Summer 2021 will mark a turning point in how heat is seen by the public and communicated by experts. For the first time in its 167-year history, the UK’s Met Office has issued an amber warning for extreme heat for much of Wales and parts of southern, central and western England, where temperatures are expected…
By Cristiane de Morais Smith, Utrecht University. One of the most important open questions in science is how our consciousness is established. In the 1990s, long before winning the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for his prediction of black holes, physicist Roger Penrose teamed up with anaesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff to propose an ambitious answer. They…
The Greek island of Tilos places 3rd in EU-sponsored renewable energy production competition and wins a EUR 100 000 cash prize for its innovative energy model. When Greek islands are written about in the press, it’s usually to extol the beauty of their beaches. However, one little Greek island has broken the mould and made…
Do you feel a bit sluggish after weekends? Would taking Friday or Monday off do the trick? Researchers from UK think tank Autonomy and the non-profit Association for Sustainability and Democracy (Alda) tend to agree in their joint report. They claim that 40-hour workweeks aren’t necessary and are even harmful to our well-being. Getting used…
On 13 July the first LIFE Call for Proposals opened under the new LIFE programme 2021-2027, which comprises four sub-programmes: nature & biodiversity, circular economy and quality of life, climate change mitigation and adaptation and the clean energy transition. Your guide through the calls: info session material The LIFE Team has published on the CINEA’s…
The European Research Council’s work programme adopted today includes over €2.4 billion to fund grants for some 1,100 excellent scientists and scholars in the EU and associated countries. This is the ERC’s second work programme under Horizon Europe. The funding will be awarded in a series of grant competitions refereed by panels of internationally renowned…
by Sandrine Ceurstemont The most serious hazard from windblown sand is train derailment, so trains typically travel at a reduced speed on windy days as a precaution. ‘Fewer trains are passing per hour,’ said Dr Lorenzo Raffaele, a wind engineer at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Sint-Genesius-Rode, Belgium. ‘This causes a loss…
Irish consumers have a slightly more positive perception of bio-based products than their Dutch counterparts, according to research. Results show 93% of respondents from Ireland and 81% of respondents from the Netherlands indicating that they prefer to buy bio-based products instead of fossil-based ones. Price was identified as the main deterrent, but around half of…
The European Commission has announced the second round of direct equity investment through the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund. Since its launch in 2020, the EIC Fund has now approved 111 investments in highly innovative start-ups and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) totalling more than €500 million to scale up breakthrough innovations in areas such…
by Anthony King. In December 1945, during his Nobel Prize lecture for the discovery of penicillin, Dr Alexander Fleming warned that bacteria could become resistant to the drug if exposed to non-lethal amounts. ‘It is not difficult to make microbes resistant to penicillin in the laboratory by exposing them to concentrations not sufficient to kill them,…