When a humble dung beetle arrives at a patch of manure, it forms the dung into a ball and rolls it away in a straight line, putting distance between its food and competitors. That may sound simple, but there is much more to it than meets the eye.
Horizon Magazine
When the wind drops or clouds block the sun, Europe’s electricity system needs other sources of energy that can respond to changing demand. Hydropower can play an important role here. Hydropower plants can increase or lower output as demand shifts, while some can store water to generate electricity later, when it is needed most.
Plants have been doing something remarkably sophisticated for hundreds of millions of years. By capturing sunlight, leaves convert its energy into chemical energy that can be stored and used later.Inspired by this natural process, a team of European researchers has spent nearly four years developing a system that uses sunlight to split water, producing green…
In the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping of oil and gas has been disrupted by the conflict in Iran. This also exposed a less obvious vulnerability hidden in the global trade in critical raw materials that are essential to modern technologies.
Women are more likely to die after a heart attack than men. After menopause, they face a similar or greater risk of having one than men with similar levels of coronary artery disease. Yet, despite being one of the leading causes of death among women, heart disease remains widely seen as a male problem.
Don’t you hate it when you go on holiday and need to bring a variety of plugs with you? The same, it turns out, is true in space, with spacecraft and satellites often using different connectors to transfer power, data and other services.An international team of researchers has been exploring whether one common interface can…
A biorefinery in Spain is turning household organic waste and sewage sludge into coatings, fertilisers and biodegradable bags. In the Netherlands, a company is producing a plant-based chemical building block for new bottles, films and fibres. Together, they show how Europe is exploring ways to rely less on fossil raw materials, an approach that could…
