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Bacteria that can help buildings heal themselves have been tested at Tintern Abbey in Wales and shown to improve the stone's microstructure without affecting colour or breathability. Image credit- Nilfanion/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>
environment | industry
19 January 2021

Buildings, tunnels and bridges could soon repair themselves

Stone and concrete structures with the ability to heal themselves in a similar way to living organisms when damaged could help to make buildings safer and last longer.

environment | industry
11 January 2021

Carrot cement: How root vegetables and ash could make concrete more sustainable

Concrete has become our building material of choice for countless structures such as bridges, towers and dams. But it also has a huge environmental footprint mostly due to carbon dioxide emissions from the production of cement – one of its main constituents. Researchers are now experimenting with root vegetables and recycled plastic in concrete to see whether this can make it stronger – and more sustainable – and even power streetlights or air pollution sensors.

interview | energy | environment | industry
05 January 2021

Q&A: ‘We need to reduce the ‘embodied energy’ of buildings

Retrofitting Europe’s buildings for energy efficiency is not enough to slash the carbon footprint of the construction sector and cut emissions in time to meet the Paris climate agreement goals, according to Dr Catherine De Wolf, assistant professor of design and construction management at TU Delft in the Netherlands.

A robotic companion called PEANUT provides brain-computer interface users with social feedback, such as encouragement, while they use the system. Image credit - Inria/C. Morel
ict | industry | frontier research
02 December 2020

Brain-controlled computers are becoming a reality, but major hurdles remain

Imagine controlling your computer just by thinking. It sounds far-out, but real advances are happening on these so-called brain-computer interfaces. More researchers and companies are moving into the area. Yet major challenges remain, from user training to the reality of invasive brain implant procedures.

Wearable electronics powered by the user's own body heat could help tackle the issue of how to storage energy. Image credit - pxhere.com/licenced under CC0
industry | energy | frontier research
21 October 2020

Future wearable electronic clothing could be charged by our own body heat

Thanks to rapid computing developments in the last decade and the miniaturisation of electronic components, people can, for example, track their movements and monitor their health in real time by wearing tiny computers. Researchers are now looking at how best to power these devices by turning to the user’s own body heat and working with garments, polka dots and know-how from the textile industry.

If different industries share resources, data, and materials - an approach known as industrial symbiosis - then the whole ecosystem could become more sustainable. Image credit - Frans Berkelaar/Wikimedia, licensed under CC by 2.0
industry | energy | environment
28 September 2020

How waste CO2 is helping to turn renewable energy into liquid fuel

Storing power generated by strong winds or bright sunshine by turning it into liquid fuel such as methanol can help to ensure green energy does not go to waste, without having to rely on batteries.

Special biomolecules and compounds for medical use are being grown in plants like the commercial tobacco plant. Image credit - Pixabay/Couleur, licenced under Pixabay licence
health | coronavirus outbreak | industry
25 August 2020

We can programme plants to grow biomolecules. Is farming the future of vaccines?

On the southern outskirts of the city of Owensboro in Kentucky, US, there is a square, nondescript building. Inside, rows and rows of small plants are growing under artificial lights. This is a new generation biotech venture: a molecular farm. Others are springing up across the US and elsewhere – and they farm vaccines. This means that if we find a coronavirus vaccine that works, their produce could be used by households worldwide.

The prototype space greenhouse developed by the TIME SCALE project showed that it is possible to recycle nutrients and water to grow food. Image credit - Karoliussen
space | industry
19 May 2020

The food and water systems astronauts will need to travel to places like Mars

If humans are to travel to distant destinations in space like the moon or Mars, they’ll need ways to live for long periods of time. And one of the key challenges of that includes how to have safe food and water to eat and drink when far from Earth.

Scientists are reducing the size and costs of microscopes, which could make this equipment more widely accessible and facilitate faster diagnosis of diseases such as cancer. Image credit - Ed Uthman/Flickr, licenced under CC0 1.0
health | ict | industry
07 May 2020

‘Microscope on a chip’ could bring medical expertise to distant patients

Scientists are reducing the size and costs of medical microscopes to make it possible to use them more widely, and hook them up to experts able to diagnose an illness even from far away.

People working on small farms often find they have back problems after a few years, say researchers who are developing a robotic farming aide. Image credit - Sony computer science laboratories
agriculture | industry
21 April 2020

The robots weeding organic farms and patrolling for greenhouse pests

Robots that use artificial intelligence to recognise the health of fruit and vegetable crops and when they’re ready to harvest are being trialled to help small, organic and greenhouse farmers with weeding and patrolling for pests.

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