Oil is less dense than water and therefore the oil escaping the sea bed travels up to the water surface. Dr. Fivos Andritsos and his colleagues from the Joint Research Center in Ispra, Italy have now developed a reservoir which can be applied on top of the leakage.

It does look like a resounding, spectacular success. During this year’s neonicotinoid-free maize sowing in Italy hardly a bee colony has been lost, bar a suspicious case where some leftover seed from last year may have been used.

As president of UNAAPI, the Italian Beekeepers Association, Francesco Panella is one of the most impassionate opposers of neonicotinoids and other synthetic pesticides, whether they are used as seed coating or sprayed on groves, as he blames them for weakening the bees’ immune system.

Dr. Moreno Greatti, from the Department of Plant Biology and Protection at the University of Udine in Italy, is the author of a pivotal study on the dispersion of seed coating particles containing neonicotinoids into the air and along field borders during maize sowing.

Tens of thousands of them don’t even manage to get back to their apiary. Disoriented, they lose the way home and die.

The local government of the Piedmont region listened carefully to the beekeepers’ complaints, says Giacomo Michelatti, head of the region’s agrochemical control department.

Put a bunch of people in a theatre room, all having endured a trauma such as surviving a flood . If you ask them to recall their experiences, they will first be intimidated and just sit there, doing nothing and each of them will feel isolated in their perception.

A looming threat overshadows the extraordinary variety of life forms known as biodiversity – plants, animals and microorganisms that contribute to the delicate equilibrium of our planet.

It is a familiar sight for any city dweller: the truck double parked or stopping traffic on a busy road to deliver some package at a house door. Commercial deliveries are an increasing congestion issue, particularly for European historical city centres.

“If I just look at my courtyard , three of my neighbors have an electric car" , says Christian Patermann, long-time program director at the European Commission and now internationally known as the “father of the bioeconomy”.

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.

What if the house of the future could be built, dissasembled and rebuilt, as if it were made of LEGO? This is one of the solutions that experts in the building sector have imagined in order to fight climate change.

The annual World water day founded in 1993 by the United Nations General Assembly on March 22, reminds us of the importance of preserving this precious source of life.

In the southern Belgian province of Namur, concrete and bricks from demolished buildings are being turned into eco-friendly road surfaces.

A wind of change is blowing across Europe, trying to sweep away all the plastic bags that are littering our countries. January 2018 has been a busy month in this sense.