Automation and computer-aided designs are seeding the future of home gardens. With the onset of designer gardens as a service and rose-pruning robots, weekends spent toiling in the garden will be more productive and personalised. Gardening is proven to be healthful and joyful, but as more of us discover the joys of working in the … Read more
Having a big idea may not be enough to change the world – innovation is a commercial process as well as scientific inspiration. Turning research into marketable products is partly a business challenge. It’s common knowledge that proteins, a key component of human nutrition, are also essential for making animal feeds. Less well known is … Read more
The old joke is that nuclear fusion is always 30 years away. Yet the dream of abundant clean energy is no laughing matter as we meet an ITER researcher to catch up on progress at the reactor facility. The Sun has fuelled life on Earth for billions of years, creating light and heat through nuclear … Read more
Thanks to the renewables’ boom, the limiting factor of the energy revolution is not power supply as much as power storage these days. Cleaner, greener batteries are needed to charge our cars, ebikes and devices for longer. We have all been there. The rectangular icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen turns red … Read more
Hydrogen is carving out its place in the world of renewable energy. Regional developments like hydrogen valleys and hydrogen islands are serving as blueprints for larger ecosystems to produce and consume this versatile fuel locally. The Northern Netherlands region used to be prime gas country. One of the largest gas fields in the world was … Read more
Uncrewed aircraft responding to fire and medical emergencies will be used to save lives – if digitalised air-traffic control can help them navigate safely in the skies over Europe. In a city in the future, a fire breaks out in a skyscraper. An alarm is triggered and a swarm of drones swoops in, surrounds the … Read more