In the past, most electricity grids were mainly based on centrally produced power, in relatively few plants, within national borders.

Over recent decades, research on innovative food processing technologies has been carried out to identify ways to combat pathogens while reducing the need for chemical preservatives and improving the nutritional properties of the food at the same time.

To date, European consumers pay more for energy from renewables than for energy from conventional resources. One of the reasons is still the immaturity of the technology used for harnessing and distributing renewable energy.

The children of prisoners are one of the largest vulnerable groups of children in Europe. They carry the stigma of their parents’ deeds. And some of them are exposed to social exclusion.

It is estimated that 800,000 children throughout the European Union have an imprisoned parent. The real number is not known, because in no country do prisons systematically record data about the children of offenders.

Biochar and compost are of interest to agriculture. Particularly, when it comes to meet the goal of reducing mineral fertilisers and chemicals use.

AIDS research has attempted many strategies to tackle the HIV virus infection. Now, a new type of vaccine developed within an EU-funded project, called EuroNeut-41 , is based on one of the envelope proteins of the HIV virus , called the gp41 protein.

The European fashion industry is a huge consumer of fresh water. Estimates point to 600 million cubic meter of fresh water being consumed yearly in Europe by the textile and clothing industry ; not a negligible amount.

The Black Sea is known for its severe environmental degradation. Some signs of recovery have been observed in the last years, albeit on a small scale . Scientists believe that it is still possible to limit the negative environmental impact.

Enamel cookware is ubiquitous. The trouble is that enamels —like other vitreous substances, or frits, used in making porcelain or ceramic glazes— are produced through a process generating highly toxic chemicals .

Climate change and socio-economic factors are interdependent . If agriculture intensifies in a particular region, that would have an impact on water sector, resulting from the irrigation use.

Livestock produces a lot of waste. One solution is to turn such agricultural waste into biogas to generate energy .  It requires using so-called anaerobic digestion, which consists in breaking down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen.

Forests and land ecosystems are the earth’s carbon reservoirs. They are key to limit the impact of greenhouse gases, as they fix those gases down.

It all started when the  Irish Food Standard Authority  realised, mid-January, that some of the burgers sold in the country (and in the UK) contained about 29% of equine DNA, upon testing.

A French veterinary surgeon and former researcher at the Toulouse National Veterinary School , Philippe Baralon is the founder of Phylum , a consultancy specialised in food safety working for the food industry.

Ragnar Löfstedt is an expert on risk management at King’s College London , UK, and the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Risk Research . He spoke to youris.

Mona Elena Popa, is Professor of industrial biotechnology at the  University of Agronomical Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest  in Romania. She talks to youris.

The level of interest for the US standard Smart Logging , designed to ensure the sustainable use of the forests, has now been tested in Europe.

Following the 2006 ban on sturgeon fishing, the Romanian town of Sfantu Gheorghe, located at the mouth of the Danube river, turned to other income source to replace its fishing based economy.

In 2010, nearly two tons of fish was found dead due to lack of oxygen on the coastal line of the Romanian Black Sea.  Oxygen depletion , or hypoxia , occurring in the water is thought to be responsible.