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First animals developed complex ecosystems before the Cambrian explosion

19 May 2022

Early animals formed complex ecological communities more than 550 million years ago, setting the evolutionary stage for the Cambrian explosion, according to a study by Rebecca Eden, an undergraduate student who worked on this as part of her final year project in the Department of Zoology, Emily Mitchell , and Andrea Manica...

IPLU funds interdisciplinary projects in planetary science and life in the universe

11 May 2022

Last year, the Cambridge Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe (IPLU) opened the first round of the Cambridge Planetary Science and Life in the Universe Research Grants Scheme . The purpose of the scheme is to enable researchers within the School of Physical Sciences of the University of Cambridge and...

Cambridge astronomer awarded ERC Consolidator Grant to investigate exoplanetary atmospheres in the sub-Neptune regime

24 March 2022

Nikku Madhusudhan , Professor of Astrophysics and Exoplanetary Science at the Institute of Astronomy, is one of five researchers at the University of Cambridge who have won consolidator grants this year from the European Research Council (ERC), Europe’s premiere funding organisation for frontier research. Prof. Madhusudhan...

New way of dating asteroid collisions advances our knowledge of early Solar System history

24 February 2022

Geologists have identified a new way of tracing collisions between asteroids, using microscopic mineral textures, which could greatly enhance our understanding of how planets and asteroids interacted across much of Solar System history. Planetary histories are shaped, and perhaps recorded, by collisions. For example, the...

IPLU Science Day Lent 2022

16 February 2022

The IPLU Science Day was held on 7 February 2022 to bring together researchers from across the University to discuss their work on planetary science and life in the Universe. We were also joined by our guest speaker, Matteo Brogi from the University of Warwick who spoke about his work on exoplanet atmospheres. Below is a...

Cambridge launches new Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe

10 January 2022

With a £10 million grant awarded by the Leverhulme Trust , the University of Cambridge is to establish a new research centre dedicated to exploring the nature and extent of life in the Universe. The Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe will bring together an international team of scientists and philosophers, led by...

Could acid-neutralising life-forms make habitable pockets in Venus’ clouds?

21 December 2021

A new study shows it’s theoretically possible. The hypothesis could be tested soon with proposed Venus-bound missions. It’s hard to imagine a more inhospitable world than our closest planetary neighbour. With an atmosphere thick with carbon dioxide, and a surface hot enough to melt lead, Venus is a scorched and suffocating...

Cambridge astrochemist and physicist receives early career award from the International Society of the Study of the Origin of Life

20 December 2021

Cambridge University astrochemist and experimental physicist Dr Paul Rimmer of the Department of Earth Sciences has been selected to receive the Stanley L. Miller Early Career Award from the International Society of the Study of the Origin of Life . The award is provided in recognition of his outstanding contributions to...

Launch of the Cambridge Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe

13 December 2021

On 11 November 2021 we launched the Cambridge Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe (IPLU) at the Wolfson Hall, Churchill College, where we brought together researchers from different disciplines to discuss practical ways to investigate fundamental questions on the origin and nature of life in the...

Cambridge Earth Scientist highlights opportunity to take our discipline beyond the solar system

19 October 2021

How can thinking and expertise from a discipline forged in Earth’s 4.6 billion-year-old history inform the search for life beyond our solar system? This month’s edition of Elements Magazine International, titled ‘ Geoscience Beyond the Solar System ', and co-edited by Cambridge University’s Dr Oliver Shorttle , explores...

First animals developed complex ecosystems before the Cambrian explosion

IPLU funds interdisciplinary projects in planetary science and life in the universe

Cambridge astronomer awarded ERC Consolidator Grant to investigate exoplanetary atmospheres in the sub-Neptune regime

New way of dating asteroid collisions advances our knowledge of early Solar System history

IPLU Science Day Lent 2022

Cambridge launches new Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe

Could acid-neutralising life-forms make habitable pockets in Venus’ clouds?

Cambridge astrochemist and physicist receives early career award from the International Society of the Study of the Origin of Life

Launch of the Cambridge Initiative for Planetary Science and Life in the Universe

Cambridge Earth Scientist highlights opportunity to take our discipline beyond the solar system

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