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Better predictions of volcanic eruptions would help protect the lives of those living close to them. Image credit - Jorge Nava - Navart/Wikimedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
security | environment | frontier research
20 January 2021

Unravelling the when, where and how of volcanic eruptions

There are about 1,500 potentially active volcanoes worldwide and about 50 eruptions occur each year. But it’s still difficult to predict when and how these eruptions will happen or how they’ll unfold. Now, new insight into the physical processes inside volcanoes are giving scientists a better understanding of their behaviour, which could help protect the 1 billion people who live close to volcanoes.

Pining down causality between online extreme speech and offline violence is very difficult, says Prof. Udupa but you can clearly identify trends and correlations. Image credit - LMU Munich
interview | social sciences | security | frontier research
18 January 2021

Q&A: Why cultural nuance matters in the fight against online extreme speech

Artificial intelligence (AI) used by governments and the corporate sector to detect and extinguish online extreme speech often misses important cultural nuance, but bringing in independent factcheckers as intermediaries could help step up the fight against online vitriol, according to Sahana Udupa, professor of media anthropology at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany.

As speech and seismic signals have properties in common, speech recognition techniques are being used to understand what volcanoes are saying and when they might erupt. Image credit - milito10/ Pixabay, licenced under CC0
security | ict | environment
05 May 2020

How speech recognition techniques are helping to predict volcanoes’ behaviour

Dr Luciano Zuccarello grew up in the shadow of Mount Etna, an active volcano on the Italian island of Sicily. Farms and orchards ring the lower slopes of the volcano, where the fertile soil is ideal for agriculture. But the volcano looms large in the life of locals because it is also one of the most active volcanoes in the world.

The peat fire in the field experiment in Dumai, South Sumatra, continued to burn after three days of torrential rain. Video/image credit - Yulianto Sulistyo Nugroho
interview | environment | frontier research | security
31 October 2019

In a picture: ‘Not enough people are aware of this monster’

Professor Guillermo Rein, a fire scientist, tells Horizon why smouldering peatland fires are so dangerous and why we know so little about them.

Voting in a polling booth and online voting are like apples and pears - it's not a matter of just replacing one with another, says Dr Kremer. Image credit - Santeri Viinamäki, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
frontier research | ict | security
01 April 2019

‘Online voting isn’t ready for high-stakes elections’

Online voting is often considered a way to improve voter turnout and security. But according to Dr Steve Kremer of the French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation, computer scientists have got a long way to go before they make it a viable alternative to pencils and paper.

The 2017 Chilean wildfires, along with those in Portugal, were confirmation that the new type of fire was here to stay. Image credit - Pablo Trincado, licensed under CC BY 2.0
security | environment
21 February 2019

‘It eats everything’ – the new breed of wildfire that’s impossible to predict

We’re fighting a different kind of wildfire whose behaviour experts are struggling to predict.

Robots play a role in post-disaster relief work in situations that are too dangerous for humans. Image Credit - © Volker Lannert/Uni Bonn
ict | security
22 January 2019

The robots being readied to enter nuclear no-go zones

Robust, intelligent robots that react to their surroundings are being developed to work in situations that are too dangerous for humans, such as cleaning up Europe’s decades-old radioactive waste or helping during a nuclear emergency.

Researchers plan to use drones to monitor bridges and tunnels during intense weather events. Image credit - FADA CATEC
security | environment | transport
17 January 2019

Preparing for extreme weather

From high winds and heavy rainfall to droughts and plummeting temperatures, people in Europe have already begun to feel the effects of extreme weather. As we get used to this new reality, scientists are investigating how it will affect how we get around and whether our infrastructure can cope.

A lot of people are unaware that drones need to stay at least 1km away from an airport, says Dan Hermansen. Image credit - MyDefense
interview | security | transport
11 January 2019

Drone jamming system to protect European airports, public spaces

Airports could be equipped with technology capable of detecting and bringing down drones that stray into their air space, according to Dan Hermansen, chief technology officer of Danish anti-drone firm MyDefence.The company has developed a drone alarm and protection system that is being installed at a number of prominent sites around Europe, including an airport. It has the potential to prevent the kind of costly disruption that hit London’s Gatwick and Heathrow airports recently.

Findings about the effect of a volcano's age on its likelihood to erupt will be applied to the Merapi volcano in Indonesia, among others. Image credit - Jimmy McIntyre, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
security | ict
07 January 2019

Age and foaming: how to predict when a volcano will erupt

The eruption of a volcano can have devastating consequences – killing people and destroying livelihoods, as well as releasing vast amounts of ash into the sky that disrupts air travel and alters the climate. Knowing what goes on underground, however, would facilitate better warnings for when an eruption will occur – and help save lives while keeping damage to a minimum.

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