33 episodes

CORDIScovery is a monthly podcast featuring a panel discussion between guests at the forefront of their scientific fields. From threats to biodiversity to the future of space exploration, if you want to hear how the EU’s cutting-edge research is taking on the key issues challenging us today, then be sure to download and listen to what Europe’s leading scientists have to say. CORDIScovery is produced by CORDIS, whose mission is to share the results of the very best of EU-funded research.

CORDIScovery – unearthing the hottest topics in EU science, research and innovation CORDIScovery

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    • 5.0 • 1 Rating

CORDIScovery is a monthly podcast featuring a panel discussion between guests at the forefront of their scientific fields. From threats to biodiversity to the future of space exploration, if you want to hear how the EU’s cutting-edge research is taking on the key issues challenging us today, then be sure to download and listen to what Europe’s leading scientists have to say. CORDIScovery is produced by CORDIS, whose mission is to share the results of the very best of EU-funded research.

    Food – a catalyst for change

    Food – a catalyst for change

    Did the ability to feed babies porridge help to fuel the population explosion seen in the Neolithic period? Did people take to the seas far earlier than previously thought to chase whales and seals? What is the difference between a flourishing desert frontier fort and one that dwindles into dust? We take a look at three times when food was a catalyst for change.

    Bettina Schulz Paulsson, an associate professor of Archaeology at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, specialises in research related to the Stone Age. Her interests encompass seafaring, megaliths, prehistoric whaling and scientific dating and methods. 

    Associate professor of Egyptology at the Polytechnic of Milan, Corinna Rossi, focuses her research on the relationship between architecture and mathematics in ancient Egypt. Rossi has been exploring the antiquities of Egypt’s Western Desert for over 20 years.

    Sofija Stefanović is professor of Physical Anthropology and Bioarchaeology in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Belgrade, Serbia. She is interested in the prehistoric patterns of fertility and the influence of the duration of breastfeeding on children’s health in the Neolithic period.


    For more info the projects featured, visit: ⁠https://europa.eu/!nFkxTW

    • 33 min
    Fisheries of the future

    Fisheries of the future

    Pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss are all threatening our sustainable use of marine resources – at the same time we need seafood. It’s a conundrum! Could lights help by deterring the wrong fish from getting into nets? Can AI help zap the virulent sea lice that plague fish farmers? And how do zebra fish bridge the gap between aquaculture and medicine? Listen on to get some answers!

    Rachel Tiller is a chief scientist and director of Biodiversity and Area Use, at SINTEF Ocean, Norway. She is interested in putting smart tools in the hands of the fishing community to help them catch what they are intending to catch.

    Margaret Rae is the managing director of Konree Innovation, based in Ireland. The company aims to harness the latest technological approaches to improve the health and welfare of farmed fish.

    Marc Muller , now retired, was a senior assistant professor at the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS), in the University of Liège. He studies skeleton formation in zebrafish, and the insights that gives us into human skeletal pathologies.

    For more info on the projects featured, visit: https://europa.eu/!RmVKTH

    • 36 min
    Celebrating women in science

    Celebrating women in science

    What do a mathematician, a palaeontologist and a researcher considering the rehabilitation of multiple sclerosis patients have in common? All three are women who have carved themselves successful careers as scientific researchers.

    In a change to our usual format, this episode of CORDIScovery invites three female researchers from completely unrelated areas to talk about their work, discuss their own experiences and offer insights into what helped, and hindered them, in the development of their careers.

    Elena Ghezzo is a fellow of Ca’Foscari University of Venice. She is particularly interested in screening fossils using spectral imaging, and in the distribution and extinction patterns of large carnivores before the Holocene. She is joined by Camilla Pierella, an assistant professor at the University of Genova. She studies the neural control of movement, robots for rehabilitation and body-machine interfaces.

    Erika Hausenblas is a professor of applied mathematics at the University of Leoben, in Austria. She studies how stochastic systems, characterised by randomness and uncertainty, impact the modelling of a wide range of phenomena, such as weather patterns, stock markets and biological systems.

    For more info the projects featured, visit: https://europa.eu/!QqDYJ3

    • 36 min
    Adapting to climate change in Europe

    Adapting to climate change in Europe

    Climate change is here: so what are we doing to meet the challenges in Europe? Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 28, we will be hearing from four cutting-edge researchers who are working to get us ready to deal with the coming changes in our environment.

    Using the internet of things (IoT) to track mosquitoes that carry diseases more often associated with the global South; protecting our woodlands and forests from the impact of destructive beetles and other factors; examining the impact of extreme storms on our architecture and working out how to keep people safe from waves that are higher than ever, overtopping coastal defences that were designed in another era – this episode is on adapting to climate change in Europe.

    Talking us through these and other ideas are: João Encarnação CEO of Irideon, who is particularly interested in the development of IoT sensors for insects with impact on public health, food safety and biodiversity. Along with Guillaume Marie, an independent researcher and part of the team of developers behind ORCHIDEE, the French land surface model used by the UN to predict climate change. They are joined by Marie Pia Repetto, professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Genoa, Italy whose main interest is in wind engineering, and Corrado Altomare. Altomare is a postdoc researcher at the Maritime Engineering Laboratory of Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, and is actively involved in mounting Europe’s response to the problem of sea wave overtopping in coastal areas.

    For more info on the projects featured, visit: https://europa.eu/!RHTnb9

    • 32 min
    Portable power: batteries of the future

    Portable power: batteries of the future

    If you use a car, a phone or want to see more renewable energy sources in our electricity supply then listen on – this episode is for you.

    We need storage devices that can balance out the intermittent power produced by renewable energy sources and our demand. We have to identify viable, novel materials to make a new generation of batteries in order to get around bottlenecks in lithium supply – set to get even worse as demand for electric vehicles takes off.

    A whole new generation of cooling systems could speed up recharging time and prolong battery life. While paper-thin sheets of silicon with great conductive power could be a new boost to electric vehicle uptake. Explore these advances with our three guests:

    Juan J. Vilatela leads a research group at IMDEA Materials, in Madrid. His scientific career is focused on methods for synthesis and assembly of 1D nanomaterials into macroscopic nanotextiles for energy and structural applications. Pekka Peljo is associate professor of Materials Engineering at the University of Turku, Finland. He is interested in developing electricity storage technologies for wind and solar power. Matthieu Desbois-Renaudin, president and one of the co-founders of WATTALPS, is interested in electrification, batteries and their optimisation, including the patented cooling technology.

    For more info on the projects featured, visit: https://europa.eu/!YYnKjc

    • 35 min
    The wonderful world of the gut microbiome

    The wonderful world of the gut microbiome

    The diverse realm of microorganisms that plays a vital role in our digestion, interacts with our brain chemistry, and even influences our immune systems, is generating a lot of scientific interest. The question is, what else does it do, and how?

    This episode explores the impact of the chemical signals sent out to our organs by our microbiome, in real time. We look at how they work on a ‘brain on a chip’.

    And did you know our immune system interacts with the microbes we host , which seems to have an impact on a patient’s response to chemotherapy. Microbiome research has largely focused on humans and mice – but what about fish? We see what is going on inside a salmon.

    Carmen Giordano, associate professor of Bioengineering at the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan, has developed a tool to help researchers see what the signals coming out of bacteria in the microbiome do to the brain and other organs, in real time!

    Nicola Gagliani heads a laboratory of the same name studying the mechanisms of T-cell biology at the University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf. He’s looking into how quickly our immune systems respond to our diets, via the microbiome.

    Molecular and evolutionary biologist Morten Limborg is associate professor at the Globe Institute in Copenhagen. Morten is researching how to make farming more sustainable by fine-tuning animal feed in response to their microbiomes.

    For more info on the projects featured, visit: https://europa.eu/!pd3rGP

    • 35 min

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