Frozen in time for decades or even centuries, some of the world’s most intriguing shipwrecks could be about to give up their secrets to a set of underwater robots developed by EU-funded researchers. The diving drones are able to locate objects of interest and provide images for information-hungry historians and archaeologists.
Solar eruptions that eject electromagnetic radiation, clouds of hot plasma, magnetic flux and charged particles into space can have devastating effects, damaging satellites, communications systems and power grids – and can pose a hazard to human health. European researchers have built an alert system to provide early warning of these threats from the Sun.
Very specific conditions are needed for a tiny seed to grow into a mighty tree. Providing these conditions helps to preserve biodiversity, as plants produced from cuttings are essentially clones. EU-funded researchers have developed an innovative propagation unit where plantlets can thrive, along with tailor-made growth protocols for many species.
Our interaction with machines has progressed from tapping keys to control a computer, to waving a hand. An EU-funded project is developing technology that helps manufacturers apply the next step – mid-air virtual controls that you can touch.
An artificial society of robots inspired by marine biology will bring a number of benefits for underwater technology, and help to protect the waterways of Venice from further damage.
Financed by the European Commission, the European AIDS Vaccine Initiative (EAVI2020) brings together leading HIV researchers from public organisations and biotech companies from across the world in a focused effort to develop protective and therapeutic HIV vaccines.The EAVI2020 consortium unites scientists from 22 institutions, pooling their knowledge and expertise to develop novel candidate vaccines that can be taken through to human trials within five years.
Lightweight electric vehicles capable of being stacked together are to be trialled in three cities by a ground-breaking EU-funded project. The objective is to distribute car-sharing vehicles more effectively at low operating costs and to promote intermodal public transport. This would cut congestion and reduce environmental impact.
The times when all farmers needed was a fertile plot of land are long gone. Today, they need input from many sources to do their job. Agricultural knowledge and information systems (AKIS) provide farmers with knowledge on agricultural innovations; an EU-funded project took stock to better understand these systems.
Farmers and forest managers need to monitor vital land management activities and changes in vegetation. They are just two potential end-users of a comprehensive new satellite-based earth monitoring system providing free, full and open mapping data to boost management and protection of the environment.
A comprehensive study of farming practices is underway as part of an EU-funded project to help tackle the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in humans.
Institutional investors have a new benchmarking tool to assess to which extent their portfolio is in line with the investments required to limit global warming to 2°C, based on its exposure to different energy technologies. The tool is developed by the Sustainable Energy Investment Metrics (SEI Metrics) project. The draft version of the benchmarking framework is currently limited to power and road transport, with non-road transport coming next.
How does our brain figure out where we are in relation to our surroundings? The EU-funded project SPACEBRAIN shed light on this and other questions by exploring specific neural cells in the brain. The findings contributed to three of the team members being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2014.
When a boat pitches in waves, it creates inertial energy. The EU-funded SeaKERS project developed the tools to harness this renewable energy for charging yacht batteries. The project team is now planning to commercialise its invention.
ERC grantee Professor Deniz Kirik's spin-off company will join forces with Skåne Regional Council in southern Sweden to build a specialised hospital and a state-of-the-art gene therapy centre, the parties announced on 8 October. The new facilities are expected to be operational by 2020. They will provide researchers unique opportunities for clinical trials, while patients will gain access to the latest treatment methods for Parkinson’s disease and other illnesses.
Short-lived pollutants such as ozone, methane and aerosols are key to fighting both climate change and air pollution, says the team behind an EU-funded study that assessed effective emission abatement strategies for these short-lived climate forcers. Such strategies could reduce increases in global temperatures by 0.22°C by 2050, the team believes.
Our fragile marine ecosystems are under threat. Sustainable use of resources is key to redressing the balance. Enter a network of EU-funding research agencies who have already offered a glimpse of the future of fisheries and aquaculture research.
Plant breeders could in the future produce new versions of common crops to cope with climate change. An EU-funded project is using genetics to identify which plants in staple cereal species could thrive in drought and high temperatures, helping future-proof our food.
Producing more food to feed a growing global population will require more intensive and extensive farming over the coming decades. Ensuring this can be achieved in a sustainable way is the goal of EU-funded researchers developing methods and tools to monitor and map agricultural areas and crop production.
It may look like rubbish, but food waste does have its uses. It could even be converted into valuable graphite and hydrogen. An EU-funded project has set out to do just that. The process it is developing combines anaerobic digestion with microwave plasma technology to transform trash into treasure.
The ABIOMATER project will explore how magnetically controlled metamaterials – engineered materials with properties not found in nature – could be used to improve medical devices and implants, upgrading treatment options for patients. From lenses to tissue engineering, the team plans prototypes within three years.
