Potato-sized clumps of metal at the bottom of the deepest oceans might aid our fight against climate change, but mining these could also damage a world we know very little about. More than 150 years after French author Jules Verne released his Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the classic tale of deep-sea exploration, we know … Read more
The ability to keep food, medicines, vaccines and our buildings cool underpins much of our modern way of life, but it is also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. If the world is to meet its development goals and climate change targets over the coming decades, we need to rethink how we keep things … Read more
Scientists believe they have cracked the question of how the malaria parasite keeps a low profile in infected people during the dry season in Africa in order to avoid immune attention and trigger outbreaks when the rains and mosquitoes return. The knowledge could open up new ways to combat the disease, which killed 409,000 people, mostly … Read more
Demand for energy-intensive cooling technologies – whether for buildings, electronics, or refrigeration of food and medicines – is on the rise as global temperatures increase. But how can we make cooling technologies available to all while reducing the environmental impact? In August, Horizon looks at how science and innovation can help ‘green’ the cooling sector. … Read more
The idea of cryogenically freezing a person to preserve their body until many years into the future has long been a staple of science fiction stories. However, the need to reliably store biological materials such as cells or tissue is a common concern for scientific research and, increasingly, for society too. Whether it’s the dark, … Read more
Increasing the amount of trains on Europe’s tracks to replace other modes of transport could help reduce CO2 emissions and air pollution. But fitting more trains requires a serious rethink of how trains brake and could move across the track using cyber-secure radio and satellite navigation. More and more people are looking to rail as a … Read more