The Max Perutz Science Writing Award aims to encourage and recognise outstanding written communication among MRC PhD students. The annual competition challenges entrants to write an 800-word article for the general public answering the question: 'Why does my research matter?'. This year, Julia Gottwald, a PhD student in the Department of Psychiatry, was shortlisted for her article about obsessive compulsive disorder.

Today, we commence a month-long focus on research on stem cells. To begin, Professors Austin Smith and Robin Franklin discuss how Cambridge scientists are helping to provide a stream of new knowledge about how our bodies are made and maintained, and how stem cells can fulfil the promise of being one of medical research’s great hopes.

In August 1564 Queen Elizabeth I made her only visit to Cambridge - and found fault with some of the elaborate arrangements.  A pageant on 13 September (part of Open Cambridge) will commemorate the female monarch who asserted her authority among learned men.  PhD candidate Jessica Crown has researched the details of Elizabeth’s interactions with the University.

Cambridge scientists and PhD students are at the forefront of monitoring the activity of the Bárðarbunga volcano in Iceland. The research group, led by Professor Bob White of the Department of Earth Sciences, is monitoring the ongoing massive volcanic intrusion through its array of seismic instrumentation - never before has such an intrusion been so well documented. The data they gather is likely to yield considerable new insights into how molten rock moves underground, and whether or not it erupts. Here, Professor White outlines the team’s ongoing work in Iceland.