Among the vineyards and wheat fields of north-eastern France, a revolution in chemical manufacturing is quietly gathering momentum. Here, biomass is turned into valuable components and energy.

In the six years since the launch of the European Research Council (ERC), its grants have become the most sought-after funding for top researchers in Europe. The biggest reason: the freedom they give scientists to pursue projects in the way they think best. 

An international team of astronomers has measured the distance to our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, more accurately than ever before. This new measurement also improves our knowledge of the rate of expansion of the Universe — the Hubble Constant — and is a crucial step towards understanding the nature of the mysterious dark energy that is causing the expansion to accelerate. The team used telescopes at the European Southern Observatory in La Silla (Chile) as well as others around the globe. These results appear in the 7 March 2013 issue of the journal Nature.

Vehicles without drivers can go far, very far. Such as the ones from the VIAC project, led by Professor Broggi from VisLab at the University of Parma, Italy. Its vans drove from Parma to Shanghai, China in three months, without much human intervention.

Professor Pratibha Gai’s modified electron microscope is helping scientists develop new medicines and energy sources.

Eat well and exercise. That is the simple message that could help reverse the spread of one of Europe’s most troubling epidemics – Type 2 diabetes.

Africans and Asians who migrate to Europe have a higher risk of diabetes than indigenous people as they adjust to a different diet and lifestyle. By looking at the development of diabetes in these groups, researchers hope to find out more about the disease and how to combat it both in Europe and worldwide.

Ash dieback is an invasive fungus that threatens to decimate stocks of European ash.