Research Horizons

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A is for Albatross: sketches by Edward Wilson Jun 03, 2015

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In June 1910, Dr Edward Wilson set sail to Antarctica on board the Terra Nova on the British Antarctic Expedition led by Captain Scott. A supremely talented artist, Wilson sketched what he saw – including the majestic albatross. The expedition ended in tragedy. The members of the British expedition perished on their return from the pole having discovered that the Norwegians had got there first. Wilson’s sketchbook was retrieved from the tent where he and his companions spent their last days. Today, around 1,900 of Wilson’s drawings and sketches are held by Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI), which holds a unique collection of materials illustrating polar exploration, history and science. “Wilson is one of the greatest artists of the heroic age of polar exploration,” explains Heather Lane, former Keeper of the Polar Museum at SPRI. “He captured with stunning accuracy both the anatomical structure and the fragile beauty of living things." SPRI: http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/

300 years of Laurence Sterne Mar 21, 2014

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The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman turned a Yorkshire clergyman into a literary celebrity. Three hundred years after his birth on 24 November 1713, Laurence Sterne's quirky take on the novel continues to inspire. Dr Mary Newbould explores Sterne's lasting impact.

Darwin's Women Oct 21, 2013

Show notes

The Darwin Correspondence Project is researching Charles Darwin's letters and has so far located more than 15,000 he either sent or received. The full texts of these are being published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin (20 vols to date, CUP 1985-), and are also going online on the Project's website with 7500 currently available to read for free (www.darwinproject.ac.uk). Around half the original letters are in the Darwin archive in Cambridge University Library where the Project is based, with the rest spread in archives and private collections around the world; more are discovered every year. The research presented here was carried out as part of the "Darwin & Gender" project.

The Machine that Rubs Out Noise Oct 04, 2013

Show notes

A noisy restaurant, a busy road, a windy day -- all situations that can be intensely frustrating for the hearing impaired when trying to pick out speech in a noisy environment. What if hearing device wearers could choose to filter out all the troublesome sounds and focus on the voices they want to hear? Dr Richard Turner from the University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering believes that this is fast becoming a possibility. He is developing a system that identifies the corrupting noise and 'rubs it out'.

Eggs Cetera #6 - Hunting for the world's oldest decorated eggs Oct 04, 2013

Show notes

Emptied of their contents and filled with water, ostrich eggshells enabled some of our earliest ancestors to colonise arid areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, making hunting trips into areas where rain rarely falls. Archaeologists have also found evidence that these communities decorated the ostrich eggs they used as flasks. This discovery makes fragments of decorated eggshell some of the world's earliest examples of art and the capacity for abstract thought.

Avian flu viruses which are transmissible between humans could evolve in nature Apr 17, 2013

Show notes

Research provides insight into feasibility of virus becoming airborne transmissible. It might be possible for human-to-human airborne transmissible avian H5N1 influenza viruses to evolve in nature, new research has found.

'Everything, everywhere, ever' - the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Mar 15, 2013

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Cambridge University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology reopens after a 18-month closure for redevelopment. Home to some of the most important collections of its kind in the UK, the museum has undergone a stunning transformation.

An interview with Sir John Gurdon Mar 15, 2013

Show notes

In this video interview with John Gurdon, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday 8th October, he talks about the research that revolutionised a field, his hopes for the future, and that now legendary school report.

7,000BC: The Dawn of Cinema Mar 12, 2013

Show notes

Some of the world's oldest engravings of the human form -- prehistoric rock art from the Italian Alps -- have been brought to life by the latest digital technology. P • I • T • O • T • I • is an innovative research project that applies insights from the new technologies of computer graphics to prehistoric pictures, specifically the rock art of Valcamonica, Italy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It brings to life some of the earliest human figures in European rock art -- some made from as early as 7,000 BC -- with interactive graphics, 3D printing and video games, exploring the potential links between the world of archaeology and the world of film, digital humanities and computer vision. A multimedia digital rock art exhibition with video projections, an ambient cinema and an interactive touch screen table is on display at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, 7-23 March 2013. P • I • T • O • T • I • is a joint venture between the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at the University of Cambridge, the Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici and the University of St Pölten (Austria).

Alan Turing - Celebrating the life of a genius Jun 22, 2012

Show notes

Saturday 23 June 2012 marks the centenary of the birth of Alan Turing - mathematical genius, hero of the WWII code breakers of Bletchley Park, and father of modern computing. Alan Turing was a mathematician, cryptographer and pioneer of computer science who possessed one of the greatest brains of the 20th century. His life was one of secret triumphs shadowed by public tragedy. Presented by Dr James Grime, Enigma Project Officer at the University's Millenium Mathematics Project

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