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Germany, United Kingdom, Bioeconomy, Bioeconomy
Pig farmers get smart
Pig farmers get smart
Low-cost sensors and wireless communication technologies have enabled moves towards smart homes and smart cars. Using similar technologies, scientists involved in an EU-funded project called ALL-SMART-PIGS are now developing technologies that turn pigs’ farms into smart farms .
When your water is contaminated
When your water is contaminated
Statistically, drinking water in Europe is the safest in the world. But according to the World Health Organisation every year more than 300.000 Europeans are falling ill due to contaminated tab water. ...
Cow fertility – not so black and white
Cow fertility – not so black and white
Holstein cattle - the black-and-white dairy cows you might see in a child’s picture book - have been bred in northern Europe for hundreds of years.
No biomarkers identified to assess potential health effects of GMOs
No biomarkers identified to assess potential health effects of GMOs
Many people in Europe are critical of genetically modified (GM) food, due to safety concerns. A Eurobarometer survey, published in 2010, revealed that the European public tends to be worried on a “mediate level” about GM food , with people in Austria being particularly concerned.
Peter Freeman: Plants tell time
Peter Freeman: Plants tell time
Scientist Peter Freeman is managing a project that is probing the clock and metabolism of plants, called TiMet . Partners to the project include star biologists in the Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the UK, all working to gain better insights into what make plants tick.
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.
Nylons made from shrimps
Nylons made from shrimps
Shrimps and lobsters are among the most popular crustaceans. However, the shell waste produced by the seafood industry is a growing problem , with significant environmental and health hazards.
Biomass bonanza as plastics’ raw materials
Biomass bonanza as plastics’ raw materials
Increasingly, many of the plastic products we use every day are no longer based on petroleum raw material . Instead, they are made from biomass such as starch, sugar, corn and other sources that also happen to be food products.
Financing agriculture to destroy biodiversity: the subsidies paradox
Financing agriculture to destroy biodiversity: the subsidies paradox
"Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on the eve of the recent COP15 in Montreal . "It's time to forge a peace pact with nature and stop this orgy of destruction".
Bio-composites for cars
Bio-composites for cars
Bio-composites have become increasingly popular with car manufacturers because they can reduce vehicle weight, which improves performance and lowers CO 2 emissions .
Improving the imperfect: photosynthesis for the future
Improving the imperfect: photosynthesis for the future
Despite its splendour and beauty, nature is full of imperfections. Indeed, the process of natural selection relies upon minor errors in genetic duplication to produce new variants, better suited to a given environment.
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.
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.
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.
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.