physical properties of these droplets are regulated, and how this may contribute to the tight regulation of our genes.
“I am truly delighted and proud of my team. This success is owed to the exceptional students and postdocs that I’ve had the privilege to supervise over the years, and also to the support of my mentors, collaborators, and family. This grant will give us the opportunity to keep exploring radical ideas.”
Professor Jason Miller
Jason Miller is a professor in the Statistics Laboratory and a Fellow of Trinity College. He said: “My research is at the interface of probability theory with complex analysis, combinatorics, and geometry. The questions I study arise from models in statistical physics which are exactly at a critical point between a phase transition.
“My ERC project will be investigating critical random media in two dimensions, including models of how fluid flows through a porous medium and how the spins organise themselves in a magnet. The focus will be the study of their fractal structure and diffusion properties.
“I am very pleased to have received the grant. With the support that it provides, I will be able to form a research group to tackle longstanding questions in the area.”
Dr Jenny Zhang
Dr Jenny Zhang is a BBSRC David Phillips Research Fellow at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. She is a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. She said: “My team focuses on creating toolsets for rewiring the electrochemical pathways associated with living systems, particularly photosynthetic organisms. We do this to better understand fundamental bioenergetics and to manipulate them for various applications, such as in renewable energy generation.
“This ERC project develops an exciting new approach for accelerating the creation of synergistic interactions between biological and non-biological materials for highly efficient and robust energy exchange. The ultimate aim is to generate high performing biohybrid materials for clean energy generation.
“I am absolutely thrilled to be awarded this unique grant, which recognises all the key ingredients needed for innovation. This wonderful result was a cumulation of a lot of hard work, but also the generous support of my wonderful team and colleagues. I could not be more grateful for both the grant and the people I get to work with.”
Scientists at UK institutions have won the second greatest number of grants in Europe. Across Europe, the number of women receiving grants has increased for the third year running.
“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all the brilliant researchers who have been selected for ERC Consolidator Grants,” said Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. “I'm especially thrilled to note the significant increase in the representation of women among the winners for the third consecutive year in this prestigious grant competition. This positive trend not only reflects the outstanding contributions of women researchers but also highlights the strides we are making towards a more inclusive and diverse scientific community.”
The ERC, set up by the European Union in 2007, is the premier European funding organisation for excellent frontier research. It funds creative researchers of any nationality and age, to run projects based across Europe.
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded grants worth a total of €627 million to 308 researchers across Europe, of whom four are at the University of Cambridge.
This grant will give us the opportunity to keep exploring radical ideas.Professor Rosana Collepardo-GuevaraJenny Zhang - Nathan Pitt, University of CambridgeLeft to right: Professor Chiara Ciccarelli, Professor Jason Miller, Professor Rosana Collepardo-Guevara, and Dr Jenny Zhang
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New report highlights increase in number of children and young people with eating disorders
The report is a follow on from the 2017 survey, which six years ago reported an upswing in anxiety, depression and self-harm among young women.
Among other key findings were:
- After a rise in prevalence between 2017 and 2020, rates of probable mental disorder remained stable in all age groups between 2022 and 2023.
- Among 8 to 16 year olds, rates of probable mental disorder were similar for boys and girls, while for 17 to 25 year olds, rates were twice as high for young women than young men.
- More than 1 in 4 children aged 8 to 16 years (26.8%) with a probable mental disorder had a parent who could not afford for their child to take part in activities outside school or college, compared with 1 in 10 (10.3%) of those unlikely to have a mental disorder.
- 17 to 25 year olds with a probable mental disorder were 3 times more likely to not be able to afford to take part in activities such as sports, days out, or socialising with friends, compared with those unlikely to have a mental disorder (26.1% compared with 8.3%).
- Children aged 11 to 16 years with a probable mental disorder were 5 times more likely than those unlikely to have a mental disorder to have been bullied in person (36.9% compared with 7.6%). They were also more likely to have been bullied online (10.8% compared with 2.6%).
Professor Tamsin Ford, Head of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and one of the research leads for the new Cambridge Children’s Hospital, was one of the report’s authors. She said: “These figures confirm that the huge increase in referrals to clinics for eating disorder services is not just the result of more children and young people seeking help, it’s a sign of more children and young people needing help. There is no single silver bullet to fixing this problem. All services working with children must pull together.”
While not every young person with an eating disorder will require inpatient care, for those that do Professor Ford says Cambridge Children’s Hospital, with its vision of integrated mental and physical healthcare will vastly improve treatment and outcomes.
“These are conditions to be taken very seriously. The benefit of having integrated paediatric physical and mental healthcare for children and young people diagnosed with eating disorders is huge,” said Professor Ford.
“If your condition is that severe, you need access to blood tests and the acute medical care that being on an inpatient acute paediatric ward gives you, but at the same time you need the therapeutic environment and support that you would get in a mental health ward.
“What Cambridge Children's Hospital will do is provide both in the same place as opposed to children having to be transferred between locations and only being able to access one part of their care that they need at any one time.”
As the first specialist children’s hospital for the East of England, Cambridge Children’s Hospital will care for children, young people and their families from Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. Every child will be treated for their mental and physical health, with an additional focus on family wellbeing and support.
Professor Ford said mental health problems in the teenage and emerging adult years can massively impact a young person’s future trajectory in terms of education, health, employment, and social skills. She believes Cambridge Children’s Hospital vision of integrated care will help children and young people recover more quickly.
“What we hope is that treating mental and physical health together – a ‘whole child’ approach - will allow us to get children better quicker and get them back to their homes and back attending school, which again will help their ongoing recovery. Children should be in hospital for the shortest possible time.”
The report was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and Department of Education, commissioned by NHS England, and carried out by the National Centre for Social Research, the Office for National Statistics and the Universities of Cambridge and Exeter.
Living with an eating disorderSummer*, who was diagnosed with an eating disorder during her teens, was cared for in the community before being admitted to an inpatient ward. She says being able to have a clinician treat you from your bedside, rather than being transferred to a hospital, could make a huge difference.
“The physical consequences [of eating disorders] can be huge,” said Summer, who grew up in Essex. “Your vital signs can get dangerously low and long term you can get difficulties, like osteoporosis.
“Self-harming can be quite common in some mental health units and the need to leave for treatment somewhere else can be traumatising for the young person being moved and the other patients who might witness it.”
Summer, who says challenges at home as well as pressure from social media contributed to her becoming ill, added: “It can be a shock being admitted as an inpatient, particularly if you feel you're still functioning well in school or work. It can be difficult to recognise how sick you are.”
*Summer’s name has been changed to protect her identity.
Adapted from a news story from the Cambridge Children’s Hospital
One in five children and young people have a probable mental health condition, according to The Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2023 report, published today. The report also reveals a significant rise in those being diagnosed with eating disorders, including a 10% increase among young men and women aged 17-19.
[It's] not just the result of more children and young people seeking help, it’s a sign of more children and young people needing helpTamsin FordKate Williams A woman looking out of a window
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Our brains are not able to ‘rewire’ themselves, despite what most scientists believe, new study argues
Writing in eLife, Professors Tamar Makin (Cambridge) and John Krakauer (Johns Hopkins) argue that the notion that the brain, in response to injury or deficit, can reorganise itself and repurpose particular regions for new functions, is fundamentally flawed – despite being commonly cited in scientific textbooks. Instead, they argue that what is occurring is merely the brain being trained to utilise already existing, but latent, abilities.
One of the most common examples given is where a person loses their sight – or is born blind – and the visual cortex, previously specialised in processing vision, is rewired to process sounds, allowing the individual to use a form of ‘echolocation’ to navigate a cluttered room. Another common example is of people who have had a stroke and are initially unable to move their limbs repurposing other areas of the brain to allow them to regain control.
Krakauer, Director of the Center for the Study of Motor Learning and Brain Repair at Johns Hopkins University, said: “The idea that our brain has an amazing ability to rewire and reorganise itself is an appealing one. It gives us hope and fascination, especially when we hear extraordinary stories of blind individuals developing almost superhuman echolocation abilities, for example, or stroke survivors miraculously regaining motor abilities they thought they’d lost.
“This idea goes beyond simple adaptation, or plasticity – it implies a wholesale repurposing of brain regions. But while these stories may well be true, the explanation of what is happening is, in fact, wrong.”
In their article, Makin and Krakauer look at a ten seminal studies that purport to show the brain’s ability to reorganise. They argue, however, that while the studies do indeed show the brain’s ability to adapt to change, it is not creating new functions in previously unrelated areas – instead it's utilising latent capacities that have been present since birth.
For example, one of the studies – research carried out in the 1980s by Professor Michael Merzenich at University of California, San Francisco – looked at what happens when a hand loses a finger. The hand has a particular representation in the brain, with each finger appearing to map onto a specific brain region. Remove the forefinger, and the area of the brain previously allocated to this finger is reallocated to processing signals from neighbouring fingers, argued Merzenich – in other words, the brain has rewired itself in response to changes in sensory input.
Not so, says Makin, whose own research provides an alternative explanation.
In a study published in 2022, Makin used a nerve blocker to temporarily mimic the effect of amputation of the forefinger in her subjects. She showed that even before amputation, signals from neighbouring fingers mapped onto the brain region ‘responsible’ for the forefinger – in other words, while this brain region may have been primarily responsible for process signals from the forefinger, it was not exclusively so. All that happens following amputation is that existing signals from the other fingers are ‘dialled up’ in this brain region.
Makin, from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge, said: “The brain's ability to adapt to injury isn’t about commandeering new brain regions for entirely different purposes. These regions don’t start processing entirely new types of information. Information about the other fingers was available in the examined brain area even before the amputation, it’s just that in the original studies, the researchers didn’t pay much notice to it because it was weaker than for the finger about to be amputated.”
Another compelling counterexample to the reorganisation argument is seen in a study of congenitally deaf cats, whose auditory cortex – the area of the brain that processes sound – appears to be repurposed to process vision. But when they are fitted with a cochlear implant, this brain region immediately begins processing sound once again, suggesting that the brain had not, in fact, rewired.
Examining other studies, Makin and Krakauer found no compelling evidence that the visual cortex of individuals that were born blind or the uninjured cortex of stroke survivors ever developed a novel functional ability that did not otherwise exist.
Makin and Krakauer do not dismiss the stories of blind people being able to navigate purely based on hearing, or individuals who have experienced a stroke regain their motor functions, for example. They argue instead that rather than completely repurposing regions for new tasks, the brain is enhancing or modifying its pre-existing architecture – and it is doing this through repetition and learning.
Understanding the true nature and limits of brain plasticity is crucial, both for setting realistic expectations for patients and for guiding clinical practitioners in their rehabilitative approaches, they argue.
Makin added: “This learning process is a testament to the brain's remarkable – but constrained –capacity for plasticity. There are no shortcuts or fast tracks in this journey. The idea of quickly unlocking hidden brain potentials or tapping into vast unused reserves is more wishful thinking than reality. It's a slow, incremental journey, demanding persistent effort and practice. Recognising this helps us appreciate the hard work behind every story of recovery and adapt our strategies accordingly.
“So many times, the brain’s ability to rewire has been described as ‘miraculous’ – but we’re scientists, we don’t believe in magic. These amazing behaviours that we see are rooted in hard work, repetition and training, not the magical reassignment of the brain’s resources.”
Reference
Makin, TR & Krakauer, JW. Against Cortical Reorganisation. eLife; 21 Nov 2023; DOI: doi.org/10.7554/eLife.84716
Contrary to the commonly-held view, the brain does not have the ability to rewire itself to compensate for the loss of sight, an amputation or stroke, for example, say scientists from the University of Cambridge and Johns Hopkins University.
So many times, the brain’s ability to rewire has been described as ‘miraculous’ – but we’re scientists, we don’t believe in magicTamar MakinGDJ`Graphic representing brain circuits
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AI system self-organises to develop features of brains of complex organisms
As neural systems such as the brain organise themselves and make connections, they have to balance competing demands. For example, energy and resources are needed to grow and sustain the network in physical space, while at the same time optimising the network for information processing. This trade-off shapes all brains within and across species, which may help explain why many brains converge on similar organisational solutions.
Jascha Achterberg, a Gates Scholar from the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (MRC CBSU) at the University of Cambridge said: “Not only is the brain great at solving complex problems, it does so while using very little energy. In our new work we show that considering the brain’s problem solving abilities alongside its goal of spending as few resources as possible can help us understand why brains look like they do.”
Co-lead author Dr Danyal Akarca, also from the MRC CBSU, added: “This stems from a broad principle, which is that biological systems commonly evolve to make the most of what energetic resources they have available to them. The solutions they come to are often very elegant and reflect the trade-offs between various forces imposed on them.”
In a study published today in Nature Machine Intelligence, Achterberg, Akarca and colleagues created an artificial system intended to model a very simplified version of the brain and applied physical constraints. They found that their system went on to develop certain key characteristics and tactics similar to those found in human brains.
Instead of real neurons, the system used computational nodes. Neurons and nodes are similar in function, in that each takes an input, transforms it, and produces an output, and a single node or neuron might connect to multiple others, all inputting information to be computed.
In their system, however, the researchers applied a ‘physical’ constraint on the system. Each node was given a specific location in a virtual space, and the further away two nodes were, the more difficult it was for them to communicate. This is similar to how neurons in the human brain are organised.
The researchers gave the system a simple task to complete – in this case a simplified version of a maze navigation task typically given to animals such as rats and macaques when studying the brain, where it has to combine multiple pieces of information to decide on the shortest route to get to the end point.
One of the reasons the team chose this particular task is because to complete it, the system needs to maintain a number of elements – start location, end location and intermediate steps – and once it has learned to do the task reliably, it is possible to observe, at different moments in a trial, which nodes are important. For example, one particular cluster of nodes may encode the finish locations, while others encode the available routes, and it is possible to track which nodes are active at different stages of the task.
Initially, the system does not know how to complete the task and makes mistakes. But when it is given feedback it gradually learns to get better at the task. It learns by changing the strength of the connections between its nodes, similar to how the strength of connections between brain cells changes as we learn. The system then repeats the task over and over again, until eventually it learns to perform it correctly.
With their system, however, the physical constraint meant that the further away two nodes were, the more difficult it was to build a connection between the two nodes in response to the feedback. In the human brain, connections that span a large physical distance are expensive to form and maintain.
When the system was asked to perform the task under these constraints, it used some of the same tricks used by real human brains to solve the task. For example, to get around the constraints, the artificial systems started to develop hubs – highly connected nodes that act as conduits for passing information across the network.
More surprising, however, was that the response profiles of individual nodes themselves began to change: in other words, rather than having a system where each node codes for one particular property of the maze task, like the goal location or the next choice, nodes developed a flexible coding scheme. This means that at different moments in time nodes might be firing for a mix of the properties of the maze. For instance, the same node might be able to encode multiple locations of a maze, rather than needing specialised nodes for encoding specific locations. This is another feature seen in the brains of complex organisms.
Co-author Professor Duncan Astle, from Cambridge’s Department of Psychiatry, said: “This simple constraint – it’s harder to wire nodes that are far apart – forces artificial systems to produce some quite complicated characteristics. Interestingly, they are characteristics shared by biological systems like the human brain. I think that tells us something fundamental about why our brains are organised the way they are.”
Understanding the human brainThe team are hopeful that their AI system could begin to shed light on how these constraints, shape differences between people’s brains, and contribute to differences seen in those that experience cognitive or mental health difficulties.
Co-author Professor John Duncan from the MRC CBSU said: “These artificial brains give us a way to understand the rich and bewildering data we see when the activity of real neurons is recorded in real brains.”
Achterberg added: “Artificial ‘brains’ allow us to ask questions that it would be impossible to look at in an actual biological system. We can train the system to perform tasks and then play around experimentally with the constraints we impose, to see if it begins to look more like the brains of particular individuals.”
Implications for designing future AI systemsThe findings are likely to be of interest to the AI community, too, where they could allow for the development of more efficient systems, particularly in situations where there are likely to be physical constraints.
Dr Akarca said: “AI researchers are constantly trying to work out how to make complex, neural systems that can encode and perform in a flexible way that is efficient. To achieve this, we think that neurobiology will give us a lot of inspiration. For example, the overall wiring cost of the system we've created is much lower than you would find in a typical AI system.”
Many modern AI solutions involve using architectures that only superficially resemble a brain. The researchers say their works shows that the type of problem the AI is solving will influence which architecture is the most powerful to use.
Achterberg said: “If you want to build an artificially-intelligent system that solves similar problems to humans, then ultimately the system will end up looking much closer to an actual brain than systems running on large compute cluster that specialise in very different tasks to those carried out by humans. The architecture and structure we see in our artificial ‘brain’ is there because it is beneficial for handling the specific brain-like challenges it faces.”
This means that robots that have to process a large amount of constantly changing information with finite energetic resources could benefit from having brain structures not dissimilar to ours.
Achterberg added: “Brains of robots that are deployed in the real physical world are probably going to look more like our brains because they might face the same challenges as us. They need to constantly process new information coming in through their sensors while controlling their bodies to move through space towards a goal. Many systems will need to run all their computations with a limited supply of electric energy and so, to balance these energetic constraints with the amount of information it needs to process, it will probably need a brain structure similar to ours.”
The research was funded by the Medical Research Council, Gates Cambridge, the James S McDonnell Foundation, Templeton World Charity Foundation and Google DeepMind.
Reference
Achterberg, J & Akarca, D et al. Spatially embedded recurrent neural networks reveal widespread links between structural and functional neuroscience findings. Nature Machine Intelligence; 20 Nov 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s42256-023-00748-9
Cambridge scientists have shown that placing physical constraints on an artificially-intelligent system – in much the same way that the human brain has to develop and operate within physical and biological constraints – allows it to develop features of the brains of complex organisms in order to solve tasks.
Not only is the brain great at solving complex problems, it does so while using very little energyJascha AchterbergDeltaWorksGraphic representing an artificially intelligent brain
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Innovative aquaculture system turns waste wood into nutritious seafood
These long, white saltwater clams are the world’s fastest-growing bivalve and can reach 30cm long in just six months. They do this by burrowing into waste wood and converting it into highly-nutritious protein.
The researchers found that the levels of Vitamin B12 in the Naked Clams were higher than in most other bivalves – and almost twice the amount found in blue mussels.
And with the addition of an algae-based feed to the system, the Naked Clams can be fortified with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids - nutrients essential for human health.
Shipworms have traditionally been viewed as a pest because they bore through any wood immersed in seawater, including ships, piers and docks.
The researchers developed a fully-enclosed aquaculture system that can be completely controlled, eliminating the water quality and food safety concerns often associated with mussel and oyster farming.
And the modular design means it can be used in urban settings, far from the sea.
“Naked Clams taste like oysters, they’re highly nutritious and they can be produced with a really low impact on the environment,” said Dr David Willer, Henslow Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology and first author of the report.
He added: “Naked Clam aquaculture has never been attempted before. We’re growing them using wood that would otherwise go to landfill or be recycled, to produce food that’s high in protein and essential nutrients like Vitamin B12.”
Scientifically named Teredinids, these creatures have no shell, but are classed as bivalve shellfish and related to oysters and mussels.
Because the Naked Clams don’t put energy into growing shells, they grow much faster than mussels and oysters which can take two years to reach a harvestable size.
The report is published today in the journal Sustainable Agriculture.
Wild shipworms are eaten in the Philippines - either raw, or battered and fried like calamari. But for British consumers, the researchers think Naked Clams will be more popular as a ‘white meat’ substitute in processed foods like fish fingers and fishcakes.
“We urgently need alternative food sources that provide the micronutrient-rich profile of meat and fish but without the environmental cost, and our system offers a sustainable solution,” said Dr Reuben Shipway at the University of Plymouth’s School of Biological & Marine Sciences, senior author of the report.
He added: “Switching from eating beef burgers to Naked Clam nuggets may well become a fantastic way to reduce your carbon footprint.”
The research is a collaboration between the Universities of Cambridge and Plymouth, and has attracted funding from sources including The Fishmongers’ Company, British Ecological Society, Cambridge Philosophical Society, Seale-Hayne Trust, and BBSRC
The team is now trialling different types of waste wood and algal feed in their system to optimise the growth, taste and nutritional profile of the Naked Clams – and is working with Cambridge Enterprise to scale-up and commercialise the system.
Reference
Willer, D.F. et al: ‘Naked Clams to open a new sector in sustainable nutritious food production.’ Sustainable Agriculture, Nov 23. DOI: 10.1038/s44264-023-00004-y
Researchers hoping to rebrand a marine pest as a nutritious food have developed the world’s first system of farming shipworms, which they have renamed ‘Naked Clams’.
Naked Clams taste like oysters, they’re highly nutritious and they can be produced with a really low impact on the environment.Dr David WillerUniversity of PlymouthNaked Clams in wooden growth panel
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Lab-grown ‘small blood vessels’ point to potential treatment for major cause of stroke and vascular dementia
The study, published today in Stem Cell Reports, also identifies a drug target to ‘plug’ these leaks and prevent so-called small vessel disease in the brain.
Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is a leading cause of age-related cognitive decline and contributes to almost half (45%) of dementia cases worldwide. It is also responsible for one in five (20%) ischemic strokes, the most common type of stroke, where a blood clot prevents the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain.
The majority of cases of SVD are associated with conditions such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes, and tend to affect people in their middle age. However, there are some rare, inherited forms of the disease that can strike people at a younger age, often in their mid-thirties. Both the inherited and ‘spontaneous’ forms of the disease share similar characteristics.
Scientists at the Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart and Lung Research Institute, University of Cambridge, used cells taken from skin biopsies of patients with one of these rare forms of SVD, which is caused by a mutation in a gene called COL4.
By reprogramming the skin cells, they were able to create induced pluripotent stem cells – cells that have the capacity to develop into almost any type of cell within the body. The team then used these stem cells to generate cells of the brain blood vessels and create a model of the disease that mimics the defects seen in patients’ brain vessels.
Dr Alessandra Granata from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Cambridge, who led the study, said: “Despite the number of people affected worldwide by small vessel disease, we have little in the way of treatments because we don’t fully understand what damages the blood vessels and causes the disease. Most of what we know about the underlying causes tends to come from animal studies, but they are limited in what they can tell us.
“That’s why we turned to stem cells to generate cells of the brain blood vessels and create a disease model ‘in a dish’ that mimics what we see in patients.”
Our blood vessels are built around a type of scaffolding known as an extracellular matrix, a net-like structure that lines and supports the small blood vessels in the brain. The COL4 gene is important for the health of this matrix.
In their disease model, the team found that the extracellular matrix is disrupted, particularly at its so-called ‘tight junctions’, which ‘zip’ cells together. This leads to the small blood vessels becoming leaky – a key characteristic seen in SVD, where blood leaks out of the vessels and into the brain.
The researchers identified a class of molecules called metalloproteinases (MMPs) that play a key role in this damage. Ordinarily, MMPs are important for maintaining the extracellular matrix, but if too many of them are produced, they can damage the structure – similar to how in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a single broom can help mop the floor, but too many wreak havoc.
When the team treated the blood vessels with drugs that inhibit MMPs – an antibiotic and anti-cancer drug – they found that these reversed the damage and stopped the leakage.
Dr Granata added: “These particular drugs come with potentially significant side effects so wouldn’t in themselves be viable to treat small vessel disease. But they show that in theory, targeting MMPs could stop the disease. Our model could be scaled up relatively easily to test the viability of future potential drugs.”
The study was funded by the Stroke Association, British Heart Foundation and Alzheimer’s Society, with support from the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme.
Reference
Al-Thani, M, Goodwin-Trotman, M. A novel human 1 iPSC model of COL4A1/A2 small vessel disease unveils a key pathogenic role of matrix metalloproteinases. Stem Cell Reports; 16 Nov 2023; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2023.10.014
Cambridge scientists have grown small blood vessel-like models in the lab and used them to show how damage to the scaffolding that supports these vessels can cause them to leak, leading to conditions such as vascular dementia and stroke.
Despite the number of people affected worldwide by small vessel disease, we have little in the way of treatments because we don’t fully understand what damages the blood vessels and causes the diseaseAlessandra GranataAlessandra Granata/University of CambridgeDisease mural cells stained for calponin (mural cells marker, green), collagen IV (magenta) and DAPI (nuclei, blue)
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Boom and bust? Millennials aren’t all worse off than Baby Boomers, but the rich-poor gap is widening
Millennials, a generation often characterised as less wealthy than their parents, are not uniformly worse off than their Baby Boomer counterparts, according to new research.
They are, however, contending with a “vast and increasing” wealth gap, due to the increasingly uneven financial rewards reaped from different life and career paths, compared with their Boomer predecessors. This creates the impression that as a generation, they are losing out.
The study, by researchers from the University of Cambridge (UK), Humboldt University Berlin (Germany), and the French research university Sciences Po, examined the work and family life trajectories of more than 6,000 Baby Boomers and 6,000 Millennials in the United States. It evaluated and compared the impact of these work and life choices on their wealth by the age of 35.
Whether western Millennials are doing better or worse than previous generations is widely debated. Millennials are often positioned as the victims of social changes that have made employment and family life less stable. According to some observers, they are “the first generation that is worse off than their parents”. A recent article challenged the “myth of the broke Millennial”, however, claiming that they are actually thriving.
The new study suggests that the answer depends on which Millennials are being discussed. It found that Millennials were statistically more likely to work in low-paid service jobs or live with their parents as they entered middle age. Most of these individuals were economically worse off at 35 than Baby Boomers with comparable careers and lives. Millennials with typical middle-class life trajectories accumulated substantially more wealth than their Baby Boomers counterparts, however.
The research, published in the American Journal of Sociology, describes this widening wealth gap as “a fundamental moral and political challenge”.
Lead author, Dr Rob Gruijters, from the University of Cambridge, said: “The debate about whether Millennials are worse off is a distraction. The crucial intergenerational shift has been in how different family and career patterns are rewarded. The wealthiest Millennials now have more than ever, while the poor are left further behind.”
"This divergence in financial rewards is exacerbating extreme levels of wealth inequality in the United States. Individuals with typical working class careers, like truck drivers or hairdressers, used to be able to buy a home and build a modest level of assets, but this is more difficult for the younger generation. The solution lies with measures such as progressive wealth taxation, and policies like universal health insurance, that give more people basic security.”
The study compared late Baby Boomers (born 1957-64) with early Millennials (born 1980-84), using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Rather than using broad averages to compare the generations, it mapped each individual’s life trajectory from 18 to 35 as a sequence of changes in their work, family and living arrangements. Individuals with similar trajectories were then clustered together, enabling the researchers to compare the net worth of Millennials and Boomers with similar life experiences.
The data revealed striking intergenerational shifts in career patterns and family dynamics. By age 35, 17% of Baby Boomers had followed a path in which they progressed from college into prestigious professional careers like law and medicine, whereas only 7.3% of Millennials did the same. Millennials were, on the other hand, more likely to be engaged in other professional roles, like social work and teaching, or in service sector jobs like retail, waiting and caregiving.
Additionally, Millennials tended to postpone marriage and prolong their stay in the parental home. Early marriage and parenthood characterised the lives of 27% of Boomers, but just 13% of Millennials.
In terms of financial security, the study found that wealth inequality is much more pronounced among Millennials than it was for Boomers. While 62% of Boomers owned homes at 35, for example, only 49% of Millennials did. Around 14% of Millennials had negative net worth, meaning their debts outweighed their assets, compared with 8.7% of Boomers.
There was limited evidence that this gap is intrinsically driven by changing work and family patterns. Rather, the economic rewards for secure, middle and upper-class lifestyles have increased, while those for less stable, working-class trajectories have either stagnated or declined.
For instance, among Baby Boomers, 63% of low-skilled service workers owned their own home at 35, compared with 42% of Millennials in the same occupations. The poorest Millennials in service sector roles now often have negative net worth, which was less common among Boomers.
The authors argue that these challenges not only foster intergenerational tensions but have also contributed to other social problems, such as the rise of populist authoritarianism. Addressing the problem, they add, will require big solutions: principally wealth taxes and policies that offer financial security to the less advantaged. Such measures might, for example, include access to stable housing, universal health insurance, and a higher minimum wage.
Co-author Professor Anette Fasang stressed the importance of urgent public intervention. “We need to make it easier for those who are currently being left behind to accumulate wealth in the first place,” she said. “A slow and tentative approach won’t suffice. Significant action is needed to build a more equal society, where more people can experience some form of prosperity.”
A study of over 12,000 people in the US, comparing Baby Boomers and Millennials, raises concerns about Millennials’ diverging financial gains.
The wealthiest Millennials now have more than ever, while the poor are left further behindRob GruijtersKampus Production, via PexelsMillennials pose for a photo
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Cambridge Dictionary names ‘Hallucinate’ Word of the Year 2023
This year has seen a surge in interest in generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT, Bard and Grok, with public attention shifting towards the limitations of AI and whether they can be overcome.
AI tools, especially those using large language models (LLMs), have proven capable of generating plausible prose, but they often do so using false, misleading or made-up ‘facts’. They ‘hallucinate’ in a confident and sometimes believable manner.
The Cambridge Dictionary – the world’s most popular online dictionary for learners of English – has updated its definition of hallucinate to account for the new meaning and crowned it Word of the Year for 2023.
Hallucinating ‘false information’The traditional definition of hallucinate is “to seem to see, hear, feel, or smell something that does not exist, usually because of a health condition or because you have taken a drug”. The new, additional definition is:
“When an artificial intelligence (= a computer system that has some of the qualities that the human brain has, such as the ability to produce language in a way that seems human) hallucinates, it produces false information.”
AI hallucinations, also known as confabulations, sometimes appear nonsensical. But they can also seem entirely plausible – even while being factually inaccurate or ultimately illogical.
AI hallucinations have already had real-world impacts. A US law firm used ChatGPT for legal research, which led to fictitious cases being cited in court. In Google’s own promotional video for Bard, the AI tool made a factual error about the James Webb Space Telescope.
Wendalyn Nichols, Cambridge Dictionary’s Publishing Manager, said: “The fact that AIs can ‘hallucinate’ reminds us that humans still need to bring their critical thinking skills to the use of these tools. AIs are fantastic at churning through huge amounts of data to extract specific information and consolidate it. But the more original you ask them to be, the likelier they are to go astray.
“At their best, large language models can only be as reliable as their training data. Human expertise is arguably more important – and sought after – than ever, to create the authoritative and up-to-date information that LLMs can be trained on.”
‘Profound shift in perception’
The new definition illustrates a growing tendency to anthropomorphise AI technology, using human-like metaphors as we speak, write and think about machines.
Dr Henry Shevlin, an AI ethicist at the University of Cambridge, said: “The widespread use of the term ‘hallucinate’ to refer to mistakes by systems like ChatGPT provides a fascinating snapshot of how we’re thinking about and anthropomorphising AI. Inaccurate or misleading information has long been with us, of course, whether in the form of rumours, propaganda, or ‘fake news’.
“Whereas these are normally thought of as human products, ‘hallucinate’ is an evocative verb implying an agent experiencing a disconnect from reality. This linguistic choice reflects a subtle yet profound shift in perception: the AI, not the user, is the one 'hallucinating.' While this doesn't suggest a widespread belief in AI sentience, it underscores our readiness to ascribe human-like attributes to AI.
“As this decade progresses, I expect our psychological vocabulary will be further extended to encompass the strange abilities of the new intelligences we’re creating.”
Addressing hallucinations – if they can ever be fully fixed – may define the future success and uptake of generative AI.
Engineers and academics around the world, including at OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, are working to limit AI hallucinations through ‘grounding’, with LLM outputs cross-checked against reliable sources or web searches. Some are working on ‘reinforcement learning from human feedback’, using people to help tackle hallucinations and work out how they can be predicted and eliminated.
What else captured the 2023 zeitgeist?
Several other words experienced spikes in public interest and searches on the Cambridge Dictionary website. They included:
Implosion
1) The act of falling towards the inside with force; 2) A situation in which something fails suddenly and completely.
The tragic case of the Titan submersible’s implosion led many to look up the definition.
Ennui
A feeling of being bored and mentally tired caused by having nothing interesting or exciting to do.
The notorious French robber Rédoine Faïd blamed “ennui” for his helicopter jailbreak: “The ennui provoked the escape… My addiction to liberty has consumed me.”
Ennui was also the Wordle answer on June 5th.
Grifter
Someone who gets money dishonestly by tricking people.
Public figures were controversially accused of being “grifters”, including Prince Harry and Megan Markle (by a Spotify executive) and Nigel Farage (by Coutts bank).
GOAT
Abbreviation for Greatest Of All Time: used to refer to or describe the person who has performed better than anyone else ever, especially in a sport.
The Qatar World Cup provoked new debates about who is the GOAT in football: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, or one of the late greats like Pelé or Diego Maradona?
New words, new meanings
Cambridge lexicographers added more than 6,000 new words, phrases and senses in 2023 to the Cambridge Dictionary’s 170,000+ English definitions.
Beyond hallucinate, several additions reflect rapid developments in AI and computing, such as:
Prompt engineering
In artificial intelligence, the process of designing prompts that will give the best possible results.
Large language model
A complex mathematical representation of language that is based on very large amounts of data and allows computers to produce language that seems similar to what a human might say.
GenAI
Abbreviation for generative AI: the use or study of artificial intelligences that are able to produce text, images, etc.
Train
In machine learning, to create or improve a computer representation of a system or process by supplying it with data.
Black box
A system that produces results without the user being able to see or understand how it works.
Other noteworthy additions to the Cambridge Dictionary in 2023 include:
Shadowban
An act of a social media company limiting who can see someone's posts, usually without the person who has published them knowing.
Vibe check
An act of finding out how someone is feeling or how they make you feel, or what the mood in a particular place or situation is.
Water neutral
(Of a building development, business, etc.) not using more water than was used in an area before it was built or established, or not removing more water than it replaces.
Pick up what someone is putting down (US)
to understand what someone means by their words, music, etc.
Affrilachian
An African American who comes from or lives in the region of Appalachia in the eastern United States.
Range anxiety
The fear that an electric vehicle will not have enough battery charge to take you where you want to go to.
UBI
Abbreviation for universal basic income: an amount of money that is given regularly to everyone or to every adult in a society by a government or other organisation and that is the same for everyone.
Newly emerging words that are being considered for entry are shared every Monday on the Cambridge Dictionary blog, About Words.
A new definition of ‘hallucinate’ was one of many AI-related updates to the Cambridge Dictionary in 2023.
I expect our psychological vocabulary will be further extended to encompass the strange abilities of the new intelligences we’re creating.Henry ShevlinChen via PixabaySilhouette of a woman facing a question mark and microchipsAbout Cambridge DictionaryWith over 2.3 billion pageviews and over 420 million visitors per year, Cambridge Dictionary is the world’s most popular website for learners of English, and is the world’s largest free online dictionary by pageviews. It draws on the Cambridge English Corpus – a database of over 2 billion words – covering both British and American English.
The Cambridge Dictionary is completely free of charge. Its rich dictionary, thesaurus and grammar resources such as quizzes and word lists are all informed by Cambridge’s expert research in language. Uniquely, the Cambridge Dictionary allows users to toggle easily between British and American English definitions.
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‘Bouncing’ comets could deliver building blocks for life to exoplanets
In order to deliver organic material, comets need to be travelling relatively slowly – at speeds below 15 kilometres per second. At higher speeds, the essential molecules would not survive – the speed and temperature of impact would cause them to break apart.
The most likely place where comets can travel at the right speed are ‘peas in a pod’ systems, where a group of planets orbit closely together. In such a system, the comet could essentially be passed or ‘bounced’ from the orbit of one planet to another, slowing it down.
At slow enough speeds, the comet would crash on a planet’s surface, delivering the intact molecules that researchers believe are the precursors for life. The results, reported in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A, suggest that such systems would be promising places to search for life outside our Solar System if cometary delivery is important for the origins of life.
Comets are known to contain a range of the building blocks for life, known as prebiotic molecules. For example, samples from the Ryugu asteroid, analysed in 2022, showed that it carried intact amino acids and vitamin B3. Comets also contain large amounts of hydrogen cyanide (HCN), another important prebiotic molecule. The strong carbon-nitrogen bonds of HCN make it more durable to high temperatures, meaning it could potentially survive atmospheric entry and remain intact.
“We’re learning more about the atmospheres of exoplanets all the time, so we wanted to see if there are planets where complex molecules could also be delivered by comets,” said first author Richard Anslow from Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy. “It’s possible that the molecules that led to life on Earth came from comets, so the same could be true for planets elsewhere in the galaxy.”
The researchers do not claim that comets are necessary to the origin of life on Earth or any other planet, but instead they wanted to place some limits on the types of planets where complex molecules, such as HCN, could be successfully delivered by comets.
Most of the comets in our Solar System sit beyond the orbit of Neptune, in what is known as the Kuiper Belt. When comets or other Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) collide, they can be pushed by Neptune’s gravity toward the Sun, eventually getting pulled in by Jupiter’s gravity. Some of these comets make their way past the Asteroid Belt and into the inner Solar System.
“We wanted to test our theories on planets that are similar to our own, as Earth is currently our only example of a planet that supports life,” said Anslow. “What kinds of comets, travelling at what kinds of speed, could deliver intact prebiotic molecules?”
Using a variety of mathematical modelling techniques, the researchers determined that it is possible for comets to deliver the precursor molecules for life, but only in certain scenarios. For planets orbiting a star similar to our own Sun, the planet needs to be low mass and it is helpful for the planet to be in close orbit to other planets in the system. The researchers found that nearby planets on close orbits are much more important for planets around lower-mass stars, where the typical speeds are much higher.
In such a system, a comet could be pulled in by the gravitational pull of one planet, then passed to another planet before impact. If this ‘comet-passing’ happened enough times, the comet would slow down enough so that some prebiotic molecules could survive atmospheric entry.
“In these tightly-packed systems, each planet has a chance to interact with and trap a comet,” said Anslow. “It’s possible that this mechanism could be how prebiotic molecules end up on planets.”
For planets in orbit around lower-mass stars, such as M-dwarfs, it would be more difficult for complex molecules to be delivered by comets, especially if the planets are loosely packed. Rocky planets in these systems also suffer significantly more high-velocity impacts, potentially posing unique challenges for life on these planets.
The researchers say their results could be useful when determining where to look for life outside the Solar System.
“It’s exciting that we can start identifying the type of systems we can use to test different origin scenarios,” said Anslow. “It’s a different way to look at the great work that’s already been done on Earth. What molecular pathways led to the enormous variety of life we see around us? Are there other planets where the same pathways exist? It’s an exciting time, being able to combine advances in astronomy and chemistry to study some of the most fundamental questions of all.”
The research was supported in part by the Royal Society and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Richard Anslow is a Member of Wolfson College, Cambridge.
Reference:
R.J. Anslow, A. Bonsor and P.B. Rimmer. ‘Can comets deliver prebiotic molecules to rocky exoplanets?’ Proceedings of the Royal Society A (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2023.0434
How did the molecular building blocks for life end up on Earth? One long-standing theory is that they could have been delivered by comets. Now, researchers from the University of Cambridge have shown how comets could deposit similar building blocks to other planets in the galaxy.
It’s possible that the molecules that led to life on Earth came from comets, so the same could be true for planets elsewhere in the galaxyRichard Anslowsolarseven via Getty ImagesArtist's impression of a meteor hitting Earth
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UK ‘sugar tax’ linked to fall in child hospital admissions for tooth extraction
In a study published today in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health, researchers at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit at Cambridge found that the levy may have reduced the number of under-18s having a tooth removed due to tooth decay by 12%. The largest reductions were in children aged up to nine years old.
Sugar-sweetened drinks account for around 30% of the added sugars in the diets of children aged one to three years and over a half by late adolescence. In England, nearly 90% of all tooth extractions in young children are due to decay, resulting in around 60,000 missed school days a year.
The World Health Organization has recommended a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks to reduce sugar consumption, which more than 50 countries have implemented. In March 2016, the UK government announced a soft drinks industry levy or ‘sugar tax’, which aimed to reduce sugar intake by encouraging drinks manufacturers to reformulate their products. The levy was implemented in April 2018.
While the relationship between sugar-sweetened drinks and tooth decay is well established, no studies have used real-world data to examine the relationship between the levy and dental health.
To address this, the researchers analysed hospital admissions data for tooth extractions due to tooth decay in children up to 18 years old in England from January 2014 to February 2020. They studied trends overall as well as broken down by neighbourhood deprivation and age groups.
Overall, in children aged 18 and under, there was an absolute reduction in hospital admissions of 3.7 per 100,000 population per month compared to if the soft drinks levy had not happened. This equated to a relative reduction of 12% compared to if the levy had not been introduced.
Based on a population of nearly 13 million children in England in 2020, the researchers estimated that the reduction avoided 5,638 admissions for tooth decay. Reductions in hospital admissions were greatest in younger children aged up to four years and among children aged five to nine years, with absolute reductions of 6.5 and 3.3 per 100,000 respectively.
Dr Nina Rogers from the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, the study’s first author, said: “This is an important finding given that children aged five to nine are the most likely to be admitted to hospital for tooth extractions under general anaesthesia.”
No significant changes in admission rates for tooth decay were seen in older age groups of 10–14 years and 15–18 years. However, reductions in hospital admissions were seen in children living in most areas regardless of deprivation.
As this is an observational study and because there was no comparable control group, the researchers cannot say definitively that the soft drinks levy caused this reduction in tooth decay. They acknowledge that other national interventions such as the sugar reduction programme and compulsory nutrition labels alongside the levy may have raised public awareness of sugar consumption and influenced buying habits.
Nevertheless, they conclude that their study “provides evidence of possible benefits to children’s health from the UK soft drinks industry levy beyond obesity which it was initially developed to address.”
Professor David Conway, co-author, and professor of dental public health at University of Glasgow added: “Tooth extractions under general anaesthesia is among the most common reason for children to be admitted to hospital across the UK. This study shows that ambitious public health policies such as a tax on sugary drinks can impact on improving child oral health.”
The research was funded by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health and Care Research
Reference
Rogers, NT et al. Estimated impact of the UK soft drinks industry levy on childhood hospital admissions for carious tooth extractions: interrupted time series analysis. BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health; 14 Nov 2023; DOI:10.1136/bmjnph-2023-000714
Adapted from a press release from the BMJ.
The UK soft drinks industry levy introduced in 2018 may have saved more than 5,500 hospital admissions for tooth extractions, according to an analysis by researchers at the University of Cambridge.
This is an important finding given that children aged five to nine are the most likely to be admitted to hospital for tooth extractions under general anaesthesiaNina RogersMichal Jarmoluk (Pixabay)Child receiving dental treatment
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COVID-19 showed the importance of genomic surveillance – we need it to help fight antimicrobial resistance
AMR already causes substantial sickness and death worldwide, responsible for approximately 1.27 million deaths in 2019. Some estimates suggest that by 2050, it could kill as many as 10 million people each year.
Professor Sharon Peacock at the University of Cambridge – the driving force behind the UK’s pioneering COVID-19 Genomics UK Consortium – said: “Over the past century, antibiotics have transformed our ability to treat infection and illness and reduce mortality. But bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant, and with a limited pipeline of new antibiotics, we risk effectively returning to the pre-antibiotic era where we can no longer treat infections.
“When the world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, we showed how powerful a tool genomic surveillance could be in helping us fight back. This work grew out of its increasing application to real-world problems such as detecting outbreaks in hospitals and in the community – including food borne outbreaks. We now need to take what we learned from the pandemic including its bold and largescale use and reapply it to the complex problem of AMR.”
The genome, which is ‘written’ in DNA or RNA, consists of a string of nucleotides. Each time a copy of the genome is made, errors can arise – for example, one of the A, C, G and T nucleotides of DNA might get swapped. These changes allow scientists to create lineages – family trees – showing how the genome has evolved and spread. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, they allowed scientists to identify sources of infection, spot so-called ‘variants of concern’ and see whether public health measures such as lockdown, travel restrictions and vaccination were working.
The potential to improve surveillance of AMR pathogens may be even higher than for SARS-CoV-2 as the genome data can detect and track outbreaks, provide a prediction for effective antibiotic treatment, reveal the mechanism for resistance including mutations and the acquisition of new DNA, and help understand the movement of resistance mechanisms between bacteria.
Although surveillance of AMR bacteria is already used in some settings, the growing evidence of its potential has largely not translated into routine use. Writing today in The Lancet Microbe, a working group has set out how genomic surveillance could be applied to the problem of AMR more widely, including the barriers that need to be overcome, presenting a series of recommendations including building capacity, training of existing and new workforces, standardising the way that surveillance is done to detect AMR, and agreeing equitable data sharing and governance.
The group, which is funded by Wellcome, was initiated by Professor Peacock in conjunction with Wellcome SEDRIC (Surveillance and Epidemiology of Drug Resistance Infection Consortium) and delivered by a team of nearly 100 experts co-led by Professor Kate Baker and Dr Elita Jauneikaite. Five papers will be published in the same edition of the journal, highlighting the breadth of review and analysis undertaken by the team.
The series covers multiple areas for the application of genomic AMR surveillance including in hospital settings to help identify outbreaks and inform infection prevention and control and informing clinical decision-making at a patient level. They also highlight applications at a public health level to detect emerging threats and to design and assess suitable interventions like vaccination. It even has the potential to track AMR pathogens moving between humans, animals, and the environment. The team also considered future innovations in genomic surveillance of AMR, looking at how the next phase of genomic technologies and analysis methods might further transform the surveillance landscape.
A number of barriers will first need to be overcome, however. These include a lack of resources and political will, and the need for more training, particularly around bioinformatics (the analysis of genome data). There are also practical barriers, including in many countries a weak epidemiological surveillance and microbiology infrastructure, poor supply chains and pricing structures, and issues around effective cooperation and data sharing.
Professor Kate Baker, University of Cambridge, said: “We are on the cusp of realising the full potential for genomics in tackling AMR, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. We need the scientific, public health and political communities to work together to make this happen. AMR is an urgent problem. It is not something that will happen in years to come – it is happening now.”
Dr Elita Jauneikaite, Imperial College London, said: “We are going to be locked in an ongoing arms race with bacterial pathogens indefinitely. Genomic surveillance offers real promise to help us fight back, providing invaluable information to limit the spread and impact of AMR.”
Professor Peacock added: “It was clear from the pandemic that sequencing was a vital tool that was needed in every country worldwide. AMR is a global problem and once again we need to make sure countries worldwide are in a position both to contribute to, and benefit from genomic surveillance data.”
Janet Midega, AMR Research Lead at Wellcome and SEDRIC Board member, said: “Genomic research and surveillance are pivotal to detect pathogens and understand the transmission and trends of drug resistance in both high- and low-income settings. In order to respond effectively to this data, we need to ensure that the tools being developed are accessible and can be utilised by public health agencies around the world.”
Reference
Baker, K, et al. Overview: Harnessing genomics for antimicrobial resistance surveillance. The Lancet Microbe; 14 Nov 2023; DOI: 10.1016/S2666-5247(23)00281-1
During the COVID-19 pandemic, genomic surveillance proved vital in helping understand the evolution and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Now, an international group of researchers is calling for its potential to be harnessed to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a major global challenge that could ultimately result in many more deaths than the coronavirus pandemic.
We are on the cusp of realising the full potential for genomics in tackling AMR, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be doneKate BakerNIH Image GalleryScanning electron micrograph of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (yellow) and a dead human white blood cell (red)
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Cambridge University Press & Assessment grows global impact
Cambridge University Press & Assessment's Annual Report highlights how the group reached new audiences through technological innovations - from digital exams to generative AI - while delivering the highest quality books, learning materials, assessments and research publications.
Peter Phillips, Chief Executive of Cambridge University Press & Assessment, said: “This year we reached 100 million learners worldwide and our revenue reached £1 billion for the first time. Both of these achievements reflect the extraordinary impact that we are having through our work, whether it’s with teachers, learners or researchers.
“As we celebrate these achievements, above all we think of the individual lives that we can touch; whether that’s a teacher in Brazil, an IGCSE student in Malaysia, a biologist in Botswana or a parent in New Delhi. The changing ways in which learners think, how they experience the world, and how we can help them – that is what really matters to us. We achieved these milestones by having a single-minded focus on supporting the people we exist to serve: from Lagos to Lima, Singapore to Seattle."
Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, said: “Cambridge University Press & Assessment’s extraordinary reach and expertise – now extending to 100 million learners worldwide – underpin its importance to our University. But its impact extends beyond the sphere of higher education. For many people around the globe, Cambridge is known for opening doors to English language learners through IELTS or Linguaskill, for sparking new interests among IGCSE students, and for offering scholars and general readers new insights through Cambridge University Press publications.”
The Press & Assessment grew collaborations with teaching and learning departments across the University of Cambridge. That included work in language science research with the Cambridge Institute for Automated Language Teaching and Assessment (ALTA), and with Cambridge geographers in climate education. Through Cambridge Advance Online, professionals can access flexible courses led by University of Cambridge academics: from risk management to AI systems design.
Read Cambridge University Press & Assessment's Annual Report.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment hits £1 billion revenue milestone while reaching 100 million learners, the organisation's Annual Report 2022-23 reveals.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment's Annual Report
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Solar-powered device produces clean water and clean fuel at the same time
The device, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, could be useful in resource-limited or off-grid environments, since it works with any open water source and does not require any outside power.
It takes its inspiration from photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert sunlight into food. However, unlike earlier versions of the ‘artificial leaf’, which could produce green hydrogen fuel from clean water sources, this new device operates from polluted or seawater sources and can produce clean drinking water at the same time.
Tests of the device showed it was able to produce clean water from highly polluted water, seawater, and even from the River Cam in central Cambridge. The results are reported in the journal Nature Water.
“Bringing together solar fuels production and water purification in a single device is tricky,” said Dr Chanon Pornrungroj from Cambridge’s Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, the paper’s co-lead author. “Solar-driven water splitting, where water molecules are broken down into hydrogen and oxygen, need to start with totally pure water because any contaminants can poison the catalyst or cause unwanted chemical side-reactions.”
“In remote or developing regions, where clean water is relatively scarce and the infrastructure necessary for water purification is not readily available, water splitting is extremely difficult,” said co-lead author Ariffin Mohamad Annuar. “A device that could work using contaminated water could solve two problems at once: it could split water to make clean fuel, and it could make clean drinking water.”
Pornrungroj and Mohamad Annuar, who are both members of Professor Erwin Reisner’s research group, came up with a design that did just that. They deposited a photocatalyst on a nanostructured carbon mesh that is a good absorber of both light and heat, generating the water vapour used by the photocatalyst to create hydrogen. The porous carbon mesh, treated to repel water, served both to help the photocatalyst float and to keep it away from the water below, so that contaminants do not interfere with its functionality.
In addition, the new device uses more of the Sun’s energy. “The light-driven process for making solar fuels only uses a small portion of the solar spectrum – there’s a whole lot of the spectrum that goes unused,” said Mohamad Annuar.
The team used a white, UV-absorbing layer on top of the floating device for hydrogen production via water splitting. The rest of the light in the solar spectrum is transmitted to the bottom of the device, which vaporises the water.
“This way, we’re making better use of the light – we get the vapour for hydrogen production, and the rest is water vapour,” said Pornrungroj. “This way, we’re truly mimicking a real leaf, since we’ve now been able to incorporate the process of transpiration.”
A device that can make clean fuel and clean water at once using solar power alone could help address the energy and the water crises facing so many parts of the world. For example, the indoor air pollution caused by cooking with ‘dirty’ fuels, such as kerosene, is responsible for more than three million deaths annually, according to the World Health Organization. Cooking with green hydrogen instead could help reduce that number significantly. And 1.8 billion people worldwide still lack safe drinking water at home.
“It’s such a simple design as well: in just a few steps, we can build a device that works well on water from a wide variety of sources,” said Mohamad Annuar.
“It’s so tolerant of pollutants, and the floating design allows the substrate to work in very cloudy or muddy water,” said Pornrungroj. “It’s a highly versatile system.”
“Our device is still a proof of principle, but these are the sorts of solutions we will need if we’re going to develop a truly circular economy and sustainable future,” said Reisner, who led the research. “The climate crisis and issues around pollution and health are closely related, and developing an approach that could help address both would be a game-changer for so many people.”
The research was supported in part by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme, The European Research Council, the Cambridge Trust, the Petronas Education Sponsorship Programme, and the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability. Erwin Reisner is a Fellow of St John’s College. Chanon Pornrungroj is a member of Darwin College, and Ariffin Mohamad Annuar is a member of Clare College.
Reference:
Chanon Pornrungroj, Ariffin Bin Mohamad Annuar et al. ‘Hybrid photothermal-photocatalyst sheets for solar-driven overall water splitting coupled to water purification.’ Nature Water (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s44221-023-00139-9
A floating, solar-powered device that can turn contaminated water or seawater into clean hydrogen fuel and purified water, anywhere in the world, has been developed by researchers.
These are the sorts of solutions we will need to develop a truly circular economy and sustainable futureErwin ReisnerChanon PornrungrojDevice for making solar fuels on the River Cam near the Bridge of Sighs
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The Vice-Chancellor’s Dialogues: Is assisted dying compassionate, or dangerous for society?
There are two purposes to these events. The first, is to establish whether there is any common ground between people who may seem to be far apart. If we are to make progress in legislation or in understanding the world we live in, we need to identify where we agree as well as where we disagree. The second, is to ensure discussions involve the widest range of viewpoints – that nothing, within the law, is taboo and that freedom of speech and of thought, and of academic debate, is upheld.
The first event tackled, literally, a matter of life and death: the question of whether assisted dying is compassionate, or dangerous for society.
The speakers were:
- Dr Jonathan Romain, who was appointed Chair of Dignity in Dying, the UK’s leading campaign for a change in the law on assisted dying, in June 2023
- Dr Amy Proffitt, who spoke for Dying Well, the group promoting access to excellent care at the end of life and standing against the legalisation of assisted suicide
- Dr Zoë Fritz, a Wellcome fellow in Society and Ethics at the University of Cambridge, and a Consultant Physician in Acute medicine at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. She works with colleagues in the Faculties of Law and Philosophy to ensure solutions are philosophically grounded and legally robust, as well as clinically practical and acceptable to all stakeholders.
The full recording can be viewed on the University YouTube channel.
On Wednesday 8th November Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice chaired the first Vice-Chancellor’s Dialogues. The event launched a series of dialogues about some of the most difficult issues of our time.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice chaired the first Vice-Chancellor’s Dialogues
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Why do climate models underestimate polar warming? ‘Invisible clouds’ could be the answer
The Earth’s average surface temperature has increased drastically since the start of the Industrial Revolution, but the warming effect seen at the poles is even more exaggerated. While existing climate models consider the increased heating in the Arctic and Antarctic poles, they often underestimate the warming in these regions. This is especially true for climates millions of years ago, when greenhouse gas concentrations were very high.
This is a problem because future climate projections are generated with these same models: if they do not produce enough warming for the past, we might underestimate polar warming – and therefore the associated risks, such as ice sheet or permafrost melting – for the future.
“During my PhD, I was drawn to the fact that the climate models we are using do not represent the magnitude of warming that happens in the Arctic,” said lead author Dr Deepashree Dutta from Cambridge’s Department of Geography, who carried out the work during her PhD at UNSW. “At the same time, we knew that the majority of these models do not represent the upper layers of the atmosphere very well. And we thought this might be a missing link.”
The team turned their focus to a key atmospheric element that is missing in most models — polar stratospheric clouds — and found that they can explain a large part of the missing warming in models.
Their results, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, show that there is still much to learn about the climate of the past, present and future.
Climate models are computer simulations of our global climate system that are built using our theoretical understanding of how the climate works. They can be used to recreate past conditions or predict future climate scenarios.
Climate models incorporate many factors that influence the climate, but they cannot include all real-world processes. One consequence of this is that generally, climate models simulate polar climate change that is smaller than actual observations.
“The more detail you include in the model, the more resources they require to run,” said co-author Dr Martin Jucker from UNSW. “It’s often a toss-up between increasing the horizontal or vertical resolution of the model. And as we live down here at the surface of the earth, the detail closer to the surface is often prioritised.”
In 1992, American paleoclimatologist Dr Lisa Sloan first suggested that the extreme warming at high latitudes during past warm periods may have been caused by polar stratospheric clouds.
Polar stratospheric clouds form at very high altitudes (15-25 km above the Earth's surface), and at very low temperatures (over the poles). They are also called nacreous or mother-of-pearl clouds because of their bright and sometimes luminous hues, although they are not normally visible to the naked eye.
These polar stratospheric clouds have a similar effect on climate as greenhouse gases – they trap heat that would otherwise be lost to space and warm the surface of the Earth.
“These clouds form under complex conditions, which most climate models cannot reproduce. And we wondered if this inability to simulate these clouds may result in less surface warming at the poles than what we’ve observed in the real world,” said Dutta.
Thirty years after Sloan’s research, Dutta wanted to test this theory using one of the few atmospheric models that incorporates polar atmospheric clouds, to see if it might explain the disparities in warming between observational data and climate models.
“I wanted to test this theory by running an atmospheric model that includes all necessary processes with conditions that resembled a time period over 50 million years ago, known as the early Eocene. It was a period of Earth’s history when the planet was very hot and the Arctic was ice-free throughout the year,” said Dutta.
The Eocene was also a period characterised by high methane content, and the position of continents and mountains was different to today.
“Climate models are far too cold in the polar regions, when simulating these past hot climates, and this has been an enigma for the past thirty years,” said Jucker. “The early Eocene was a period in the Earth’s climate with extreme polar warming, so presented the perfect test for our climate models.”
The team found that the elevated methane levels during the Eocene resulted in an increase in polar stratospheric cloud formation. They found that under certain conditions, the local surface warming due to stratospheric clouds was up to 7 degrees Celsius during the coldest winter months. This temperature difference significantly reduces the gap between climate models and temperature evidence from climate archives.
By comparing future simulations to simulations of the Eocene, the researchers also discovered that it isn’t just methane that was needed to produce polar stratospheric clouds. “This is another key finding of this work,” said Dutta. “It’s not just methane, but it's also the Earth’s continental arrangement, which plays an important role in forming these stratospheric clouds. Because if we input the same amount of methane for our future climate, we do not see the same increase in stratospheric clouds.”
The research has provided some of the answers to questions about the climate of the deep past, but what does that mean for future projections?
“We found that stratospheric clouds account for the accelerated warming at the poles that is often left out of our climate models, and of course this could potentially mean that our future projections are also not warm enough,” said Jucker. “But the good news is that these clouds are more likely to form under the continental arrangement that was present tens of millions of years ago, and is not found on Earth now. Therefore, we don’t expect such large increases in stratospheric clouds in the future.”
This new research has not only helped to provide a piece of the puzzle as to why temperature recordings in the Arctic are always warmer than climate models – it has also provided new insights into the Earth’s past climate.
“Our study shows the value of increasing the detail of climate models, where we can,” said Dutta. “Although we already know a lot about these clouds theoretically, until we include them in our climate models, we won’t know the full scale of their impact.”
Reference:
Deepashree Dutta et al. ‘Early Eocene low orography and high methane enhance Arctic warming via polar stratospheric clouds.’ Nature Geoscience (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-023-01298-w
Adapted from a UNSW press release.
Stratospheric clouds over the Arctic may explain the differences seen between the polar warming calculated by climate models and actual recordings, according to researchers from the University of Cambridge and UNSW Sydney.
Our study shows the value of increasing the detail of climate models where we canDeepashree DuttaCavan Images / Per-Andre Hoffmann via Getty ImagesMother of pearl clouds (nacreous clouds), Polar Stratospheric Clouds.
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Machine learning gives users ‘superhuman’ ability to open and control tools in virtual reality
The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, used machine learning to develop ‘HotGestures’ – analogous to the hot keys used in many desktop applications.
HotGestures give users the ability to build figures and shapes in virtual reality without ever having to interact with a menu, helping them stay focused on a task without breaking their train of thought.
The idea of being able to open and control tools in virtual reality has been a movie trope for decades, but the researchers say that this is the first time such a ‘superhuman’ ability has been made possible. The results are reported in the journal IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.
Virtual reality (VR) and related applications have been touted as game-changers for years, but outside of gaming, their promise has not fully materialised. “Users gain some qualities when using VR, but very few people want to use it for an extended period of time,” said Professor Per Ola Kristensson from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, who led the research. “Beyond the visual fatigue and ergonomic issues, VR isn’t really offering anything you can’t get in the real world.”
Most users of desktop software will be familiar with the concept of hot keys – command shortcuts such as ctrl-c to copy and ctrl-v to paste. While these shortcuts omit the need to open a menu to find the right tool or command, they rely on the user having the correct command memorised.
“We wanted to take the concept of hot keys and turn it into something more meaningful for virtual reality – something that wouldn’t rely on the user having a shortcut in their head already,” said Kristensson, who is also co-Director of the Centre for Human-Inspired Artificial Intelligence.
Instead of hot keys, Kristensson and his colleagues developed ‘HotGestures’, where users perform a gesture with their hand to open and control the tool they need in 3D virtual reality environments.
For example, performing a cutting motion opens the scissor tool, and the spray motion opens the spray can tool. There is no need for the user to open a menu to find the tool they need, or to remember a specific shortcut. Users can seamlessly switch between different tools by performing different gestures during a task, without having to pause their work to browse a menu or to press a button on a controller or keyboard.
“We all communicate using our hands in the real world, so it made sense to extend this form of communication to the virtual world,” said Kristensson.
For the study, the researchers built a neural network gesture recognition system that can recognise gestures by performing predictions on an incoming hand joint data stream. The system was built to recognise ten different gestures associated with building 3D models: pen, cube, cylinder, sphere, palette, spray, cut, scale, duplicate and delete.
The team carried out two small studies where participants used HotGestures, menu commands or a combination. The gesture-based technique provided fast and effective shortcuts for tool selection and usage. Participants found HotGestures to be distinctive, fast, and easy to use while also complementing conventional menu-based interaction. The researchers designed the system so that there were no false activations – the gesture-based system was able to correctly recognise what was a command and what was normal hand movement. Overall, the gesture-based system was faster than a menu-based system.
“There is no VR system currently available that can do this,” said Kristensson. “If using VR is just like using a keyboard and a mouse, then what’s the point of using it? It needs to give you almost superhuman powers that you can’t get elsewhere.”
The researchers have made the source code and dataset publicly available so that designers of VR applications can incorporate it into their products.
“We want this to be a standard way of interacting with VR,” said Kristensson. “We’ve had the tired old metaphor of the filing cabinet for decades. We need new ways of interacting with technology, and we think this is a step in that direction. When done right, VR can be like magic.”
The research was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Reference:
Zhaomou Song; John J. Dudley; Per Ola Kristensson. ‘HotGestures: Complementing Command Selection and Use with Delimiter-Free Gesture-Based Shortcuts in Virtual Reality.’ IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (2023). DOI: 10.1109/TVCG.2023.3320257
Researchers have developed a virtual reality application where a range of 3D modelling tools can be opened and controlled using just the movement of a user’s hand.
We need new ways of interacting with technology, and we think this is a step in that directionPer Ola Kristensson HotGestures give users ‘superhuman’ ability to open and control tools in virtual reality University of CambridgeModelling a sailboat in virtual reality
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Experts predict ‘catastrophic ecosystem collapse’ of UK forests within the next 50 years if action not taken
A team of experts from across Europe has produced a list of 15 over-looked and emerging issues that are likely to have a significant impact on UK forests over the next 50 years.
This is the first ‘horizon scanning’ exercise – a technique to identify relatively unknown threats, opportunities, and new trends – of UK forests. The aim is to help researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and society in general, better prepare for the future and address threats before they become critical.
Dr Eleanor Tew, first author, visiting researcher at Cambridge’s Department of Zoology and Head of Forest Planning at Forestry England said: “The next 50 years will bring huge changes to UK forests: the threats they face, the way that we manage them, and the benefits they deliver to society.”
Forestry England, a part of the Forestry Commission, collaborated with the University of Cambridge on the study, which was published today in the journal, Forestry.
A panel comprising 42 experts, who represented a range of professions, organisations, and geographies, reached out to their networks to seek over-looked and emerging issues that were likely to affect UK forests over the next half a century. The resulting 180-item longlist was then whittled down through a series of review exercises to a shortlist of 30 issues. In a final workshop, panellists identified the top 15 issues they believed were likely to have the greatest impact on UK forests in the next 50 years.
The research method did not support the overall ranking of the 15 issues in order of importance or likelihood of occurrence. However, when the issues were scored individually by the panel of experts, it was notable that ‘catastrophic forest ecosystem collapse’ was the most highly ranked issue, with 64% of experts ranking it as their top issue and 88% ranking it within their top three.
‘Catastrophic forest ecosystem collapse’ refers to multiple interrelated hazards that have a cascading effect on forests, leading to their total or partial collapse. This has already been witnessed in continental Europe and North America.
Tew said: “We hope the results from this horizon scanning exercise serve as an urgent call to action to build on, and dramatically upscale, action to increase forest resilience.”
Another issue identified was that droughts caused by climate change may lead to competition for water resources between forests and society. On the other hand, forests may help to mitigate the impact of floods caused by climate change.
Tree viral diseases were also identified as an issue. In the UK, pests and pathogens are increasing due to globalisation and climate change, with viruses and viroids (RNA molecules) being the largest group on the UK Plant Health Risk Register. However, little is known about how viral diseases affect forest tree species and indeed the wider ecosystem.
A further issue was the effect of climate change on forest management, with extreme weather leading to smaller windows of time when forestry can be carried out. Experts warn that the seasons for carrying out work such as harvesting and thinning are getting narrower as we see wetter winters and scorching summers.
However not all emerging issues are threats – some are new opportunities. For example, trees will be at the heart of future urban planning. Experts predict that ‘forest lungs’ will be created thanks to an increased understanding of the benefits of trees for society. They say there will likely be a greater blurring of boundaries between urban and rural areas, with an increase in green infrastructure and connectivity.
International commitments around nature are also likely to have repercussions at the local level. For example, the mandatory reporting of companies’ supply chain impacts on nature, such as through the new framework being developed by the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), could create additional incentives for nature-friendly forest management.
Tew concluded: “These results are both concerning and exciting. However, we should be optimistic, remembering that these are possibilities and not certainties. Crucially, we have time to act ‒ by responding to the threats and embracing the opportunities, future generations can have resilient forests with all the benefits they offer.”
Senior author and pioneer of horizon scanning, Professor Bill Sutherland, from the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge said: “We are already seeing dramatic events in Europe’s forests whether fires, disease or bark beetles, whilst the importance of trees is increasingly recognised. Horizon scanning to identify future issues is key, especially as trees planted now will face very different circumstances as they mature in scores of years.”
This research was funded by Forestry England. The Forestry Commission are bringing the sector together in 2024 to look at next steps.
Other threats to UK forests include competition with society for water, viral diseases, and extreme weather affecting forest management.
The next 50 years will bring huge changes to UK forests: the threats they face, the way that we manage them, and the benefits they deliver to society.Dr Eleanor Tew, visiting researcher at Cambridge’s Department of Zoology and Head of Forest Planning at Forestry EnglandGraham Custance Photography / Moment via Getty Images Ashridge, Hertfordshire, UK
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