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The sun is shining… Let’s prepare for severe weather!
The sun is shining… Let’s prepare for severe weather!
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.
Smart grid: A grid suitable for renewable energy
Smart grid: A grid suitable for renewable energy
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.
Pig plague threatens Europe
Pig plague threatens Europe
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.
Learning from new very low energy buildings
Learning from new very low energy buildings
To tackle climate change, new buildings are required to consume as little energy as possible . That’s because, in Europe, buildings are responsible for about 40% of our energy consumption.
Free ecosystem services for better crops
Free ecosystem services for better crops
Ecosystem services are free, but often hidden. They include pollination and killing of crop pests by beneficial insects. Now, QuESSA , an EU-funded research project, due to be completed in 2017, will try and increase the visibility of such services.
New therapy against rare gene defects
New therapy against rare gene defects
European scientists set up new therapeutic approaches to tackle specific Lysosomal Storage Disorders: a new drug combination and enzyme replacement therapy against Pompe disease and gene therapy against MPS V I (Mucopolysaccharidosis VI).
Juggling with multiple risks
Juggling with multiple risks
Multiple disasters can have a cumulative impact leading to great human and financial loss. The awareness of all possible risks is of fundamental importance.
Greener milk: how to make cow’s nitrogen intake efficient
Greener milk: how to make cow’s nitrogen intake efficient
The amount of nitrogen that is excreted by livestock is directly proportional to the amount it is fed . This is according to Chris Reynolds a researcher in nutritional physiology of ruminants  at  the University of Reading , UK.
Purifying sludge through oxygen-based digestion
Purifying sludge through oxygen-based digestion
Dealing with sludge is one of the biggest issues of waste water treatment.
Breaking the vicious cycle of antibiotic resistant bacteria
Breaking the vicious cycle of antibiotic resistant bacteria
Bacteria and other microorganisms that cause infections are remarkably resilient and can develop ways to survive drugs meant to kill or weaken them.
The power of youth: Educating young people in the move to a sustainable future
The power of youth: Educating young people in the move to a sustainable future
Federica Gasbarro was a 22-year-old biology student in Rome when she felt compelled to become an environmental activist.
From 100% renewable energy to greenwashing: 50 shades of green
From 100% renewable energy to greenwashing: 50 shades of green
Francesco is an Italian lawyer. He lives in Rome and is now about to move into a new apartment. “It’s a way to get closer to my office,” he says. “I don’t have a car, I just ride bicycle.
Sustainable fashion: Young people have the power for change
Sustainable fashion: Young people have the power for change
As the COP26 United Nations climate change conference prepares to meet in Glasgow in November, there is an urgency to build on the aims of the 2015 Paris agreement to limit global warming.
Last trends in energy-saving applications
Last trends in energy-saving applications
From home automation to bill management, our relationship with the electric systems in buildings is nowadays mainly based on the use of applications .
Organic waste and insects: animal feed of the future?
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 .
Do microbes control our mood?
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.
Social, green, but primarily as an investment: all the features of energy crowdfunding
Social, green, but primarily as an investment: all the features of energy crowdfunding
There are three ways a crowdfunding project can be financed. Lending: the entrepreneurs borrow money and pay interest; equity: investors in the project become its shareholders; donations: no reward is to be expected (there is a fourth way, a mix of equity and lending called “hybrid”).
Energy crowdfunding: the new way to boost renewables
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.
Resilient seeds - Nurturing the future of agriculture
Resilient seeds - Nurturing the future of agriculture
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.