It is a damning neologism of our age, a new word combining the threat of two major health problems of epidemic-like proportions. In Europe alone, around 33 million adults are expected to be suffering from type-2 diabetes by 2010.

“It’s around one metre, bang there in the middle”. Professor Tim Lenton, professor of Earth Systems Science at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, sounds very pleased when he hears that policy-makers now officially revise the estimated sea level rise for London to around +94 cm within a century.

Lovingly tended to as far as Kristianstad in Sweden, palms have never had it so good in Northern European gardens. The UK, which has not had a seriously cold winter for about 10 years, is a case in point.

Bacteria and other microorganisms that cause infections are remarkably resilient and can develop ways to survive drugs meant to kill or weaken them.

“We need our own kind of Kyoto treaty for antibiotics: the point is, we should treat antibiotics as a non-renewable source”, says professor Antonio Cassone, research director of the Italian Istituto Superiore di Sanità.

Reducing the energy requirements of buildings is an absolute priority in Europe. The energy demonstration project SARA has developed several public-access eco-buildings in France, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, UK and Uzbekistan.

Scientists of the European research project ALARM (Assessing LArge scale Risks for biodiversity with tested Methods) achieved an alarming result: pollinators and insect-pollinated plants in Britain and the Netherlands are declining in parallel.

Communication by Gaze Interaction (COGAIN) is a project that has gathered together Europe's leading experts in computer-integrated eye tracking. The benefit of their work goes to all citizens with physical motor impairments.

London planners should prepare for the possibility that the sea level rise will be up +94 centimetres by the end of this century.

A decrease in the number of students choosing a scientific path is threatening the future of European research. In order to tackle this problem, female researchers in the UK have been setting up tens of associations to increase the presence and role of women in Science.

In his song ‘ Concrete Jungle ’, the reggae legend Bob Marley sang wistfully about being trapped in a dense and oppressive urban environment ‘where the living is hardest’, all the while longing for the ‘sweet life’.

Federica Gasbarro was a 22-year-old biology student in Rome when she felt compelled to become an environmental activist.

The global transition from an economy underpinned by fossil fuels to an economy powered by renewable energy is well underway. The pace of that transition, however, has come under scrutiny – especially at the recent COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

Francesco is an Italian lawyer. He lives in Rome and is now about to move into a new apartment. “It’s a way to get closer to my office,” he says. “I don’t have a car, I just ride bicycle.

I am writer and freelance science journalist, currently residing in Bristol, UK. I started working as a freelance science writer in 2000.

A new report by Gothenburg, Sweden-headquartered carmaker Volvo shows that electric vehicles must still overcome big environmental challenges, even as they reduce greenhouse gas emissions .

As the COP26 United Nations climate change conference prepares to meet in Glasgow in November, there is an urgency to build on the aims of the 2015 Paris agreement to limit global warming.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating effect on Europe over the last 18 months, with a death toll fast approaching 1 million people and lockdowns that have hit businesses and economies across the region.

María Regidor co-owns a mini-hydro power plant in Spain, which produces part of the electricity provided to the residents of the Castile and León region.

Energy demand is growing across many countries in the world as populations increase and people get richer. In fact, global energy consumption has risen nearly every year for more than half a century.