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Department of Zoology

 
Read more at: Congratulations to Professor Rebecca Kilner, FRS on being elected to the 1866 Professorship of Zoology

Congratulations to Professor Rebecca Kilner, FRS on being elected to the 1866 Professorship of Zoology

17 May 2023

We are absolutely delighted to congratulate Professor Rebecca Kilner FRS on being elected to the 1866 Professorship of Zoology. On hearing of her election Rebecca Kilner said: " It’s a huge privilege to be elected to the Professorship of Zoology (1866). What an honour and challenge to follow in the footsteps of the nine...


Read more at: Royal Society elects new Fellows - Professor William Sutherland and Professor Chris Jiggins

Royal Society elects new Fellows - Professor William Sutherland and Professor Chris Jiggins

10 May 2023

We are absolutely delighted to congratulate P rofessor William Sutherland and Professor Chris Jiggins on being elected Fellows of the Royal Society. Bill is one of the leading lights in conservation policy and practice, especially through the delivery of evidence-based conservation. He works with a team of collaborators...


Read more at: Soldier aphids on bamboo – the only eusocial animals that don’t live in a nest

Soldier aphids on bamboo – the only eusocial animals that don’t live in a nest

9 May 2023

Living in some kind of a nest is usually thought to be a necessary condition for the evolution of complex sociality - in everything from sponge-dwelling snapping shrimps to burrowing naked mole-rats. Nests provide a resource that can readily be defended and helps ensure that you are surrounded by relatives. However, in a...


Read more at: Newly discovered soft-bodied fossil site found in Wales

Newly discovered soft-bodied fossil site found in Wales

2 May 2023

In an unexpected outcome of the Covid lockdowns, a new fossil site has been discovered in Wales. It is one of the very rare sites where soft tissues and complete organisms are preserved in abundance, rather than just hard parts like shells and bones. These exceptional deposits tell us much of what we know about the...


Read more at: Congratulations to Professor William Sutherland for the 2023 ECI Prize

Congratulations to Professor William Sutherland for the 2023 ECI Prize

18 April 2023

We are delighted to congratulate Professor William Sutherland , Miriam Rothschild Professor of Conservation Biology o n being awarded 2023 ECI Prize in terrestrial ecology by the International Ecology Institute (ECI, Oldendorf/Luhe, Germany). The ECI Prize is awarded biennially to an ecologist distinguished by outstanding...


Read more at: New appointment of Board member for Natural England

New appointment of Board member for Natural England

14 March 2023

Congratulations to Dr Lynn Dicks, University Lecturer in Animal Ecology at the Department of Zoology on her recent appointment of Board Member for Natural England. Her responsibilities as board member will last for 3 years. Natural England is the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England. This is a Public...


Read more at: IEEE Technology in the Service of Society Award 2023

IEEE Technology in the Service of Society Award 2023

1 March 2023

Congratulations to Derek Smith and the team in the Centre for Pathogen Evolution who, on behalf of the University of Cambridge, have been given this award for their work on antigenic cartography, which is used to describe and predict the evolution of viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2. The mission of the IEEE (the...


Read more at: Fossil ‘weird wonders’ discovered in a sheep field in mid Wales
opabiniids

Fossil ‘weird wonders’ discovered in a sheep field in mid Wales

24 November 2022

Exceptional fossil deposits such as the Burgess Shale in Canada and Chengjiang in China, which preserve soft tissues and internal organs alongside typical shells and ‘hard parts’, provide the oldest evidence for many major animal groups. While many of these fossils can be readily recognized as relatives of modern groups...


Read more at: Planar cell polarity: intracellular asymmetry and supracellular gradients of Dachsous

Planar cell polarity: intracellular asymmetry and supracellular gradients of Dachsous

1 November 2022

This work documents one final step in a scientific journey of 60 years. It is exactly 60 years since I (Peter) first had the idea, when a graduate student playing in a sandbox on the 3rd floor of the Zoology Department, that planar polarity might depend on a gradient of some molecule. The hypothesis was that cells are...


Read more at: Learning about the first animals on Earth from life at the poles

Learning about the first animals on Earth from life at the poles

12 October 2022

Emily Mitchell from our Deeptime Ecology Group and a team from British Antarctic Survey have recently published a paper about the amazing survival strategies of polar marine creatures might help to explain how the first animals on earth could have evolved earlier than the oldest fossils suggest according to new research...