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Luca Tancredi Barone Back in 1998, when my grandmother looked at my university thesis on blue compact dwarf galaxies , she asked me, puzzled, "what exactly do you use this for?" I then realised that, perhaps, I had to reconsider my career ambitions.

How can smart cities finance their transformation? Local governments in Europe are notoriously risk averse, city council officials and industry leaders won’t hesitate to tell you.

Protecting health by improved building efficiency Home sweet home. Houses are supposed to be our nest, a shelter from the world outside. But how healthy are European homes? Nowadays most of our time is spent indoors, often at home, one reason being the current shift to “desk jobs”.

Household air pollution: the forgotten hazard As air pollution is largely considered to be an outdoor problem, people are little aware of indoor contaminants . The World Health Organisation estimated that each year 4.3 million people die of exposure to household pollutants.

Smoother ice creams, greener peas and ecological tomatoes There are different reasons to adapt new technologies in food processing. First, the industry hopes to create new foods that will provide a better taste and new sensations in the mouth .

Challenging energy renovation of buildings Energy consumption in the construction sector is a key issue in the fight against climate change. It is often approached when planning new buildings, but there is little tendency to renovate the existing stock .

“Democratic” supergrids Thousands of kilometres of increasingly sophisticated and cutting-edge transmission lines, in other words supergrids , are on the EU agenda. Projects for high voltage links between countries are already being implemented.

Organic waste and insects: animal feed of the future? More than the 70 percent of the protein sources required by animals bred in the European Union are imported from non-EU countries . Soybean dominates the protein supply for animal feed .

Shaping our future: the radical technologies of tomorrow Visionary, high-risk, long-term and breaking down traditional boundaries. These are just some of the key ingredients in breakthrough technologies being targeted by FET researchers across Europe.

Solar energy: “googling” your roof Despite increasing talk about renewable energy, many people remain far removed from what’s going on. To tackle this, various projects have been developed over the years helping users to better understand and use green energy sources.

Smart buildings: energy efficiency at what price? Smart buildings appear to respond to a range of energy challenges found in Europe today. Improved efficiency would help consumers reduce income spent on energy consumption, reduce greenhouse emissions and also help EU countries meet the goals of the 2030 energy strategy .

Fitting hot and cold climates into the “envelope” Buildings account for 36% of CO 2 emissions in Europe, and energy consumption in this sector has increased in recent decades.

A raincoat for our houses Today, one of the new challenges for the construction industry is the use of textiles, coming from the clothing and footwear industries.

How safe is seafood? Consumption of seafood is regarded as healthy since it contains high quality proteins, vitamins and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. But it might also put us at risk of exposure to environmental pollutants.

“That’s another fight. Big data as a commons” For David Bollier, cities are at a crossroads. As smart city initiatives and data collection increases, it’s essential that citizens use the ideas of the commons to retain control of the services that matter to them, and to ensure these work for the people of the city, not just for business or bureaucracy, he argues.

A smart city means an inclusive city Like every year, December 3 will be a United Nations sanctioned International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) . The aim is to increase public awareness of the conditions of disabled people and, at the same time, to celebrate their achievements and contributions.

Do microbes control our mood? If aliens were to examine a human, they would think we were just slavish organisms designed to feed microbes and carry them around. Our bodies contain ten times more bacteria than cells , and there are an estimated 3.

Smart cities vs “locked-in” cities As more and more cities launch projects to become smart, a substantial need is emerging: the ability to share the various models across the world so that they can be replicated anywhere.

Energy crowdfunding: the new way to boost renewables It's a brand new sector: the first steps date back to 2012. Today energy crowdfunding is a way of financing solar panel or wind turbine projects.

The cost of blackouts in Europe In January 2005, a severe storm swept across Northern Europe, from Ireland to Russia. More than 500,000 homes were left without power, with Denmark and Southern Sweden being particularly hard-hit.

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