'Science exhibits often seem to appeal more to boys than girls, and boys often stay longer.'This reality is one of many that pushed Sheena Laursen, Director of International Affairs at Denmark's Experimentarium, to launch the TWIST project with partners from seven EU Member States and Israel. Their common objective? Using marketing tools, role models and more targeted teaching methods to ensure that everyone, ...

Probably one of the world's lesser-known felids, the kodkod cat is classified as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is currently under threat from deforestation, the spread of agriculture, superstition and its taste for domestic poultry.

Initiated in 2010 under the FP7 People programme, the Kodkod project aims to identify the conservation needs of the kodkod ...

A German researcher has just been awarded not one but two top science accolades for his research in mass spectrometry.

Professor Matthias Mann, coordinator of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) project PROSPECTS ('Proteomics specification in time and space'), has received the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine 2012 and the Ernst Schering Prize 2012. These were awarded for his work on the development ...

One positive aspect of the Internet's innovative capacity for rapid change has been the dawn of open access publishing that has came to prominence over the last decade. Leading the way is the non-profit organisation Creative Commons, which has just launched a new book showcasing how copyright, content sharing and collaboration can lead innovation in the digital age.

Directly in line with the European Commission's ...

Species are disappearing at an alarming rate, threatening nature's ability to provide us with essential goods and services like clean air and water, food, fuel, materials, climate regulation and flood prevention, to name just a few. Enter the EU-funded ERA-NET project BIODIVERSA, which is working to create a single biodiversity research community in Europe. BIODIVERSA, which is now in its second phase, ...

Researchers in Europe continue the good fight against age-related impairments and in favour of social inclusion. Experts from the SMILING ('Self mobility improvement in the elderly by counteracting falls') project, which clinched EUR 2.25 million under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), focused on tackling injuries caused by falls by training the elderly to walk on uneven ground while carrying ...

Researchers are helping Europe, and the EU in particular, meet the challenges imposed on the region by an ageing population and declining birth rates. They are also tackling how fragmentation is affecting the impact and efficiency of international and interdisciplinary research efforts. The ERA-AGE 1 and 2 (European Research Area on Ageing 1 and 2) ERA-NETs have made major headway in tackling these issues ...

Metrology refers to the science and application of measurement, and it impacts on our lives in countless ways. Today, Europe's metrologists are working together in the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP), which receives 50% of its funding through the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). Through the EMRP, they are helping to address the grand challenges facing the world today in diverse fields ...

As world leaders strive to reach agreement on tackling climate change, two side events in Copenhagen, Denmark focus on how agriculture and industrial biotechnology can help to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Maive Rute, the new Director of the Food, Agriculture, Fisheries and Biotechnologies Directorate at the European Commission's Directorate General for Research, is heavily involved in both events. ...

A decade ago, the European Commission set up a group to promote the participation of women in science across Europe. Now celebrating its 10th birthday, the Helsinki Group, as it became known, is still going strong.

In an interview with CORDIS News, Tiia Raudma of the Science, culture and gender unit at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research, looks back on what the Helsinki Group has ...