interview

Peer pressure, social media, mainstream science
Science watcher Dr. Daniele Fanelli, London School of Economics, speaks about “the devil's details” when practicing research integrity. Honesty, responsibility, fairness and accountability are the principles of research integrity. These are the common standards for any responsible job. Why, then, is it so important to emphasise integrity in research and make it a buzz in politics ...

RNA technology already helped thousands of patients
"RNA-based technology can help babies with spinal muscular atrophy reach milestones such as sitting, standing and walking", says rare disease expert Prof. Annemieke Aartsma-Rus (Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands). This Wednesday 25 January the European Parliament's Panel for the Future of Science and Technology will hold its Annual Lecture on the future of RNA-based ...

Raising awareness of the societal impact of AI
Interview with Catelijne Muller, president of ALLAI, an independent organisation to promote responsible artificial intelligence (AI). She talks about her view on the public perception of AI. Ask teenagers to unlock their smartphones, open their social media apps and then show everything openly to their neighbour, and of course they will say: "No way we’re ...

A scientist’s opinion: interview with Johannes Werner on drones for medical services
Interview with Johannes Werner, management and technology student at the Technical University of Munich in Germany, and business lead on the HORYZN initiative. How important are drones for medical services such as transporting defibrillators? Johannes Werner: We saw the chance to improve survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest by bringing defibrillators faster to the scene using ...

A scientist’s opinion: interview with Prof. Davide Scaramuzza on autonomous drones
Interview with Professor Davide Scaramuzza is the director of the Robotics and Perception Group at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, and leader of the EU-funded AGILEFLIGHT project. How good do you think uncrewed aerial vehicle [UAV] systems are at the moment? Prof. Davide Scaramuzza: Human pilots can navigate drones fast, but autonomous drones often ...

Talking sustainability on TikTok: how ‘eco-influencers’ communicate
Joachim Allgaier, Professor for Communication and Digital Society at Fulda University (Germany), co-authored an academic paper on environmental communication on TikTok. The study found that the rapidly growing social media platform could have the potential to deal with sustainability issues in short and punchy videos without neglecting the complexity of the topics. He spoke to ...

Mala Rao: ‘The eco-anxious should have access to information on how to contribute to climate action’
Mala Rao is Professor and Senior Clinical Fellow, Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, and Medical Adviser, NHS England Workforce Race Equality Strategy and Implementation Team. How can climate change have an impact on mental health? Mala Rao: There are several direct and indirect pathways by which the climate crisis impacts ...

Katariina Salmela-Aro: ‘Climate anxiety is like a silver lining, it’s a driving force to do something’
Katariina Salmela-Aro is Academy Professor in the Department of Education and Supervisor for Doctoral Programme in Cognition, Learning, Instruction and Communication at the University of Helsinki, Finland. I view the concepts of climate anxiety and eco-anxiety as interchangeable. Are we talking about the same thing? Katariina Salmela-Aro: I would say that they are quite similar. ...