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A multilevel population architecture enables bacteria to evolve increased adaptability

An emerging field shows how animal feelings can be studied scientifically

Sodium is cheap and abundant, but the batteries can’t quite match lithium cells—so far

Mergers may create dynamos that rev up the universe’s most energetic particles

White House dismissals and rationale challenged by dismissed scientists and lawsuits

Researchers seek common patterns in adolescence, in chimps, elephants, and dolphins

Searching for Life in Stranger Seas

With a planet teaming with life all around us, it is tempting to think that any life on other worlds must be like Earth life. But is that true, and if it is not, what limits can we place on where we might look for life on other worlds? Starting from the still-controversial possibility of the presence of phosphine in the clouds of Venus, I will discuss what we know (not much) can model (some) and speculate about how the chemistry of life might work on other worlds under conditions very different from Earth. In particular, different atmospheres give different chemistries, possibly chemistries that use solvents other than water as their base. Alternative solvents open up the possibility of life on many bodies previously considered uninhabitable, such as the clouds of Venus, the surface of Mars, even the Moon. I will end with some thoughts on complex, even intelligent, life and where we might find it.

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_N2YxZjU5NTgtYzIwNi00MTY2LThkY2ItZjQyMTJmNjdkMWQw%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2249a50445-bdfa-4b79-ade3-547b4f3986e9%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2253b919d9-f8a7-4f56-9bb0-baaf0ba7404d%22%7d

• Speaker: William Bains
• Tuesday 18 February 2025, 11:00-12:00
• Venue: Chemistry Dept, Unilever Lecture Theatre and Zoom.
• Series: Centre for Atmospheric Science seminars, Chemistry Dept.; organiser: Dr Megan Brown.

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Bubble growth in alkaline electrolysis

In the production of hydrogen via electrolysis, bubbles of hydrogen and oxygen must grow and detach from the electrode. Discussion of factors effecting rate of bubble growth and final detachment volume, and their contribution to overall efficiency.

• Speaker: James Morris, IEEF
• Thursday 20 February 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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Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers in the Present and Future Climates

Despite occurring only ~1% of the time, Antarctic atmospheric rivers (ARs) contribute 10% of the annual precipitation and are major drivers for heatwaves, foehn events, and surface melting on ice shelves. While snowfall is currently the dominant impact of ARs on Antarctica, the relative contribution of ARs to snowfall, rainfall, and surface melt may change in a warming climate, along with the frequency and intensity of AR events themselves. Here, we use a suite of global climate models, including the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2) Large Ensemble and the US Department of Energy’s Exascale Earth System Model version 2 (E3SMv2), to detect ARs during the current period (1980–2014) and future climate (2015–2100) under the SSP370 radiative forcing scenario. We use an AR detection threshold for the current period based on the 98th percentile of the meridional component of integrated vapor transport (vIVT). To account for projected future increases in atmospheric moisture content (Clausius-Clapeyron effect) and its impacts on vIVT, we scale our AR detection threshold for the future period by the relative change in integrated water vapor compared to the present-day climatology. We then describe how the frequency and variability of Antarctic ARs changes by the end of the 21st century by region, with links to changes in the large-scale atmospheric circulation accompanying ARs. Finally, we quantify AR-attributed precipitation, precipitation variability, and trends in the future climate, ultimately providing an early assessment of future AR-driven changes to Antarctic surface mass balance.

• Speaker: Dr. Michelle Maclennan, British Antarctic Survey
• Thursday 27 February 2025, 16:00-17:00
• Venue: Scott Polar Research Institute, main lecture theatre.
• Series: Scott Polar Research Institute - Polar Physical Sciences Seminar; organiser: rld46.

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A court ruling may temporarily ease funding problems, but for many projects the long term outlook remains uncertain

The Impacts of Freshwater Transport on the Weddell Gyre Carbon Budget

The Weddell Gyre mediates carbon exchange between the abyssal ocean and atmosphere, which is critical to global climate. This region also features large and highly variable freshwater fluxes due to seasonal sea ice, net precipitation, and glacial melt; however, the impact of these freshwater fluxes on the regional carbon cycle has not been fully explored. Using a novel budget analysis of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) mass in the Biogeochemical Southern Ocean State Estimate and revisiting hydrographic analysis from the ANDREX cruises, we highlight two freshwater-driven transports. Where freshwater with minimal DIC enters the ocean, it displaces DIC -rich seawater outwards, driving a lateral transport of 75±5 Tg DIC /year. Additionally, sea ice export requires a compensating import of seawater, which carries 48±11 Tg DIC /year into the gyre. Though often overlooked, these freshwater displacement effects are of leading order in the Weddell Gyre carbon budget in the state estimate and in regrouped box-inversion estimates. Implications for evaluating basin-scale carbon transports are considered. [Time permitting, I’ll also share some results on the role of heat addition in driving circulation change and warming patterns in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean.]

• Speaker: Benjamin Taylor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Wednesday 26 February 2025, 15:30-16:30
• Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1.
• Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.

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Innovations in Nuclear Energy

Join the Nuclear Energy Master programme as we explore recent innovations and developments in advance nuclear reactor design, presented by NEWCLEO ’s Daniel Finnigan and the application of nuclear energy in maritime propulsion by COREPOWER ’s Ioannis Kourasis and Oscar Hamilton.

• Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
• Thursday 20 February 2025, 16:30-18:00
• Venue: CUED, LT 6.
• Series: Engineering Department Nuclear Energy Seminars; organiser: Helene Jones.

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Innovations in the pallium likely facilitated the evolution of advanced cognitive abilities in birds. We therefore scrutinized its cellular composition and evolution using cell type atlases from chicken, mouse, and nonavian reptiles. We found that the ...

Combinations of transcription factors govern the identity of cell types, which is reflected by genomic enhancer codes. We used deep learning to characterize these enhancer codes and devised three metrics to compare cell types in the telencephalon across ...

The amniote pallium contains sensory circuits that are structurally and functionally equivalent, yet their evolutionary relationship remains unresolved. We used birthdating analysis, single-cell RNA and spatial transcriptomics, and mathematical modeling ...

Enzymes exist in ensembles of states that encode the energetics underlying their catalysis. Conformational ensembles built from 1231 structures of 17 serine proteases revealed atomic-level changes across their reaction states. By comparing the enzymatic ...

Naïve CD8 T cells have the potential to differentiate into a spectrum of functional states during an immune response. How these developmental decisions are made and what mechanisms exist to suppress differentiation toward alternative fates remains ...

This article reviews existing work and future opportunities in neuroevolution, an area of machine learning in which evolutionary optimization methods such as genetic algorithms are used to construct neural networks to achieve desired behavior. The ...

Freshwater displacement effect on the Weddell Gyre carbon budget

The Weddell Gyre mediates carbon exchange between the abyssal ocean and atmosphere, which is critical to global climate. This region also features large and highly variable freshwater fluxes due to seasonal sea ice, net precipitation, and glacial melt; however, the impact of these freshwater fluxes on the regional carbon cycle has not been fully explored. Using a novel budget analysis of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) mass in the Biogeochemical Southern Ocean State Estimate and revisiting hydrographic analysis from the ANDREX cruises, we highlight two freshwater-driven transports. Where freshwater with minimal DIC enters the ocean, it displaces DIC -rich seawater outwards, driving a lateral transport of 75±5 Tg DIC /year. Additionally, sea ice export requires a compensating import of seawater, which carries 48±11 Tg DIC /year into the gyre. Though often overlooked, these freshwater displacement effects are of leading order in the Weddell Gyre carbon budget in the state estimate and in regrouped box-inversion estimates. Implications for evaluating basin-scale carbon transports are considered. [Time permitting, I’ll also share some results on the role of heat addition in driving circulation change and warming patterns in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean.]

• Speaker: Benjamin Taylor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Wednesday 26 February 2025, 15:30-16:30
• Venue: BAS Seminar Room 1.
• Series: British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series; organiser: Dr Birgit Rogalla.

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New approach for interpreting expressions in pets and livestock could improve animal welfare