I am a freelance  science writer  and an award-winning  book author  with a PhD in molecular biology. My journalistic credits include Scientific American, Reuters, the New Scientist, Nature and many others.

My first love is radio. In 2004, I started as a contributor to a show broadcasted on a local radio in Bologna, called Radio Città del Capo.

Back in 1998, when my grandmother looked at my university thesis on  blue compact dwarf galaxies , she asked me, puzzled, "what  exactly  do you use this for?" I then realised that, perhaps, I had to reconsider my career ambitions.

What if Santa rode a four-legged robot? What looks like a sci-fi fairy tale might soon come true. Nowadays it is not reindeers that bring holiday gifts to our homes, it is most often a cumbersome, noisy and polluting van.

The new generation of technologies is radically changing the face of what science has already achieved. Their seeds are being planted in European laboratories, where passionate young researchers have been playing their part in shaping a new world.

Willingly or forced by circumstances, cities across Europe have slowly started to change their vision about urban mobility.

As expected, car sales have decreased world-wide as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Understanding how people decide to use less energy at home or at work is crucial to boost virtuous behaviours. Our reaction to any novelty is so complex that a lot of socio-psychological research has been done to try to make it more predictable.

From the Covid-19 crisis we are learning a historic lesson about transforming our towns and cities. We’ll probably see a smart city concept B.C. and A.C, before coronavirus and after coronavirus.

The economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic should not delay the European Union's ambitious climate change measures. The Commission has confirmed that the work on long-term policy priorities such as the Green Deal is continuing.

For the first time in its history, the Global Seed Vault on the Svalbard Islands, Norway, has authorised a withdrawal. It was requested in 2015 by Syria, a country where the war is endangering the local agricultural seed collections.

Whenever you eat strawberries, does your throat start to swell and itch? Do you also get a burning or prickling sensation in your lips, gums, tongue or inside your cheeks? Or perhaps drinking milk ...

As well as being a time for celebration, winter in Europe is a time for serious weather. Blizzards, flash floods, hurricanes, heavy snow fall can cause chaos, major disruption, economic loss, and endanger lives.

Bioenergy represents two-thirds of the energy produced from renewable sources in Europe, though biomass sustainability is not taken for granted.

Traditionally our electricity grids were designed to move power from large nuclear and fossil fuel power plants to consumers, but renewable energy will see changes to allow smaller power generation from wind and solar to be hooked up to the grid.

San Pietro is a peripheral neighbourhood overlooking the city of Genoa, North-West of Italy. It is also known as Lavatrici (washing machines), because of the concrete slabs with empty circles that characterise the façades of its buildings.

The European grid already faces transmission challenges, as the alternative current (AC) infrastructure has almost reached its transport capacity.

Richard Stallman , 62 years, is that kind of man who you could just think is a genuine down-to-earth dreamer.

Not only a crafty deception to provide tasty food for astronauts. Over the next years 3D printers may become a household kitchen appliance, helping people save time when preparing meals or adding specific nutritious ingredients to their diet.

Luckily, past mistakes can sometimes be useful for present or especially future decisions. This can apply to spatial planning and management in response to natural disasters and extreme weather events.