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A smartphone chatbot that reinforces positive thinking and emotion-tracking tech are designed to support users living with mental health conditions. Image credit - Pxhere, licensed under CC0

09 August 2018

The mobile apps and wearable tech tapping into users' emotions to tackle depression and anxiety

Personalised smartphone applications and wearable technologies that are attuned to the user’s state of mind are offering customised ways of helping people cope with mental illness.

Project Drawdown's research director says the paradigm around global warming needs to change into one of possibility and opportunity. Image credit - Chad Frischmann

interview | environment

07 August 2018

Global warming could be in reverse by 2050 if we take action now – Chad Frischmann

We could get to the stage where atmospheric greenhouse gases are in decline – a point known as drawdown – and begin to reverse global warming before 2050, but it will require us adopting solutions at an aggressive rate, according to Chad Frischmann, vice-president and research director of Project Drawdown.Project Drawdown is a worldwide research and communications initiative with a plan to reverse global warming based on 100 existing and emerging solutions. An independent European arm, Drawdown Europe, has now been launched to galvanise the continent into action.

With the EUPHEME project, Prof. Stott is linking extreme heatwaves and resulting wildfires to climate change. Image credit - Pixabay/stevebp, licensed under CC0

interview | environment

06 August 2018

Global heatwave: Climate change is no longer a two-way debate – Dr Peter Stott

The pattern of heatwaves causing record breaking temperatures across the northern hemisphere would not be seen without climate change, and they have firmly focused the conversation on what we can do about it rather than whether it’s happening, according to Peter Stott, professor of detection and attribution of climate change at the University of Exeter, UK.

Emotions have long been explored by artists, but new work by scientists is helping us understand more about how we feel. Image credit - Flickr/David Gaines, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

monthly focus

02 August 2018

More than a feeling

This month, Horizon takes an in-depth look at a shared human trait – our emotions. We find out how science is seeking to better understand and regulate human emotions across a range of applications, from mental health to politics. We uncover the implications of a neuroscientist’s efforts to determine how the brain controls fear and anxiety, with possible implications for treating mental health disorders and autism. We explore how emotions shape our politics and ask whether this can help provide a different perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And we look at research examining how apps and online games can help people manage their emotional sides.

Dr Nadine Gogolla is studying the insular cortex and its connections to anxiety disorders. Image credit - Dr Nadine Gogolla

interview | health

02 August 2018

'Island of the brain' explains how physical states affect anxiety

A fold of tissue hidden deep inside the human brain which collects inputs from both inside and outside the body could explain how our physical states influence our emotions and may be the key to understanding anxiety disorders, according to Dr Nadine Gogolla, a neuroscientist at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Munich, Germany. She is using cutting-edge scientific techniques to probe this poorly studied brain region, known as the insular cortex, to reveal the role it plays in regulating our emotions.

Symbiotic bacteria might have helped coffee plants adapt to climate change in the past. Image credit - Pixabay/StockSnap, licensed under CC0

environment

31 July 2018

Could symbiotic microbes help ecosystems survive global warming?

Studies of the relationships between microbes and the organisms they live on are revealing how plants and animals could adapt to climate change.

Cerebral organoids allow scientists to test new drugs on human brain tissue in labs. Image credit - Jürgen Knoblich

health

30 July 2018

Mini-brains offer hope in search for new drugs for brain disorders

Miniature brains grown in laboratory dishes could overcome some of the problems testing drugs on animals and help researchers identify new ways to treat very human, and incurable, conditions like Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy.

Liquids activated by plasma have similar anti-cancer properties as cold plasma, researchers have found. Image credit - Prof. Annemie Bogaerts

health

26 July 2018

Activating a liquid with plasma gives it anti-cancer properties

Lab-based results showing that cold plasma can stop the growth of cancer cells have sparked hope that it could one day be used to treat the disease in humans – but scientists first need to understand why it has the effect it does.

The production of this leather-like textile is considered to be zero impact as it is created from grape marc - a waste material from wine production. Image credit - Vegea

environment | industry | open innovation

25 July 2018

Chicken plastic and wine leather – giving waste new life

A fashion collection made from the remains of grapes from the wine industry and plastic made from chicken feathers are two new twists on the practice of making new products from waste, and a growing demand for sustainability from consumers mean there could be a ready market for this type of innovation.

Jérôme Delafosse hopes that hydrogen will replace many of the fossil fuels we use today. Image credit - Energy Observer

interview | transport | energy

24 July 2018

Hydrogen-powered boat plots course for the future of ocean travel

The first day that Jérôme Delafosse stepped aboard the Energy Observer, an experimental catamaran run on hydrogen, he knew the plan of sailing around the world on clean energy was a realistic one, he says. Now, the explorer and documentary maker is one year into a six-year odyssey around the globe with his friend Victorien Erussard, an ocean racer and former cruise ship officer, to prove that the technology can be used for pollution-free ocean travel in the future.