̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - ̽��ֱ�� of Bath

ActNowFilm premieres at COP29

plc32 — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 11:04:07 +0000

Youth leaders from around the planet celebrated the COP29 premiere of a new film demanding global negotiators give them a say in their own future.

ActNowFilm to premiere at COP29

plc32 — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 10:46:47 +0000

Youth leaders from around the planet join world figures in the COP29 premiere of a new film demanding global negotiators give young people a say in their own future.

Mary Robinson launches ActNowFilm at COP28

plc32 — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 15:53:36 +0000

ActNowFilm launched at COP28 with an address from former Ireland President Mary Robinson, who urged world leaders to include young people in the climate negotiations that will decide their future.

ActNowFilm

plc32 — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 13:11:57 +0000

Youth leaders and world figures featured in new ActNowFilm, to premiere at COP28 call for young people to be included in national climate negotiation teams and global decision-making.

Historic buildings could use solar panels to protect from rising energy costs

sc604 — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 10:20:05 +0000

Researchers have carried out a feasibility study and found that installing solar panels on the Grade I listed Bath Abbey could save around 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the Abbey and other key heritage buildings that are difficult to insulate.

̽��ֱ��team, including researchers from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, examined the dimensions, tilt and orientation of the Bath Abbey roof, along with historic weather data and shading of the roof from spires, to model the best configuration for 164 photovoltaic (PV) panels and estimated the amount of electricity that could be generated in a normal year.

They found that the setup could produce around 45 megawatt hours per year, which accounts for roughly 35% of the Abbey’s annual usage. ̽��ֱ��equivalent amount of carbon dioxide saved, versus buying the electricity from the National Grid, would be around 10 tonnes per year, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the building.

A cost-benefit analysis showed that the system could pay for itself in 13 years and provide a profit of £139,000 over a lifespan of 25 years. It would also future-proof the Abbey from rising costs of energy bills. ̽��ֱ��findings show that despite a large initial outlay, the system would be financially feasible for the historic Grade I listed building.

Their findings are published in the journal Energy Science & Engineering.

“It’s very difficult to insulate historic Grade I listed buildings like Bath Abbey, so installing solar panels is a good way to reduce the carbon footprint of these buildings,” said first author Matthew Smiles from the ̽��ֱ�� of Liverpool. “With increasing energy prices, installing solar panels could result in large cost savings.”

In the model, the panels were sited such that they couldn’t be seen from the street, so they would have a minimal visual impact on the historic building.

“Not only does it make financial sense, but the installation of solar panels on Bath Abbey could inspire reinvigoration of solar PV deployment in the UK which has stagnated over the past five years,” said co-author Adam Urwick.

“It was exciting to contribute to work on such an iconic building in my hometown,” said co-author Alan Bowman, from Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory. “We’ve shown that it’s possible for historical buildings to reduce their carbon footprint without impacting how they look from the ground, demonstrating that almost everyone is able to help tackle the climate emergency. I’m hopeful our work will encourage other historical buildings to consider installing solar panels.”

̽��ֱ��research was performed as part of the Bath Abbey Footprint programme, part of the Church of England’s Shrinking the Footprint campaign, which aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its historic buildings.

̽��ֱ��Bath Abbey Footprint programme has already reduced its carbon footprint by using the geothermal hot springs of the local area to provide underfloor heating and installing LED light bulbs to illuminate the interior.

Although environmental and planning rules must also be considered carefully, installing solar panels is another potential way the Abbey could reduce its footprint further.

Nathan Ward, Footprint Project Director at Bath Abbey, said: “ ̽��ֱ��research will help us greatly in exploring the use of solar panels on the Bath Abbey roof. ̽��ֱ��Abbey is highly committed in the outstanding care of both our built and natural environment and to reduce our carbon footprint.”

̽��ֱ��research was carried out by a team of PhD students from the Centre for Doctoral Training in New and Sustainable Photovoltaics: a consortium of seven universities and 12 industrial partners led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Bath and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). ̽��ֱ��universities are: the Universities of Bath, Cambridge, Liverpool, Loughborough, Oxford, Sheffield and Southampton.

Reference:
Matthew J Smiles et al. ‘Next steps in the footprint project: A feasibility study of installing solar panels on Bath Abbey.’ Energy Science & Engineering (2022). DOI: 10.1002/ese3.1069

Adapted from a ̽��ֱ�� of Bath press release.

Installing solar panels could help historic buildings beat the rising costs of energy, according to a new study.

I’m hopeful our work will encourage other historical buildings to consider installing solar panels

Alan Bowman

Bath Abbey

Exterior of Bath Abbey

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Interactive tool helps you decide how to protect yourself and others from COVID-19

sc604 — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 00:08:47 +0000

A new interactive graphic developed by UK researchers and published by ̽��ֱ��BMJ will help people decide what to do in everyday situations to protect themselves, and others, from COVID-19.

Based on estimates provided by 26 international experts, it shows the different pathways that may be taken by the virus that causes COVID-19 when it transfers between two people.

It is designed to help illustrate the risks of catching COVID-19 in different scenarios - and what can be done to reduce those risks - based on the available evidence.

As well as the areas of scientific consensus, it also conveys the uncertainties and the disagreement that exists between experts about how the virus behaves, how it is transmitted, and how we can best reduce the likelihood of transmission through personal and social measures.

̽��ֱ��researchers say the tool should support decision-makers and the public to make informed decisions about how to reduce virus transmission in different contexts, such as how to make a workplace or a public area as safe as it can be while still being open and functional.

To create the tool, the researchers, led by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, consulted 26 experts from a range of disciplines and countries, asking them for every value needed to underpin the graphic.

These included the importance of different virus transmission routes (eg. small and large airborne droplets, contact with contaminated surfaces) during a range of activities (eg. talking, coughing, exercising, eating) in different environments (eg. outdoors or indoors in different sized rooms, with or without ventilation).

They also gathered estimates on the importance of different protective measures, such as face coverings and screens, physical distancing, hand hygiene, surface cleaning, in reducing transmission.

Analysis of all the values showed that airborne transmission routes were most important in almost all situations, while face coverings, especially when worn by an infected person as a form of source control, were the most important mitigation measure.

But importantly, all routes were considered to play a part in transmission, and simple measures such as physical distancing, hand washing, and respiratory hygiene all made a useful contribution.

̽��ֱ��researchers found important evidence gaps and differences in opinion among experts around several variables, including the role of aerosol transmission; the effects of different kinds of masks on inhaled aerosols; and the effects of face coverings on transfer from hand to eyes, nose, and mouth.

“Everyone has been keen to know how much difference each possible action we’ve been told about makes, and finally we have been able to gather together enough knowledge from experts from around the world and in a range of fields to answer those questions,” said co-lead author Dr Alexandra Freeman from Cambridge’s Winton Centre for Risk & Evidence Communication.

She added: “ ̽��ֱ��tool is interactive, so that you can explore the scenarios that are most relevant to you, whether it’s because you sing in a choir, or want to know about the risks of eating in a small restaurant. How much difference would it make if you opened the windows, or cleaned the surfaces? Have a look and find out.”

“It is all too easy to focus on just a single route of spread for COVID and forget about all the others,” said co-author Harry Rutter from the ̽��ֱ�� of Bath. “One of the ways a tool like this can help is by making it clear that all the transmission routes matter, in different proportions in different contexts. ̽��ֱ��fact that one of those routes - airborne transmission - is the main one in most situations doesn’t mean that we can ignore the others.”

̽��ֱ��authors acknowledge some study limitations and say generating robust evidence on the complex and highly contingent routes of COVID-19 virus transmission is not straightforward. But they say they hope their approach will prove helpful to those faced with the challenge of communicating complex, imprecise, and uncertain evidence in the future.

̽��ֱ��research was supported by the PROTECT COVID-19 National Core Study on transmission and environment (managed by the Health and Safety Executive on behalf of HM Government), and the David and Claudia Harding Foundation. Cambridge co-authors on the paper also included Dr Shaun Fitzgerald from the Department of Engineering and Professor David Spiegelhalter from the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication.

Reference:
Alexandra LJ Freeman et al. ‘Expert elicitation on the relative importance of possible SARS-CoV-2 transmission routes and the effectiveness of mitigations.’ BMJ Open (2021). DOI: 10.1136/ bmjopen-2021-050869

Harry Rutter et al. ‘Visualising SARS-CoV-2 transmission routes and mitigations.’ BMJ (2021). DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2021-065312

Adapted from a BMJ press release.

Is it risky to sing in a choir? What are the risks of eating in a small restaurant? How much difference does it make to open windows or clean surfaces? New interactive tool helps people make decisions on COVID-19.

Everyone has been keen to know how much difference each possible action we’ve been told about makes, and finally we have been able to gather together enough knowledge from experts from around the world and in a range of fields to answer those questions

Alexandra Freeman

Will Stahl-Timmins, ̽��ֱ��BMJ

COVID-19 risk calculator

Yes

Little ANTs: researchers build the world’s tiniest engine

sc604 — Mon, 02 May 2016 19:01:00 +0000

Researchers have developed the world’s tiniest engine – just a few billionths of a metre in size – which uses light to power itself. ̽��ֱ��nanoscale engine, developed by researchers at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, could form the basis of future nano-machines that can navigate in water, sense the environment around them, or even enter living cells to fight disease.

̽��ֱ��prototype device is made of tiny charged particles of gold, bound together with temperature-responsive polymers in the form of a gel. When the ‘nano-engine’ is heated to a certain temperature with a laser, it stores large amounts of elastic energy in a fraction of a second, as the polymer coatings expel all the water from the gel and collapse. This has the effect of forcing the gold nanoparticles to bind together into tight clusters. But when the device is cooled, the polymers take on water and expand, and the gold nanoparticles are strongly and quickly pushed apart, like a spring. ̽��ֱ��results are reported in the journal PNAS.

“It’s like an explosion,” said Dr Tao Ding from Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory, and the paper’s first author. “We have hundreds of gold balls flying apart in a millionth of a second when water molecules inflate the polymers around them.”

“We know that light can heat up water to power steam engines,” said study co-author Dr Ventsislav Valev, now based at the ̽��ֱ�� of Bath. “But now we can use light to power a piston engine at the nanoscale.”

Nano-machines have long been a dream of scientists and public alike, but since ways to actually make them move have yet to be developed, they have remained in the realm of science fiction. ̽��ֱ��new method developed by the Cambridge researchers is incredibly simple, but can be extremely fast and exert large forces.

̽��ֱ��forces exerted by these tiny devices are several orders of magnitude larger than those for any other previously produced device, with a force per unit weight nearly a hundred times better than any motor or muscle. According to the researchers, the devices are also bio-compatible, cost-effective to manufacture, fast to respond, and energy efficient.

Professor Jeremy Baumberg from the Cavendish Laboratory, who led the research, has named the devices ‘ANTs’, or actuating nano-transducers. “Like real ants, they produce large forces for their weight. ̽��ֱ��challenge we now face is how to control that force for nano-machinery applications.”

̽��ֱ��research suggests how to turn Van de Waals energy – the attraction between atoms and molecules – into elastic energy of polymers and release it very quickly. “ ̽��ֱ��whole process is like a nano-spring,” said Baumberg. “ ̽��ֱ��smart part here is we make use of Van de Waals attraction of heavy metal particles to set the springs (polymers) and water molecules to release them, which is very reversible and reproducible.”

̽��ֱ��team is currently working with Cambridge Enterprise, the ̽��ֱ��’s commercialisation arm, and several other companies with the aim of commercialising this technology for microfluidics bio-applications.

̽��ֱ��research is funded as part of a UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) investment in the Cambridge NanoPhotonics Centre, as well as the European Research Council (ERC).

Reference:
Tao Ding et al. ‘Light-induced actuating nanotransducers.’ PNAS (2016). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1524209113

Researchers have built a nano-engine that could form the basis for future applications in nano-robotics, including robots small enough to enter living cells.

Like real ants, they produce large forces for their weight.

Jeremy Baumberg

Yu Ji/ ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge NanoPhotonics

Expanding polymer-coated gold nanoparticles

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Opinion: How fruit flies can help keep African scientists at home

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 12:01:02 +0000

̽��ֱ��humble fruit fly is being put to an unusual use in sub-Saharan Africa: it’s being used as bait. Its intended lure? It’s hoped that the tiny creature, whose scientific name is Drosophila melanogaster, can stop the exodus of researchers from Africa.

At the moment most of the biomedical research being done in African laboratories is performed using rats. Now a project called DrosAfrica is underway to promote the use of the fruit fly as a model organism for research into human diseases.

There are several reasons for this. Firstly, rats are far more expensive to keep than fruit flies. As an affordable alternative, the fruit fly requires fewer resources to maintain and not as much expensive preparation for experiments.

Also, as a model system, Drosophila enables researchers to perform sophisticated genetics, live imaging, genome-wide analysis and other state-of-the-art approaches. Drosophila research has identified thousands of genes with human equivalents. This has provided key insights into cancer biology, pathology, neurobiology and immunology.

Drosophila is a prime model organism with tens of thousands of researchers working on every aspect of their biology. This work is aided by electronic open resources such as Flybase and stock centres like the one in Bloomington, Indiana in the US. ̽��ֱ��centre will send Drosophila to any lab in the world for the cost of shipping. These stock centres are funded by governmental grants enabling 100 000s flies to be kept alive in warehouses.

And entire research unit has been built with a focus on understanding a specific aspect of the fly. ̽��ֱ��most famous is called Janelia Farm, founded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the US.

A bigger agenda

̽��ֱ��project that’s using fruit flies as bait for scientists is known as DrosAfrica. It wants to drive the paradigm shift from rats to flies as experimental organisms. To do this, project leaders have organised workshops to share fruit fly techniques with universities and research institutes across sub Saharan Africa.

But there’s more to the work than merely extolling the virtues of fruit flies.

We also try to provide basic equipment such as dissecting microscopes, buffers, slides and antibodies for labelling proteins to facilitate the creation of local research communities. Such strong communities will ultimately be able to provide PhD programmes and research opportunities for African researchers. This will mean students don’t automatically feel they have to emigrate when seeking research opportunities.

Powerful local research programmes will also help to place the continent in the spotlight of international research. This could ultimately lead to a return of expatriates with a strong scientific background.

Activities organised by DrosAfrica: Past and Future

During the last three years, DrosAfrica has organised three workshops at the Institute of Biomedical Research Kampala International ̽��ֱ��-Western Campus, Uganda. Two focused exclusively on the use of Drosophila for biomedical research. ̽��ֱ��other concentrated on image and data analysis techniques.

Attendants and faculty members of the first DrosAfrica workshop ‘Drosophila in Biomedical Research: Affordable AND Impacting!’ (Summer 2013)

̽��ֱ��workshops' participants came from sub-Saharan Africa and included Nigerians, Kenyans, Ugandans and a delegate from South Sudan. They were able to work on several common projects and then networked after the workshops using information and resources on a dedicated website. These interactions planted the seed for developing an African Drosophila research community. At this institute, we’ve been lucky to build on the work that the non-profit organisation Trend has already done. Their team of volunteer scientists equipped the institute’s lab and introduced insect research models to the local scientists.

In 2016 the project plans to deliver workshops at Kenya’s International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology. ̽��ֱ��team is also visiting Nigeria during the second half of February to pave the way for future research collaborations.

̽��ֱ��work done over the past few years has already paid dividends. Alumni from the workshops have presented their work at international scientific conferences and supervised undergraduate, Masters and PhD projects. PhD candidates have graduated on the basis of their research done on flies. One student has submitted an abstract to the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

DrosAfrica vision

̽��ֱ��DrosAfrica project is taking important steps to increase the African contribution to scientific advancement. In the coming years we hope to further boost local research opportunities to promote genuine African research led by African researchers, all of them investigating matters of interest to Africans.

And to think: it all started with a tiny little fruit fly.

*DrosAfrica would like to acknowledge the generosity of Faculty members and sponsors, without whom the workshops described above wouldn’t have been possible. They are:

(Cambridge Africa, Sayansi, Wellcome Trust, TWAS, KIU, Pembroke College-Cambridge, St John’s College-Cambridge, Emmanuel College-Cambridge, EMBO, Fruit4Science, and very specially to FRS Tony Kouzarides).*

Silvia Muñoz-Descalzo, Lecturer in Biology & Biochemistry; Developmental Biology Theme, ̽��ֱ�� of Bath and Timothy Weil, Lecturer, Department of Zoology, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

This article was originally published on ̽��ֱ��Conversation. Read the original article.

̽��ֱ��opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author(s) and do not represent the views of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Timothy Weil (Department of Zoology) and Silvia Muñoz-Descalzo ( ̽��ֱ�� of Bath) discuss the project that aims to make the fruit fly a model organism for research in Africa.

Tim Weil and Anna York-Andersen, Weil Lab

Actin cables in Drosophila nurse cells during late-oogenesis. At this stage, nurse cells die and extrude their cytoplasm into the developing oocyte.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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