Dr Eleftheria Vellidou believes childhood obesity in Europe has reached epidemic proportions, and the figures back her up. Around one in four children aged 7 to 9 in Europe are living with overweight, including obesity, according to the latest World Health Organization Europe survey, which examined about 470 000 children in 37 countries. Rates climbed
Ph. Demonstrators march through the centre of Madrid to protest against high house prices and rents and to demand measures to tackle the housing crisis in Spain, on 26 September 2026. ÓSCAR GONZÁLEZ FUENTES/Shutterstock Andrei Quintiá Pastrana, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela When Maricarmen Abascal, a disabled 87 year-old, was evicted from the
Kenneth Armstrong, University of Cambridge In a speech to the European Parliament, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney declared that “Europe and Canada are stronger together”. He also backed an offer made by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, one day earlier for Canada to become the first “associate member”
With around 3 000 hours of sunshine a year, Malta is ideally placed to harness the sun’s energy. But its scorching summers, salty sea air and occasional Saharan dust storms also make it one of Europe’s toughest environments for solar panels. For Dr Brian Azzopardi, a renewable energy researcher from Malta, those challenging conditions present
Ph. Far-right demonstration on the streets of Paris on 18 January 2026. Pierre Laborde/Shutterstock Deniz Torcu, IE University Across Europe, an emerging pattern is unsettling the assumptions of liberal educators and policymakers alike. Students who study in multiple countries, speak three or four languages, and graduate from globally ranked institutions are gravitating towards
Andrew B. Watkins, Monash University Sweltering temperatures are shattering records across Europe, as the continent battles a deadly heatwave. On Tuesday and Wednesday, France endured its hottest days in history, with western regions reaching highs of between 39°C and 43°C. Wednesday was the United Kingdom’s warmest June day on record, with the mercury
Along a small stream in Spain, groups of teenagers are at work. One hovers around a black tarpaulin covered in wet pieces of plastic. Another stands on a small bridge, fishing with a net. Others sort small pieces of plastic, cigarette butts and various other things they’ve recovered from the stream. What looks
In the village of Suonenjoki, the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) stands surrounded by a forest of pine trees. The local soils are not fertile and pine is pretty much the only species that can grow there. But in a nursery on campus, where young trees are grown from seed before being planted,
Strolling through a forest, you may notice that the air is filled with sound. Birds sing, insects and small mammals rustle through the undergrowth, and at dusk bats squeak as they communicate with each other. These soundscapes contain a wealth of information about which animals are present, how many there are and how healthy an
Nearly a century after her death, Marie Skłodowska-Curie remains one of science’s most enduring symbols of curiosity and discovery. The breakthroughs she made in radioactivity transformed medicine and physics, and her legacy reaches far beyond the laboratory. “I am among those who think that science has great beauty,” she once said. Born in