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.

Paul Lukowicz is head of the embedded intelligence research group at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence in Kaiserslautern.

Multiple disasters can have a cumulative impact leading to great human and financial loss. The awareness of all possible risks is of fundamental importance.

Storm water is a critical consideration in managing urban water , as it influences the risks of flooding. Unfortunately, a global rise in urban population means that water management in urban areas is now under strain.

The German village of Cappel is home to one of the greatest historical music instruments. The ornate baroque organ here is the work of Arp Schnitger, the grand master of German organ construction who built it in around 1680 for Hamburg.

How can policymakers change the way people think? This is what the InContext project, funded by the EU, hopes to answer. Leading European research institutions in the fields of transition, behaviour and sustainable development are trying to create a manual for change.

Scientists, monument preservationists and craftsmen aim at ensuring conservation of the region’s architectural heritage also by optimising energy efficiency.

In 1997 Karlsruhe, in the South West of Germany, made the headlines when the first museum for interactive multimedia art was opened. The museum is part of the Centre for Art and Media (ZKM), which also comprises five research institutions.

It is the ultimate viewing tool for designers and engineers: virtual reality. Models can be examined and tested thoroughly in three dimensions, before they are built in the workshops.

Imagine living in a building that once leaked heat in the winter and baked in the summer, now retrofitted to be a haven of comfort and efficiency.

Ana, 32, loves going to the movies, is keen on theatre and takes regular yoga lessons. However, during the Covid pandemic she quit the frenzy of Madrid to settle in a remote village in Extremadura , a large Spanish rural area, bordering Portugal.

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

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.

Sabrina is an Italian graphic designer, an editorial project manager and a graphologist. She is one of the European “slash workers” : self-employed professionals who put a slash between their multiple jobs in different sectors .

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.

Optical microscopy is entering a new world. Future microscopes will be chipsised and have super-resolution capabilities. This means they will be available in everyday life, not just in specialist laboratories.

Over the last 50 years photons, the particles that make up light, have replaced electrons to transfer data in communication networks.

One of the crucial steps to weaken and eradicate mafia and terrorism is blocking their means of enlisting new forces . The challenge is to change the social conditions that allow their networks to expand and regenerate themselves despite investigations and arrests.