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Prof. Klessen says many people are not aware that our galaxy is a dynamic system, with stars and planets being born all the time. Image credit - OliverGriebl/Wikimedia, licenced under CC BY 3.0
interview | space | frontier research
03 December 2020

Q&A: It’s time to rethink the Milky Way

The Milky Way might be right on our cosmic doorstep, but a group of astronomers suspect that the way we currently study it is stunting our understanding. Professor Ralf Klessen at Heidelberg University in Germany is one of four researchers who have recently begun a six-year project, ECOGAL, to try something new: imagine our home galaxy as one huge galactic ecosystem. Prof. Klessen believes that using this lens could answer fundamental questions about how stars and planets form, and how they shape the Milky Way’s future.

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.

When decisions are made by artificial intelligence, it can be difficult for the end user to understand the reasoning behind them. Image credit - phylevn/Flickr, licenced under CC BY 2.0
ict | frontier research
01 December 2020

Opening the ‘black box’ of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is growing ever more powerful and entering people’s daily lives, yet often we don’t know what goes on inside these systems. Their non-transparency could fuel practical problems, or even racism, which is why researchers increasingly want to open this ‘black box’ and make AI explainable.

Clouds that form in a polluted area will have different properties from those that form around natural particles such as desert dust. Image credit: Pixabay/Pixabay Licence
environment | frontier research
30 November 2020

Black carbon and other pollution seeds clouds. We’re just starting to understand the climate implications

Particles swirling around our atmosphere add to climate change, yet much about how they interact with sunlight and influence the seeding of clouds remains puzzling. Studies are lifting the lid on how these tiny particles influence something as big as climate by analysing them from jet aircraft, satellites and ground measurements. 

Some 95% of people have a gene variant that affects their response to at least one drug. Image credit - Banc d'Imatges Infermeres/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
health
25 November 2020

The genetics of side-effects

Henk-Jan Guchelaar knows all too well the serious problems that the side-effects of medication can cause. As a professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, he has spent the last two decades trying to get the link between medicine and our genes recognised more widely. 

Vaccines can train our innate immune system. Scientists like Christine Stabell Benn are now studying whether a TB vaccine confers protection against Covid-19. Image credit - Lone Morch
interview | health | coronavirus outbreak | frontier research
25 November 2020

Q&A: How vaccines can strengthen immune response beyond a specific disease

Live vaccines can give health effects beyond just protecting us from a specific disease and may even help us combat other infections such as Covid-19, according to Christine Stabell Benn, a professor in global health at the University of Southern Denmark.

The structure of coral polyps provide an ideal habitat for colonies of Symbiodinium sp. algae to grow. Image credit - Dr Wangpraseurt
energy | environment
23 November 2020

3-D printed corals, new bioreactors to boost microalgae production for biofuels

Using light as an energy source, photosynthetic microalgae can be used to produce products like biofuels and cosmetics. But algae grown in a reactor block out the light on which they feed. New reactor designs could solve this problem and help the industry move forward.

A complex system of clouds and aerosols forms over much of South Asia as part of the monsoon - the challenge was to find out what it contains. Image credit - Sparsh Karki/Pexels, licenced under CC0
environment | frontier research
19 November 2020

The mission to decipher a mysterious aerosol layer above Himalayan monsoon clouds

For Stephan Borrmann, a day of high altitude detective work begins early. He wakes at about 05:30am in a hotel in the outskirts of Kathmandu, Nepal. After a quick breakfast, he and his team are driven to the city’s airport. Their job is to prepare a converted Russian espionage plane so that it can investigate one of the biggest mysteries of the atmosphere.

Mushroom growing matter makes great compost but contains a lot of water, making it heavy and unprofitable to transport, so it currently goes to waste. Image credit - needpix.com//licenced under CC0
environment | agriculture
18 November 2020

Mushroom cultivation produces three times its weight in waste. It’s now being turned into burgers and fertiliser

Cultivating mushrooms produces a lot of waste. For every kilogram of mushrooms produced, about three kilograms of soil-like material containing straw, manure and peat is left behind. In the EU, this results in more than 3 billion kilograms of waste per year.

Researchers are trying to determine if different song dialects in groups of S. bilineata bats is driving genetic change and ultimately to them becoming two different species. Image credit - Karin Schneeberger/Wikimedia, licenced under CC BY-SA 3.0
environment | frontier research
17 November 2020

Bats have different song cultures and chatter about food, sleep, sex and other bats

A slow drive in the dead of night through the forests of northwestern Costa Rica helped home in on the target. Dr Mirjam Knörnschild and her team had equipment with a microphone hooked to the top of their car to take recordings of bats.

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