Cambridge University

Scientists have discovered the fossil remains of what may be the largest penguins that ever lived. The bones, found on a beach in New Zealand, belonged to a giant bird that was more than three times the size of the biggest living penguins today.

Ice and water aren't very exciting to most of us, but they’re super strange from a scientific standpoint. Researchers have now discovered a brand new type of ice that’s described as being a true “snapshot” of water, and may be found on alien worlds.

In what sounds like sci-fi, transfusions of youthful blood can improve the health of older people. A new study has found that an existing arthritis drug can effectively rejuvenate blood stem cells, mimicking the benefits of young blood transfusions.

Greenhouse gases and plastic waste are two of the biggest environmental problems the world faces today. A new reactor from Cambridge tackles both at once, converting CO2 and used plastic bottles into useful materials, powered entirely by sunlight.

The record for world’s oldest surviving DNA has been shattered. An international team of scientists has discovered DNA dating back 2 million years, preserved in Ice Age sediment that captures an entire ecosystem of known – and unknown – lifeforms.

An impressive new study is pointing to a new kind of treatment to protect the vulnerable from COVID-19. The research revealed an old drug derived from bear bile and used for liver disease can block a crucial pathway used by SARS-CoV-2 to enter human cells.

Rare earth elements are vital for electronics, but they’re in short supply. Now scientists have recreated a promising alternative – a “cosmic magnet” that normally takes millions of years to form in meteorites is cooked up in the lab in seconds.

New evidence has emerged in the debate about whether there’s liquid water on Mars. In a study led by the University of Cambridge, scientists examined the topology of Martian ice sheets and found signatures that match subglacial lakes here on Earth.

Scientists at Cambridge have identified a protein that plays a key role in cancer metastasis, which not only hints at a new potential treatment but reveals for the first time that this process isn’t unique to cancer, as previously thought.

Leaves are impressive machines, converting sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into energy. Cambridge scientists have now created artificial leaves that can float on water, tapping into sunlight above it and water below to efficiently produce fuels.

Organ transplants can be life-saving, but matching blood types means many people are left on waiting lists. Cambridge scientists have now demonstrated a technique that could one day make donated organs universal, by converting them to blood type O.

Cold sores are for life – but how long has the virus itself been with humanity? Cambridge scientists have now sequenced the genome of the facial herpes virus, including samples taken from several ancient human remains, and traced it back 5,000 years.