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interview | frontier research
18 March 2013

Empathy: from spiders to psychopathy

Professor Christian Keysers first saw the film Dr. No as a teenager. Watching the scene where James Bond wakes up to discover a large, hairy, poisonous spider crawling up his arm, he thought he could almost feel the spider on his own skin.

In the lab of the Department of Experimental Medicine based at the University of Leuven, Belgium, directed by Professor Chantal Mathieu, coordinator of the Naimit project. © Lut Overbergh
health
18 March 2013

Tablet treatment could end child diabetes, says researcher

An experimental tablet treatment for child diabetes, where youngsters have traditionally had to inject themselves with sugar controlling insulin, could end up eradicating the disease altogether, according to the scientist leading the European NAIMIT project.

Gaining professional experience abroad can be a career boost for women scientists © Shutterstock
science in society | women in science | policy
18 March 2013

Women in science: Mobility is good for your career

For scientists, packing up their lab coats and microscopes and heading to foreign laboratories can really pay dividends. Thanks to initiatives like Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowships, women are benefiting more and more from making a move abroad.

Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell is a UK astrophysicist and a campaigner for the cause of women in science. © IOP
interview | frontier research | women in science
18 March 2013

Grants only to 'female-friendly' labs

Grants should only be given to research organisations who have received an award for female-friendly policies, according to a UK scientist who was overlooked for a Nobel Prize on pulsars even though she did much of the work.

The SARTRE road train being tested on a motorway in Spain in 2012. © SARTRE
transport | ict
18 March 2013

Getting your car in line

Drivers may soon be able to take their hands off the wheel and their eyes off the road in their own cars, leaving the driving to modern technology. That is the conclusion drawn by the partners of the SARTRE project, after recent successful testing of road train ‘platooning’ in Sweden. However, more human barriers remain to be lifted before it could become commonplace. 

John Bowis founded the EU Diabetes Working Group when he was a Member of the European Parliament © European Union 2007PE-EP
health
18 March 2013

Diabetes – check your feet

Doctors should routinely test people’s feet to check for diabetes, that’s according to a former UK Health Minister and MEP who has become a campaigner for the disease after being diagnosed with it himself.

The zeppelin's mission is to collect as much data as possible on air pollutants and climate-altering gases in the atmosphere © Pegasos
environment
17 March 2013

Aboard the Climate Zeppelin

It is about two in the morning and while most Europeans are tucked up in bed, the sleep-deprived crew members of the Pegasos Zeppelin are preparing for take-off. Weather conditions are perfect so they load the airship with their state-of-the-art equipment and get ready to start their day’s work.

Peter Zemsky (L), Deputy Dean INSEAD, France and Tim Hunt (R), Professor, Cancer Research UK, United Kingdom discuss during the session 'An insight, an idea with Tim Hunt' at the Annual Meeting 2013 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 26 January 2013 © World Economic Forum swiss-image.ch / Photo Mirko Ries
interview | frontier research
13 March 2013

How to make a scientist: Sir Tim Hunt’s recipe

Should we rethink education to foster curiosity, creativity and competitiveness? At the last World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Sir Tim Hunt, member of the ERC Scientific Council and Nobel laureate in 2001 proposed some guidelines.

Professor Frances Ashcroft is a physiologist at the University of Oxford © Robert Taylor/www.taylor-photo.co.uk
interview | health | women in science
13 March 2013

From wild orchids to injection-free diabetes treatment

It all started with the chance discovery of a country lane full of wild orchids by an inquisitive young girl in rural England. That young girl, Frances Ashcroft, would go on to become one of Europe’s leading diabetes researchers.

Open access aims to make the results of publicly funded scientific research more accessible
science in society | innovation union
13 March 2013

Research plan fuels open access revolution

When Tim Gowers, a maths professor at the University of Cambridge in the UK, wrote a blog post criticising the high price charged by academic journals to access research, he did not expect to start a revolution.

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