As people age, the more likely they are to be reaching for their reading glasses due to failing near sight or presbyopia. But thanks to EU research, contact lenses providing correct vision at all distances could be on the horizon.
The EU-funded project SocialCar is developing an urban networking service allowing travellers to combine public transport with car sharing offers to plan trips. The aim is to offer travellers more options and reduce urban congestion.
A long-lasting and cheap alternative to wood for use in bathroom furniture could be on sale soon, thanks to an EU-funded project that has developed an economic rival to imported materials.
On 1 February 2016, ten European partners launched the Mobile Age project. Aiming to develop inclusive mobile access to public services using open government data, Mobile Age targets a group of citizens that are usually marginalised when it comes to technical innovations but which is rapidly growing in number and expectations: European senior citizens.
Since the 1980s, flying has become increasingly automated, which has huge advantages. But EU-funded researchers wondered how today's pilots might fare when forced to fly a plane the "old-fashioned" way. Their project identified weak manual flying skills and made recommendations to improve them.
What could be the next new super crop? How about microalgae? An EU-funded project is developing technology to grow and use these single-celled plants. Already used in health-food supplements, the crop has potential to green existing industries and develop new ones.
EU-funded project REMOURBAN will demonstrate strategies that European cities can use to reduce energy consumption, improve transport sustainability and cut greenhouse gas emissions. The aim is to improve the quality of life in urban areas through cooperative efforts on green energy and transport solutions.
EU-funded researchers are pushing the limits of modern aircraft engine technology, developing ultra-efficient turbofans to cut CO2 emissions and reduce aircraft noise in order to meet ambitious environmental objectives over the coming years.
In an ever more complex and expanding world social sciences still have to rely on data from experiments with very limited numbers of participants. FET project IBSEN promises to change this with a viable simulation tool which takes account of real world conditions.
Satellite and in situ data can tell us a lot about the state of the seas, but scientists are not yet able to exploit these data to their full potential. An EU-funded project looked into enriching Europe's marine data products and services - such as those revealing the chemical make-up of our oceans.
My-AHA (my Active and Healthy Ageing) project aims to reduce frailty risk by improving physical activity and cognitive function, psychological state, social resources, nutrition, sleep and overall well-being.
FrailSafe will combine state of the art information technologies and data mining techniques with high-level expertise in the field of health and ageing. The project is funded by the European Research programme Horizon 2020 and will last three years.
The EU-funded LEMCOTEC project used a technological approach to build a more efficient aero-engine, helping to ensure Europe's aviation sector not only reaches its ambitious carbon emission targets, but exceeds them.
Acetylsalicylic acid, most commonly known as aspirin, was already part of the Egyptian pharmacopeia, used also in ancient Greece and in the Middle Ages to break fevers. Taken all over the world to kill pain and reduce inflammation, today aspirin helps to prevent heart attacks, strokes and blood clots. Its emerging role in preventing and treating cancer is on the rise too. But how does this drug act on your blood cells? ERC grantee Prof Valerie O’Donnell works on the answer.
A team of researchers, led by ERC grantee Michaël Gillon, has discovered three potentially habitable planets that orbit an ultra-cool dwarf star, no further away than 40 light years from Earth.
A ground-breaking anthropological discovery took place in East Africa, where ERC Advanced grantee Dr Marta Mirazón Lahr and her team have been studying human origins. At the excavation site in Nataruk in northern Kenya, they have stumbled upon a real archaeological rarity – the earliest historical evidence of warfare.
Researchers supported by the ERC have sampled magmatic gases derived from the Earth's mantle in the Eifel region in Germany. Their analysis of xenon, a rare and inert gas, sampled in bubbling mineral water could bring new insights into the origin of volatile elements, water and gases, that allowed life to develop on Earth.
A team of researchers at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona deciphered the genetic mechanisms responsible for the evolutionary success of animals, including humans. The findings give insight on how life evolved from its simple one-cell form to complex multi-cellular organisms. The results, published on 21/4/2016 in Cell journal, may also provide hints how the life will evolve in future.
EU-funded project PRISAR is developing a hybrid probe that doctors can use to more precisely target cancerous tumours in image-guided surgery and during post-operative radiotherapy treatment. The project aims to improve treatments for cancer patients and save more lives.
Floods, wildfires, droughts and volcanic eruptions. These are just some of the catastrophes that will cause increasing damage and costs in Europe if steps aren't taken to address the risk from natural disasters, says ENHANCE, an EU-funded research project. The findings are being used at EU, national and local levels.
