The war ends, the foreign soldiers depart, and some may well be leaving babies behind... Whether the father was friend or foe, the local women to whom these children are born often raise them in difficult circumstances. An EU-funded research project is shedding new light on an age-old phenomenon, with the aim of providing information that could feed into policies to help them.
An EU-funded project has generated new insights into the causes and development of rheumatoid arthritis, directing efforts towards earlier detection, prevention and the idea of inducing tolerance to this chronic and debilitating disease. Follow-up reearch includes new studies to further explore this 'tolerance' challenge and progress on a new antibody detecting device.
Child obesity is not a challenge families can tackle on their own, say EU-funded researchers. Following a five-year study involving thousands of children, they conclude that governments must do more to help.
When war displaces large populations, refugees and their descendants form diasporas. They are far from home and spread across countries, but many remain involved in homeland politics. In a comparative study of diasporas and contested sovereignty from the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East, EU researchers reveal how diasporas can both mitigate and aggravate conflicts.
With a shortage of data about human trafficking, it can be challenging to combat it and protect the victims. These victims are exploited for many purposes, including forced sex work, criminality and labour. The EU-funded TRACE project assessed and consolidated information to provide policy makers, governments and law enforcement agencies with advice on effectively preventing and combating human trafficking in Europe.
The rise in the number of people living in cities - predicted to reach 80 % by 2020 - coupled with climate change is straining Europe's water supplies. An EU-funded project has demonstrated innovative technologies and approaches to tackle water scarcity.
With a little help from bees, an EU-funded project has explored how cities can adopt more transformative thinking and actions, including social innovation, to reduce negative environmental impacts and promote the wellbeing of their inhabitants.
Comprehensive new databases of migration flows and policy data since World War II highlight how some policy choices have had unintended effects.
School meals don't matter only to kids and their parents. Like other services within the scope of public sector food procurement, they also matter economically. Determination to source produce locally and sustainably can make all the difference to a region's farmers, as can labels protecting its specialities. An EU-funded project is connecting the dots.
Language, reasoning and learning are abilities powered by the neocortex, the folded grey matter on the outside of the brain. But how does its neuronal circuitry actually handle information? Using the example of syntax processing, new EU-funded research is exploring the physiological underpinnings of human cognition.
