Monthly focus

Warmer Europe: how climate is changing our lives

04 November 2015

Incidents of flooding are expected to increase if climate change continues its current course. Image credit: Shutterstock/ Skynavin

As world leaders prepare to meet in Paris to try to agree ambitious emissions reduction goals, Horizon looks at EU research that is helping us understand how climate change will affect our lives, and how individuals and industries will have to adapt.

Researchers have estimated the five-year mean forecast from November 2014 and found that the global average temperature is expected to remain high, with specific regions varying between one-and-a-half degrees cooler to one-and-a-half degrees warmer. This work was supported by the Joint DECC/Defra Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme (GA01101).

environment

24 November 2015

World on track for catastrophic warming – forecasters

The level of greenhouse gas emissions being produced around the world means that, as things stand, temperatures are likely to rise by around 4.5 degrees by 2100, unless significant reductions are agreed, sophisticated climate simulations show.

Climate change is projected to increase flooding, which could be one factor that causes migration. Credit: Shutterstock/Nebojsa Markovic

environment

16 November 2015

Regional rivalry and climate migration possible ‘within our lifetimes’

Droughts, floods, changing agriculture and rising sea levels. The list of climate change impacts goes on, but what exactly can we expect within our lifetimes?

To reduce emissions, economists should use indicators other than GDP to measure economic success, say researchers. Credit: Shutterstock/ Doin Oakenhelm

environment | social sciences

09 November 2015

How can Europe achieve green growth?

It is possible for Europe to shift to a decarbonised economy – and even achieve full employment at the same time – but only if there is government leadership, large upfront investment, and a new way of measuring economic outputs, according to researchers who are coming up with a strategy for how the EU can achieve this.

Prof. Ricardo García Mira believes happiness is not dependent on material wellbeing. Image courtesy of Prof. Ricardo García Mira

environment | social sciences | interview

04 November 2015

Leading a green lifestyle could help us be more satisfied – Prof. Ricardo García Mira

People will need to lead less materialistic lifestyles if we are to transition to a green economy, but the challenge in changing actual behaviours and lifestyles lies in overcoming our ingrained notions about consumption, success and happiness.

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More than half of Europeans are either overweight or obese, despite the availability of fresh food. Image credit - Jakub Kapusnak/ unsplash

Modern-day malnutrition

How did European eating habits go so wrong? We have a plentiful supply of fresh food yet, according to Eurostat, one in every two people in Europe is either overweight or obese, leading to problems such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and lifestyle-related diabetes. In May, we delve into the complex science of healthy eating to understand how to tackle modern-day malnutrition. We speak to public health expert Knut-Inge Klepp about the complex factors determining food choice and how to improve the diet of teenagers. We find out how scientists are working to improve the zinc content of crops to prevent the ‘hidden hunger’ of micronutrient deficiency and look at the importance of widening the diversity of grains that we eat – both for our health and for the environment. We also explore what’s behind the nutritional self-sabotage of eating disorders.

The political landscape is changing so what's in store for European democracy? Parthenon, Athens, Greece. Image credit - Pexels/jimmy teoh

Political science

As May’s European elections approach, Horizon takes a step back to see what science can tell us about European politics. We look at the latest research into people’s opinions about the EU and how they’ve changed, particularly in response to the financial crisis of 2008, and ask what needs to be done to bring the public closer to politicians. We speak to cryptography expert Dr Steve Kremer about why most of us can’t vote online yet, and democracy specialist Prof. Wolfgang Merkel about the changing political party structures in Europe and whether this is a threat to democracy. We also find out how scientists are working to detect and flag fake news on social media in order to increase the transparency of the information people encounter online.

Harmless doses of chemicals can form mixtures inside our bodies and the health risks of this are not yet fully understood. Image credit - Flickr/CGP Grey, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Chemical mixtures pose ‘underestimated’ risk to human health say scientists

Each of us harbours hundreds of man-made chemicals inside our bodies because we are exposed to them in our daily lives. While individual chemicals may not be of immediate concern to public health, scientists now worry that certain mixtures of them may pose previously underestimated risks to health.

Teenagers in countries such as Norway are being enlisted to tackle childhood obesity. Image credit - Therese Wardenær Bakke

‘Teenagers are going to be the ones to beat childhood obesity’

Teenagers rarely have a say in the public health policies that concern them, but we can’t halt the childhood obesity problem without working with them, says Professor Knut-Inge Klepp, executive director of the mental and physical health division at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Warmer Europe: how climate is changing our lives

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World on track for catastrophic warming – forecasters