Cambridge

19 Stories

Cops: Student's Fall Out of Plane Was Intentional

Pilot, passenger struggled to hold onto Alana Cutland, 19, over Madagascar: cops

(Newser) - A British student at Cambridge who was studying crabs along the Madagascar shoreline for an internship has plummeted to her death from a plane, and authorities say it looks like it wasn't an accident. The Sun reports Alana Cutland, 19, fell from the Cessna-style light aircraft last week as...

Act of Hoity-Toity Vandalism Is 'Most Cambridge Thing Ever'

Someone scrawled graffiti across new homes—in Latin

(Newser) - They're calling it "the most Cambridge thing ever": graffiti—written in Latin—scrawled across multiple million-dollar homes in the famed UK college town. The Press Association reports the graffiti, which reads "Locus in Domos Loci Populum," appeared Tuesday morning. The words were written on new luxury...

This Man Lived 700 Years Ago
This Man Lived 700 Years Ago
in case you missed it

This Man Lived 700 Years Ago

His name is Context 958, and studying him sheds light on UK's poor in medieval times

(Newser) - Gizmodo calls his face "haunting," but to UK researchers, seeing the mug of the man known as Context 958 is nothing short of astounding. His visage was revealed at the two-week-long Cambridge Science Festival this month, as were details about who he was: in short, a 13th-century...

Oxbridge Student Ski Strip Triggers Outrage

Sponsor refuses to back future high jinks

(Newser) - Apparently students at America's Ivies aren't the only silver-spoon kids who get into trouble. Now a group of Cambridge and Oxford students are in hot water for stripping down on the slopes during a traditional high-profile ski outing. The raunchy behavior has hit the media, and an angry sponsor is...

Computer IDs the Most Boring Day Ever
 Computer 
 IDs the Most 
 Boring Day 
 Ever 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Computer IDs the Most Boring Day Ever

Though now April 11, 1954, is kinda interesting ... for being so boring

(Newser) - If you ever find yourself a bit bored, just be happy today isn't April 11, 1954. A Cambridge scientist developed a computer program to calculate the 20th century's most boring day, and that one takes the cake. The program, True Knowledge, was fed 300 million facts about people, places, business,...

Beer Summit Is Ho-Hum; Gates, Crowley to Talk Again

(Newser) - Turns out the president was right: the beer summit was pretty boring. In fact, it wasn't even the first time Skip Gates and Officer Crowley had gotten together after the arrest. "Even before we sat down for the beer, I learned that the two gentlemen spent some time together...

Boston Cop Suspended After Racial Slur on Gates

Calls him 'jungle monkey' in email

(Newser) - The fallout from the Henry Louis Gates arrest continues: A Boston cop has been suspended for referring to Gates as a "jungle monkey" in an email, the Globe reports. Officer Justin Barrett, 36, faces a disciplinary hearing next week and could be fired. He used the phrase while describing...

Gates to Black People: 'Don't Step Onto That Porch!'

(Newser) - Henry Louis Gates is upset about his arrest, in which he sees wide implications and a potential "teachable moment." The Harvard professor talks it over with the Daily Beast in the person of Elizabeth Gates, who happens to be his daughter:
  • On the police: "I’m glad
...

NYC Man Pleads Not Guilty in Harvard Shooting

Cops: Suspect aimed to rob drug dealer

(Newser) - A New York songwriter pleaded not guilty today to murder charges in the shooting at a Harvard dormitory of a man prosecutors say was there to sell drugs. Jabrai Jordan Copney, 20, whose girlfriend is a Harvard senior, traveled to the Cambridge, Mass., campus on Monday with two other men...

UK Charges Wen Jibao's Shoe-Tosser

Faces public disorder charge; China sweeps incident under rug

(Newser) - The Cambridge University protester who yesterday chucked a gray sneaker at the Chinese premier—and missed by a solid 3 feet—has been slapped with a public disorder charge for his trouble, reports the Telegraph. The 27-year-old will appear in British court next Tuesday. China voiced its continued ire over...

UK Protester Lobs Shoe at China's Wen

Protester calls premier a 'dictator' during speech at Cambridge

(Newser) - A protester threw a shoe at China’s premier while he was giving a speech at Cambridge University in England today, the BBC reports. The young man shouted “how can the university prostrate itself with this dictator—how can you listen to the lies he’s telling?" before hurling...

UK Mailman Maimed by Rottweilers
UK Mailman
Maimed by Rottweilers

UK Mailman Maimed by Rottweilers

Passerby clubbed, drove over dogs; may have saved man's arm

(Newser) - A British mailman suffered serious injuries when he was mauled by rottweilers while delivering Christmas cards yesterday, the Times of London reports. The two dogs ripped his arm, and bit his back and legs, until a passerby intervened, clubbing the canines with an iron bar and running over one with...

Colleges Seek Kids' Opinions on Grapefruit, Perfect Crime

Quirky questions catch students off-guard

(Newser) - Bored with prospective students regurgitating textbook knowledge, Cambridge and Oxford have revamped their interview questions to include the abstract (Would you rather be a novel or a poem?), the existential (What does it mean to be happy?), and the downright crazy (How would you poison someone and get away with...

New Clock Messes With Time
 New Clock Messes With Time 

New Clock Messes With Time

(Newser) - Here's something different in a timepiece: It has no hands. It's actually designed to run in erratic fashion, slowing down and speeding up from time to time. It aims to disorient and dazzle, to remind people of their mortality and to pay tribute to one of the most famous watchmakers...

Broad Donates $400M for Gene Research

Record gift helps Harvard/MIT venture get to root of disease

(Newser) - Eli and Edythe Broad plan to donate $400 million more to the Massachusetts foundation they started 4 years ago to research the genetic causes of disease, the Boston Globe reports. “It's the biggest investment we've ever made,” said Broad, whose gift to the joint Harvard/MIT venture is the...

At Old School, New Tricks
At Old School, New Tricks

At Old School, New Tricks

Undergrads moonlight as hookers, strippers, and essay writers to foot tuition

(Newser) - Cambridge University students who turn tricks, strip, and sell essays to pay their rising tuition costs have Britain atwitter, following a student newspaper's exposé. One undergrad slept with 40 to 50 men in a space of two months, counting other students among her clients, reports Varsity, duly noting that hundreds...

Cops Bust Two-Bit Thief With 123 Parking Meters

Ca-ching! Heads found stashed in home

(Newser) - Police arrested a Massachusetts man after discovering 123 parking meter heads stashed in his closets and under his bed. Parking officials had been seeking the culprit cutting the coin-filled tops off meters all over Cambridge for the past year, but he was caught by accident when police came to his...

New 'Lucky' System Takes Clearest-Ever Space Pics

Images are twice as sharp as Hubble's

(Newser) - A ground-based optics system has been developed that can take pictures of space twice as sharp as those from the Hubble Telescope. The system uses advanced light detection chips and calculates when the atmosphere is least distorting, the BBC reports. The system gathers together the clear pictures and eliminates distortions...

Mouse Stem Cell Discovery Speeds Cures

'Missing link' embryonic cell boosts fight against Parkinsons, diabetes

(Newser) - British scientists have discovered a new type of stem cell in mice that's much closer to human embryonic stem cells, making them invaluable in the search for cures for diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes. Two independent teams from Oxford and Cambridge today revealed the "missing link" cells, which can...

19 Stories