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Environment

The DNA from over 1 500 forgotten tomato breeds are being used to create resilient, nutritious and flavour-filled varieties. Image courtesy of TRADITOM
agriculture | environment
04 May 2017

Forgotten crops making meals taste better

Local farmers and researchers are foraging through forgotten crops to recover long-lost flavours.

Mining deep under sea affects ecosystems like the Beehive at the Snake Pit hydrothermal vent field. Credit: Ifremer/Victor6000, Bicose cruise (2014)
environment | industry
27 April 2017

Underwater debris is clouding hopes for sustainable deep-sea mining

Treasure troves of raw materials are resting on the ocean floor and their potential abundance is driving the emergence of deep-sea mining, and throwing up concerns about the environmental impact.

Traces of pollutants were found in tiny amphipods who live more than 6 km underwater. © Dr Alan J. Jamieson, Newcastle University, UK.
environment | frontier research
20 April 2017

Deep-sea trenches contain chemicals and radioactivity

The deepest parts of the ocean were once assumed to be pristine, but recent discoveries of chemicals and radioactive products at the bottom of underwater trenches has shown that humanity’s footprint extends to the furthest reaches of the earth – and it could affect the balance of oxygen in the oceans and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

When bubbles created by ship propellers burst, it creates underwater noise that may affect marine animals. Credit: Pixabay/ Claudia14
environment
03 April 2017

Clicks, snaps and howls drowned out by the noise of ships

Far from being the silent, dreamlike landscape we often imagine, the sea is peppered with animal sounds, a chorus of clicks, snaps and howls. 

Half of the snappers sold in markets may actually be other types of fish. Image credit: ‘Maine Avenue Fish Market’ by Ellie Van Houtte is licenced under CC BY 2.0
environment | agriculture
22 March 2017

DNA barcoding needed to break fish black market

General fish labels like snapper, sole and seabream take away the power to accurately assess stocks and then distort fishing quotas, but by identifying individual species we could prevent illegal catches ending up on our plates. 

PhD student Urban Wünsch learned valuable lessons on a training trip aboard the Danish research ship Dana. Image credit: Urban Wünsch
environment | open science
20 February 2017

Sample labelling in the North Sea helping link up Europe’s research ships

Urban Wünsch never expected product labelling to be the hardest part of a seven-day voyage across the North Sea.

Crowdfunding and cooperatives let people directly connect to solar and wind power. Image credit: Boa Energia
energy | environment | open innovation
13 February 2017

Cutting out the middleman in renewable energy

A growing number of environmentally minded people are putting their money where their mouths are and directly investing in projects such as solar and wind farms, thanks to a rise in community-based financing schemes such as crowdfunding and renewable energy cooperatives.

Positive energy settlements could cost 16 % less to build than conventional zero-energy buildings. Image credit: ECOxIA
environment | energy
09 February 2017

Positive energy homes a plus for climate change fight

Positive energy homes may sound like something out of a hippy commune, but these days the term has a more practical meaning. 

Roughly one third of all food produced for people is lost or wasted. ‘Household food trash NY’ is licensed by petrr under CC BY 2.0
environment | ict
02 February 2017

How can we cut down on food waste?

Vegetables rejected by European shops for the way they look are being used as dinner ingredients in Kenya while researchers are following Scandinavian shoppers around supermarkets, all in a bid to cut down on one of the most extravagant wastes of our time – unwanted food.

Collaboration between Europe and North Africa could mean more resources in the Mediterranean region for green energy projects, says InnoEnergy’s Claude Ayache. Image credit: Flickr/dirvish
interview | environment | open to the world | energy
01 February 2017

EU, North Africa green energy tie-up draws closer - Claude Ayache

An experimental project connecting renewable energy researchers in the EU with colleagues in Morocco and Tunisia could help pave the way for a market in renewable energy and energy efficiency that spans the Mediterranean, according to Claude Ayache, senior advisor for European affairs at the EU’s public-private green energy partnership, InnoEnergy.

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