Science - News & Events | Trinity College Dublin

Deoxygenation levels similar to today’s played key role in marine extinctions during major past climate change event

Newly published research serves as a further warning that present day marine ecosystem stability is likely more fragile than apparent. And marine deoxygenation is projected to significantly increase in response to global warming and increased nutrient run-off from continents.

27 Nov 2023

Research|Science

Trinity pair win European Research Council Consolidator Grants

Professors Kate Maguire and Michael Monaghan will use the funding from the EU Horizon Europe programme to better understand how and why stars explode, and to create a new cardiac patch to regenerate heart muscle.

23 Nov 2023

Awards and Funding|Research|Science

How do we learn? Neuroscientists pinpoint how memories are stored in the brain

New work by a team led by Dr Tomás Ryan shows that learning occurs through the continuous formation of new connectivity patterns between specific "engram" cells in different regions of the brain.

21 Nov 2023

Research|Science

Building national capacity for open research

Three Trinity projects have received funding under the National Open Research Forum (NORF) as part of a drive to build national capacity and infrastructure for open research.

20 Nov 2023

Awards and Funding|Health|Research|Science|Society

Plants might be able to absorb more CO2 from human activities than previously expected

This research paints an uncharacteristically upbeat picture for the planet, but despite the headline finding, the environmental scientists behind the work say it does not mean the world’s governments can take their foot off the brake in their obligations to reduce carbon emissions as fast as possible.

17 Nov 2023

Environment|Research|Science

Accounting for nature a priority for Ireland’s prosperity – new report

The team behind a pioneering project for nature, INCASE, has issued a series of recommendations to value, restore and protect Ireland’s resources through applying a natural capital accounting framework as a national priority.

15 Nov 2023

Environment|Research|Science

New research offers hope for reduced muscle wastage for cancer patients

Researchers from Trinity, in collaboration with Artelo Biosciences, have made a breakthrough in cancer cachexia. Their work shows the drug ART27.13 protects against the muscle degeneration associated with colon and lung cancers (cachexia) and believe it may also positively impact life expectancy.

10 Nov 2023

Health|Research|Science

Autism brain states hold the key to unlocking childhood memories

Neuroscientists have discovered a fascinating connection between the retention of early life memories and brain developmental trajectories associated with autism. Their research reveals that “infantile amnesia” – the forgetting of memories formed during early infancy – is both reversible and preventable.

9 Nov 2023

Research|Science

Why a surprise discovery, warming seas and the demise of the ‘Meg’ may spell trouble for sharks

Some unexpected shark strandings and subsequent surprises following autopsies have, ironically, taken marine biologists millions of years back in time as they look to the future with concern.

8 Nov 2023

Environment|Research|Science

First winners of Joly Cancer Leadership Programme award named

The first two awardees under the Joly Cancer Leadership Programme are Dr Nina Orfali, Consultant Haematologist, and Mr Michael Kelly, Consultant Colorectal Surgeon.

3 Nov 2023

Health|Research|Science

Late not great – imperfect timekeeping places significant limit on quantum computers

New research from a consortium of quantum physicists, led by Trinity College Dublin’s Dr Mark Mitchison, shows that imperfect timekeeping places a fundamental limit to quantum computers and their applications.

31 Oct 2023

Research|Science

ET phone Dublin? Astrophysicists scan the Galaxy for signs of life

The astrophysicists, from Trinity and the Breakthrough Listen team and Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden, are scanning the Universe for “technosignatures” emanating from distant planets that would provide support for the existence of intelligent, alien life.

24 Oct 2023

Research|Science

New project chases net-zero renewable energy systems for the Atlantic Area

Researchers from Trinity are leading a €3.2 million project (HY4RES) that will see them develop hybrid renewable energy systems for the green transition of the Atlantic area of Europe.

19 Oct 2023

Awards and Funding|Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Mental health of staff working in nursing homes declined further despite COVID-19 pandemic restrictions easing

Follow-on findings from an initial study showed that nursing home staff working after Ireland’s pandemic restrictions had been lifted reported substantially higher levels of post-traumatic stress, moral injury, low mood and suicidal thinking than during the pandemic.

16 Oct 2023

Health|Research|Science

New research sheds fresh light on mystery of infant consciousness

There is evidence that some form of conscious experience is present by birth, and perhaps even in late pregnancy, an international team of researchers including Trinity neuroscientists has found.

12 Oct 2023

Science|Society

Free Agents: How evolution gave us free will

Kevin Mitchell, Professor in Trinity’s School of Genetics and Microbiology and the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, launched his fascinating new book at a special event in Trinity this week.

12 Oct 2023

Culture|Research|Science

Drunk? Adventures in 16th-Century Brewing – food historian debunks myth that pre-industrial beer was weaker

A new documentary following food historian Dr Susan Flavin as she recreated a beer last brewed in Dublin Castle 450 years ago was premiered at the closing evening of the Trinity Arts and Humanities Research Festival.

30 Sep 2023

Arts|Research|Science

Scannán nua ina mbréagnaítear an miotas go raibh an bheoir a bhí ann sa tréimhse réamhthionsclaíoch níos laige

Bhíodh lucht oibre in Éirinn sa 16ú haois ag ól beoir a bhí an- chosúil leis an mbeoir atá againn sa lá atá inniu ann, a raibh ABV 5% ann agus suas le 270 calraí in aghaidh an phionta.

29 Sep 2023

Culture|Research|Science

Bí i d’abhatár, bain triail as bheith i do scríobhaí meánaoiseach agus cláraigh do dhianchampa luibheolaíochta ag Féile START

Is cuid d’Oíche Thaighdeoirí na hEorpa í Féile START (Start Talking About Research Today), imeacht poiblí ar fud na hEorpa, ina dtaispeántar an éagsúlacht taighde agus an tionchar a bhíonn aige ar shaol laethúil saoránach ar bhealaí spraíúla spreagúla. I mbliana beidh imeachtaí á reáchtáil in 26 tír ar fud na hEorpa.

29 Sep 2023

Arts|Innovation|Research|Science|Society

Does AI have a right to free speech?

Granting AI free speech rights would both support and undermine our freedom of thought, writes Dr Simon McCarthy-Jones, Psychiatry, in this piece originally published in The Conversation.

28 Sep 2023

Innovation|Research|Science

Scientists unearth potential new target for treating debilitating skin disease

A team, led by scientists from the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI), has unearthed the possible target for treating the debilitating skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), which is a painful, chronic, inflammatory skin condition that can last decades.

26 Sep 2023

Health|Research|Science

Embody your own avatar, channel your inner medieval scribe, and sign up for botany bootcamp at the START Festival

From medieval scribes to virtual avatars and 16th century brewing to contemporary birth stories, the rich and varied world of academic research will be celebrated at the START Festival at Trinity College Dublin on Friday 29th September.

25 Sep 2023

Trinity scientists secure prestigious Royal Society University Research Fellowships

Ecologist Dr Richard Nair and immunologist Dr Craig McEntee have secured the awards, funded in Ireland by Science Foundation Ireland, are given to outstanding scientists in the early stages of their research careers who have the potential to become leaders in their field.

22 Sep 2023

Awards and Funding|Environment|Health|Research|Science

History of the dead body in Ireland explored at conference

The history of the dead body in modern Ireland will be explored at an inter-disciplinary conference hosted by Trinity's Department of History in partnership with Dublin Cemeteries Trust.

20 Sep 2023

Arts|Culture|Research|Science

Range of pesticides, including neonicotinoids, found in pollen of different bee species

New research paints a worrying picture for the different species of bees that provide multi-million-euro pollination services in Ireland each year.

19 Sep 2023

Environment|Research|Science

Professor Abeba Birhane named to TIME’s inaugural TIME100 AI list

TIME today named Professor Abeba Birhane to the first-ever TIME100 AI list, which highlights 100 individuals advancing major conversations about how AI is reshaping the world.

7 Sep 2023

Research|Science

Astrophysicist wins European Research Council award to assess how life may emerge on other planets

Dr Luca Matrà has won a prestigious ERC Starting Grant valued at €1.5 million. He will use the funds to support a five-year research project aimed at understanding how exoplanets and exocomets can affect the presence of volatile molecules that could provide the potential building blocks of life on other Earth-like planets.

5 Sep 2023

Awards and Funding|Research|Science

Scientists unpick how lung cells induce immune response to influenza

Researchers from Trinity have discovered some new and surprising ways that viral RNA and influenza virus are detected by human lung cells, which has potential implications for treating people affected by such viruses.

31 Aug 2023

Health|Research|Science

Trinity Tree of the Month – the Banana tree

This month we are featuring the Banana tree, or Musa acuminata, which is one of our unique indoor trees located in the O Reilly atrium. This plant can grow to seven metres tall and has leaves that are up to four metres long. These plants absorb a large amount of carbon to produce leaves and fruit, but quickly release it once fruited and die back occurs. Musa acuminata originated in Southern Asia and some reports suggest the plant has been in cultivation for close to 7000 years.

24 Aug 2023

Environment|Science|Sustainability

Neuroscientists successfully test theory that forgetting is actually a form of learning

The team designed tests to explore the idea that “forgetting” might not be a bad thing, and that it may represent a form of learning – and outline results that support their core idea.

17 Aug 2023

Health|Research|Science