Research*EU Magazine | Number 30 (March 2014)

From the forest to the lab, what science can learn from nature

Summary:

In this month’s Q&A interview, Research*EU results magazine asked Dr Mazzolai to explain further her concepts for technologies to mimic plants, and their possible applications. Astonishingly, these extend from medical endoscopes, and environmental monitoring, to space probes. Our ‘biology and medicine’ section includes many more examples of technology mimicking nature, such as ‘Virus-like particles for vaccine development’ or ‘Elucidating the natural mechanisms of tumour suppression’.

Equally, the ‘energy and transport’ section goes from ‘Copying nature’s elaborate surface chemistries’ to ‘Peptide-based electronics for solar technology’. The ‘environment section looks at how studying nature can lead to improvements such as ‘Cloud watching improves climate models’ and ‘Synergising eco-friendly pesticides’. The feature story in our ‘social sciences and humanities’ section examines a serious issue for our common historical heritage: ‘Protecting archaeological sites from wild fire and extreme weather’.

A second Q&A interview — with Tom Pearsall, of the European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC), in France, and Peter Van Daele, of IMEC at the University of Ghent, Belgium on ‘Bridging the “Valley of Death” for photonics SMEs’ — closes off our ‘IT and telecommunications’ section, which starts on page 25.

Finally, the ‘industrial technologies’ section showcases 3D printing and its role in the factory of the future, while the ‘space’ section (page 37) takes a lesson from Hollywood film Gravity to see how EU-funded efforts are ‘Preventing space overpopulation from man-made debris’.

Contents:

Health

Digital Economy

Industrial Technologies

Space

Climate Change and Environment

Energy

• Primary Source

• Alternative Source