From pollution levels and the number of traffic accidents to safer public spaces and more efficient heating in buildings:  to what extent can the smartness of a city be quantified?  And  is it possible to measure the quality of life  for an urban area through numerical parameters? It’s all about collecting data that is reliable and making sense of the numbers afterwards.

In the late 1980s, the German-born chemist Michael Grätzel literally tied his name to an invention that is hailed as a  revolution in renewable energy .

Genes are the latest trend in nutrition, at least going by the burgeoning  legion   of Internet companies offering diets tailored to our genetic make-up.  These services are relatively affordable and simple to use.

To date, European consumers pay more for energy from renewables than for energy from conventional resources. One of the reasons is still the immaturity of the technology used for harnessing and distributing renewable energy.

For the first time in its history, the Global Seed Vault on the Svalbard Islands, Norway, has authorised a withdrawal. It was requested in 2015 by Syria, a country where the war is endangering the local agricultural seed collections.

Whenever you eat strawberries, does your throat start to swell and itch? Do you also get a burning or prickling sensation in your lips, gums, tongue or inside your cheeks? Or perhaps drinking milk ...

As well as being a time for celebration, winter in Europe is a time for serious weather. Blizzards, flash floods, hurricanes, heavy snow fall can cause chaos, major disruption, economic loss, and endanger lives.

Bioenergy represents two-thirds of the energy produced from renewable sources in Europe, though biomass sustainability is not taken for granted.

Traditionally our electricity grids were designed to move power from large nuclear and fossil fuel power plants to consumers, but renewable energy will see changes to allow smaller power generation from wind and solar to be hooked up to the grid.

San Pietro is a peripheral neighbourhood overlooking the city of Genoa, North-West of Italy. It is also known as Lavatrici (washing machines), because of the concrete slabs with empty circles that characterise the façades of its buildings.

The European grid already faces transmission challenges, as the alternative current (AC) infrastructure has almost reached its transport capacity.

Richard Stallman , 62 years, is that kind of man who you could just think is a genuine down-to-earth dreamer.

Not only a crafty deception to provide tasty food for astronauts. Over the next years 3D printers may become a household kitchen appliance, helping people save time when preparing meals or adding specific nutritious ingredients to their diet.

Luckily, past mistakes can sometimes be useful for present or especially future decisions. This can apply to spatial planning and management in response to natural disasters and extreme weather events.

Sensors and drones can be among the farmers' best friends, helping them to use less fertilizers and water, and to control the general condition of their crops.

What do you usually do while waiting for your favourite tea bag infusion? Have you ever thought about reading a book in those five minutes? An Italian start up invented the so called Narratè , which could be translated into “EnterTEAnment” or “Story TEAlling”, a new product combining food with publishing and entertainment.

Innovative technologies can be used to retrofit old buildings as a means to save energy. This is precisely what the Bricker project is aiming to achieve.

Retrofitting existing buildings with adequate cutting-edge technologies is thought to guarantees spectacular energy savings, by about 50%. The objective of the EU funded project BRICKER is precisely to demonstrate such possibility.

The Cuarto de Marzo district of Valladolid, Spain , is an area spreading over 21,000 square metres with 166 residences. It is now the focus of a retrofitting project , called  R2CITIES , funded by the EU.

African swine fever , or ASF, is a viral disease that kills almost every pig it infects and is likened to Ebola . It gained a foothold in Georgia in 2007, when contaminated pig meat landed from a ship from South-East Africa and was fed to local pigs.