Cambridge Alumni Magazine
Issue 102 - Easter term 2024

Bumps

Helping hands

Evolution. But not as we know it.

Cover of CAM 102 showing a rocked coming out of robot hand

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Features

Features /

Helping hands

Finding answers to the really big questions no longer depends on human ingenuity alone: machine science is enabling scientists to go further faster than ever before

Cambridge University Press bookshop tote bag

Features /

Page-turners, eye-openers, brain-blowers. Your summer reading is here…

Cambridge students, academics and alumni share what books they will – and should – be packing in their suitcase.

Professor Carol Brayne holding binoculars

Features /

Good memories: a life dedicated to the mind

Professor Carol Brayne has pioneered specialist research into dementia prevention and treatment, dedicating her life to a world where medicine meets statistics.

Features /

Evolution. But not as we know it.

Forget the Tree of Life, meet the Network of Life: a new model that is about to change everything you think you know about the principles of evolution.

Features /

Bumps

You’ll never make the Blue Boat, and Blondie and Goldie are only a dream. But you still fancy a day on the water with an oar in your hand. It’s time for messing about on the river.

Crossword /

Missing Title by Nimrod

CAM 102's crossword, Missing Title by Nimrod, had for its theme an 'Only Connect' wall.

Illustration showing a zoom in on an island

This idea must die /

This idea must die: “Small island economies aren’t worth investing in”

Dr Nazia Habib says we must focus on the potential – not the challenges – of isolated island communities.

Soundtrack /

We had a show called Too Marvellous for Words. One review said: “It’s not”

For David Pickard (Corpus 1979), director of the BBC Proms, Cambridge was about discovering new music, converting people to opera… and performing terrible shows in Edinburgh.

School of thought /

School of thought: the real impact of social inequality on progress

Study shows disadvantaged children’s struggles are not down to a simple lack of character or attitude.

Brainwaves /

Mapping the world of great women and their incredible stories

Sandi Toksvig (Girton 1977) discusses the Mappa Mundi project.

Dharshini David sits on chair chatting to Jiyaad Ali who sits on bed.

My room, your room /

Dharshini David returns to K15, Downing College

Journalist Dharshini David meets Jiyaad Ali to discuss the challenges of a work-life balance and why the must-have gadget in her day was… a microwave.