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The precise size and shape of a molecule are determined on a patterned microchip

Boosting an intracellular signaling pathway preserves the antidepressant response to ketamine

Ultrasound waves can penetrate thick tissues and print implants on demand inside a body

How an old gene acquired a new function to exploit an insect’s sense of smell

The endless churn of damaging actions from the Trump administration toward science—from freezing and canceling grants to ending programs that encourage greater participation in science—has wreaked havoc in American universities and reverberated around ...

Vertical mixing and associated biogeochemical fluxes via radium isotopes

The coastal ocean is a highly dynamic and vital biogeochemical mediator between land and sea. Coastal waters frequently experience poor water quality derived from land-based anthropogenic pressure, which is often attributed to surface water sources, such as rivers. Subsurface sources (e.g., submarine groundwater discharge, benthic fluxes), however, often rival or exceed river contributions to coastal water and chemical budgets. Yet subsurface sources are understudied because they are challenging to quantify.

In this talk, I will first give a broad overview on quantifying subsurface flows using U-Th series geochemical tracers (radium, radon). Then I will present an ecosystem-scale study across the Baltic Sea, where we used 224Ra to quantify vertical mixing across a largely hypoxic deep water column. We collected radium and solute (e.g., dissolved silicate) bottom water profiles from 50 stations along a ~5000 km cruise track in the Baltic Sea. 224Ra-derived vertical mixing rates were on the order of 10-4 m2/s, well-within range of previous local-scale estimates based on modeling and sediment core incubations. Diffusive solute fluxes were also similar in magnitude to previous studies. Overall, this talk will highlight an innovative method for quantifying diffusive fluxes and contextualize findings in terms of broader biogeochemical significance.

• Speaker: Tristan McKenzie, Uni of Gothenberg
• Thursday 15 May 2025, 11:30-12:30
• Venue: Open Plan Area, Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows, Madingley Rise CB3 0EZ.
• Series: Institute for Energy and Environmental Flows (IEEF); organiser: Catherine Pearson.

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Psychological experiment suggests actively considering the beauty of art increases abstract thinking and “transformative” emotion – helping us escape the “mental trappings” of day-to-day living.

Internal emails from 2021 reveal tensions among researchers hunting for elusive Majorana particle

Global modelling of ice-nucleating particles and their impact on cirrus clouds and the climate system

Abstract: Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) have important influences on cirrus clouds and the climate system; however, the understanding of their global impacts is still uncertain. We perform numerical simulations with a global aerosol–climate model to analyse INP -induced cirrus modifications and the resulting climate impacts. We evaluate various sources of uncertainties, e.g. the ice-nucleating ability of INPs and the role of model dynamics, and provide a new estimate for the global INP –cirrus effect.

Biography: Study of Physics (Bachelors and Masters) at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (2010-2016) PhD student at the German Aerospace Center (DLR); Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Earth System Modelling Department, Oberpfaffenhofen (2017-2021); Dissertation title: “Global modelling of ice nucleating particles and their effects on cirrus clouds” Postdoc at DLR (since 2021)

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MmUxMWIxYTgtZDM3OS00MTYzLTg1NGQtYzEzNWZhZDRhNDlh%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2249a50445-bdfa-4b79-ade3-547b4f3986e9%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%228b208bd5-8570-491b-abae-83a85a1ca025%22%7d

• Speaker: Dr. Christof Beer
• Tuesday 10 June 2025, 11:00-12:00
• Venue: Chemistry Dept, Unilever Lecture Theatre and Teams.
• Series: Centre for Atmospheric Science seminars, Chemistry Dept.; organiser: Yao Ge.

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When fire plumes glow in the dark: Tracing organic aerosol chemical regime dominance clues via light-absorbing species

Abstract: Wildfire events have increased in frequency in recent years, especially in regions dominated by elevated temperatures, dry and windy conditions (Donahue et al., 2009; Hodshire et al., 2019). During such events, the generated fire plume contains a mixture of gaseous and particulate species (Figure 1), driving the chemical processing both during the initial and aging stage (Hodshire et al., 2019). Organic aerosols (OA) comprise a large portion of the available chemical species inside a fire plume and their evolution is primarily determined by two competing regimes (Garofalo et al., 2019): (1) oxidation-driven condensation and (2) dilution-driven evaporation. Key components of OA are light-absorbing species (LAS), notably black and brown carbon. Although LAS are not a traditional metric of OA chemical regime identification, their concentrations, together with key gas-phase tracers and water soluble organic carbon, provide crucial insights into the dominant in-plume chemical regime. We evaluated the relationship between fuel type, LAS levels, and fire tracers to assess their connection regime prevalence. Data obtained from the 2019 FIREX -AQ campaign (Warneke et al. 2022) were used to analyse 13 fire plumes across seven flights in late July and early August over the northwestern United States. All flights were conducted at night, restricting the sunlight-driven photochemistry and thus quenching rapid oxidation by hydroxyl radicals. Thus, the fuel composition emerges as the primary driver of LAS and OA regime evolution within the fire plumes.

Biography: Dr. Eleni Dovrou is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Technical University of Crete in the School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering in the Atmospheric Environment and Climate Change Laboratory (Voulgarakis Group). She is an environmental engineer with specialization in atmospheric chemistry and health effects. She obtained her PhD from Harvard University (Keutsch Group), where she focused on molecular level reactions in the troposphere. Upon completion of her PhD, in 2020, she worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry (Poeschl Group) focusing on laboratory and modeling studies of the effect of atmospheric reactive species on the respiratory and circulatory system. In 2022 she obtained a Postdoc position at the Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (Pandis Group), where she worked on indoor air quality. She has experimental, field and modeling experience. Her current research focuses on understanding the effect of extreme events, and especially fires, targeting the potential chemical mechanisms that dominate and influence future air quality. Starting this fall, she will be an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at the University of Crete.

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• Speaker: Dr. Eleni Dovrou, Technical University of Crete
• Tuesday 27 May 2025, 11:00-12:00
• Venue: Chemistry Dept, Unilever Lecture Theatre and Teams.
• Series: Centre for Atmospheric Science seminars, Chemistry Dept.; organiser: Yao Ge.

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Interpreting multimodel ensembles

Abstract: Ensembles of simulations from multiple climate models (‘simulators’) underpin much of our understanding of the climate system, and in particular the potential evolution of future climate in response to different scenarios of socioeconomic development and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. No simulator is perfect, however; and ensemble outputs contain structured variation reflecting simulator inter-relationships, as well as shared discrepancies between the simulators and the real climate system. This structure must be accounted for when using ensembles to learn about aspects of the real climate, especially when defensible assessments of uncertainty are needed to support decision-making. This talk will discuss the issues involved, and describe a statistical framework for addressing the problem. A theoretical analysis leads to a mathematical result with major implications for the design and analysis of multimodel ensembles; whilst the practical application of the framework will be demonstrated using future climate projections for the United Kingdom from two contrasting ensembles (UKCP18 and EuroCORDEX). These ensembles have different structures and properties: the approach is shown to reconcile the substantial differences between the original ensemble outputs, in terms of both the real-world climate of the future and the associated uncertainties.

Biography: Richard is a Professor in the Department of Statistical Science at University College London, where he has worked since completing his PhD at UMIST in 1994. He has extensive experience of developing and applying statistical methods for the environmental sciences. Particular interests include the analysis of time series and space-time data, with application areas including hydrology and the impacts of climate change. Other areas of interest include the assessment of uncertainty when interpreting model outputs; the use of mis-specified models; and the use of nonprobability samples to draw population inferences in ecology.

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• Speaker: Prof Richard Chandler, UCL
• Tuesday 13 May 2025, 11:00-12:00
• Venue: Chemistry Dept, Unilever Lecture Theatre and Teams.
• Series: Centre for Atmospheric Science seminars, Chemistry Dept.; organiser: Yao Ge.

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Mid-Holocene climate and environmental changes revealed by subfossil wood from eastern England

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Tatiana Bebchuk, University of Cambridge
• Wednesday 21 May 2025, 17:30-19:00
• Venue: Latimer Room, Clare College.
• Series: Quaternary Discussion Group (QDG); organiser: sr632.

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Detecting reversible retreat and readvance of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Holocene

Several lines of geological evidence from both the marine and terrestrial record tell us that the Antarctic Ice Sheet was much bigger than present at the Last Glacial Maximum. Determining how it has changed in both thickness and extent since then, in particular whether it has undergone any major fluctuations in the last few thousand years, is important for validating ice sheet and glacial-isostatic adjustment models that are used to project future sea level rise.

In this talk, I will present an overview of the emerging evidence for large-scale reversible retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the mid to late Holocene period. I will discuss the methods with which we can further investigate this phenomenon and present a case study from the Amundsen Sea sector illustrating how cosmogenic nuclide measurements in subglacial bedrock reveal regrowth of the Pine Island-Thwaites Glacier system from a smaller than present configuration in the Holocene. Direct evidence for reversible retreat from this and other locations in Antarctica is urgently needed in order to understand what drives regrowth of ice sheets in warm climates and the conditions under which ongoing retreat could be reversed.

• Speaker: Joanne Johnson, British Antarctic Survey
• Wednesday 07 May 2025, 17:30-19:00
• Venue: Harker 1, Department of Earth Sciences, Downing Street.
• Series: Quaternary Discussion Group (QDG); organiser: sr632.

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Island timelines to quantify biodiversity change

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Sandra Nogué Bosch, Autonomous University of Barcelona
• Wednesday 04 June 2025, 17:30-19:00
• Venue: Latimer Room, Clare College.
• Series: Quaternary Discussion Group (QDG); organiser: wb350.

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Agency will make researchers outside United States seek grants of their own rather than “subawards” from U.S. scientists

Key research budgets would shrink by one-third to one-half in 2026 spending plan

As the second Trump administration sends U.S. science into upheaval, countless researchers are fighting for their futures

Remains recovered from beneath a Milan hospital shed light on health, diet, and drug habits during the 1600s

The one-of-a-kind initiative offered support from high school to postdoctoral levels

CCfCS Polar Symposium

PROGRAMME : https://tinyurl.com/4mnf673f

The Cambridge Centre for Climate Science (in collaboration with the Institute of Computing for Climate Sciences, the British Antarctic Survey and the UK Polar Network) is inviting you to join the CCfCS Polar Symposium 2025. The aim of this event is to connect polar and climate researchers in Cambridge (in both science and humanities) and provide an overview of the work at Cambridge which contributes to understanding and mitigating climate change.

This will be an afternoon of talks from a variety of research institutions and departments in Cambridge, followed by a poster session and workshop aimed at early-career researchers. The event will be a great opportunity to find new collaborators and meet like-minded people interested in polar science and climate change across Cambridge. Early career researchers are particularly encouraged to participate.

Event details:

• When: Monday 12th May 2025 13:00-18:00
• Where: British Antarctic Survey, Conference Theatre
• Registration fee: Free!
• If you wish to attend (presenting or not) please register here: https://forms.gle/kCLv1QWixdfmKb4ZA

If you are interested in presenting a talk or poster, please provide a title and brief abstract in the registration form. The talks should be short (10-15 mins) and accessible to an interdisciplinary audience. In-person attendance is recommended, as the poster session and catering will only be available in-person, however the talks will be also streamed online for anyone unable to attend in-person. We will provide a more detailed schedule once we have collected all the abstracts. The day will include free hot drinks, cake and snacks, and the event will be followed by a social (TBC).

Abstract deadline: Monday 21st April 2025, 17:00

We look forward to seeing you soon! The Organising Committee Polina, Tarkan, Birgit and Sophie

• Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
• Monday 12 May 2025, 13:00-18:00
• Venue: British Antarctic Survey, Aurora Conference Room.
• Series: Cambridge Centre for Climate Science; organiser: Polina Sevastyanova .

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