Bioeconomies aim to become a beating heart of local communities, both rural and urban

Firms such as Novamont in Italy are using renewable resources to develop bioplastics and biochemicals, through the use of biorefineries.

As the EU aims to head towards a sustainable, low-carbon future, experts in bio-based industries at the forefront of this transition are turning food waste and waste-water sludge into bioplastics and converting decommissioned factories into new biorefineries by working with local populations. According to figures cited in renewed EU plans for a circular bioeconomy, biobased … Read more

Ceramic honeycomb air filters could cut city pollution

Prototype air filtering stations placed in Paris, France, helped to keep the level of particulates below World Health Organization thresholds. Image credit - Pollution event in Paris by Tangopaso and Mariordo is licensed under CC0 1.0

A new type of outdoor filter that could cut city air pollution and is scheduled to be debuted at the 2024 Paris Olympics has been awarded the €3 million Horizon Prize on materials for clean air. The prize, which was announced on 30 October at the Innovative Industries for Smart Growth Conference in Vienna, Austria, was … Read more

Food scraps to become dairy and meat substitutes

Image credit - Taz, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Finicky eating habits and wasteful processes have led to a system that discards millions of tonnes of food each year, but new approaches are salvaging the scraps we never see to make products that people will want to eat. Many people worry about how to feed the world’s population in 2050, when it is expected to reach 9.8 … Read more

Facebook and Twitter need a redesign to fight junk news

Image credit - Flickr/Olivier Matthys, image is in the public domain

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. According to a recent study by the institute, organised social media manipulation has risen from being active in 28 countries to 48 in … Read more

Seaweed coffee cups could help ditch single-use plastics

Image credit - Skipping Rocks Lab

A significant amount of the single-use plastics that we use ends up in our oceans. As people increasingly ditch these plastics, seaweed — also known as macroalgae — and microalgae could be the solutions to the world’s plastic food packaging problem. These are being used to develop everyday items, from edible water bottles to coffee cups to … Read more

What keeps Arctic scientists awake at night?

From the lack of methane sinks to the high suicide rates of indigenous populations, Arctic researchers are studying a range of issues.

By Annette Ekin In a year when Arctic warming rose to global prominence after temperatures hit a sweltering 32˚C inside the Arctic Circle, what are some of the specific issues that keep Arctic scientists awake at night? Horizon caught up with eight experts in Reykjavik, Iceland, at the 6th edition of the Arctic Circle assembly, … Read more