A space mission to create the largest, most-accurate, map of the Milky Way in three dimensions will revolutionise our understanding of the galaxy and the universe beyond.On 19th December 2013, a rocket blasted into the sky from a launch site

Darwin's Women

Jul 31st, 2014 19m 47s

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,

Cambridge Ideas - The future of energy?

Aug 3rd, 2012 14m 50s

Today, we consume a truly vast amount of energy - with demand continuing to skyrocket at an alarming rate. We know that producing this energy has significant environmental impacts and emitting so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere could ca

Cambridge Ideas - Memories Of Old Awake

Sep 27th, 2011 14m 4s

Dr Emily Lethbridge, a Cambridge University academic, is exploring the centuries-old Sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur) during a unique year-long research trip. Emily is discovering that the sagas are closely intertwined with the landscapes

Cambridge Ideas - Don't Eat the Plants

May 23rd, 2011 6m 34s

Are plants as defenceless as they appear? See the world how the plants do, as Professor John Parker, explores how plants – the ‘great scientists of the animal kingdom’ – have evolved strategies to defend themselves against herbivores. The lat

Cambridge Ideas - How Many Lightbulbs?

May 20th, 2011 6m 3s

Cambridge University physicist, David Mackay, in a passionate, personal analysis of the energy crisis in the UK, in which he comes to some surprising conclusions about the way forward. The film is based on his new book Sustainable Energy withou

Cambridge Ideas - Sticky Feet

Apr 12th, 2011 6m 17s

Ants have incredibly sticky feet. With them they can hang onto ceilings, while carrying 100 times their body weight. But if they are stuck down so successfully - how do they ever get them unstuck?? Chris Clemente is studying the mechanisms that

Cambridge Ideas - The Perfect Crew?

Mar 31st, 2011 5m 39s

Striving for, and achieving, high performance in teams has become a major business imperative. Drawing on two years of ethnographic research with the Cambridge University Boat Club, this film examines the causes of team failure and success. The

Cambridge Ideas - Strange Seas of Thought

Mar 30th, 2011 5m 7s

A journey into Wordsworth's mind and the process of creation. We know about the experiments that have led to great scientific discoveries is widely recognised. But how much do we understand about the same processes in the arts? When the poet Wi

Cambridge Ideas - Vanishing Voices

Feb 28th, 2011 6m 32s

Of the world's 6,500 living languages, half will cease to be spoken by the end of this century. Dr Mark Turin, director of the World Oral Literature Project, has spent much of his life travelling to remote corners of the Himalayas to study lang

Cambridge Ideas - This Icy World

Feb 21st, 2011 6m 35s

Cambridge University glaciologist Professor Julian Dowdeswell has spent three years of his life in the polar regions. As Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, this film follows him to Greenland and the

Cambridge Ideas - The Emotional Computer

Dec 22nd, 2010 6m 31s

Can computers understand emotions? Can computers express emotions? Can they feel emotions? The latest video from the University of Cambridge shows how emotions can be used to improve interaction between humans and computers.

Cambridge Ideas - Forgotten Heroes

Nov 17th, 2010 6m 20s

A Cambridge University archaeologist, along with two other researchers in Guernsey, has uncovered a previously unseen archive featuring the testimonies of people who were deported to German prison camps during World War II. The project they are

Cambridge Ideas - The Crime Experiment

Nov 15th, 2010 6m 19s

Eminent criminologist Prof Lawrence Sherman has just set up a long term experiment with the police, to scientifically study crime in Manchester and come up with some solutions. This experiment will study crime hot spots and try out a technique

Cambridge Ideas - Professor Risk

Nov 15th, 2010 5m 59s

David Spiegelhalter's proper title is Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk. He is in two minds (literally) about playing it safe or chucking caution to the wind. Decisions, decisions!? Are bacon sandwiches really that dangerous and is

Cambridge Ideas - The Music In Me

Oct 12th, 2010 6m 35s

Dr Jason Rentfrow, from the University's Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, explores the links between personality and musical taste.

Cambridge Ideas - Bird Tango

Oct 12th, 2010 5m 51s

Professor Nicky Clayton researches the social behaviour, intelligence and dance credentials of birds! As an accomplished dancer in her own right she has fused her passions by collaborating with Rambert Dance Company to produce a Darwinian inspi

Cambridge Ideas - Just Add Water

Sep 30th, 2010 5m 44s

Rotifers are tiny animals that survive against all the odds. They are also known for not having had sex for 80 million years.We follow Dr Alan Tunnacliffe, award-winning Cambridge researcher at the Institute of Biotechnology, as he tests thei

Cambridge Ideas - Seven Ages of the Body

Aug 31st, 2010 6m 9s

Dr John Robb is an archaeologist and has been studying how people have understood the human body over the last 10,000 years. “It may seem surprising to think the human body has a history. We take it for granted it’s a material thing, it’s jus

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