In the spotlight
So that’s why you don’t feel full after eating junk food
huffingtonpost-us-en, 05.03.2019
Most of our favourite junk foods fall under the category “ultra-processed foods”. That’s according to NOVA, a food classification system used by the World Public Health and Nutrition Association. The system categorizes food into four groups: unprocessed or minimally processed foods (e.g. olives), processed culinary ingredients (e.g. olive oil), processed foods (e.g. all-grain bread, canned vegetables) and ultra-processed foods (e.g. all our favourite packaged chips and cookies, plus many fast foods and frozen meals).
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Thirty years of fast food: greater variety, but more salt, larger portions, and added calories
eurekalert, 27.02.2019
Changes in food variety, portion size, dietary energy, and selected micronutrients are potentially fueling the obesity epidemic, according to a new study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
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We need better answers on nutrition
nytimes, 01.03.2019
The National Institute of Nutritition will facilitate and help coordinate incisive research into nutrients, foods and their relationships to better health. Some examples of its focus would include: How to leverage food and nutrition policy and public-private partnerships in a “food is medicine” effort to reduce health care costs.
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Agriculture & Environment
Sour grapes? Italian authorities uncover scandalous production of fake balsamic vinegar
euronews-en, 09.03.2019
A huge food fraud scandal has been uncovered in Italy, involving million of euros worth of grapes used to make fraudulent balsamic vinegar. Balsamic vinegar of Modena is a location-protected food item under EU regulations , which means in order to bear the name, the grapes used in production must….
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Research headlines – Looking below the surface to improve the quality of soil
ec-europa, 01.03.2019
The past 20 years have seen agricultural production increase three-fold to feed the planet’s growing population. But to meet demand, many farmers have relied on chemicals, multiple harvests and new drainage systems measures that are damaging the earth’s soil.
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Transport & Energy
Planting trees will not end global warming because there’s too much CO2 in the atmosphere
dailymail, 11.03.2019
Planting trees can no longer save humans from global warming because there is too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere There isn’t enough space on Earth to plant the amount of trees required to make a dent in carbon emissions If we planted 1.7 billion acres of trees, we could remove 3 billion tons….
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New infrastructure required to ease transition to automated transport.
horizon-magazine, 07.03.2019
While this promise of the future will sound idyllic to many commuters, it is only likely to be realised once all vehicles on the road are controlled by computers. At first, and for some years to come, self-driving cars, vans and lorries will have to share the roads with their human-driven counterparts.
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Regrowing tropical forests recover fast in tree species richness, but slow in species composition
alphagalileo, 07.03.2019
Tropical forests that regrow on abandoned agricultural land contain within a few decennia already most of the species of the original old-growth forest. Within 20 years the species richness is already 80% of that of old-growth forests. Their species composition, however, is totally different.
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Information society
Novel quantum sensor may boost cancer treatment
business-standard, 10.03.2019
Scientists say they have developed a new quantum sensor that can outperform existing technologies and promises significant advancements in long-range 3D imaging and monitoring the success of cancer treatments. The sensors developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada are the first….
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Rise of the Smart Contract
forbes, 10.03.2019
The lowly contract, a staple of business transactions everywhere, is about to get a major facelift. The typical role of a contract to date has been largely testimonial: an agreement is made between two parties (identified in painstaking detail) on page one, with stipulations about what is to be….
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Business leaders love AI. In theory, that is
businessday, 10.03.2019
Microsoft has unveiled the results of a survey of business leaders on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI). The findings are surprising: German and Russian entrepreneurs and executives appear to come out ahead of those from the US and other advanced European economies when it comes to adopting the technology.
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Digital workplace technologies promise a personal digital assistant for all employees
finanznachrichten-en, 07.03.2019
The ISG Provider Lens Digital Workplace Archetype Report sees enterprises adopting such virtual assistants, including advanced agents that can book meetings on behalf of employees or suggest product changes based on end-user chat sessions. Digital workplace technologies can also offer remote device….
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Food & Health
Smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity each linked to unhealthy brains
eurekalert, 11.03.2019
Factors that influence the health of our blood vessels, such as smoking, high blood and pulse pressures, obesity and diabetes, are linked to less healthy brains, according to research published in the European Heart Journal today.
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Vitamin D may help control asthma, according to a study
business-standard, 10.03.2019
Besides making bones strong, higher levels of can also help children with asthma to become more resilient to harmful respiratory effects caused by indoor air pollution, say researchers including one of an Indian-origin. is an immune-mediated disease,” said Sonali Bose, at the at Mount Sinai.
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Weight loss can reverse type 2 diabetes, study suggests
guardian, 08.03.2019
Scientists say the study shows type 2 diabetes is not a life sentence. A third of people who went on a low-calorie diet to lose substantial amounts of weight reversed their type 2 diabetes and were still in remission two years later, a study on the long-term implications has found.
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Science policy & Communication
Are we there yet? The road to enterprise AI adoption
forbes, 04.03.2019
A recent survey of top-performing companies conducted by Gartner found that 40% of respondents believe AI is a game-changer, up from 7% in 2017. That is a massive uptick in confidence, abut there is a danger of AI being overhyped in the short term and underappreciated over the long term, analysts cautioned. Unsurprisingly, the search for companies that have mastered the science of enterprise AI yields few results.
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EU initiatives
Study – The benefit of EU actions in health policy
europarl, 08.03.2019
STUDY EPRSEuropean Parliamentary Research Service Author: Niombo Lomba European Added Value Unit PE 631.729 – March 2019 EN The benefit of EU actions in health policy: The record to date Analyses of the European Added Value The benefit of EU action in health policy: The record to date European….
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Technology and social polarisation
europarl-stoa, 08.03.2019
With the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it became clear how technologies such as social media and techniques such as psychological profiling can be combined in election campaigns with worrying effects. Personalised political messaging is highly automated.
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International Women’s Day: female scientists share their thoughts on gender balance in modern research
alphagalileo, 08.03.2019
Women working in a Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) project muse on 2019’s theme of #BalanceforBetter. One thing that stands out about the ByAxon project is that five out of six of the Principal Investigators are women, including the scientific coordinator of the project, even though the overall gender balance is similar to other EU projects.
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Study – Polarisation and the use of technology in political campaigns and communication
europarl, 07.03.2019
STUDY Panel for the Future of Science and Technology EPRSEuropean Parliamentary Research Service Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA) PE 634.414 – March 2019 EN Polarisation and the use of technology in political campaigns and communication Polarisation and the use of technology in political….
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Statement on Code of Practice against #Disinformation – Commission asks online platforms to provide more details on progress made
eureporter, 01.03.2019
The European Commission has published reports by Facebook, Google and Twitter covering the progress made in January 2019 on their commitments to fight disinformation. These three online platforms are signatories of the Code of Practice against disinformation and have been asked to report monthly on….
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Curious news
How local projects creates the Museums of the future: 10 unforgettable global experiences
forbes, 10.03.2019
The words of prophets, scholars, rappers and cultures around the world are now part of a new museum, Planet Word Museum in Washington DC. It’s one of the latest offerings from Local Projects, a New York based company that creates innovative museum installations around the world from the….
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Inspirational women in science
deutschewelle-en, 08.03.2019
Poet’s daughter with a new language. Born in 1815, Ada Lovelace was the daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. A gifted mathematician, she is said to have written instructions for the first computer program in the mid-1800s. She is considered the first person to realize that computers, still not a reality, had potential beyond mere calculation.
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