Science - News & Events | Trinity College Dublin

Scientists homing in on why COVID-19 affects people so differently

Researchers from the Institut Pasteur, Inserm, St. James’s Hospital Dublin and Trinity are getting closer to understanding what makes some people so vulnerable to COVID-19-induced illness, which in turn may guide the development of new therapeutic strategies.

1 Dec 2022

Health|Research|Science

Using technology to transform how we identify neurodegenerative disease

In a new study published in Translational Psychiatry, researchers at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) and the School of Psychology at Trinity College describe how technology can help detect early signs of cognitive decline in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

30 Nov 2022

Health|Research|Science

New badger research has implications for managing bovine TB

Badgers living with helminth parasite infections are more likely to have tuberculosis (TB), according to new research, which may influence policymakers trying to manage TB infection within cattle and wildlife populations

29 Nov 2022

Environment|Research|Science

New early detection programme offers new insights for frailty detection

A newly-launched research programme - FRAILMatics - is discovering new objective signals of frailty that could translate into the next generation of transdisciplinary diagnostics for ageing adults.

29 Nov 2022

Health|Innovation|Research|Science

Three Trinity researchers win prestigious European Research Council Starting Grants

Dr Kenneth Silver, Dr Colm Delaney and Dr Elaine Corbett were among just seven researchers in Ireland to receive the coveted awards worth up to €5 million from the ERC.

22 Nov 2022

Awards and Funding|Business|Research|Science

Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland team awarded prestigious Ellis Prize

The Archives and Records Association (UK and Ireland) has awarded the prestigious Ellis Prize to the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland. Considered the ‘Oscar’ for the recordkeeping sector, the award has been given for only the tenth time in 50 years.

21 Nov 2022

Arts|Awards and Funding|Research|Science

15 ways to reforest the planet: international scientists call for decade of global action

Scientists are calling for a “decade of global action” to reforest the planet following the publication of new research involving botanists from Trinity. The landmark issue of the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions reveals the latest scientific advances in forest restoration with the aim of benefiting people as well as nature.

14 Nov 2022

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

WATCH: Learning from major climatic events in the past

Professor Micha Ruhl, from the School of Natural Sciences, talks about his work. This video features as part of the Trinity Research Stories campaign.

7 Nov 2022

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Trinity team unearths potential secret to viral resistance

Researchers worked with women infected by hepatitis C following exposure to contaminated anti-D medication in the 1970s. Some of these women exposed to the virus never showed symptoms and now – over 40 years on – the researchers believe they know why.

4 Nov 2022

Health|Research|Science

Promising results from psilocybin therapy trial for treatment-resistant depression

Trinity researchers have participated in the largest and most rigorous clinical trial to date of psilocybin. Their findings are published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

3 Nov 2022

Health|Research|Science

Ten-year dataset yields vital clues for supporting Ireland’s precious pollinators

Ecologists from Trinity College Dublin have unearthed vital clues for how we can best support Ireland’s precious pollinators after interrogating a ten-year dataset containing information from 119 sites across the country.

2 Nov 2022

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Marine biologists team up with tiger sharks to help discover the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem

Today one of the biggest marine discoveries of the last decade is being announced: the largest seagrass ecosystem in the world, an area in The Bahamas estimated to be up to 92,000 km2. Published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, the study details a unique partnership with tiger sharks that played a key role in mapping and ultimately validating the main findings.

1 Nov 2022

Environment|Research|Science

Trinity physicist to lead €2.9 million Quantum Technologies Flagship project

Professor Mark Mitchison has won an EU Quantum Technologies Flagship research grant worth €2.9 million. He will lead a team of researchers seeking to understand nature’s timekeeping limitations and querying whether precision measurements can be more energy efficient.

1 Nov 2022

Awards and Funding|Research|Science

Speicis nua aimsithe: Éin áille a mhaireann ar oileáin san Indinéis

Tá zó-eolaithe ó Choláiste na Tríonóide, i gcomhar le taighdeoirí Indinéiseacha, tar éis teacht ar scata speiceas nua sa chlann Nectariniidae - éin trópaiceacha ildaite ar a dtugtar “éin gréine”. D’fhionn na zó-eolaithe go bhfuil speiceas nach raibh aithne air roimhe seo, “Éin Gréine na Wakatobi” (Cinnyris infrenatus), ag maireachtáil ar oileáin beaga bídeacha i lár na hIndinéise darbh ainm Oileáin Wakatobi.

25 Oct 2022

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Several beautiful new bird species found on remote Indonesian islands

Zoologists from Trinity, working with a research team in Indonesia, have found several new species of colourful, tropical sunbirds. The zoologists have identified a new species, the “Wakatobi Sunbird” (Cinnyris infrenatus), which lives on the tiny Wakatobi Islands in central Indonesia. They also examined the more widespread Olive-backed Sunbirds and Black Sunbirds, and found that individuals named as such actually belonged to multiple unrecognised species.

25 Oct 2022

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Science plaque unveiled to honour inventor Percy Ludgate

Percy Ludgate published the world’s second design for a computer. He designed it, often into the early hours, in his home at 30 Dargle Road in Drumcondra, Dublin, where the plaque was unveiled.

21 Oct 2022

Innovation|Science

Our brains use quantum computation

Scientists from Trinity believe our brains could use quantum computation after adapting an idea developed to prove the existence of quantum gravity to explore the human brain and its workings. The discovery may shed light on consciousness, the workings of which remain scientifically difficult to understand and explain.

19 Oct 2022

Research|Science

New machine-learning technique for classifying key immune cells

The technique accurately classifies the state of macrophages, which is important because these cells can modify their behaviour and act as pro- or anti-inflammatory agents in the immune response. As a result, the work has a suite of implications for research and has the potential to one day make major societal impact.

18 Oct 2022

Health|Research|Science

Scientists classify the entire planet’s ecosystems for the first time

A global cross-disciplinary team of scientists led by UNSW Sydney researchers, and including those from Trinity College Dublin, has developed the first comprehensive classification of the world’s ecosystems across land, rivers and wetlands, and seas. The ecosystem typology will enable more coordinated and effective biodiversity conservation, critical for human wellbeing.

12 Oct 2022

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Inaugural Lecture - Professor Jennifer McElwain

We hope you will join us for Professor Jennifer Mc Elwain's talk on 'A Journey into Deep Time with Fossil Plants'

11 Oct 2022

Environment|Science|Sustainability

Geneticists discover new wild goat subspecies via ancient DNA

Geneticists from Trinity, together with a team of international collaborators, have discovered a previously unknown lineage of wild goats over ten millennia old. The new goat type, discovered from genetic screening of bone remains and referred to as “the Taurasian tur”, likely survived the Last Glacial Maximum (the ice age), which stranded their ancestors in the high peaks of the Taurus Mountains in Turkey where their remains were found.

6 Oct 2022

Research|Science

Fishing for sharks: hot or not?

New research from marine scientists raises potential red flags for sharks that are caught and released by anglers. The team has discovered that the ocean’s iconic predators typically spike temperatures after they have been caught, which may have physiological and behavioural impacts.

5 Oct 2022

Environment|Research|Science

Linte na Farraige chun súile agus intinní a oscailt do thionchar an athraithe aeráide ar leibhéil borrthaí stoirme ar fud chósta

Le hamharc-shuiteálacha solais thionscadal Línte na Farraige, tugtar le fios an t-ardú atá tuartha ar leibhéil na farraige de thoradh borrthaí stoirme amach anseo. Lasfar na suiteálacha den chéad uair ag an bPóirse Caoch i nGaillimh agus lonnófar iad in áiteanna eile cois cósta sna míonna atá amach romhainn.

29 Sep 2022

Arts|Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Science and art collide to open eyes and minds to impact of climate change on storm surge levels around Irish coastline

The Línte na Farraige project’s visual light installations, by Finnish artists Timo Aho and Pekka Niittyvirta, indicate the projected rise in sea levels from future storm surges. Installations will open at Spanish Arch, Galway, and will be followed by other coastal locations in the coming months.

29 Sep 2022

Arts|Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

Decipher the earliest languages, debate AI and learn about climate change research at START

START (Start Talking About Research Today ) features music, debate, games, storytelling, screenings, and live experiments. Over 40 free events will showcase how Irish research is shaping society and offer people the chance to engage with the researchers leading the way.

26 Sep 2022

The synthetic rocks helping us understand how sought-after rare earth elements form

Researchers from Trinity have shed new light on the formation of increasingly precious rare earth elements (REEs) by creating synthetic rocks and testing their responses to varying environmental conditions. REEs are used in electronic devices and green energy technologies, from smartphones to e-cars.

22 Sep 2022

Environment|Research|Science|Sustainability

New research project to lay foundations for next generation of Old and Middle English scholarship

A new interdisciplinary project, which will facilitate the next generation of research in Old and Middle English, has received funding from the Irish Research Council (IRC) under the COALESCE programme.

15 Sep 2022

Arts|Awards and Funding|Science

Trinity and IBM strengthen collaborative research and education links

Trinity and IBM have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that reflects both parties’ intention to strengthen collaborative links between the two organisations.

15 Sep 2022

Innovation|Research|Science

Trinity and SETU host CONNECT conference

Trinity and SETU bring the SFI research centre for future networks annual conference to the South East

13 Sep 2022

Research|Science

Slowing of continental plate movement controlled timing of Earth’s largest volcanic events

Scientists have shed new light on the timing and likely cause of major volcanic events that occurred millions of years ago and caused such climatic and biological upheaval that they drove some of the most devastating extinction events in Earth’s history.

9 Sep 2022

Environment|Research|Science