Digital digs: Technology preserving Europe’s cultural heritage

Digital technology helps capture historical remains in great detail to create a permanent digital record. © NERYXCOM, Shutterstock.com

Technological advancements such as 3D scans based on drone images are helping archaeologists document Europe’s heritage before sites and artefacts are lost to future generations. By  Ali Jones The common perception is that archaeologists spend their time crawling around a dusty dig on all fours, but Serbian researcher Nenad Jončić could not be more different. … Read more

More comfort, less carbon: Clearing hurdles to deep building renovation across Europe

Latvia’s Soviet-era blocks are among the many poorly insulated buildings and EU-funded deep renovations are the best way to improve their energy efficiency. © Aleks Kend, Shutterstock.com

To improve living conditions and reduce buildings’ environmental impact, EU-funded researchers are making deep renovations possible across Europe by securing financing, setting strict standards and building trust with residents. By Kaja Šeruga Dr Marika Rošā, an expert on energy efficiency from the Technical University in Riga, wishes that everyone would just stop talking about it. … Read more

Pain and perception – exploring the mind-body connection in treating chronic pain

Better understanding of the mind-body connection could provide new treatment strategies for chronic pain conditions. © Agenturfotografin, Shutterstock.com

Better understanding of the complex relationship between mind and body may provide new treatment strategies for chronic pain, say EU-funded researchers. By  Kaja Šeruga In a small room at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, a woman wearing a virtual reality headset is busy stacking virtual books onto a virtual bookcase. Every time she bends down, … Read more

Tracing the journey from Egyptian cat mummies to modern house pets

Egyptian cat mummies could reveal new information about the ancestry of our feline companions. ©Andrea Izzotti, Shutterstock.com

EU-funded researchers are testing DNA from archaeological cat remains to help unravel the tale of cat domestication. By Ali Jones It probably will not surprise cat owners, familiar with the enigmatic and independent nature of their beloved pets, to know that scientists have found the feline domestication process to be rather unconventional in comparison to … Read more