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Interview

Prof. Damien Ernst believes a global energy grid would put fossil fuels out of business. Image credit - Kenueone, licensed under CC0 1.0
interview | energy | environment
11 December 2018

Governments at COP24 should focus on building a global electricity grid – Prof. Damien Ernst

Governments at the COP24 climate change conference in Katowice, Poland, which ends on 14 December, should tackle fossil-fuel reliance by building a global energy grid that connects renewable energy from all around the world - and the best place to start is with a giant wind farm in Greenland, says Professor Damien Ernst, an energy scientist from the University of Liège, Belgium.

Chemical contaminants can end up in the Arctic and add to the pressure on ecosystems, according to Marianne Kroglund. Image credit - Annette Ekin
interview | environment
03 December 2018

The Arctic faces substantial changes even if we meet climate targets – Marianne Kroglund

Melting sea ice, plastic waste, biodiversity loss – the Arctic is facing unprecedented environmental pressure and will continue to change until 2050 even if we meet targets to limit global warming, according to Marianne Kroglund from the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum addressing the challenges faced by Arctic governments and indigenous peoples.

The first step to improving something is measuring it, says Alicia Asín, co-founder of Spanish technology company Libelium. Image credit - Alicia Asin Perez
interview | ict
08 November 2018

How do we feed the world? The internet of things can help

Connecting objects and devices through the Internet of Things (IoT) can help solve the greatest challenges of our time, from cutting emissions to feeding a growing population, believes Alicia Asín, CEO and co-founder of Spanish technology company Libelium which makes IoT hardware. Asín was the second-place winner of the 2018 EU Prize for Women Innovators.

Through a project called CEMCAP, Kristin Jordal and her colleagues found that when it comes to cement production, 90% carbon capture is a realistic target. Image credit - Kristin Jordal
interview | environment
07 November 2018

To slash emissions, industries must capture carbon and store it

The technology to help limit global warming to 1.5˚C already exists, but there needs to be the will to use it, according to Kristin Jordal, an engineer and senior research scientist at the Norwegian research organisation Sintef.

Prof. Phil Howard says that bots and algorithms magnify the distribution of political propaganda. Image credit - Prof Howard
interview | ict
25 October 2018

Facebook and Twitter need a redesign to fight junk news

As the use of social media to spread misinformation soars, it’s time for companies such as Facebook and Twitter to redesign their platforms, says Professor Philip Howard, head of the Oxford Internet Institute, UK.

Prof. Rockström says that Earth observation systems are helping us to define national budgets to stay within planetary boundaries. Image credit - M. Axelsson/Azote
interview | environment | policy
22 October 2018

Eliminating coal, oil and natural gas is the easy part of fighting climate change – Johan Rockström

To avoid climate breakdown, eliminating fossil fuels is the easy part, according to Professor Johan Rockström, co-director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. He says that safeguarding biological resources such as water, soil and biodiversity will be the ultimate test of whether global warming targets can be reached.

Recycling can be inefficient when parts such as dashboards from cars are too hard to dismantle, says Felipe Maya. Image credit - Felipe Maya
interview | industry
15 October 2018

In a zero-waste society, people will need to share and repair

Businesses and consumers need to stop thinking of products as things to own and move towards a culture of sharing and repairing if we are to fulfil the ambition of creating a circular economy, according to Felipe Maya, project and innovation manager at sustainable engineering firm Exergy, headquartered in Coventry, UK.

Dr Helbich hopes his research will help urban planners to design neighbourhoods that promote good mental health. Image credit - Dr Helbich
health | interview
10 October 2018

Studies linking green space to lower suicide risk are ‘just a snapshot’

Research suggests that where we live can affect our mental health but Dr Marco Helbich, an urban geographer at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, believes these studies only offer a limited snapshot of our lives. Using a smartphone app and register data, he is tracking people through their daily routines and their residential history to see whether mental health is affected by where we live, work and socialise. His findings could change how we design our cities.

Prof. Eva Hevia says that bi-metallics make it possible to use water in chemical reactions - the holy grail for chemists. Image credit - Prof. Hevia
interview | frontier research
04 October 2018

Sustainability is a 'top priority' for chemists

A group of chemicals known as bi-metallics could help the pharmaceutical industry become more environmentally friendly by cutting the amount of energy used to produce drugs, according to Professor Eva Hevia from the University of Strathclyde, UK, who says that sustainability is a top priority for chemists.

Big companies from around the world have already shown interest in Prof. Lee Cronin's energy-dense liquid battery. Image credit - University of Glasgow
interview | transport | frontier research
17 September 2018

Tenfold improvement in liquid batteries mean electric car refuelling could take minutes

One of the biggest drawbacks of electric vehicles – that they require hours and hours to charge – could be obliterated by a new type of liquid battery that is roughly ten times more energy-dense than existing models, according to Professor Lee Cronin, the Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow, UK.

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