̽»¨Ö±²¥

A space mission to create the largest, most-accurate, three-dimensional map of the Milky Way is celebrating its first completed year of observations.

National institute for the development and use of advanced mathematics, computer science, algorithms and ‘Big Data’ has announced its first director, and will start research activities in the autumn. 

People talk about ‘data being the new oil’, a natural resource that companies need to exploit and refine. But is this really true or are we in the realm of hype? Mohamed Zaki explains that, while many companies are already benefiting from big data, it also presents some tough challenges.

What power can individuals have over their data when their every move online is being tracked? Researchers at the Cambridge Computer Laboratory are building new systems that shift the power back to individual users, and could make personal data faster to access and at much lower cost.

Researchers are using social media data to build a picture of the personalities of millions, changing core ideas of how psychological profiling works. They say it could revolutionise employment and commerce, but the work must be done transparently.

̽»¨Ö±²¥â€˜world’s largest IT project’ — a system with the power of one hundred million home computers — may help to unravel many of the mysteries of our universe: how it began, how it developed and whether humanity is alone in the cosmos.

̽»¨Ö±²¥UK lags behind other countries in preparing social scientists for the world of big data, says Dr Brendan Burchell, Director of a new centre set up to teach undergraduates the advanced quantitative skills they will need to work with massive datasets.

Millions of English language tests are taken each year by non-native English speakers. Researchers at Cambridge’s ALTA Institute are building ‘computer tutors’ to help learners prepare for the exam that could change their lives. 

Researchers have developed a new technique that trawls the enormous amounts of public procurement data now available across the EU to highlight unscrupulous uses of public funds: from national and regional levels to individual contracts, companies and politicians.

When is a rare disease not a rare disease? ̽»¨Ö±²¥answer: when big data gets involved. An ambitious new research project aims to show patients that they are not alone.