Science - News & Events | Trinity College Dublin

Irish buff-tailed bumblebees are genetically distinct from their British counterparts

The news that our native bees are cut from a different cloth has important implications for conservation practices and may also inform the way imported commercial populations are managed.

15 Oct 2025

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Secondary students search for “ein Stein” in classic mathematics challenge

Researchers from Trinity’s Experimental Mathematics Lab, partnering with staff in Trinity Access Programmes (TAP), welcomed 18 TY students from Coláiste Bríde and Marian College to take part in a classic “ein Stein” challenge as Maths Week takes centre stage in Ireland this week.

14 Oct 2025

Research|Science|Students

Could targeted steroid use offer a universal complimentary treatment to fight TB?

Researchers wanted to understand how steroids selectively affect human macrophages, which are a key cellular player in the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb); the bacteria which causes TB.

9 Oct 2025

Health|Research|Science

Astronomers detect explosive, toxic gas in ancient brown dwarf

The detection of phosphine in the atmosphere of Wolf 1130C raises questions as to why it’s not more prevalent in other brown dwarfs.

3 Oct 2025

Research|Science

Exploration matters more than perfection in STEM learning

Dr Paul Irving, STEM Community Manager at Trinity Walton Club, argues that science doesn’t want perfection but curiosity instead. And that's what we should be nurturing in young learners.

29 Sep 2025

Science|Students

Northern Lights feature in today’s weather report… from a rogue planet

Strong Northern Lights-like activity is the standout feature of today’s weather report, which is coming at you from a strange, extrasolar world, instead of a standard TV studio.

26 Sep 2025

Research|Science

The EU’s 10% natural habitat target is insufficient for pollinator recovery

Bees, butterflies and other insects have too little natural habitat around them to survive, according to a new study published in leading international journal Science.

26 Sep 2025

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

START headlines a week of Trinity festivals connecting research, researchers and the public

Trinity is excited to welcome the public to a week of festival activities, events and demos headlined by the START (Start Talking About Research Today) Festival, which takes centre stage on Friday.

23 Sep 2025

Dr Abeba Birhane joins world leaders at AI summit at the Vatican

Dr Birhane, Director of the AI Accountability Lab (AIAL) in the ADAPT Research Ireland Centre at the School of Computer Science and Statistics in Trinity, recently took part in the gathering on AI and the future of humanity at the World Meeting on Human Fraternity.

19 Sep 2025

Culture|Research|Science|Society

Trinity team to improve electric vehicle batteries after winning National Challenge Fund prize

A team from Trinity’s School of Engineering has won a prize in the National Challenge Fund competition, which was established under the Government of Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).

17 Sep 2025

Awards and Funding|Innovation|Research|Science|Sustainability

Managing ‘ditch-scapes’ can strengthen communities and the environment

A global study reframes ditches as multifunctional waterways with the potential to improve community resilience, water quality, biodiversity and environmental outcomes.

15 Sep 2025

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Scientists discover how nanoplastics disrupt brain energy metabolism

Scientists from the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) have discovered how nanoplastics – even smaller than microplastics – disrupt energy metabolism in brain cells. Their findings may have implications for better understanding a suite of neurodegenerative diseases.

15 Sep 2025

Environment|Health|Research|Science|Sustainability

Parents see quality of life improvements in children with impaired walking thanks to mobility assistance dogs

Parents report improvements in physical activity, social engagement and family life in their children in the first qualitative assessment of its type led by researchers from Trinity.

12 Sep 2025

Health|Research|Science

Trinity spin-out ProVerum secures $80 million in funding to accelerate commercialisation of innovative medical device

The largest investor funding round ever raised by a company to have spun out from an Irish university will help develop a device that reshapes enlarged prostates and relieves symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

9 Sep 2025

Awards and Funding|Health|Innovation|Research|Science

Geneticist Dr Lara Cassidy secures ERC Starting Grant to bring a millennium of hidden human history to life

Dr Cassidy’s success makes her the eighth researcher in Trinity’s Department of Genetics (School of Genetics and Microbiology) to secure a prestigious ERC award.

4 Sep 2025

Awards and Funding|Research|Science

New wearable scanner a game-changer for brain research in Ireland

A new €2M scanning system in Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience will help researchers understand the brain and identify earliest signs of brain disorders.

4 Sep 2025

Research|Science|Society

Electrical stimulation reprogrammes immune system to heal the body faster

Scientists from Trinity have discovered that electrically stimulating “macrophages” – one of the immune system's key players – can “reprogramme” them in such a way to reduce inflammation and encourage faster, more effective healing in disease and injury.

2 Sep 2025

Health|Research|Science

Scientists discover how genetic mutations drive Weaver syndrome

Scientists have discovered how mutations in a specific gene drive the rare developmental disorder Weaver syndrome, which is marked by intellectual disability and overgrowth and predisposes people with the condition to cancer.

26 Aug 2025

Research|Science

Why Ireland’s mild temperatures won’t protect it from the climate crisis

Prof. Graham Dwyer from the Trinity Centre for Social Innovation and Prof. Karen Wilshire, Professor of Climate Sciences at Trinity, write about a topical issue for The Conversation.

22 Aug 2025

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Understanding how cells in small intestine of patients with coeliac disease communicate with one another

A new comprehensive atlas of cells fills gaps in knowledge on how different cells in the intestine act together to drive coeliac disease, potentially opening new avenues for future therapeutic intervention

18 Aug 2025

Health|Research|Science

New electronic voting platform preserves voter anonymity and electoral integrity

Researchers from Trinity and the Research Ireland ADAPT Centre have developed the platform, zkBallot, which resolves one of the core challenges in digital elections: ensuring both voter anonymity and public auditability.

31 Jul 2025

Innovation|Research|Science

Irish scientists unlock nature’s 500-million-year-old colour secrets with nano-tech breakthrough

Half a billion years ago nature evolved a remarkable trick: generating vibrant, shimmering colours via intricate, microscopic structures in feathers, wings and shells that reflect light in precise ways. Now, researchers from Trinity have taken a major step forward in harnessing it for advanced materials science.

30 Jul 2025

Health|Innovation|Research|Science

Seeing the unseen: Trinity team builds game-changing particle impact machine

The new machine, the first of its kind in Europe, allows users to visualise what happens when tiny particles hit a surface three times faster than a bullet. This information will enable engineers to make better materials and coatings for aircraft parts, medical implants, and help to simulate intergalactic collisions.

24 Jul 2025

Innovation|Research|Science

Twenty-four Trinity labs earn sustainable certifications

The 24 have today been awarded sustainable lab certifications under a Research Ireland-led programme piloted in partnership with Impact Laboratories and My Green Lab.

16 Jul 2025

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Political instability, environmental conditions, and social inequality accelerate aging

A new study redefines healthy aging as an environmental, social, and political phenomenon, and calls on public health strategies to expand beyond lifestyle prescriptions to address structural inequalities and governance deficits.

14 Jul 2025

Health|Research|Science

Ireland’s only protected insect stars in new comic to spotlight importance of the bioeconomy

The latest Beo and Raja comic stars the beautiful Marsh Fritillary butterfly. The comic focuses on the importance of insects with the aim of engaging younger audiences in issues of biodiversity.

11 Jul 2025

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Sustainable aviation in the spotlight as Trinity hosts international conference

Researchers from around the globe will this week attend the inaugural International Conference on Sustainable Aviation Research (ICSAR).

7 Jul 2025

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Trinity hosts Ireland’s first BioBrillouin microscope

Trinity now has Ireland’s first and only BioBrillouin microscope, which will enable researchers to make giant strides in the fields of inflammation, cancer, developmental biology and biomedical materials, among others.

4 Jul 2025

Research|Science

Scientists hunt for clues behind the development of curved spines

Scientists from Trinity College Dublin are assessing how the development of spinal ligaments provide mechanical stability and impact postural support in the spine – with a view to better understanding how developmental “missteps” may contribute to spinal deformations, such as the characteristic curved spines that develop in people with scoliosis.

1 Jul 2025

Health|Research|Science

Trinity’s groundbreaking carbon capture tech takes off at Dublin Airport

Trinity's carbon capture tech initiates its first industrial-scale field test at Dublin Airport, demonstrating its potential for revolutionising carbon capture in aviation and e-fuel industries.

1 Jul 2025

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability