Environmental micro(nano) plastics – what’s going on?

Many of us are looking around ourselves uneasily at the idea of the amount of nano and microplastics in our environment, so if you are asking yourself what the impact might be, listen on.

AI, muons, terahertz, smugglers beware! New technologies are here

From small packages to large shipping containers, new scanning technologies are identifying illegal items more effectively than ever.

Rising sea levels – more data for better modelling

The best way to understand what’s coming is to look at what happened in a similar context, in the past. So, what can prehistoric ice tell us about sea-level rise, one of the most damaging impacts of climate change?

Empowering people to tackle diabetes

Being overweight and having diabetes are major health challenges that can not only impact someone’s quality of life but are also putting a very real strain on health services that are, in many countries, thinly stretched

Supporting growers to keep Europe’s wine flowing!

Growers are getting squeezed from both sides: more unstable harvests and weaker demand. When a bottle is poured, it isn’t just a drink on the table. It’s part of a sector that keeps villages alive and brings billions into the economy. So, what can we do to help the situation? Our three guests, all of whom have received support from the EU’s research and innovation funding programme, have some intriguing ideas.

New insights into dementia risk reduction

There are advances being made in the area of dementia and cognitive ageing. The European Commission has granted EU marketing authorisation for Kisunla, a medicine to treat mild cognitive impairment, including mild dementia in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, and a new a type of drug called a monoclonal antibody is showing potential. Alongside pharmacological advances we are also gaining insights into why some people may be more impacted than others, and the role socio-economics play in the overall picture.

Commercialising the uptake of hydrogen

The EU is intending to have all sectors of the economy at net-zero greenhouse gas production by 2050. But heavy industry and transport can be challenging to electrify directly. So renewable, and low carbon hydrogen, and its derivatives, are key tools in the box.

A glimpse into the future of healthcare

This episode discusses the effort going into making injections needle-free, new diagnostic tools and therapies for heart conditions like arrhythmias and atrial fibrillation, how wearable technologies are being harnessed to detect life-threatening conditions such as sepsis, and the influence of urban environments on our health.

AI - More than ChatGPT

Four cutting-edge EU-funded projects are showcasing the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in various sectors, including health, environment, industry, and culture.

Smarter decisions for our oceans and soil

This episode looks at two key challenges that are deeply connected to our future – food security and the health of our oceans. Researchers, all of whom benefited from research and innovation funding from the EU, are developing innovative solutions to make food systems more resilient and to safeguard marine ecosystems.

Driving the future of sustainable mobility

The future of energy and mobility – two areas at the heart of Europe’s transition to a greener, smarter and more sustainable economy. From smarter air traffic control to advanced electric vehicles and more fuel-efficient aircraft, research and innovation are helping to reshape our transport and its relation to the energy supply.

It’s not waste until it’s wasted!

Moving from a linear model to a circular economy can lead to a cleaner and more competitive Europe by reducing waste and reusing resources.

Pushing back the boundaries of research with AI

AI can be framed as technology that impacts us negatively, but today’s guests are achieving results and gaining knowledge that would not have been possible without it.

When it comes to dinosaurs, was Orwell right?

In his novel Animal Farm, Orwell’s character claims: “Four legs good, two legs bad.” Would the tyrannosaurs agree? Or did bipedalism give them an evolutionary advantage?

Turning to nature for urban solutions

About three quarters of the population in the EU are urbanites, how can we bring the natural world in to improve our quality of life?

Meeting the challenges of cyber disinformation

Identifying, tracking and investigating online disinformation, and other problematic content, is an extremely complex challenge. We are increasingly exposed to cyber (dis)information, either passively, through social media feeds, or actively, by using search engines and specific websites that guide us to sites that re-enforce our biases and build walls of prejudice. How can we strengthen AI to combat disinformation ?

Cricket burgers – shaking up the protein supply chain

In this episode we are going to be looking at how to increase the production and market uptake of complementary proteins: plant-based, insect and other sources. We are considering safety, marketing challenges and cutting-edge approaches to rearing. Caramelised, crispy grasshoppers anyone?

Turning back the tide of biodiversity loss

What can we do to save species under threat from climate change and human encroachment? From the oceans to the forests, today we look at how vital evidence is to preserving biodiversity.

New horizons in robotics

Assistive tech, preventing injury at work and biomimetics feeding into the design of future robotic systems – listen on to find out more about the robots of the future.

Saving lives by tackling malaria

Malaria – described by WHO as ‘perpetuating a vicious cycle of inequity’. What are we doing to reduce the spread and fight infection?

Hidden interactions

Most of us are focussed on what is tangible to us. We hear one another, we know that some kind of communication is happening when a dog barks, but we are less aware of the interactions going on all around us that we don’t perceive. Let’s think again. Leafcutter ants assiduously farming fungus, bumble bees picking up tiny amounts of electricity given off by flowers – all part of an invisible tapestry of interaction that is unfolding all around us.

Mind reading

When you play paper rock scissors, do you try and second guess your opponent’s next move? This episode looks at mind reading, and we also have some baby baboons!

Space: delving into our dynamic universe

In this episode of CORDIScovery our three guests will explain how their work is helping to broaden our understanding of the origins of life, the swirling dust storms in the Martian atmosphere, and how to venture to far distant asteroids.

Culture: the past gives up its secrets

Looking at our cultural heritage from a different angle is revealing new insights. This episode looks at the novel ways researchers are analysing the artefacts left to us by our ancestors, and the new light that shines on how they lived.

A new age of personalised treatment for prostate cancer

Computational power, AI, genomics: the treatment and diagnosis of prostate cancer is advancing rapidly. This episode finds out how.

21st century solutions for the construction sector

Printed buildings, energy from atmospheric humidity, earthquake resilience – some of the novel ideas taking age-old construction techniques and making them fit for the future.

Democracy – a right worth defending

In a word of internet disinformation campaigns, fake news, the impact of AI, social media echo chambers: around 1.5 billion people globally will be exercising their right to vote. So, how safe is our democratic process, and how can we make it more secure?

Premature birth

About 500 000 babies are born early in Europe every year: for some the condition is fatal. Complications relating to being born prematurely are the leading causes of fatality in the under-fives. Improving feeding, mitigating the impact on the brain and rethinking prevention; our three projects are doing what they can to push back these numbers.

Food – a catalyst for change

Did the ability to feed babies porridge help to fuel the population explosion seen in the Neolithic? Did people take to the seas far earlier than previously thought to chase whales and seals? What is the difference between a flourishing desert frontier fort and one that dwindles into dust? We take a look at three times food was a catalyst for change.

Fisheries of the future

Pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss are all threatening our sustainable use of marine resources – at the same time we need seafood. The UN reports the world’s population is more than three times larger than it was in the mid-twentieth century, and food security is a growing concern. It’s a conundrum: we need to harvest more food from the ocean – while preserving stocks and ensuring biodiversity.

Celebrating women in science

In 2021, there were 6.9 million female scientists and engineers in the EU, up by 369 800 from 2020. This accounts for 41 % of total employment in science and engineering. It’s an improvement, but can we do more to encourage young women into research careers, or indeed, career changes for those already working in other areas?

Adapting to climate change in Europe

Climate change is here: so what are we doing to meet the challenges in Europe? Ahead of COP 28, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, we will be hearing from four cutting-edge researchers who are working to get us ready to deal with the coming changes in our environment.

Portable power – batteries of the future

If we are to meet our de carbonisation targets, we need to reshape the production, storage, and distribution of electricity. Off road equipment, used in construction and other sectors, is still very heavily reliant on diesel. The cost of down time to recharge current electric batteries puts off industrial consumers. As does the short life of the batteries which then need to be replaced. In many ways, battery technology hasn’t developed to keep pace with our growing need for portable power. Storage devices that can balance out the intermittent power produced by renewable sources and our energy demand. Identifying viable, novel materials to make a new generation of batteries, getting past bottlenecks in lithium supply (set to get even worse as demand for electric vehicles takes off).

The wonderful word of the microbiome

Today’s episode is exploring the wonderful world of the gut microbiome – that diverse realm of microorganisms that plays a vital role our digestion, interacts with our brain chemistry, and even influences our immune systems. The question is, what else does it do, and how?

Pandemics – learning from the past, anticipating the future

We hit the ground running in the COVID pandemic: EU support for scientific research helped projects develop responses rapidly and effectively. Which may be just as well. Avian influenza is having a devastating impact on bird populations and has been passed onto mammal populations. Getting funding to where it can be most effectively used, understanding the mechanisms behind public perception and behaviour, and gathering a living archive of viruses used by the scientific community across the world – this episode we are looking at the innovations which are ready to support responses to what might be coming next.

Safety at Sea

Founded by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) back in 2011, the Day of the Seafarer is on the 25th of June – so this episode we are looking at how EU funding is working to make life at sea, safer – for passengers and for crew.

Biofuels: from waste to energy

The United Nations report, published in March 2023, is very clear, it says: “ (…) keeping warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels requires deep, rapid and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors.” In this episode we look at how biofuels can help us meet these imperatives. Using biomass as a source of energy is particularly elegant: you take waste that is all too often part of the problem when it comes to disposal, and you break it down to get gas which is then used as fuel.

Soil quality and food security

From satellites observing the earth, to roots and the microbes that surround them: Today we are looking at soil and how our food security depends on its health. Our ‘crop’ of guests, all of whom have been funded by the H2020 programme, are here to help us understand how waste, fertiliser, soil protection and remote monitoring all interconnect.

Water: quality and supply

What can new technology tell us about the impact of climate change on the water cycle of the Himalayas, and what are the impacts through the vast areas that depend on the runoff? What can new approaches in farming in China teach us, and how do we make agriculture ‘climate smart’. Is precision farming the key? And if so, how can we make that work? There are more of us living in cities and greater demands being placed on water supplies. A fast, accurate and simple way to check levels of pollution in wastewater is to be welcomed. Eco toxicology is a fast-growing field, so what can freshwater snails, leeches and shrimps tell us about the levels of micropollutants in water?

Innovations in forensics

Rape is a global scourge. Millions of unsolved rape cases fail in the absence of evidence found. Current technical barriers to the identification and analysis of sperm traces is one key reason. The THEMIS project has developed a new technique that can find traces which would be missed by conventional methods and analyses them more quickly and effectively. What happens when you take green screens, gaming technology, LIDAR and other cutting-edge imaging techniques and apply them to evidence long buried? The Dig-for-Archaeology project has developed ways these tools can clarify crime scenes that might currently be hard to interpret. Our globalised world means cultures are interrelating more than ever – what happens when eyewitnesses give evidence in cross cultural contexts? How do we unravel information through a cultural filter? The Beyond Weird Witnesses project has some interesting findings to share. This episode of CORDIScovery features three guests who are ideally placed to tell us about the latest advances that are helping to refine criminal investigations. Their projects have all been supported by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.

Citizen science

Enthusiasts, people with hobbies, with spare time or concerned about their environment – you and me: all of us are potential collectors of data and information that can add a dimension to research projects. How can participation empower volunteers? And what’s the benefit for scientists? Listen on to find out!

Magic tricks for crows: how animals experience the world

Perform a magic trick to a member of the crow family and it will show how startled it is by the unexpected. Crows are known for being the Einsteins of the avian world, but what about the animals that feed us, clothe us, entertain us – what is the nature of their intelligence? Will our growing realisation that animals may be experiencing the world around them in ways that would surprise us, reframe our understanding of animal welfare? Tune in for some ideas.

Smart textiles – Engineering by design

Wearables have become ‘must have’ fashion – how can we make assistive technology as desirable? The most sophisticated device is useless if it is uncomfortable or unattractive. This episode, we are looking at the interface between design and engineering, and how the next generation of smart textiles could make assistive tech invisible. Today’s episode brings together guests from EU-supported projects working on user-focused design, the metallisation and conductivity of fabric and graphene antennas embedded in textiles which could help people with Alzheimer’s.

Cutting Waste

Did you know that it takes 3 to 4 tons of nitrogen-rich substrate to grow a ton of mushrooms? There’s a lot of it: over 3 and a half million tons are generated in Europe every year. What happens to that once the last mushroom is harvested? Recycling is a key battleground in combating climate change – but how can we sort through everything to reclaim what can be reused? Currently metals like Aluminium, Gold, Silver and Zinc can’t be economically recovered from mixed recycling – most recyclers do not have a sustainable solution for the separation and recovery of these valuable resources. How can that change? And then there’s industrial plastic. In Europe, 1.9 billion items like plastic crates and pallets are used by transport companies and there are more than 20 billion plastic bins used on our city streets. When any of these break, they’re thrown away – billions of wasted items every year. What if they could be repaired cheaply and effectively, and be re used?

Bio-inspired Innovation

100 000 starlings move in unison against an autumn sky - not one collides; fireflies light up a wood in Borneo flashing in perfect synchronicity; bacteria communicate around a plant’s roots once the population reaches a certain number while, up in the air, the wings of an eastern amberwing dragonfly has 3 000 sensory neurons, including flow sensors to prevent a stall. What can we learn from these marvels? Nature has a vast array of biological solutions, some of those that may inspire future trends are set out in a recently published paper in the journal ‘Frontiers in Physics’.

Fighting the spread of Tuberculosis

TB is preventable and curable, and yet 9 900 000 people fell ill with the disease in 2020 and 1.5 million died. This episode is looking at what the EU is doing to curb the spread and improve our understanding of the nature of the illness. This episode of CORDIScovery hears from three researchers who have all been at the forefront of controlling the spread of the disease. New, cheap and non-invasive tests; drilling down into the pathogen’s genome to get a clearer understanding of how it spreads; work done at a molecular level to establish how the bacteria switches from latent to active infection – all vital if we are to get a handle on controlling and preventing outbreaks.

Bees – From evolution to artificial intelligence

Does a bee’s gut influence its sociability? Can a plant deter pests and attract pollinators at the same time? And with bee populations under threat, can artificial intelligence keep colonies safe? The EU estimates pollinators such as honeybees contribute at least EUR 22 billion each year to the European agricultural industry. They are so important that the United Nations has designated the 20th of May as World Bee Day, so this episode of CORDIScovery looks at bees!

Drones in industry technical challenges

Technicians rappelling down vast blades on the open seas, checking the parts bit by bit; engineers crawling through cramped spaces where air is poor; ships losing time in dock while cranes are used to get engineers to the top of masts: these have been the traditional ways of checking for wear and tear on wind turbines and in ships. But drones provide a new way of approaching the problem. The technology used in inspections carried out by autonomous devices, or robots, is getting ever more sophisticated. Video footage is the primary source of information, but crawlers can scrape material for sampling and test surfaces, even odours can be analysed. Once collected, all the information can be shared with leading experts wherever they are based, saving the cost and time of travelling.

Violence – triggers and perspectives

From the domestic to the international, how can we anticipate, mitigate, and come to terms with violence? This episode of CORDIScovery looks at how victims of domestic violence can be better served. We ask what role violence plays in distracting communities from preparing for climate change. And we explore how the perception of historic violence plays into a culture’s notion of ‘self’. The 24th of March is the United Nation’s International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims, so this episode is considering three aspects of violence.

Volcanoes – Natures architects

The underwater explosion off Tonga on 14 January 2022 sent a shockwave travelling faster than 1000 km/h, according to Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Almost as fast as the speed of sound. Sonic booms from the eruption were heard across the Pacific, including in Fiji and Vanuatu, and as far as Alaska, more than 9 000km away In La Palma, the volcano that erupted over Christmas has spewed lava that swallowed over 1 000 homes and continues to hold temperatures of more than 500 degrees Celsius in some parts. So, what can the latest research into what have been called ‘Earth’s architects’ tell us about the lead up to an eruption? Are we close to being able to track the evolution of an eruption in real time? Can we trace the mechanisms by mapping the crystals that appear in lava? And how can the organisms living in some of the most inhospitable parts of our planet help improve climate models?

ICT exploring the benefits

There are so many stories of how damaging our digital lives can be, from promoting unrealistic lifestyle goals to the skewing of elections. So, this episode we are shifting the narrative. We’ll be taking a look at three applications that make a real difference to people’s lives. This where our impulse to perform random acts of kindness meets the power of AI. Information and communications technology has kept us in touch with one another over the pandemic. This episode we will be hearing from three projects who are carrying the benefit further, harnessing the power of easy access and global participation with people’s desire to belong and to help. Finding missing children, filtering fake from reliable news and helping visually impaired people navigate daily challenges, our three guests are working to improve our lives.

The medical arms race overcoming microbial resistance

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a complex problem affecting human, animal, plant and environmental health. Antimicrobials play a critical role in farming: resistant microorganisms can develop in our food chain, moving between animals, humans, and the environment. Disturbing when you consider the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates global use of antimicrobials in the livestock sector alone will rise by 67% by 2030 to 105 596 tons. The imperative to make people aware of the dangers of the misuse of antibiotics, and other antimicrobials, is behind the WHO’s annual Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week.

Cloth, glass and stone: Innovation and cultural connections in the Middle Ages

The objects we have around us tell us much about who we are: what we can manufacture, what is considered desirable, what we can afford, what we can produce, and export, and our trade routes. The past is shadowy but the objects that mattered to the societies that came before us illuminate those who produced and used them in the same way. So, this episode we are considering cloth, glass and stone, and what they reveal about innovation and cultural connections in the middle-ages. What can textile production in Romano-Byzantine Egypt can tell us about that culture? Who wove what, and how? Glass is a demanding medium, both technologically and logistically, and how it was used in Byzantine and Islamic cultures shines a light on their aesthetics and innovations. The way glass was used reveals cultural dynamics as do the medieval headstones in Western Balkans. What do these weathered stones tell us about how different cultures in this period lived alongside each other

Philosophy of science the energy and excitement of curiosity

From rabbits plucked out of hats to dark matter, how do we comprehend the inexplicable or the unobservable? What do particle physicists and a magician’s audience have in common? Do we enjoy being baffled? If so, why? What pushes us to seek to understand? Is objectivity so vital in scientific observation and is subjectivity really its negation – or is the relation between the two more subtle? As one of our guests puts it: “The energy that drives inquiry is not the pleasure we take in final explanations, but the energy and excitement of curiosity itself.”

Another small step – A new age of Solar System exploration

What can distant planets and their satellite moons tell us about the origins of life on Earth? Is there enough water on the moon to support longer, manned missions? Are there lunar sources of oxygen that could make the moon a gateway to our Solar system? And beyond the moon: can we look to Titan to better understand our own origins? And how can we build on what we know about the Earth’s geology to better understand Mars, and other planets?

Ready player, welcome to the Virtual Reality revolution

Virtual reality – just another bone of contention between screen-addicted adolescents and their frazzled parents? Or can the inherent characteristics of VR, communicating at a distance but in a space that feels intimate, be harnessed to really revolutionise the way we interact? Can avatars, digital representations of ourselves, foster empathy or are they yet another medium providing a cloak of anonymity that can be abused? And are deep fakes about to go 3D?

EU researchers tackle pollution

In many areas the pandemic has reduced our impact on the natural environment, but what happens when we emerge from the restrictions and fire up our economies again? Will we also be firing up our production of pollution? From oil spills that threaten our seas, to the stinks that ruin our day, pollution touches us at all levels. How can citizen scientists help? What can we do to keep the air around us free of viruses and particulate pollution? Can we really make the polluter pay for oil and waste-water spills in our seas and oceans?

Innovations in European healthcare in the wake of COVID-19

Healthcare professionals working flat out for a year, living through experiences nothing could really prepare them for; health systems stressed to breaking point; a population facing fear, insecurity and grief without the human contact to make these bearable – the pandemic will cast a long shadow. Dr Hans Kluge, the World Health Organisation’s Europe Director warns we are facing a growing mental health crisis the impact of which is likely to be long-term and far-reaching.

The new synergies of shopping

Shuttered windows, closed shopping centres: our high streets are feeling the brunt of the Corona virus crisis. Businesses which relied entirely on their bricks and mortar presence have had to scramble to get their shops online or face a total collapse of income: holding out, if they can, for footfall to return to our streets. Food sellers have been faced with the logistical challenge of getting perishable goods out to customers unable or unwilling to come into supermarkets for the weekly shop. All this pressure on a sector that has already had to rethink its model in the face of competition from online giants and a pre pandemic drift to e-commerce. Is retail just one other industry facing a fundamental shift to the way it will operate in a post COVID world? Will people flock back to the shops? Some have saved money during the crisis: those able to work from home but not able to spend on holidays, events or leisure. How will our shops entice them in? In an increasingly cashless society, does our dependence on paying by card make us vulnerable to fraud? Buying at a distance means returning more goods – how can the economic and environmental impact of that be mitigated?

The future of aviation

The pros and contrails of flight – The aviation sector is indispensable, but how can we reduce its environmental impact? This episode of the CORDIScovery podcast talks to three researchers whose work on making flying cleaner, more efficient and less invasive for those living under flightpaths, may offer some answers.