Researchers zoom in on tiny life forms that could save our soils and our health

AI-assisted brain surgery, a reusable space capsule and a mission to clean up global supply chains. The winners of the 2026 EU Prize for Women Innovators are tackling some of society’s biggest challenges while inspiring the next generation of female entrepreneurs.

EU-funded researchers are using silk-based bone marrow “factories” to grow platelets in the lab, helping to lower our dependence on limited donor blood supplies.

Europe has the science. Now it needs the scale. An EU-backed start-up summit is trying to close that gap.

Aviation has an emissions problem. Researchers in four EU-funded projects are betting that hybrid-electric engines could solve it, and aim to demonstrate it by 2030.

Thousands of teenagers across Europe have tracked plastic pollution in rivers, and the data they collected is starting to make waves.

Forests across Europe are struggling with drought, fire and disease. Researchers working to future-proof them say one of the answers lies in their diversity.

European shipyards are under pressure to cut costs and clean up. A new EU-funded initiative aims to help them do both, with digital tools and better tracking of energy use and materials to improve their environmental footprint and reduce waste.

AI systems are learning to listen to and decode the sounds of nature, helping scientists to track species and spot ecosystem changes much faster than traditional field surveys.

EU-funded researchers are helping schools and universities put sustainability into practice by giving students and communities the tools to make real environmental change.

More than 30 years ago, Europe made a decision: back researchers, trust their curiosity, and see where it leads. The results have been remarkable.

From predicting climate change to developing new medicines, supercomputers underpin modern science. Europe and Japan are now working together to make them even more powerful and reliable.

Across Europe, libraries are being reimagined as community hubs and creative spaces for the digital age, as researchers join forces with local communities and creatives.

More than half of Europe’s soils are degraded. Researchers are showing that restoring soil through better farming makes both ecological and financial sense.

A new European-led telescope could map the dusty, hidden half of the universe, all without using fossil fuels.

EU-funded researchers are investigating how parents’ online sharing is reshaping childhood, privacy and identity, and the long-term consequences for children growing up online.

As digital nomads rethink where to live, researchers are exploring whether their choices can help close Europe’s urban–rural divide. New research suggests the shift to remote working could support rural regions, but only where infrastructure and policy align.

Once considered impossible, restoring movement after paralysis is becoming a reality thanks to EU-funded researchers who have developed a device that reconnects the brain to the body.

Rare neuromuscular diseases often lack treatments because developing targeted drugs is slow, costly and risky for companies. A new approach using AI and stem cell models could finally shift the balance.

For more than a century, vast mammoth bone deposits in Central Europe have puzzled scientists. Now EU-funded researchers are revealing what they tell us about how Ice Age humans hunted and survived.

Across Africa, efficient use of water is increasingly crucial. Researchers and local communities have joined forces in six countries to restore land, water and livelihoods through nature-based solutions.