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Alcohol consumption is the fifth largest contributor to premature death and disease worldwide. In 2016 it was estimated to have caused approximately 3 million deaths worldwide.

Professor Dame Theresa Marteau and colleagues at the Behaviour and Health Research Unit have shown previously that serving wine in smaller glasses is associated with a decrease in sales.

To see if this effect was seen with other alcoholic drinks, they approached venues in England and asked them to remove the pint serving size and instead offer two-thirds as the largest option for four weeks, with four-week non-intervention periods before and after as a comparison.

In a study published in PLOS Medicine, the team found that removing the pint reduced the daily mean volume of beer, lager and cider sold by 9.7%, although there was a slight increase in the amount of wine purchased, with one pub contributing to half of the increase of wine sales. They report that although customers did not complain, fewer than 1% of venues approached agreed to participate and the intervention involved only 12 establishments.

Professor Marteau said: “Alcohol harms our health, increasing the risk of injury and many diseases including heart disease, bowel, breast and liver cancers. While we may all enjoy a drink, the less we drink the better our health.

“As we’ve shown is the case with wine, removing the largest serving size for beer, lager and cider – in this case, the pint – could encourage people to drink less. This could be beneficial both to the nation’s health and the health of individuals.”

Further assessment is needed, particularly into whether people fully compensated for reduced beer consumption by drinking other alcoholic drinks, but the intervention merits consideration for inclusion in alcohol control policies. Smaller serving sizes could contribute towards reducing alcohol consumption across populations and thereby decrease the risk of seven cancers and other diseases.

Reference
Mantzari, E et al. Impact on beer sales of removing the pint serving size: An A-B-A reversal trial in pubs, bars, and restaurants in England. PLOS Medicine; 17 Sept 2024; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004442

Adapted from a press release by PLOS Medicine

Cambridge researchers have shown that reducing the serving size for beer, lager and cider reduces the volume of those drinks consumed in pubs, bars and restaurants, which could have wider public health benefits.

While we may all enjoy a drink, the less we drink the better our healthTheresa MarteauELEVATE (Pexels)Barman handing a customer a pint of beer

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

YesLicence type: Public Domain

Alcohol consumption is the fifth largest contributor to premature death and disease worldwide. In 2016 it was estimated to have caused approximately 3 million deaths worldwide.

Professor Dame Theresa Marteau and colleagues at the Behaviour and Health Research Unit have shown previously that serving wine in smaller glasses is associated with a decrease in sales.

To see if this effect was seen with other alcoholic drinks, they approached venues in England and asked them to remove the pint serving size and instead offer two-thirds as the largest option for four weeks, with four-week non-intervention periods before and after as a comparison.

In a study published in PLOS Medicine, the team found that removing the pint reduced the daily mean volume of beer, lager and cider sold by 9.7%, although there was a slight increase in the amount of wine purchased, with one pub contributing to half of the increase of wine sales. They report that although customers did not complain, fewer than 1% of venues approached agreed to participate and the intervention involved only 12 establishments.

Professor Marteau said: “Alcohol harms our health, increasing the risk of injury and many diseases including heart disease, bowel, breast and liver cancers. While we may all enjoy a drink, the less we drink the better our health.

“As we’ve shown is the case with wine, removing the largest serving size for beer, lager and cider – in this case, the pint – could encourage people to drink less. This could be beneficial both to the nation’s health and the health of individuals.”

Further assessment is needed, particularly into whether people fully compensated for reduced beer consumption by drinking other alcoholic drinks, but the intervention merits consideration for inclusion in alcohol control policies. Smaller serving sizes could contribute towards reducing alcohol consumption across populations and thereby decrease the risk of seven cancers and other diseases.

Reference
Mantzari, E et al. Impact on beer sales of removing the pint serving size: An A-B-A reversal trial in pubs, bars, and restaurants in England. PLOS Medicine; 17 Sept 2024; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004442

Adapted from a press release by PLOS Medicine

Cambridge researchers have shown that reducing the serving size for beer, lager and cider reduces the volume of those drinks consumed in pubs, bars and restaurants, which could have wider public health benefits.

While we may all enjoy a drink, the less we drink the better our healthTheresa MarteauELEVATE (Pexels)Barman handing a customer a pint of beer

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

YesLicence type: Public Domain

A team lead by researchers at the University of Cambridge has developed a monoclonal antibody drug, using a technique involving genetically engineered mice, that may help prevent infection from Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacteria associated with hospital-acquired infections, which is particularly common in Asia.

A. baumannii bacteria can cause life-threatening respiratory illness and sepsis in vulnerable individuals, particularly in newborn babies whose immune systems have not fully developed. It is usually spread through contaminated surfaces, medical equipment and via contact with others. In recent years infections with strains of this bacteria that are resistant to almost every antibiotic available have become common.

Professor Stephen Baker from the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease at the University of Cambridge said “A. baumannii is good at sticking to medical equipment, and if people are vulnerable or don't have a particularly well-developed immune system, they can succumb to this infection and get aggressive pneumonia requiring ventilation – and in many cases, the patients can acquire the infection from the ventilation itself.

“The bacteria are naturally resistant to many antimicrobials, but as they’re now found in hospitals, they’ve acquired resistance to almost everything we can use. In some hospitals in Asia, where the infections are most common, there isn't a single antibiotic that will work against them. They’ve become impossible to treat.”

In a study published today in Nature Communications, the team produced monoclonal antibodies using transgenic mice – mice that have been genetically-engineered to have a human-like immune system, producing human antibodies instead of mouse antibodies. They went on to show that these monoclonal antibodies were able prevent infection with A. baumannii derived from clinical samples.

Monoclonal antibodies are a growing area of medicine, commonly used to treat conditions including cancer (for example, Herceptin for treating some breast cancers) and autoimmune disease (for example, Humira for treating rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis).

Usually, monoclonal antibodies are developed from the antibodies of patients who have recovered from an infection, or they are designed to recognise and target a particular antigen. For example, monoclonal antibodies targeting the ‘spike protein’ of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus were explored as a way of treating COVID-19.

In the approach taken by the Cambridge team, however, transgenic mice were exposed to the outer membrane of A. baumannii bacteria, triggering an immune response. The researchers then isolated almost 300 different antibodies and tested which of these was the most effective at recognising live bacteria, identifying the single monoclonal antibody mAb1416 as the best.

Professor Baker said: “Using this method, we don't infect the mice with the live bacteria, but we instead immunise them using multiple different elements and let the mouse’s immune system work out which ones to develop antibodies against. Because these mice have ‘humanised’ immune systems, we wouldn’t then need to reengineer the antibodies to work in humans.”

The team treated mice with mAb1416, and 24 hours later exposed them to A. baumannii isolated from a child with sepsis in an intensive care unit. They found that those mice treated with the drug saw a significant reduction in bacterial load in their lungs a further 24 hours later, compared to mice that were not treated.

All of the isolates used to produce and test the monoclonal antibodies were from patients in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, but the isolate used to test mAb1416 was taken from a patient ten years later than the other isolates. This is important because it shows that mAb1416 was protective against A. baumannii bacteria that may have evolved over time.

Professor Baker said: “Using this technique, you can take any bacterial antigen or cocktail of antigens, rather than waiting for somebody that's recovered from a particular infection – who you assume has developed an appropriate antibody response – give it to the mice and extract the antibodies you think are the most important.”

More work is now needed to understand the mechanism by which mAb1416 protects against infection, as this could allow the team to develop an even more effective treatment. Any potential new drug will then need to be tested in safety trials in animals before being trialled in patients.

Professor Baker added: “We know that monoclonal antibodies are safe and that they work, and the technology exists to produce them – what we have done is identify how to hit bacteria with them. Apart from the cost effectiveness, there's no reason why this couldn’t become a medicine within a few years. Given the emergency presented by antimicrobial resistance, this could become a powerful new weapon to fight back.”

The research was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Medical Research Council Newton Fund, the Viet Nam Ministry of Science and Technology, and Wellcome.

Professor Baker is a fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Reference
Baker, S, Krishna, A & Higham, S. Exploiting human immune repertoire transgenic mice to identify protective monoclonal antibodies against an extensively antimicrobial resistant nosocomial bacterial pathogen. Nat Comms; 12 Sept 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52357-8

Monoclonal antibodies – treatments developed by cloning a cell that makes an antibody – could help provide an answer to the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance, say scientists.

We know that monoclonal antibodies are safe and that they work, and the technology exists to produce them – what we have done is identify how to hit bacteria with themStephen BakerTopMicrobialStock (Getty Images)A Petri dish with a culture of the Superbug Acinetobacter baumannii next to antibiotics

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

Yes

A team lead by researchers at the University of Cambridge has developed a monoclonal antibody drug, using a technique involving genetically engineered mice, that may help prevent infection from Acinetobacter baumannii, a bacteria associated with hospital-acquired infections, which is particularly common in Asia.

A. baumannii bacteria can cause life-threatening respiratory illness and sepsis in vulnerable individuals, particularly in newborn babies whose immune systems have not fully developed. It is usually spread through contaminated surfaces, medical equipment and via contact with others. In recent years infections with strains of this bacteria that are resistant to almost every antibiotic available have become common.

Professor Stephen Baker from the Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology and Infectious Disease at the University of Cambridge said “A. baumannii is good at sticking to medical equipment, and if people are vulnerable or don't have a particularly well-developed immune system, they can succumb to this infection and get aggressive pneumonia requiring ventilation – and in many cases, the patients can acquire the infection from the ventilation itself.

“The bacteria are naturally resistant to many antimicrobials, but as they’re now found in hospitals, they’ve acquired resistance to almost everything we can use. In some hospitals in Asia, where the infections are most common, there isn't a single antibiotic that will work against them. They’ve become impossible to treat.”

In a study published today in Nature Communications, the team produced monoclonal antibodies using transgenic mice – mice that have been genetically-engineered to have a human-like immune system, producing human antibodies instead of mouse antibodies. They went on to show that these monoclonal antibodies were able prevent infection with A. baumannii derived from clinical samples.

Monoclonal antibodies are a growing area of medicine, commonly used to treat conditions including cancer (for example, Herceptin for treating some breast cancers) and autoimmune disease (for example, Humira for treating rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis).

Usually, monoclonal antibodies are developed from the antibodies of patients who have recovered from an infection, or they are designed to recognise and target a particular antigen. For example, monoclonal antibodies targeting the ‘spike protein’ of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus were explored as a way of treating COVID-19.

In the approach taken by the Cambridge team, however, transgenic mice were exposed to the outer membrane of A. baumannii bacteria, triggering an immune response. The researchers then isolated almost 300 different antibodies and tested which of these was the most effective at recognising live bacteria, identifying the single monoclonal antibody mAb1416 as the best.

Professor Baker said: “Using this method, we don't infect the mice with the live bacteria, but we instead immunise them using multiple different elements and let the mouse’s immune system work out which ones to develop antibodies against. Because these mice have ‘humanised’ immune systems, we wouldn’t then need to reengineer the antibodies to work in humans.”

The team treated mice with mAb1416, and 24 hours later exposed them to A. baumannii isolated from a child with sepsis in an intensive care unit. They found that those mice treated with the drug saw a significant reduction in bacterial load in their lungs a further 24 hours later, compared to mice that were not treated.

All of the isolates used to produce and test the monoclonal antibodies were from patients in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, but the isolate used to test mAb1416 was taken from a patient ten years later than the other isolates. This is important because it shows that mAb1416 was protective against A. baumannii bacteria that may have evolved over time.

Professor Baker said: “Using this technique, you can take any bacterial antigen or cocktail of antigens, rather than waiting for somebody that's recovered from a particular infection – who you assume has developed an appropriate antibody response – give it to the mice and extract the antibodies you think are the most important.”

More work is now needed to understand the mechanism by which mAb1416 protects against infection, as this could allow the team to develop an even more effective treatment. Any potential new drug will then need to be tested in safety trials in animals before being trialled in patients.

Professor Baker added: “We know that monoclonal antibodies are safe and that they work, and the technology exists to produce them – what we have done is identify how to hit bacteria with them. Apart from the cost effectiveness, there's no reason why this couldn’t become a medicine within a few years. Given the emergency presented by antimicrobial resistance, this could become a powerful new weapon to fight back.”

The research was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK Medical Research Council Newton Fund, the Viet Nam Ministry of Science and Technology, and Wellcome.

Professor Baker is a fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Reference
Baker, S, Krishna, A & Higham, S. Exploiting human immune repertoire transgenic mice to identify protective monoclonal antibodies against an extensively antimicrobial resistant nosocomial bacterial pathogen. Nat Comms; 12 Sept 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52357-8

Monoclonal antibodies – treatments developed by cloning a cell that makes an antibody – could help provide an answer to the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance, say scientists.

We know that monoclonal antibodies are safe and that they work, and the technology exists to produce them – what we have done is identify how to hit bacteria with themStephen BakerTopMicrobialStock (Getty Images)A Petri dish with a culture of the Superbug Acinetobacter baumannii next to antibiotics

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

Yes

The study, by researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Sainsbury Laboratory, also found that bees prefer larger bullseyes over small ones, and fly 25% faster between artificial flower discs with larger bullseyes – potentially boosting efficiency for both bees and blossoms.

Using the hibiscus plant as a model, the researchers selected plants with three differently sized bullseye patterns – H. richardsonii (small bullseye covering 4% of flower disc), H. trionum (medium bullseye covering 16%) and a transgenic line (mutation) of H. trionum (large bullseye covering 36%).

They found that petal pre-patterning is established very early in the flower’s formation long before the petal shows any visible colour. The petal acts like a 'paint-by-numbers' canvas, where different regions are predetermined to develop specific colours and textures long before they start looking different from one another.

The research also shows plants can precisely control and modify the shape and size of these patterns using multiple mechanisms, highlighting the evolutionary importance of the process. By fine-tuning these designs, plants may gain a competitive advantage in the contest to attract pollinators.

The findings are published today in the journal Science Advances.

Dr Edwige Moyroud, who leads a research team studying the mechanisms underlying pattern formation in petals, explained: “If a trait can be produced by different methods, it gives evolution more options to modify it and create diversity, similar to an artist with a large palette or a builder with an extensive set of tools. By studying how bullseye patterns change, what we are really trying to understand is how nature generates biodiversity.”

In the small hibiscus species Hibiscus trionum, a striking bullseye pattern is formed on the petals, featuring a dark purple centre surrounded by white.

Lead author Dr Lucie Riglet investigated the mechanism behind hibiscus petal patterning by analysing petal development in three hibiscus flowers that had the same total size but different bullseye sizes – small, medium and large.

She found that the pre-pattern begins as a small, crescent-shaped region long before the bullseye is visible on tiny petals less than 0.2mm in size.

Dr Riglet said: “At the earliest stage we could dissect, the petals have around 700 cells and are still greenish in colour, with no visible purple pigment and no difference in cell shape or size. When the petal further develops to 4000 cells, it still does not have any visible pigment, but we identified a specific region where the cells were larger than their surrounding neighbours. This was the pre-pattern.”

A computational model developed by Dr Argyris Zardilis provided further insights, and combining both computational models and experimental results, the researchers showed that hibiscus can vary bullseye dimensions very early during the pre-patterning phase or modulate growth in either region of the bullseye, by adjusting cell expansion or division, later in development.

Dr Riglet then compared the relative success of the bullseye patterns in attracting pollinators using artificial flower discs that mimicked the three different bullseye dimensions.

Dr Riglet explained: “The bees not only preferred the medium and larger bullseyes over the small bullseye, they were also 25% quicker visiting these larger flower discs. Foraging requires a lot of energy and so if a bee can visit four flowers rather than three flowers in the same time, then this is beneficial for the bee, and also the flower.”

The findings suggest that these pre-patterning strategies could have deep evolutionary roots, potentially influencing the diversity of flower patterns across different species. The next step for the research team is to identify the signals responsible for generating these early patterns and to explore whether similar pre-patterning mechanisms are used in other plant organs, such as leaves.

This research not only advances our understanding of plant biology but also highlights the intricate connections between plants and their environments, showing how precise natural designs can play a pivotal role in the survival and evolution of species.

For example, H. richardsonii, which has the smallest bullseye of the three hibiscus plants studied in this research, is a critically endangered plant native to New Zealand. H. trionum is also found in New Zealand, but not considered to be native, and is widely distributed across Australia and Europe and has become a weedy naturalised plant in North America. Additional research is needed to determine whether the larger bullseye size helps H. trionum attract more pollinators and enhance its reproductive success.

Patterns on the flowers of plants guide insects, like bees, to the centre of the flower, where nectar and pollen await, enhancing the plant's chances of successful pollination. Despite their importance, surprisingly little is known about how these petal patterns form and how they have evolved into the vast diversity we see today, including spots, stripes, veins, and bullseyes.

These findings pave the way for further research into how petal patterns influence the survival and evolution of flowering plant species.

Reference

Riglet, L. et al: 'Hibiscus bullseyes reveal mechanisms controlling petal pattern proportions that influence plant-pollinator interactions'. September 2024, Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp5574

Flowers like hibiscus follow an invisible blueprint established very early in petal formation that precisely dictates the size of their central bullseye – a crucial pattern that can significantly impact their ability to attract pollinating bees.

We identified a specific region where the cells were larger than their surrounding neighbours - this was the pre-pattern.Lucie Riglet Bumblebees prefer bigger targets

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

Yes

The study, by researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Sainsbury Laboratory, also found that bees prefer larger bullseyes over small ones, and fly 25% faster between artificial flower discs with larger bullseyes – potentially boosting efficiency for both bees and blossoms.

Using the hibiscus plant as a model, the researchers selected plants with three differently sized bullseye patterns – H. richardsonii (small bullseye covering 4% of flower disc), H. trionum (medium bullseye covering 16%) and a transgenic line (mutation) of H. trionum (large bullseye covering 36%).

They found that petal pre-patterning is established very early in the flower’s formation long before the petal shows any visible colour. The petal acts like a 'paint-by-numbers' canvas, where different regions are predetermined to develop specific colours and textures long before they start looking different from one another.

The research also shows plants can precisely control and modify the shape and size of these patterns using multiple mechanisms, highlighting the evolutionary importance of the process. By fine-tuning these designs, plants may gain a competitive advantage in the contest to attract pollinators.

The findings are published today in the journal Science Advances.

Dr Edwige Moyroud, who leads a research team studying the mechanisms underlying pattern formation in petals, explained: “If a trait can be produced by different methods, it gives evolution more options to modify it and create diversity, similar to an artist with a large palette or a builder with an extensive set of tools. By studying how bullseye patterns change, what we are really trying to understand is how nature generates biodiversity.”

In the small hibiscus species Hibiscus trionum, a striking bullseye pattern is formed on the petals, featuring a dark purple centre surrounded by white.

Lead author Dr Lucie Riglet investigated the mechanism behind hibiscus petal patterning by analysing petal development in three hibiscus flowers that had the same total size but different bullseye sizes – small, medium and large.

She found that the pre-pattern begins as a small, crescent-shaped region long before the bullseye is visible on tiny petals less than 0.2mm in size.

Dr Riglet said: “At the earliest stage we could dissect, the petals have around 700 cells and are still greenish in colour, with no visible purple pigment and no difference in cell shape or size. When the petal further develops to 4000 cells, it still does not have any visible pigment, but we identified a specific region where the cells were larger than their surrounding neighbours. This was the pre-pattern.”

A computational model developed by Dr Argyris Zardilis provided further insights, and combining both computational models and experimental results, the researchers showed that hibiscus can vary bullseye dimensions very early during the pre-patterning phase or modulate growth in either region of the bullseye, by adjusting cell expansion or division, later in development.

Dr Riglet then compared the relative success of the bullseye patterns in attracting pollinators using artificial flower discs that mimicked the three different bullseye dimensions.

Dr Riglet explained: “The bees not only preferred the medium and larger bullseyes over the small bullseye, they were also 25% quicker visiting these larger flower discs. Foraging requires a lot of energy and so if a bee can visit four flowers rather than three flowers in the same time, then this is beneficial for the bee, and also the flower.”

The findings suggest that these pre-patterning strategies could have deep evolutionary roots, potentially influencing the diversity of flower patterns across different species. The next step for the research team is to identify the signals responsible for generating these early patterns and to explore whether similar pre-patterning mechanisms are used in other plant organs, such as leaves.

This research not only advances our understanding of plant biology but also highlights the intricate connections between plants and their environments, showing how precise natural designs can play a pivotal role in the survival and evolution of species.

For example, H. richardsonii, which has the smallest bullseye of the three hibiscus plants studied in this research, is a critically endangered plant native to New Zealand. H. trionum is also found in New Zealand, but not considered to be native, and is widely distributed across Australia and Europe and has become a weedy naturalised plant in North America. Additional research is needed to determine whether the larger bullseye size helps H. trionum attract more pollinators and enhance its reproductive success.

Patterns on the flowers of plants guide insects, like bees, to the centre of the flower, where nectar and pollen await, enhancing the plant's chances of successful pollination. Despite their importance, surprisingly little is known about how these petal patterns form and how they have evolved into the vast diversity we see today, including spots, stripes, veins, and bullseyes.

These findings pave the way for further research into how petal patterns influence the survival and evolution of flowering plant species.

Reference

Riglet, L. et al: 'Hibiscus bullseyes reveal mechanisms controlling petal pattern proportions that influence plant-pollinator interactions'. September 2024, Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp5574

Flowers like hibiscus follow an invisible blueprint established very early in petal formation that precisely dictates the size of their central bullseye – a crucial pattern that can significantly impact their ability to attract pollinating bees.

We identified a specific region where the cells were larger than their surrounding neighbours - this was the pre-pattern.Lucie Riglet Bumblebees prefer bigger targets

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

Yes

The study, by researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Sainsbury Laboratory also found that bees prefer larger bullseyes over smaller ones and fly 25% faster between artificial flower discs with larger bullseyes – potentially boosting efficiency for both bees and blossoms. 

Patterns on the flowers of plants guide insects, like bees, to the centre of the flower, where nectar and pollen await, enhancing the plant's chances of successful pollination. Despite their importance, surprisingly little is known about how these petal patterns form and how they have evolved into the vast diversity we see today, including spots, stripes, veins, and bullseyes. 

Using a small hibiscus plant as a model, researchers compared closely related plants with the same flower size but three differently sized bullseye patterns featuring a dark purple centre surrounded by white – H. richardsonii (small bullseye covering 4% of the flower disc), H. trionum (medium bullseye covering 16%) and a transgenic line (mutation) of H. trionum (large bullseye covering 36%). 

They found that a pre-pattern is set up on the petal surface very early in the flower’s formation long before the petal shows any visible colour. The petal acts like a 'paint-by-numbers' canvas, where different regions are predetermined to develop specific colours and textures long before they start looking different from one another. 

The research also shows plants can precisely control and modify the shape and size of these patterns using multiple mechanisms, with possible implications for plant evolution. By fine-tuning these designs, plants may gain a competitive advantage in the contest to attract pollinators or maybe start attracting different species of insects. 

These findings are published in Science Advances. 

Dr Edwige Moyroud, who leads a research team studying the mechanisms underlying pattern formation in petals, explained: “If a trait can be produced by different methods, it gives evolution more options to modify it and create diversity, similar to an artist with a large palette or a builder with an extensive set of tools. By studying how bullseye patterns change, what we are really trying to understand is how nature generates biodiversity.” 

Lead author Dr Lucie Riglet investigated the mechanism behind hibiscus petal patterning by analysing petal development in the three hibiscus flowers that had the same total size but different bullseye patterns. 

3_hibiscus_bullseyes-2-01-01_sml.jpg

She found that the pre-pattern begins as a small, crescent-shaped region long before the bullseye is visible on tiny petals less than 0.2mm in size. 

Dr Riglet said: “At the earliest stage we could dissect, the petals have around 700 cells and are still greenish in colour, with no visible purple pigment and no difference in cell shape or size. When the petal further develops to 4000 cells, it still does not have any visible pigment, but we identified a specific region where the cells were larger than their surrounding neighbours. This is the pre-pattern.” 

These cells are important because they mark the position of the bullseye boundary, the line on the petal where the colour changes from purple to white – without a boundary there is no bullseye! 

A computational model developed by Dr Argyris Zardilis provided further insights, and combining both computational models and experimental results, the researchers showed that hibiscus can vary bullseye dimensions very early during the pre-patterning phase or modulate growth in either region of the bullseye, by adjusting cell expansion or division, later in development. 

Dr Riglet then compared the relative success of the bullseye patterns in attracting pollinators using artificial flower discs that mimicked the three different bullseye dimensions. Dr Riglet explained: “The bees not only preferred the medium and larger bullseyes over the small bullseye, they were also 25% quicker visiting these larger flower discs. Foraging requires a lot of energy and so if a bee can visit 4 flowers rather than 3 flowers in the same time, then this is probably beneficial for the bee, and also the plants.” 

The researchers think that these pre-patterning strategies could have deep evolutionary roots, potentially influencing the diversity of flower patterns across different species. The next step for the research team is to identify the signals responsible for generating these early patterns and to explore whether similar pre-patterning mechanisms are used in other plant organs, such as leaves. 

This research not only advances our understanding of plant biology but also highlights the intricate connections between plants and their environments, showing how precise natural designs can play a pivotal role in the survival and evolution of species. 

For example, H. richardsonii, which has the smallest bullseye of the three hibiscus plants studied in this research, is a critically endangered plant native to New Zealand. H. trionum is also found in New Zealand, but not considered to be native, and is widely distributed across Australia and Europe and has become a weedy naturalised plant in North America. Additional research is needed to determine whether the larger bullseye size helps H. trionum attract more pollinators and enhance its reproductive success. 

Reference 
Lucie Riglet, Argyris Zardilis, Alice L. M. Fairnie, May T. Yeo, Henrik Jönsson and Edwige Moyroud (2024) Hibiscus bullseyes reveal mechanisms controlling petal pattern proportions that influence plant-pollinator interactions. Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp5574 

Flowers like hibiscus use an invisible blueprint established very early in petal formation that dictates the size of their bullseyes – a crucial pre-pattern that can significantly impact their ability to attract pollinating bees.  

If a trait can be produced by different methods, it gives evolution more options to modify it and create diversity, similar to an artist with a large palette or a builder with an extensive set of toolsEdwige Moyroud Bumblebees prefer bigger targets Lucie RigletArtificial flower discs designed to mimic the bullseye sizes of the three hibiscus flowers

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

YesLicence type: Attribution

The study, by researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Sainsbury Laboratory also found that bees prefer larger bullseyes over smaller ones and fly 25% faster between artificial flower discs with larger bullseyes – potentially boosting efficiency for both bees and blossoms. 

Patterns on the flowers of plants guide insects, like bees, to the centre of the flower, where nectar and pollen await, enhancing the plant's chances of successful pollination. Despite their importance, surprisingly little is known about how these petal patterns form and how they have evolved into the vast diversity we see today, including spots, stripes, veins, and bullseyes. 

Using a small hibiscus plant as a model, researchers compared closely related plants with the same flower size but three differently sized bullseye patterns featuring a dark purple centre surrounded by white – H. richardsonii (small bullseye covering 4% of the flower disc), H. trionum (medium bullseye covering 16%) and a transgenic line (mutation) of H. trionum (large bullseye covering 36%). 

They found that a pre-pattern is set up on the petal surface very early in the flower’s formation long before the petal shows any visible colour. The petal acts like a 'paint-by-numbers' canvas, where different regions are predetermined to develop specific colours and textures long before they start looking different from one another. 

The research also shows plants can precisely control and modify the shape and size of these patterns using multiple mechanisms, with possible implications for plant evolution. By fine-tuning these designs, plants may gain a competitive advantage in the contest to attract pollinators or maybe start attracting different species of insects. 

These findings are published in Science Advances. 

Dr Edwige Moyroud, who leads a research team studying the mechanisms underlying pattern formation in petals, explained: “If a trait can be produced by different methods, it gives evolution more options to modify it and create diversity, similar to an artist with a large palette or a builder with an extensive set of tools. By studying how bullseye patterns change, what we are really trying to understand is how nature generates biodiversity.” 

Lead author Dr Lucie Riglet investigated the mechanism behind hibiscus petal patterning by analysing petal development in the three hibiscus flowers that had the same total size but different bullseye patterns. 

3_hibiscus_bullseyes-2-01-01_sml.jpg

She found that the pre-pattern begins as a small, crescent-shaped region long before the bullseye is visible on tiny petals less than 0.2mm in size. 

Dr Riglet said: “At the earliest stage we could dissect, the petals have around 700 cells and are still greenish in colour, with no visible purple pigment and no difference in cell shape or size. When the petal further develops to 4000 cells, it still does not have any visible pigment, but we identified a specific region where the cells were larger than their surrounding neighbours. This is the pre-pattern.” 

These cells are important because they mark the position of the bullseye boundary, the line on the petal where the colour changes from purple to white – without a boundary there is no bullseye! 

A computational model developed by Dr Argyris Zardilis provided further insights, and combining both computational models and experimental results, the researchers showed that hibiscus can vary bullseye dimensions very early during the pre-patterning phase or modulate growth in either region of the bullseye, by adjusting cell expansion or division, later in development. 

Dr Riglet then compared the relative success of the bullseye patterns in attracting pollinators using artificial flower discs that mimicked the three different bullseye dimensions. Dr Riglet explained: “The bees not only preferred the medium and larger bullseyes over the small bullseye, they were also 25% quicker visiting these larger flower discs. Foraging requires a lot of energy and so if a bee can visit 4 flowers rather than 3 flowers in the same time, then this is probably beneficial for the bee, and also the plants.” 

The researchers think that these pre-patterning strategies could have deep evolutionary roots, potentially influencing the diversity of flower patterns across different species. The next step for the research team is to identify the signals responsible for generating these early patterns and to explore whether similar pre-patterning mechanisms are used in other plant organs, such as leaves. 

This research not only advances our understanding of plant biology but also highlights the intricate connections between plants and their environments, showing how precise natural designs can play a pivotal role in the survival and evolution of species. 

For example, H. richardsonii, which has the smallest bullseye of the three hibiscus plants studied in this research, is a critically endangered plant native to New Zealand. H. trionum is also found in New Zealand, but not considered to be native, and is widely distributed across Australia and Europe and has become a weedy naturalised plant in North America. Additional research is needed to determine whether the larger bullseye size helps H. trionum attract more pollinators and enhance its reproductive success. 

Reference 
Lucie Riglet, Argyris Zardilis, Alice L. M. Fairnie, May T. Yeo, Henrik Jönsson and Edwige Moyroud (2024) Hibiscus bullseyes reveal mechanisms controlling petal pattern proportions that influence plant-pollinator interactions. Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp5574 

Flowers like hibiscus use an invisible blueprint established very early in petal formation that dictates the size of their bullseyes – a crucial pre-pattern that can significantly impact their ability to attract pollinating bees.  

If a trait can be produced by different methods, it gives evolution more options to modify it and create diversity, similar to an artist with a large palette or a builder with an extensive set of toolsEdwige Moyroud Bumblebees prefer bigger targets Lucie RigletArtificial flower discs designed to mimic the bullseye sizes of the three hibiscus flowers

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

YesLicence type: Attribution

The technology from Cancer Grand Challenges team IMAXT uses advanced spatial biology techniques to analyse tumours, some of which are based on technology originally developed to map the Milky Way and discover new planets. Now, other scientists will be able to access these technologies to create detailed tumour maps that could one day transform how we diagnose and treat cancer.

Led by Professor Greg Hannon and Dr Dario Bressan at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and Dr Nicholas Walton at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, SPACE will give other researchers the opportunity to study cancer in a way that wasn’t previously possible.

Dr Dario Bressan, Head of the SPACE Laboratory at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: “Tumours aren’t just a uniform mass of cells; they consist of a diverse ecosystem of cancer cells, immune cells, and other essential components that support their survival. Hidden within these intricate networks lies valuable information which could guide us in making more personalised treatment decisions for each patient. 

“With the SPACE platform, researchers can zoom into specific cell populations, highlight the complex connections between them, and even run virtual experiments to predict how the tumour might respond to different treatments. By unlocking these insights, we can transform the future of cancer care and uncover new opportunities for targeted therapies.” 

The IMAXT team was first awarded £20 million in 2017 by Cancer Research UK through Cancer Grand Challenges, a global research initiative co-founded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute in the US.

Since then, the team has united experts from fields rarely brought together including medicine, Virtual Reality (VR), programming, molecular biology, chemistry, mathematics, and even astronomy, to create a completely immersive tool for studying tumours.

As well as enabling scientists to analyse 3D tumour maps, IMAXT created pioneering VR technology which allows the user to ‘step inside’ a tumour using a VR headset.

With the headset, scientists get to view vast amounts of detailed data about individual tumour cells in a 3D space. Instead of looking at this data on a computer screen, they can see all the information in real-time, as if they were inside the tumour itself.

Professor Greg Hannon, Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: "Cancer Grand Challenges offers a unique opportunity for international teams to address some of cancer’s biggest challenges. When we took on our particular challenge, much of what we proposed was science fiction.

“Over the past 7 years, our team has turned those early hopes and ideas into approaches that can now be made broadly available. In nature, biology unfolds in three dimensions, and we now finally have the tools to observe it that way—giving us a much deeper, more accurate view of cancer. We’re thrilled to share these breakthroughs with the broader cancer research community."

ioa-space-image_full.jpg

Director of Cancer Grand Challenges at Cancer Research UK, Dr David Scott, said: “IMAXT is changing what’s possible when it comes to cancer research.  

“We can glean important insights about a tumour by analysing its genetic makeup or its proteins, but no technology alone can give us the depth of understanding needed to truly understand this complex disease.  

“By combining state-of-the-art technology and vast expertise, IMAXT will change how cancers are classified, treated and managed, giving more people a better chance of surviving their disease.” 

The funding will support the SPACE hub laboratory, hosted at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, and the SPACE analysis and computing platform, developed and operated at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge. Together SPACE includes and combines most available technologies for the spatial molecular profiling of tumours. The continued collaboration between the cancer and astronomy teams from the IMAXT project will ensure the maintenance and development of all critical aspects of the platform – from technical and scientific expertise to instrumentation, computing, and data analysis – to allow SPACE to continue at the forefront research in the rapidly emerging spatial-omics field, and be a valuable centre of excellence to support new research in the Cancer Grand Challenge and cancer research communities.

SPACE is funded by Cancer Research UK through Cancer Grand Challenges. Additional support for the SPACE project has been provided by the UK Space Agency through their funding of the development of imaging and analysis techniques at the IoA, Cambridge for a range of space science missions. These have been successfully applied to spatial imaging data through IMAXT and are ready for wider use in SPACE.

Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive Officer at UK Space Agency said: “Space is powering our daily lives, from satellite navigation to weather forecasts and climate monitoring. This collaboration between the cancer and astronomy teams in the IMAXT project is another real-world example of how space science and technology is bringing benefits to people here on Earth. 

“Thanks to this partnership, the same science and technology that mapped the Milky Way may soon have a positive impact on people battling cancer, and could support doctors to provide better, faster treatment." 

Going forward, a next-generation version of the VR technology will be further developed and commercialised by Suil Vision, a start-up company recently launched by IMAXT team members and Cancer Research UK’s innovation arm, Cancer Research Horizons. Suil Vision is the first start-up to emerge from the Cancer Grand Challenges programme. With a £500,000 investment from the Cancer Research Horizons Seed Fund, Suil Vision will create a market-ready version of their suite of VR technologies for analysing multiple types of biological data, rolling these out across research institutions and companies worldwide. 

Image

Top: Lung with two metastatic lesions derived from a mouse primary triple-negative breast tumour. The figure shows how the registration of the different imaging modalities to a cellular level allow to segment individual cells and identify tumour cell populations, differentiate hypoxic areas, increased fibrosis, infiltration of immune cells and blood and lymphatic vessels by staining with a panel of 35 cell markers at the same time. Bottom: Sample in 3D depicts a tumour grown in the mammary gland of a mouse showing the power of the SPACE pipeline to produce and visualise large volumes (typically ~100,000 individual images registered and stitched and up to 500TB 500 GB of data). The orange fluorescence beads are clearly visible in the medium outside the biological tissue and prove to be crucial for all stages of multimodal registration.

Adapted from a press release by Cancer Research UK

A unique collaboration of astronomers and cancer researchers at Cambridge has been awarded more than £5m to establish the Spatial Profiling and Annotation Centre of Excellence (SPACE) to open up access to their groundbreaking cancer mapping technology and establish collaborations with other scientists to enable them to investigate tumours in 3D.

When we took on our particular challenge, much of what we proposed was science fictionGreg HannonSPACE LaboratoryLung with two metastatic lesions derived from a mouse primary triple-negative breast tumour

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

YesLicence type: Attribution

The technology from Cancer Grand Challenges team IMAXT uses advanced spatial biology techniques to analyse tumours, some of which are based on technology originally developed to map the Milky Way and discover new planets. Now, other scientists will be able to access these technologies to create detailed tumour maps that could one day transform how we diagnose and treat cancer.

Led by Professor Greg Hannon and Dr Dario Bressan at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and Dr Nicholas Walton at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, SPACE will give other researchers the opportunity to study cancer in a way that wasn’t previously possible.

Dr Dario Bressan, Head of the SPACE Laboratory at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: “Tumours aren’t just a uniform mass of cells; they consist of a diverse ecosystem of cancer cells, immune cells, and other essential components that support their survival. Hidden within these intricate networks lies valuable information which could guide us in making more personalised treatment decisions for each patient. 

“With the SPACE platform, researchers can zoom into specific cell populations, highlight the complex connections between them, and even run virtual experiments to predict how the tumour might respond to different treatments. By unlocking these insights, we can transform the future of cancer care and uncover new opportunities for targeted therapies.” 

The IMAXT team was first awarded £20 million in 2017 by Cancer Research UK through Cancer Grand Challenges, a global research initiative co-founded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute in the US.

Since then, the team has united experts from fields rarely brought together including medicine, Virtual Reality (VR), programming, molecular biology, chemistry, mathematics, and even astronomy, to create a completely immersive tool for studying tumours.

As well as enabling scientists to analyse 3D tumour maps, IMAXT created pioneering VR technology which allows the user to ‘step inside’ a tumour using a VR headset.

With the headset, scientists get to view vast amounts of detailed data about individual tumour cells in a 3D space. Instead of looking at this data on a computer screen, they can see all the information in real-time, as if they were inside the tumour itself.

Professor Greg Hannon, Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: "Cancer Grand Challenges offers a unique opportunity for international teams to address some of cancer’s biggest challenges. When we took on our particular challenge, much of what we proposed was science fiction.

“Over the past 7 years, our team has turned those early hopes and ideas into approaches that can now be made broadly available. In nature, biology unfolds in three dimensions, and we now finally have the tools to observe it that way—giving us a much deeper, more accurate view of cancer. We’re thrilled to share these breakthroughs with the broader cancer research community."

ioa-space-image_full.jpg

Director of Cancer Grand Challenges at Cancer Research UK, Dr David Scott, said: “IMAXT is changing what’s possible when it comes to cancer research.  

“We can glean important insights about a tumour by analysing its genetic makeup or its proteins, but no technology alone can give us the depth of understanding needed to truly understand this complex disease.  

“By combining state-of-the-art technology and vast expertise, IMAXT will change how cancers are classified, treated and managed, giving more people a better chance of surviving their disease.” 

The funding will support the SPACE hub laboratory, hosted at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, and the SPACE analysis and computing platform, developed and operated at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge. Together SPACE includes and combines most available technologies for the spatial molecular profiling of tumours. The continued collaboration between the cancer and astronomy teams from the IMAXT project will ensure the maintenance and development of all critical aspects of the platform – from technical and scientific expertise to instrumentation, computing, and data analysis – to allow SPACE to continue at the forefront research in the rapidly emerging spatial-omics field, and be a valuable centre of excellence to support new research in the Cancer Grand Challenge and cancer research communities.

SPACE is funded by Cancer Research UK through Cancer Grand Challenges. Additional support for the SPACE project has been provided by the UK Space Agency through their funding of the development of imaging and analysis techniques at the IoA, Cambridge for a range of space science missions. These have been successfully applied to spatial imaging data through IMAXT and are ready for wider use in SPACE.

Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive Officer at UK Space Agency said: “Space is powering our daily lives, from satellite navigation to weather forecasts and climate monitoring. This collaboration between the cancer and astronomy teams in the IMAXT project is another real-world example of how space science and technology is bringing benefits to people here on Earth. 

“Thanks to this partnership, the same science and technology that mapped the Milky Way may soon have a positive impact on people battling cancer, and could support doctors to provide better, faster treatment." 

Going forward, a next-generation version of the VR technology will be further developed and commercialised by Suil Vision, a start-up company recently launched by IMAXT team members and Cancer Research UK’s innovation arm, Cancer Research Horizons. Suil Vision is the first start-up to emerge from the Cancer Grand Challenges programme. With a £500,000 investment from the Cancer Research Horizons Seed Fund, Suil Vision will create a market-ready version of their suite of VR technologies for analysing multiple types of biological data, rolling these out across research institutions and companies worldwide. 

Image

Top: Lung with two metastatic lesions derived from a mouse primary triple-negative breast tumour. The figure shows how the registration of the different imaging modalities to a cellular level allow to segment individual cells and identify tumour cell populations, differentiate hypoxic areas, increased fibrosis, infiltration of immune cells and blood and lymphatic vessels by staining with a panel of 35 cell markers at the same time. Bottom: Sample in 3D depicts a tumour grown in the mammary gland of a mouse showing the power of the SPACE pipeline to produce and visualise large volumes (typically ~100,000 individual images registered and stitched and up to 500TB 500 GB of data). The orange fluorescence beads are clearly visible in the medium outside the biological tissue and prove to be crucial for all stages of multimodal registration.

Adapted from a press release by Cancer Research UK

A unique collaboration of astronomers and cancer researchers at Cambridge has been awarded more than £5m to establish the Spatial Profiling and Annotation Centre of Excellence (SPACE) to open up access to their groundbreaking cancer mapping technology and establish collaborations with other scientists to enable them to investigate tumours in 3D.

When we took on our particular challenge, much of what we proposed was science fictionGreg HannonSPACE LaboratoryLung with two metastatic lesions derived from a mouse primary triple-negative breast tumour

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

YesLicence type: Attribution

Matthew Pennycook MP, who was accompanied by Peter Freeman, Chair of Homes England, joined the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation, Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, and members of the University Estates Division for a tour of the city’s new community.

During the fact-finding visit, Mr Pennycook heard about the innovative design and planning that has gone into Eddington, which is delivering homes, community facilities, and green space, and at the same time creating a vibrant and sustainable place to live.

Central to its planning has been the provision of affordable housing for key worker staff at the University, which will account for 50% of Eddington’s homes. By housing University staff in a purpose-built, high-quality neighbourhood, while also adding more homes to the open market, Eddington aims to relieve housing pressure on the city and support the highly successful Cambridge eco-system which provides long-term growth and jobs for the wider area and beyond.

The Minister also heard how Eddington and the nearby Cambridge West Innovation District are critical parts of the University’s plans for sustained economic growth in Cambridge. The University is driving forward the Cambridge West Innovation District and the Eddington housing development together, as part of a coherent vision for the future of the city.

Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome the Housing and Planning Minister, and the Chair of Homes England, and to show them around our exciting new development. They were interested to hear how the neighbourhood has been designed with sustainability at its heart, and how it helps support Cambridge as a world-leading hub of innovation, benefiting the community and providing growth for the national economy.”

Mr Pennycook later visited Cambridge Biomedical Campus where he was joined by Lord Vallance, Minister for Science, in hosting a roundtable on infrastructure and growth in Cambridge.

Proposals for the future phases of the Eddington development will be discussed at the first round of public consultations this month. For dates and venue details visit the Eddington website.

The new Minister for Housing and Planning visited the University’s Eddington development to learn more about the new neighbourhood as an example of a high-quality, sustainable housing project that supports local economic growth.

Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local GovernmentFrom left, Matt Johnson, Head of Development at North West Cambridge; V-C Professor Deborah Prentice; Matthew Pennycook MP, Minister for Housing and Planning, and Peter Freeman, Chair of Homes England.

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

YesLicence type: Attribution

Matthew Pennycook MP, who was accompanied by Peter Freeman, Chair of Homes England, joined the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Innovation, Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, and members of the University Estates Division for a tour of the city’s new community.

During the fact-finding visit, Mr Pennycook heard about the innovative design and planning that has gone into Eddington, which is delivering homes, community facilities, and green space, and at the same time creating a vibrant and sustainable place to live.

Central to its planning has been the provision of affordable housing for key worker staff at the University, which will account for 50% of Eddington’s homes. By housing University staff in a purpose-built, high-quality neighbourhood, while also adding more homes to the open market, Eddington aims to relieve housing pressure on the city and support the highly successful Cambridge eco-system which provides long-term growth and jobs for the wider area and beyond.

The Minister also heard how Eddington and the nearby Cambridge West Innovation District are critical parts of the University’s plans for sustained economic growth in Cambridge. The University is driving forward the Cambridge West Innovation District and the Eddington housing development together, as part of a coherent vision for the future of the city.

Professor Deborah Prentice, Vice-Chancellor, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome the Housing and Planning Minister, and the Chair of Homes England, and to show them around our exciting new development. They were interested to hear how the neighbourhood has been designed with sustainability at its heart, and how it helps support Cambridge as a world-leading hub of innovation, benefiting the community and providing growth for the national economy.”

Mr Pennycook later visited Cambridge Biomedical Campus where he was joined by Lord Vallance, Minister for Science, in hosting a roundtable on infrastructure and growth in Cambridge.

Proposals for the future phases of the Eddington development will be discussed at the first round of public consultations this month. For dates and venue details visit the Eddington website.

The new Minister for Housing and Planning visited the University’s Eddington development to learn more about the new neighbourhood as an example of a high-quality, sustainable housing project that supports local economic growth.

Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local GovernmentFrom left, Matt Johnson, Head of Development at North West Cambridge; V-C Professor Deborah Prentice; Matthew Pennycook MP, Minister for Housing and Planning, and Peter Freeman, Chair of Homes England.

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

YesLicence type: Attribution

The smart choker, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, incorporates electronic sensors in a soft, stretchable fabric, and is comfortable to wear. The device could be useful for people who have temporary or permanent speech impairments, whether due to laryngeal surgery, or conditions such as Parkinson’s, stroke or cerebral palsy.

By incorporating machine learning techniques, the smart choker can also successfully recognise differences in pronunciation, accent and vocabulary between users, reducing the amount of training required.

The choker is a type of technology known as a silent speech interface, which analyses non-vocal signals to decode speech in silent conditions – the user only needs to mouth the words in order for them to be captured. The captured speech signals can then be transferred to a computer or speaker to facilitate conversation.

Tests of the smart choker showed it could recognise words with over 95% accuracy, while using 90% less computational energy than existing state-of-the art technologies. The results are reported in the journal npj Flexible Electronics.

“Current solutions for people with speech impairments often fail to capture words and require a lot of training,” said Dr Luigi Occhipinti from the Cambridge Graphene Centre, who led the research. “They are also rigid, bulky and sometimes require invasive surgery to the throat.”

The smart choker developed by Occhipinti and his colleagues outperforms current technologies on accuracy, requires less computing power, is comfortable for users to wear, and can be removed whenever it’s not needed. The choker is made from a sustainable bamboo-based textile, with strain sensors based on graphene ink incorporated in the fabric. When the sensors detect any strain, tiny, controllable cracks form in the graphene. The sensitivity of the sensors is more than four times higher than existing state of the art.

“These sensors can detect tiny vibrations, such as those formed in the throat when whispering or even silently mouthing words, which makes them ideal for speech detection,” said Occhipinti. “By combining the ultra-high sensitivity of the sensors with highly efficient machine learning, we’ve come up with a device we think could help a lot of people who struggle with their speech.”

Vocal signals are incredibly complex, so associating a specific signal with a specific word requires a high level of computational processing. “On top of that, every person is different in terms of the way they speak, and machine learning gives us the tools we need to learn and adapt the interpretation of signals from person to person,” said Occhipinti.

The researchers trained their machine learning model on a database of the most frequently used words in English, and selected words which are frequently confused with each other, such as ‘book’ and ‘look’. The model was trained with a variety of users, including different genders, native and non-native English speakers, as well as people with different accents and different speaking speeds.

Thanks to the device’s ability to capture rich dynamic signal characteristics, the researchers found it possible to use lightweight neural network architectures with simplified depth and signal dimensions to extract and enhance the speech information features. This resulted in a machine learning model with high computational and energy efficiency, ideal for integration in battery-operated wearable devices with real-time AI processing capabilities.

“We chose to train the model with lots of different English speakers, so we could show it was capable of learning,” said Occhipinti. “Machine learning has the capability to learn quickly and efficiently from one user to the next, so the retraining process is quick.”

Tests of the smart choker showed it was 95.25% accurate in decoding speech. “I was surprised at just how sensitive the device is,” said Occhipinti. “We couldn’t capture all the signals and complexity of human speech before, but now that we can, it unlocks a whole new set of potential applications.”

Although the choker will have to undergo extensive testing and clinical trials before it is approved for use in patients with speech impairments, the researchers say that their smart choker could also be used in other health monitoring applications, or for improving communication in noisy or secure environments.

The research was supported in part by the EU Graphene Flagship and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Reference:
Chenyu Tang et al. ‘Ultrasensitive textile strain sensors redefine wearable silent speech interfaces with high machine learning efficiency.’ npj Flexible Electronics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41528-024-00315-1

Researchers have developed a wearable ‘smart choker’ that uses a combination of flexible electronics and artificial intelligence techniques to allow people with speech impairments to communicate by detecting tiny movements in the throat.

Luigi OcchipintiSmart Choker

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

Yes

The smart choker, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, incorporates electronic sensors in a soft, stretchable fabric, and is comfortable to wear. The device could be useful for people who have temporary or permanent speech impairments, whether due to laryngeal surgery, or conditions such as Parkinson’s, stroke or cerebral palsy.

By incorporating machine learning techniques, the smart choker can also successfully recognise differences in pronunciation, accent and vocabulary between users, reducing the amount of training required.

The choker is a type of technology known as a silent speech interface, which analyses non-vocal signals to decode speech in silent conditions – the user only needs to mouth the words in order for them to be captured. The captured speech signals can then be transferred to a computer or speaker to facilitate conversation.

Tests of the smart choker showed it could recognise words with over 95% accuracy, while using 90% less computational energy than existing state-of-the art technologies. The results are reported in the journal npj Flexible Electronics.

“Current solutions for people with speech impairments often fail to capture words and require a lot of training,” said Dr Luigi Occhipinti from the Cambridge Graphene Centre, who led the research. “They are also rigid, bulky and sometimes require invasive surgery to the throat.”

The smart choker developed by Occhipinti and his colleagues outperforms current technologies on accuracy, requires less computing power, is comfortable for users to wear, and can be removed whenever it’s not needed. The choker is made from a sustainable bamboo-based textile, with strain sensors based on graphene ink incorporated in the fabric. When the sensors detect any strain, tiny, controllable cracks form in the graphene. The sensitivity of the sensors is more than four times higher than existing state of the art.

“These sensors can detect tiny vibrations, such as those formed in the throat when whispering or even silently mouthing words, which makes them ideal for speech detection,” said Occhipinti. “By combining the ultra-high sensitivity of the sensors with highly efficient machine learning, we’ve come up with a device we think could help a lot of people who struggle with their speech.”

Vocal signals are incredibly complex, so associating a specific signal with a specific word requires a high level of computational processing. “On top of that, every person is different in terms of the way they speak, and machine learning gives us the tools we need to learn and adapt the interpretation of signals from person to person,” said Occhipinti.

The researchers trained their machine learning model on a database of the most frequently used words in English, and selected words which are frequently confused with each other, such as ‘book’ and ‘look’. The model was trained with a variety of users, including different genders, native and non-native English speakers, as well as people with different accents and different speaking speeds.

Thanks to the device’s ability to capture rich dynamic signal characteristics, the researchers found it possible to use lightweight neural network architectures with simplified depth and signal dimensions to extract and enhance the speech information features. This resulted in a machine learning model with high computational and energy efficiency, ideal for integration in battery-operated wearable devices with real-time AI processing capabilities.

“We chose to train the model with lots of different English speakers, so we could show it was capable of learning,” said Occhipinti. “Machine learning has the capability to learn quickly and efficiently from one user to the next, so the retraining process is quick.”

Tests of the smart choker showed it was 95.25% accurate in decoding speech. “I was surprised at just how sensitive the device is,” said Occhipinti. “We couldn’t capture all the signals and complexity of human speech before, but now that we can, it unlocks a whole new set of potential applications.”

Although the choker will have to undergo extensive testing and clinical trials before it is approved for use in patients with speech impairments, the researchers say that their smart choker could also be used in other health monitoring applications, or for improving communication in noisy or secure environments.

The research was supported in part by the EU Graphene Flagship and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Reference:
Chenyu Tang et al. ‘Ultrasensitive textile strain sensors redefine wearable silent speech interfaces with high machine learning efficiency.’ npj Flexible Electronics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41528-024-00315-1

Researchers have developed a wearable ‘smart choker’ that uses a combination of flexible electronics and artificial intelligence techniques to allow people with speech impairments to communicate by detecting tiny movements in the throat.

Luigi OcchipintiSmart Choker

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

Yes

They have just won an award to develop their technology, which aims to make hip surgery more precise and deliver better and longer-lasting outcomes – which is good for patients and the NHS.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has awarded a £1.4 million Invention for Innovation (i4i) Product Development Award to advance work on the team’s “smart” joint “trial liner”.

The sensors measure forces passing through the hip joint to help the surgeon assess and balance the soft tissues, which aids the accurate positioning of the implant.

Once measurements are complete using the wireless surgical aid, the surgeon marks the ideal position for the implant, removes the smart trial liner, and completes the operation.

There are currently no technologies that can deliver such readings during an operation and in real-time, and instead surgeons balance the joint based on feel and anatomical landmarks.

This is despite over two million total hip replacements being performed annually, with the number constantly rising due to increasing lifespans. Younger patients are starting to need hip replacements as well, so implants need to withstand higher stresses and last longer, to avoid spiralling into a vicious circle of revision surgery and higher rates of dissatisfaction.

Driving this clinical initiative is the chief investigator from Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust, Consultant orthopaedic surgeon, clinical and research lead of the Young Adult Hip Service, and Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Cambridge Vikas Khanduja.

The technology development is being overseen by Professor Sohini Kar-Narayan from Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, together with Dr Jehangir Cama, who is leading on translational and commercialisation activities. They are joined by Consultant clinical scientist and CUH head of clinical engineering, Professor Paul White.

“We’re really looking forward to this next phase of product development that will see us move towards an actual product that is fit for clinical use, and that has the potential to revolutionise joint replacement surgery,” said Kar-Narayan.

“This funding will bring together wide-ranging expertise to help us further develop our prototype, bringing this technology closer to clinical use,” said Cama.

The team currently has a prototype version of the device, which has been validated in the laboratory and in other tests. However, the NIHR award is important for further development and finalisation of the design and compliance with regulations before it can be tested in a living patient.

The team’s underlying sensor technology intellectual property has been protected via a patent application filed by Cambridge Enterprise, the University’s commercialisation arm.

“This is a fantastic example of Cambridge’s entrepreneurial clinicians, academics and their institutions working together with forward-looking funders to create a positive impact for markets, society and importantly patients,” said Dr Terry Parlett, Commercialisation Director at Cambridge Enterprise.

Adapted from a CUH press release.

Technology that could transform the future of hip replacement surgery is being pioneered by a team of experts in Cambridge.

SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty ImagesIllustration of a human hip joint

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

Yes

They have just won an award to develop their technology, which aims to make hip surgery more precise and deliver better and longer-lasting outcomes – which is good for patients and the NHS.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has awarded a £1.4 million Invention for Innovation (i4i) Product Development Award to advance work on the team’s “smart” joint “trial liner”.

The sensors measure forces passing through the hip joint to help the surgeon assess and balance the soft tissues, which aids the accurate positioning of the implant.

Once measurements are complete using the wireless surgical aid, the surgeon marks the ideal position for the implant, removes the smart trial liner, and completes the operation.

There are currently no technologies that can deliver such readings during an operation and in real-time, and instead surgeons balance the joint based on feel and anatomical landmarks.

This is despite over two million total hip replacements being performed annually, with the number constantly rising due to increasing lifespans. Younger patients are starting to need hip replacements as well, so implants need to withstand higher stresses and last longer, to avoid spiralling into a vicious circle of revision surgery and higher rates of dissatisfaction.

Driving this clinical initiative is the chief investigator from Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust, Consultant orthopaedic surgeon, clinical and research lead of the Young Adult Hip Service, and Affiliate Associate Professor at the University of Cambridge Vikas Khanduja.

The technology development is being overseen by Professor Sohini Kar-Narayan from Cambridge’s Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, together with Dr Jehangir Cama, who is leading on translational and commercialisation activities. They are joined by Consultant clinical scientist and CUH head of clinical engineering, Professor Paul White.

“We’re really looking forward to this next phase of product development that will see us move towards an actual product that is fit for clinical use, and that has the potential to revolutionise joint replacement surgery,” said Kar-Narayan.

“This funding will bring together wide-ranging expertise to help us further develop our prototype, bringing this technology closer to clinical use,” said Cama.

The team currently has a prototype version of the device, which has been validated in the laboratory and in other tests. However, the NIHR award is important for further development and finalisation of the design and compliance with regulations before it can be tested in a living patient.

The team’s underlying sensor technology intellectual property has been protected via a patent application filed by Cambridge Enterprise, the University’s commercialisation arm.

“This is a fantastic example of Cambridge’s entrepreneurial clinicians, academics and their institutions working together with forward-looking funders to create a positive impact for markets, society and importantly patients,” said Dr Terry Parlett, Commercialisation Director at Cambridge Enterprise.

Adapted from a CUH press release.

Technology that could transform the future of hip replacement surgery is being pioneered by a team of experts in Cambridge.

SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via Getty ImagesIllustration of a human hip joint

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

Yes

The international team, co-led by the University of Cambridge, used Webb to observe a galaxy roughly the size of the Milky Way in the early universe, about two billion years after the Big Bang. Like most large galaxies, it has a supermassive black hole at its centre. However, this galaxy is essentially ‘dead’: it has mostly stopped forming new stars.

“Based on earlier observations, we knew this galaxy was in a quenched state: it’s not forming many stars given its size, and we expect there is a link between the black hole and the end of star formation,” said co-lead author Dr Francesco D’Eugenio from Cambridge’s Kavli Institute for Cosmology. “However, until Webb, we haven’t been able to study this galaxy in enough detail to confirm that link, and we haven’t known whether this quenched state is temporary or permanent.”

This galaxy, officially named GS-10578 but nicknamed ‘Pablo’s Galaxy’ after the colleague who decided to observe it in detail, is massive for such an early period in the universe: its total mass is about 200 billion times the mass of our Sun, and most of its stars formed between 12.5 and 11.5 billion years ago.

“In the early universe, most galaxies are forming lots of stars, so it’s interesting to see such a massive dead galaxy at this period in time,” said co-author Professor Roberto Maiolino, also from the Kavli Institute for Cosmology. “If it had enough time to get to this massive size, whatever process that stopped star formation likely happened relatively quickly.”

Using Webb, the researchers detected that this galaxy is expelling large amounts of gas at speeds of about 1,000 kilometres per second, which is fast enough to escape the galaxy’s gravitational pull. These fast-moving winds are being ‘pushed’ out of the galaxy by the black hole.

Like other galaxies with accreting black holes, ‘Pablo’s Galaxy’ has fast outflowing winds of hot gas, but these gas clouds are tenuous and have little mass. Webb detected the presence of a new wind component, which could not be seen with earlier telescopes. This gas is colder, which means it’s denser and – crucially – does not emit any light. Webb, with its superior sensitivity, can see these dark gas clouds because they block some of the light from the galaxy behind them.

The mass of gas being ejected from the galaxy is greater than what the galaxy would require to keep forming new stars. In essence, the black hole is starving the galaxy to death. The results are reported in the journal Nature Astronomy.

“We found the culprit,” said D’Eugenio. “The black hole is killing this galaxy and keeping it dormant, by cutting off the source of ‘food’ the galaxy needs to form new stars.”

Although earlier theoretical models had predicted that black holes had this effect on galaxies, before Webb, it had not been possible to detect this effect directly.

Earlier models had predicted that the end of star formation has a violent, turbulent effect on galaxies, destroying their shape in the process. But the stars in this disc-shaped galaxy are still moving in an orderly way, suggesting that this is not always the case.

“We knew that black holes have a massive impact on galaxies, and perhaps it’s common that they stop star formation, but until Webb, we weren’t able to directly confirm this,” said Maiolino. “It’s yet another way that Webb is such a giant leap forward in terms of our ability to study the early universe and how it evolved.”

New observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter-Submillimiter Array (ALMA), targeting the coldest, darkest gas components of the galaxy, will tell us more about if and where any fuel for star formation is still hidden in this galaxy, and what is the effect of the supermassive black hole in the region surrounding the galaxy.

The research was supported in part by the Royal Society, the European Union, the European Research Council, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Reference:
Francesco D’Eugenio, Pablo G. Pérez-González et al. ‘A fast-rotator post-starburst galaxy quenched by supermassive black-hole feedback at z=3.’ Nature Astronomy (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-024-02345-1

Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope to confirm that supermassive black holes can starve their host galaxies of the fuel they need to form new stars.

JADES Collaboration'Pablo's Galaxy'

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

YesLicence type: Public Domain

The international team, co-led by the University of Cambridge, used Webb to observe a galaxy roughly the size of the Milky Way in the early universe, about two billion years after the Big Bang. Like most large galaxies, it has a supermassive black hole at its centre. However, this galaxy is essentially ‘dead’: it has mostly stopped forming new stars.

“Based on earlier observations, we knew this galaxy was in a quenched state: it’s not forming many stars given its size, and we expect there is a link between the black hole and the end of star formation,” said co-lead author Dr Francesco D’Eugenio from Cambridge’s Kavli Institute for Cosmology. “However, until Webb, we haven’t been able to study this galaxy in enough detail to confirm that link, and we haven’t known whether this quenched state is temporary or permanent.”

This galaxy, officially named GS-10578 but nicknamed ‘Pablo’s Galaxy’ after the colleague who decided to observe it in detail, is massive for such an early period in the universe: its total mass is about 200 billion times the mass of our Sun, and most of its stars formed between 12.5 and 11.5 billion years ago.

“In the early universe, most galaxies are forming lots of stars, so it’s interesting to see such a massive dead galaxy at this period in time,” said co-author Professor Roberto Maiolino, also from the Kavli Institute for Cosmology. “If it had enough time to get to this massive size, whatever process that stopped star formation likely happened relatively quickly.”

Using Webb, the researchers detected that this galaxy is expelling large amounts of gas at speeds of about 1,000 kilometres per second, which is fast enough to escape the galaxy’s gravitational pull. These fast-moving winds are being ‘pushed’ out of the galaxy by the black hole.

Like other galaxies with accreting black holes, ‘Pablo’s Galaxy’ has fast outflowing winds of hot gas, but these gas clouds are tenuous and have little mass. Webb detected the presence of a new wind component, which could not be seen with earlier telescopes. This gas is colder, which means it’s denser and – crucially – does not emit any light. Webb, with its superior sensitivity, can see these dark gas clouds because they block some of the light from the galaxy behind them.

The mass of gas being ejected from the galaxy is greater than what the galaxy would require to keep forming new stars. In essence, the black hole is starving the galaxy to death. The results are reported in the journal Nature Astronomy.

“We found the culprit,” said D’Eugenio. “The black hole is killing this galaxy and keeping it dormant, by cutting off the source of ‘food’ the galaxy needs to form new stars.”

Although earlier theoretical models had predicted that black holes had this effect on galaxies, before Webb, it had not been possible to detect this effect directly.

Earlier models had predicted that the end of star formation has a violent, turbulent effect on galaxies, destroying their shape in the process. But the stars in this disc-shaped galaxy are still moving in an orderly way, suggesting that this is not always the case.

“We knew that black holes have a massive impact on galaxies, and perhaps it’s common that they stop star formation, but until Webb, we weren’t able to directly confirm this,” said Maiolino. “It’s yet another way that Webb is such a giant leap forward in terms of our ability to study the early universe and how it evolved.”

New observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter-Submillimiter Array (ALMA), targeting the coldest, darkest gas components of the galaxy, will tell us more about if and where any fuel for star formation is still hidden in this galaxy, and what is the effect of the supermassive black hole in the region surrounding the galaxy.

The research was supported in part by the Royal Society, the European Union, the European Research Council, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Reference:
Francesco D’Eugenio, Pablo G. Pérez-González et al. ‘A fast-rotator post-starburst galaxy quenched by supermassive black-hole feedback at z=3.’ Nature Astronomy (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-024-02345-1

Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA James Webb Space Telescope to confirm that supermassive black holes can starve their host galaxies of the fuel they need to form new stars.

JADES Collaboration'Pablo's Galaxy'

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

YesLicence type: Public Domain

An international group of researchers, led by the Copenhagen Business School, the University of Basel and the University of Cambridge, surveyed 4,000 people from Denmark, India, Nigeria and the United States about inequality in personal carbon footprints – the total amount of greenhouse gases produced by a person’s activities – within their own country.

Although it is well-known that there is a large gap between the carbon footprint of the richest and poorest in society, it’s been unclear whether individuals were aware of this inequality. The four countries chosen for the survey are all different in terms of wealth, lifestyle and culture. Survey participants also differed in their personal income, with half of participants belonging to the top 10% of income in their country.

The vast majority of participants across the four countries overestimated the average personal carbon footprint of the poorest 50% and underestimated those of the richest 10% and 1%.

However, participants from the top 10% were more likely to support certain climate policies, such as increasing the price of electricity during peak periods, taxing red meat consumption or subsidising carbon dioxide removal technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

The researchers say that this may reflect generally higher education levels among high earners, a greater ability to absorb price-based policies or a stronger preference for technological solutions to the climate crisis. The results are reported in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Although the concept of a personal carbon or environmental footprint has been used for over 40 years, it became widely popularised in the mid-2000s, when the fossil fuel company BP ran a large advertising campaign encouraging people to determine and reduce their personal carbon footprint.

“There are definitely groups out there who would like to push the responsibility of reducing carbon emissions away from corporations and onto individuals, which is problematic,” said co-author Dr Ramit Debnath, Assistant Professor and Cambridge Zero Fellow at the University of Cambridge. “However, personal carbon footprints can illustrate the profound inequality within and between countries and help people identify how to live in a more climate-friendly way.”

Previous research has shown widespread misperceptions about how certain consumer behaviours affect an individual's carbon footprint. For example, recycling, shutting off the lights when leaving a room and avoiding plastic packaging are lower-impact behaviours that are overestimated in terms of how much they can reduce one’s carbon footprint. On the other end, the impact of behaviours such as red meat consumption, heating and cooling homes, and air travel all tend to be underestimated.

However, there is limited research on whether these misperceptions extend to people’s perceptions of the composition and scale of personal carbon footprints and their ability to make comparisons between different groups.

The four countries selected for the survey (Denmark, India, Nigeria and the US) were chosen due to their different per-capita carbon emissions and their levels of economic inequality. Within each country, approximately 1,000 participants were surveyed, with half of each participant group from the top 10% of their country and the other half from the bottom 90%.

Participants were asked to estimate the average personal carbon footprints specific to three income groups (the bottom 50%, the top 10%, and the top 1% of income) within their country. Most participants overestimated the average personal carbon footprint for the bottom 50% of income and underestimated the average footprints for the top 10% and top 1% of income.

“These countries are very different, but we found the rich are pretty similar no matter where you go, and their concerns are different to the rest of society,” said Debnath. “There’s a huge contrast between billionaires travelling by private jet while the rest of us drink with soggy paper straws: one of those activities has a big impact on an individual carbon footprint, and one doesn’t.”

The researchers also looked at whether people’s ideas of carbon footprint inequality were related to their support for different climate policies. They found that Danish and Nigerian participants who underestimated carbon footprint inequality were generally less supportive of climate policies. They also found that Indian participants from the top 10% were generally more supportive of climate policies, potentially reflecting their higher education and greater resources.

“Poorer people have more immediate concerns, such as how they’re going to pay their rent, or support their families,” said first author Dr Kristian Steensen Nielsen from Copenhagen Business School. “But across all income groups, people want real solutions to the climate crisis, whether those are regulatory or technological. However, the people with the highest carbon footprints bear the greatest responsibility for changing their lifestyles and reducing their footprints.”

After learning about the actual carbon footprint inequality, most participants found it slightly unfair, with those in Denmark and the United States finding it the most unfair. However, people from the top 10% generally found the inequality fairer than the general population, except in India. “This could be because they’re trying to justify their larger carbon footprints,” said Debnath.

The researchers say that more work is needed to determine the best ways to promote fairness and justice in climate action across countries, cultures and communities.

“Due to their greater financial and political influence, most climate policies reflect the interests of the richest in society and rarely involve fundamental changes to their lifestyles or social status,” said Debnath.

“Greater awareness and discussion of existing inequality in personal carbon footprints can help build political pressure to address these inequalities and develop climate solutions that work for all,” said Nielsen.

The research was supported in part by the Carlsberg Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Quadrature Climate Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Reference:
Kristian S Nielsen et al. ‘Underestimation of personal carbon footprint inequality in four diverse countries.’ Nature Climate Change (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-024-02130-y 

The personal carbon footprint of the richest people in society is grossly underestimated, both by the rich themselves and by those on middle and lower incomes, no matter which country they come from. At the same time, both the rich and the poor drastically overestimate the carbon footprint of the poorest people.

SolStock via Getty ImagesA father and two sons running on a beach

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

Yes

An international group of researchers, led by the Copenhagen Business School, the University of Basel and the University of Cambridge, surveyed 4,000 people from Denmark, India, Nigeria and the United States about inequality in personal carbon footprints – the total amount of greenhouse gases produced by a person’s activities – within their own country.

Although it is well-known that there is a large gap between the carbon footprint of the richest and poorest in society, it’s been unclear whether individuals were aware of this inequality. The four countries chosen for the survey are all different in terms of wealth, lifestyle and culture. Survey participants also differed in their personal income, with half of participants belonging to the top 10% of income in their country.

The vast majority of participants across the four countries overestimated the average personal carbon footprint of the poorest 50% and underestimated those of the richest 10% and 1%.

However, participants from the top 10% were more likely to support certain climate policies, such as increasing the price of electricity during peak periods, taxing red meat consumption or subsidising carbon dioxide removal technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

The researchers say that this may reflect generally higher education levels among high earners, a greater ability to absorb price-based policies or a stronger preference for technological solutions to the climate crisis. The results are reported in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Although the concept of a personal carbon or environmental footprint has been used for over 40 years, it became widely popularised in the mid-2000s, when the fossil fuel company BP ran a large advertising campaign encouraging people to determine and reduce their personal carbon footprint.

“There are definitely groups out there who would like to push the responsibility of reducing carbon emissions away from corporations and onto individuals, which is problematic,” said co-author Dr Ramit Debnath, Assistant Professor and Cambridge Zero Fellow at the University of Cambridge. “However, personal carbon footprints can illustrate the profound inequality within and between countries and help people identify how to live in a more climate-friendly way.”

Previous research has shown widespread misperceptions about how certain consumer behaviours affect an individual's carbon footprint. For example, recycling, shutting off the lights when leaving a room and avoiding plastic packaging are lower-impact behaviours that are overestimated in terms of how much they can reduce one’s carbon footprint. On the other end, the impact of behaviours such as red meat consumption, heating and cooling homes, and air travel all tend to be underestimated.

However, there is limited research on whether these misperceptions extend to people’s perceptions of the composition and scale of personal carbon footprints and their ability to make comparisons between different groups.

The four countries selected for the survey (Denmark, India, Nigeria and the US) were chosen due to their different per-capita carbon emissions and their levels of economic inequality. Within each country, approximately 1,000 participants were surveyed, with half of each participant group from the top 10% of their country and the other half from the bottom 90%.

Participants were asked to estimate the average personal carbon footprints specific to three income groups (the bottom 50%, the top 10%, and the top 1% of income) within their country. Most participants overestimated the average personal carbon footprint for the bottom 50% of income and underestimated the average footprints for the top 10% and top 1% of income.

“These countries are very different, but we found the rich are pretty similar no matter where you go, and their concerns are different to the rest of society,” said Debnath. “There’s a huge contrast between billionaires travelling by private jet while the rest of us drink with soggy paper straws: one of those activities has a big impact on an individual carbon footprint, and one doesn’t.”

The researchers also looked at whether people’s ideas of carbon footprint inequality were related to their support for different climate policies. They found that Danish and Nigerian participants who underestimated carbon footprint inequality were generally less supportive of climate policies. They also found that Indian participants from the top 10% were generally more supportive of climate policies, potentially reflecting their higher education and greater resources.

“Poorer people have more immediate concerns, such as how they’re going to pay their rent, or support their families,” said first author Dr Kristian Steensen Nielsen from Copenhagen Business School. “But across all income groups, people want real solutions to the climate crisis, whether those are regulatory or technological. However, the people with the highest carbon footprints bear the greatest responsibility for changing their lifestyles and reducing their footprints.”

After learning about the actual carbon footprint inequality, most participants found it slightly unfair, with those in Denmark and the United States finding it the most unfair. However, people from the top 10% generally found the inequality fairer than the general population, except in India. “This could be because they’re trying to justify their larger carbon footprints,” said Debnath.

The researchers say that more work is needed to determine the best ways to promote fairness and justice in climate action across countries, cultures and communities.

“Due to their greater financial and political influence, most climate policies reflect the interests of the richest in society and rarely involve fundamental changes to their lifestyles or social status,” said Debnath.

“Greater awareness and discussion of existing inequality in personal carbon footprints can help build political pressure to address these inequalities and develop climate solutions that work for all,” said Nielsen.

The research was supported in part by the Carlsberg Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Quadrature Climate Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Reference:
Kristian S Nielsen et al. ‘Underestimation of personal carbon footprint inequality in four diverse countries.’ Nature Climate Change (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-024-02130-y 

The personal carbon footprint of the richest people in society is grossly underestimated, both by the rich themselves and by those on middle and lower incomes, no matter which country they come from. At the same time, both the rich and the poor drastically overestimate the carbon footprint of the poorest people.

SolStock via Getty ImagesA father and two sons running on a beach

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright ©University of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – 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.

Yes