Imagine driving through a lush, green landscape in France or Germany and spotting a herd of elephants roaming freely. As absurd as that might seem, it was only 10,000 years ago that creatures the size of elephants populated continents like Europe. That’s a blip in evolutionary terms. In the last 10,000 to 60,000 years, humans…
A hybrid concrete-plastic floating platform and its components have been validated for offshore wind energy use. Winds are a boundless source of energy, growing stronger and more stable the farther away you move from the coast. While this makes offshore sites ideal for setting up wind farms, the deeper waters make such endeavours more technologically…
Bulgaria’s Ministry of Environment and Water recently approved the country’s National Action Plan to combat the illicit use of poisons in the wild. Two LIFE projects helped the Plan come to fruition. As birds are often the victims of poisoning, it is fitting that the Action Plan was developed by the Bulgarian Society for the protection of Birds (BSPB) in close collaboration with the LIFE RE-Vultures and Egyptian Vulture New…
Survival rates for cancer are improving, but it is still the leading cause of death by disease for those over one year of age in the European Union (EU). Could exercise hold one of the keys to combatting cancer? And if so, how much physical activity is needed to show real benefits in both children and adults?…
For parts of southern Europe, extreme heatwaves are now the rule, not the exception. New accurate and reliable weather prediction models could help regions better ‘anticipate, prepare for, respond to and recover from’ these increasingly extreme weather events. To paraphrase a popular song from the early 2000s, “it’s getting hot in here”—especially in southern Europe.…
Potty-training cows could reduce pollution resulting from their urine, new research shows. There are about 1.5 billion cows on the planet at any given time. Each cow pees up to 30 litres a day. That’s a lot of urine in the ground. This pee is an environmental problem because it’s high in nitrogen, contributing to…
In dark skies around the world there unfolds a nightly battle between bats and the nocturnal insects upon which they feast. You’d have thought bats, equipped as they are with echolocation, in which they navigate using sound, would have no trouble gobbling up the apparently clueless insects you see banging against your windows after dusk.…
The European Research Council (ERC) announced today via Twitter that the submission platform for the 2022 Starting Grant is now open. Researchers of any nationality and within any field of research can apply if they have: 2-7 years of experience following completion of a PhD a proven, scientific record showing great promise an excellent research…
How can we make Europe’s SMEs more competitive? An EU-funded project’s second call for proposals is giving innovative SMEs the opportunity to access technologies related to high-performance computing (HPC). SMEs represent 99 per cent of all businesses in the EU. They provide work for about 100 million people, generate over half of Europe’s gross domestic…
The atmosphere of gas giant exoplanet TYC 8998-760-1 b is rich in carbon-13, according to EU-backed scientists. An exoplanet orbiting a young star just over 300 light years away has given researchers valuable insight into the atmosphere of planets beyond our solar system and the process of planet formation. The exoplanet in question is TYC…