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More than half the world’s population lives in cities, making them focal points for cutting emissions and resource-use. Image credit - Unsplash/ Jurriaan Snikkers, licensed under Unsplash license

01 August 2019

Sustainable cities

In August, Horizon takes a look at the quest to make Europe’s cities environmentally sustainable, while also ensuring a healthy and prosperous population. We speak to geographer Professor Harriet Bulkeley on why cities have such an important role in fighting climate change, what it means for a city to be sustainable and the big challenges that lie ahead. We look at the construction of zero-energy housing, homing in on the case of Nottingham, UK, and find out how scientists are putting nature back into the old Spanish capital of Valladolid. We also talk to the city officials breathing new life into historical buildings in Bologna, Italy, and learn how urban planners and architects are taking emotional feedback into account when designing new public spaces and homes.

Cities have a set of capacities to address climate change that other levels of government do not have, according to Prof. Harriet Bulkeley. Image credit - Pixabay/Leonardo Alves, licensed under Pixabay License

interview | environment | policy

01 August 2019

People in cities hold the key to ensuring a sustainable future

Cities have a critical role to play in fighting climate change but hard conversations lie ahead about the best way to achieve the transition to sustainability, according to Harriet Bulkeley, professor of geography at Durham University, UK.

AI can be used to identify potential perpetrators of violent crimes and assess the risk of a criminal re-offending. Image credit - Max Pixel, licensed under CC0

ict | policy

30 July 2019

Getting AI ethics wrong could ‘annihilate technical progress’

An intelligent water gun that uses facial recognition to identify its targets is helping to highlight some of the emerging human rights issues surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) – an area of research that is on the rise as new technologies become more and more prevalent in our daily lives.

When a piece of music is played at the wrong tempo it is difficult to recognise because our brain uses rhythm to help make sense of sounds. Image credit - flickr/ Brian Richardson, licensed under CC BY 2.0

frontier research | health

29 July 2019

Link between music and speech rhythm in brain could provide language insight

Neuroscientist Dr Domenica Bueti often plays an altered version of the classic aria La donna è mobile when she gives talks about the importance of time perception. Her friend’s piano rendition of Giuseppe Verdi’s composition uses the same notes but is played at different speeds. Rarely does anyone ever identify the tune.

Switching to more efficient appliances can save people money over time, although they are often more expensive to buy. Image credit - Photo Mix

energy | frontier research | policy

25 July 2019

Shoppers ‘can’t afford’ energy efficient cars, homes - researchers

Europeans can slash their fuel bills and have a significant impact on curbing global greenhouse gas emissions by buying more energy efficient cars, homes or even fridges – but many do not because of higher initial cost of green products, mistrust in EU energy ratings, and lack of awareness of long-term savings, researchers say.

Exercise can stimulate the production of beige fat and make the body more efficient at burning energy. Image credit - Pxhere, licensed under CC0

health | frontier research

23 July 2019

‘Browning’ white fat cells opens new avenue to obesity prevention

Scientists are getting closer to understanding how to turn the body’s energy-storing white fat cells into energy-burning beige fat cells, opening up hopes that fat deposits could one day be deliberately manipulated to prevent obesity and related health conditions.

Sharing best practices can help universities understand how to best work with refugee scientists and researchers. Image credit - Léna, licensed under CC BY 3.0

science in society

22 July 2019

Academia is tough - now imagine trying to enter it as a refugee

Just months after Dr Ahmad Al Ajlan begun a new job as a university lecturer in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, he was forced to flee his country for Europe. When he arrived in Germany in March 2015, after several months of travelling, he was placed in a number of camps before being allocated a cramped apartment with five other refugees.

Farm waste is often full of nutrients that take time to break down before crops can use them. Image credit - Pxhere, licensed under CC0

environment | agriculture

18 July 2019

Green fertiliser made from cow dung and chicken feathers could transform big agriculture

A raft of strategies is being trialled in Europe to turn nutrient-rich farm waste such as chicken feathers, cow dung and plant stalks into green fertiliser. Full of phosphorus and nitrogen, recycled products could help reduce intensive agriculture’s emissions and reliance on fertiliser imports.

FRB 121102, a repeating burst, was discovered in 2015. This discovery enabled astronomers to figure out what galaxy the FRB came from and in turn locate hundreds more FRBs. Image credit - Gemini Observatory / AURA / NSF / NRC

space | frontier research

16 July 2019

Why hunting for fast radio bursts is an ‘exploding field’ in astronomy

Little more than a decade ago, two astronomers discovered mysterious bursts of radio waves that seem to take place all over the sky, often outshining all the stars in a galaxy. Since then, the study of these fast radio bursts, or FRBs, has taken off, and while we still don’t know what exactly they are or what causes them, scientists are now edging closer to some answers.

One-third of asylum seekers and refugees show clinically relevant psychological distress, according to scientists. Image credit - Mstyslav Chernov/Unframe/ Wikipedia licensed under CC BY SA 4.0

health

15 July 2019

Healing refugees’ mental scars could help them build new lives

They are fleeing war, famine and persecution, risking treacherous journeys across deserts and seas in search of safety. But helping refugees and asylum seekers to cope with the psychological scars caused by their experiences could help them adjust to life in their new homes.