ESMH Media Review – September 3, 2025
on September 3, 2025
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ageing, artificial intelligence, car, environment, heatwave, research -
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In the spotlight
The risks and benefits of AI in screening research grant proposals
Science Business, 02.09.2025
A Spanish foundation used large language models to screen out proposals predicted to be unsuccessful. But its evaluators are sceptical.
Hundreds of suspicious journals flagged by AI screening tool
Nature, 02.09.2025
System that searches for signs of bad practice could help to weed out questionable titles.
Digital transition
Bland, easy to follow, for fans of everything: what has the Netflix algorithm done to our films?
Guardian, 28.08.2025
When the streaming giant began making films guided by data that aimed to please a vast audience, the results were often generic, forgettable, artless affairs. But is there a happy ending?
More than 10 European startups became unicorns this year
TechCrunch, 28.08.2025
Funding season is about to restart in Europe after the summer lull, and if all goes well, it will be counting new unicorns in dozens — plural. While mega-rounds are less common than they were in 2021, this hasn’t prevented 12 European startups from raising rounds at valuations of more than $1 billion during the first half of 2025.
Suicides: AI is even more dangerous than social media
Süddeutsche, 27.08.2025
Adam Raine was an ordinary teenager. He played basketball, loved Japanese comics, met with friends. And like millions of teens, he regularly chatted with Chat-GPT. A year ago, Adam exchanged the first messages with artificial intelligence. In January, he asked about suicide methods for the first time.
Environmental sustainability
'It's a way of the sea returning the trash to us': Why plastic-filled 'Neptune balls' are washing up on beaches
BBC, 02.09.2025
As tiny pieces of plastic clog our oceans, natural meadows of seagrass are bundling up microplastics and spitting them back out onto beaches in the form of "Neptune balls".
Beavers were welcomed back to the Netherlands. Until they started digging 17m-long tunnels
Guardian, 28.08.2025
Reintroduced for environmental reasons, beavers are now in danger of causing serious flooding. Should there be more culls?
Why auroras are so much brighter and more easily visible recently
NewScientist, 29.08.2025
The aurora borealis has been remarkably bright recently. Space weather physicist Tamitha Skov reveals what's going on and how worried we should be about a major solar storm.
Car colours and climate change: How your car’s paint job worsens the urban heat island effect
Euronews, 28.08.2025
The study found that black cars increased heat by almost 4°C on hot summer days.
Mobility & Energy
Poland to build Europe’s first of its kind small-scale nuclear power plant in Włocławek
Euronews, 28.08.2025
Poland’s first small modular nuclear power plant, or SMR, will be built in Włocławek, energy company Orlen announced on Thursday, the first project of its kind in Europe.
US explored energy deals with Russia during Ukraine peace talks
EU Observer, 28.08.2025
US and Russian officials quietly discussed potential energy deals earlier this month, while holding talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
Science policy & Communication
Will Australia's social media ban really keep teenagers safe online?
NewScientist, 29.08.2025
Social media platforms will soon have to exclude children under 16 in Australia, but there are doubts over how age verification tools will work – and whether this is the right approach to deal with online harms.
Nobel laureate calls for tighter focus in EU research funding
Science Business, 28.08.2025
Fragmented support and “fake collaborations” threaten Europe’s disruptive research, says economist Jean Tirole
How FP10’s budget compares to Horizon Europe
Science Business, 27.08.2025
The EU’s next research programme will boost the European Innovation Council, but after inflation and negotiations, consortia funding could stagnate.
Agriculture & Food
Closely sown corn plants communicate to defend themselves
El Pais, 27.08.2025
By releasing an alcohol into the air that causes neighbors’ roots to exude pesticides, they can even protect subsequent generations of crops.
Green kiwis earn EU’s first-ever fruit health claim for keeping you regular
Euronews, 28.08.2025
Kiwis are now EU-certified to keep your digestive system on schedule, becoming the first fresh fruit to get the bloc’s green light for health benefits.
Health
How ageing changes our genes — huge epigenetic atlas gives clearest picture yet
Nature, 02.09.2025
A map of DNA methylation changes in human organs could help researchers to discover more targets for anti-ageing therapies.
Heatwaves may be speeding up your biological ageing, study warns
Euronews, 28.08.2025
A new study suggests repeated heatwave exposure could speed up biological ageing, hitting outdoor workers, rural residents, and communities with limited air conditioning the hardest.
First-ever transplant of animal lung in a human works for nine days
El Pais, 27.08.2025
A Chinese company, calling itself ‘the organ factory of the future,’ has humanized a pig through genetic engineering to enable a transplant performed on a brain-dead man.
EU initiatives
From mushrooms to new architecture: the rise of living, self-healing buildings
Horizon Magazine, 28.08.2025
EU-funded researchers are cultivating fungi on agricultural waste to create smarter and greener construction materials able to adapt and react to their environment, and even repair themselves.
Curious news
Researchers revive Europe’s historical scents, including ‘the smell of hell’
Horizon Magazine, 27.08.2025
EU-funded researchers are merging multidisciplinary expertise with AI tools to document, reconstruct and preserve Europe’s historical scents.