Author: Michael Allen

Wetlands are surprisingly effective at locking away carbon. Marshes, floodplains and peatlands together cover less than a tenth of the Earth’s surface, yet peatlands alone hold around a third of all the carbon stored in soil worldwide. In waterlogged wetland soils, dead plant material decomposes very slowly, allowing large amounts of carbon to accumulate over […]

Diabetes affects more than 800 million people worldwide and can cause a range of serious complications. Among the most challenging are diabetic foot ulcers – chronic wounds that resist healing and can lead to amputation or death if not treated effectively. “Diabetes is a very complex disease, causing a number of serious complications that affect […]

Farmland biodiversity plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems and productive agricultural landscapes. Yet across Europe, farmland birds – key indicators of environmental health – have suffered sharp declines as farming has intensified. As they pass over the fields of Brandenburg in eastern Germany, two satellites are doing work that an army of ornithologists never […]

Imagine struggling to follow conversations in a noisy restaurant or keep up in a busy office, yet being told by a doctor that your hearing is fine. That is the frustrating reality for people living with cochlear synaptopathy, or hidden hearing loss. Around 34 million adults in the EU live with a disabling hearing loss, according […]

Strolling through a forest, you may notice that the air is filled with sound. Birds sing, insects and small mammals rustle through the undergrowth, and at dusk bats squeak as they communicate with each other. These soundscapes contain a wealth of information about which animals are present, how many there are and how healthy an ecosystem may […]

Lucia Beccai, an expert in soft robotics at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, had an idea while watching a documentary about elephants. She was amazed by the versatility of their trunks, which can delicately remove a single leaf from a tree and then shift massive logs. That versatility was missing from today’s robots. […]

Europe’s cities emit huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Two essential urban services – waste incineration and wastewater treatment – are among the biggest contributors to municipal CO2 emissions in the EU. These systems are vital for public health and urban life, yet they produce emissions that are difficult to eliminate entirely. But what […]

On 4 June 2025, air traffic controllers in Spain’s Canary Islands held a clear, uninterrupted conversation with a commercial pilot flying high above the Atlantic. To most people, that might sound routine. For flights far from land, it is anything but. Over oceans, clear and instant air traffic communication is still the exception rather than […]

The world’s oceans do far more than support vital marine ecosystems and provide food and recreation. They help regulate the Earth’s climate, absorbing vast amounts of heat and CO2, acting as one of the planet’s most important buffers against climate change. Yet despite this vital role, scientists still struggle to track exactly how and where […]