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Frontier research

The life that grows underfoot accounts for 80% of the biodiversity in a temperate forest. Image credit - www.pikist.com/licenced under CC0
environment | frontier research
01 October 2020

Forest darkness helps stave off effects of nitrogen pollution – but this is set to change

Europe’s forests are sitting on a pollution timebomb which could rewrite their ecology when it explodes, say researchers.

The Mexican Tetra cave fish is brighter and has more sensitive taste buds than fish of the same species that live in rivers, but unlike those, it cannot regenerate heart muscle. Image credit - H.Zell/Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 3.0
health | frontier research
29 September 2020

Secret of how fish repair their hearts could help cardiac patients

The ability of certain fish to heal damage to their hearts could lead to new treatments for patients who have suffered heart attacks and may also help to unravel how the lifestyle of our parents and grandparents can affect our own heart health.

Prof. Sunetra Gupta spoke of her hopes for a pan-coronavirus vaccine at the European Research and Innovation Days conference. Image credit - European Commission
coronavirus outbreak | frontier research | policy
24 September 2020

We ultimately should be able to make a pan-coronavirus vaccine, says theoretical epidemiologist

The world’s pressing need is a vaccine to fight the current threat of Covid-19, but ultimately we may be able to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine, Sunetra Gupta, a professor of theoretical epidemiology at the University of Oxford, UK, said at the European Commission’s annual research event.

A form of tiger mosquito birth control and drones may help stem the spread of some tropical diseases. Image credit - James Gathany/CDC, public domain
health | environment | frontier research
08 September 2020

Sterilised insects could help control mosquito-borne diseases

Aggressive tiger mosquitoes capable of spreading debilitating tropical diseases such as dengue and Zika are spreading through Europe, but scientists hope it may be possible to control these biting pests with a form of insect birth control and drones. 

Research institutions such as synchrotron X-ray facilities have shifted their work and facilities to help researchers working on coronavirus research. Image credit - Sil.d/Wikimedia, licensed under CC 4.0
frontier research | coronavirus outbreak
03 September 2020

New wave of medical ‘deep tech’ can help coronavirus response – but there’s resistance

The development of new medical technologies based on cutting-edge discoveries has accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic and is helping us respond to the health crisis. But for these technologies to flourish, attitudes and scepticism among investors still need to change, say researchers and start-ups.

The dance 'Neutrino Passoire', meaning 'colander of neutrinos’, is a study of an elusive type of particle - how it moves, and as analogy for the cross-border movement of people. Image credit - Mairi Pardalaki
science in society | frontier research
27 August 2020

Q&A: In a picture – dancing about particle physics

Particle physicist Professor Kostas Nikolopoulos, at the University of Birmingham, UK, who was part of the team who discovered the Higgs boson, tells Horizon why he worked on a dance about neutrinos and the similarities between the creative process in science and the arts.

Better quantifying carbon emissions from mountain erosion could paint a different picture of the global carbon budget. Image credit - Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/Wikimedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
environment | frontier research
24 August 2020

‘Earth breathing’: mountain erosion a missing piece in the climate puzzle

Mountains release the same amount of carbon each year as volcanoes – about 100 megatons – and yet we know very little about the process. Understanding these emissions could tell us more about their effects on climate, both in the past and the future.

Minerals inside tiny crystals could reveal how Earth's crust began moving. Image credit: Luca Galuzzi/Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC 2.5
environment | frontier research
17 August 2020

Unearthing evidence for the origins of plate tectonics

Minerals trapped inside tiny crystals that have survived the grinding of the continents over billions of years may help to reveal the origins of plate tectonics and perhaps even provide clues about how complex life sprang up on Earth. 

Fine hairs on bees' bodies can sense tiny changes in electrostatic fields, enabling them to sense whether another bee has visited a flower before them. Image credit - Unsplash/George Hiles, licenced under Unsplash licence
environment | frontier research
11 August 2020

Bees use shark ‘supersense’ to help find food

Flying insects such as bees and moths have secret senses that allow them to ‘feel’ nearby flowers and navigate over long distances, according to new research.

Earth’s seven major tectonic plates draw apart from each other, rub together or collide, shaping the world we live in. Image credit - Pixabay/SpecialEventConsulting, licenced under Pixabay licence
interview | frontier research | environment
03 August 2020

Q&A: Plate tectonics is fundamental to understanding Earth’s evolution – but big questions remain

The division of the Earth’s surface into seven major mobile plates is fundamental to our planet’s uniqueness, creating a habitable environment and possibly the conditions under which life itself originated. The theory of plate tectonics is 50 years old, but there are many puzzles left to answer, says Dr Kate Rychert, who studies the geology at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

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