News

Targeting a newly discovered vulnerability in the signals that cyst nematodes use to infect plant roots could be a powerful method for reducing the damage the parasitic worms cause in crops such as soya beans. A new study from the University of Cambridge in collaboration with the John Innes Centre, Iowa State University...

A new study led by the University of Cambridge has revealed that as our springs and summers get hotter and drier, the UK wildfire season is being stretched and intensified. More fires, taking hold over more months of the year, are causing more carbon to be released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Fires on peatlands...

A new tool that predicts the behaviour of desert locust populations will help national agencies to manage huge swarms before they devastate food crops in Africa and Asia. Desert locusts typically lead solitary lives until something - like intense rainfall - triggers them to swarm in vast numbers, often with devastating...

A study into global wildfires and ecosystem water cycling has shown for the first time the large-scale effects of fire on plant and soil water dynamics. The research team from the University of Cambridge used microwave satellite datasets to observe the effects of fire on plant and soil water content across the globe. They...