As Easter is looming, some of us already know that eating large amounts of chocolate eggs will be too much of a temptation to resist. This Easter chocolate binge is symptomatic of our approach to health. And to preventing chronic diseases that may affect us later in life. Until we actually see the damage done by such often irresponsible behaviour, we are not going to change. Clearly, we are our own worst enemies, when it comes to keeping ourselves in good health and taking preventative steps. Read more […]
Academic freedom, which confers scientists some autonomy on how they wish to conduct research and to teach has been gradually eroded as research has increasingly become more of an industry, managed like a business. Now, there is some hope that some of the biases introduced in this process could soon be alleviated thanks to open science. But it may be too soon to realise what the actual implications are. Read more […]
Surveillance and security technologies do not exist in a vacuum. This is why it matters to study societal impacts and compliance with fundamental rights and values of citizens. Find out the perspective of Johann Čas, an economist from the Institute of Technology Assessment, at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, in Vienna. In an opinion piece, he talks about the findings of one of his latest projects, SurPRISE, which consulted 2,000 European citizens on their views of different security technologies and surveillance measures. This lead to interesting finding on what is acceptable to them in terms of security versus privacy trade-off. Read more […]
A flavour of the life of some scientists working in extreme conditions shows how work-life balance is heavily tilted towards work. Yet, there are ways to preserve a sense of down time and enjoy the extreme beauty of these remote places. Above all this sort of human experience will make scientists involved stronger and better equipped to face future life and career challenges. Read more […]
Fashion is not commonly associated with science and technology. However, there has always been a close connection between these fields. Exploring the way both fields have evolved, finding synergies, brings some interesting insights into how technology can have a direct influence on the way people live. But it could also impinge on their right to privacy. Read more […]
In most fields of technology, as new ideas and methodologies take root, parallel activities seek to introduce standards, best practice and a community approach to development.In the field of biometric technology, standards have taken a very long time to emerge. And, those that do exist are not necessarily adhered to. Read more […]
European science conversations by the community, for the community