Our longtime use - and abuse…- of antibiotics in humans, agricultural livestock management, and food production has led to an increased threat of antimicrobial resistance, making us all more vulnerable to infectious diseases… But what if the answer lied in probiotics? https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_ATA(2020)641545 Source: © European Union - EP

As more and more European cities go into lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, international organisations and scientists are using artificial intelligence to track the epidemic in real time… to be able to predict where it will hit next and prepare a response. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_ATA(2020)641538 Source: © European Union - EP

From mass production to word processing, technological innovations have always transformed the way we work, and live… But what would happen if artificial intelligence worked just as well as humans - or perhaps even better - without taking holidays, getting sick, joining unions or drawing salaries…? https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_ATA(2020)641537 Source: © E...

Synthetic pesticides used to control pests such as fungi, bacteria, insects or weeds have proved to be rather effective, but they are coming under increasing scrutiny, as they have come to have worrying consequences for human health and the environment. What alternatives are the possible alternatives to help protect plant health and boost crop yields? https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/do...

In Europe, better healthcare, social and technological improvements are allowing us to live longer, and longer. If we link this to another trend, declining fertility rate… this could radically change the way our societies look and function! Want to know more? Let's peek into the future! https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_ATA(2019)641510 Source: © European Unio...

Tackling climate change is becoming increasingly urgent, yet the majority of our transport still runs on fossil fuels. While electric battery cars provide a response, batteries are too heavy to use in ships or aeroplanes. Could using hydrogen gas and fuel cells to produce electricity on board provide the answer? https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_ATA(2019)6344...

Could technologies respond to the challenges associated with the ageing European population? While future assistive technologies for elderly care are promising, current technologies are not used to their full potential. Effective change should target all social groups, not only the elderly. ‘One-size-fits-all' approaches for technology and policy are not well suited to elderly care because everyon...

Facebook's envisaged cryptocurrency project Libra may enable a way of more connected, digital banking. However, it also triggered a debate around the added value of cryptocurrencies. What would change for banks, businesses and consumers with the new digital currency? https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_ATA(2019)634443 Source: © European Union - EP

With the help of cells from a single cow, scientists can produce 175 million hamburgers. When fully commercialised, this type of technology will greatly impact the way we produce and consume meat. It will allow us to feed a world of over 10 billion people in a sustainable way, without necessarily drastically changing the diets. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EP...

What if blockchain revolutionised voting? What if your emotions were tracked to spy on you? And what if we genetically engineered an entire species? Through its monthly “what-if” publications, the European Parliament's Scientific Foresight Unit draws the attention of Members of the Parliament to new and interesting developments in the fields of science and technology. https://www.europarl.europa.e...

Drug addiction is one of the greatest problems facing European public health authorities. Advances in drug addiction research have focused mostly on the neurobiological aspects of the disease, but now promising new technologies are enhancing our ability to understand and treat drug addiction. A wide range of health tools for drug addiction recovery is available on the internet: information and edu...

What if new-born babies were given a DNA report card that predicted their intelligence, their odds of getting a PhD, their chances of becoming a chain smoker or suffering depression, a heart attack or cancer? Today, a large amount of genetic data are available, involving millions of people. This wealth of information available to researchers is allowing them to create a polygenic risk score based...

Facial recognition technology can identify a person in real time by instantaneously searching databases containing tens of millions of faces. What began as a tool to authenticate identity at airports and border crossings has sneaked its way to performing surveillance of human beings in their daily lives without their consent. What implications will these facial recognition techniques have, and in...

While we often talk about the need to achieve acceptance of technology in the face of real and potential public opposition, there are frequently gaps between how regulators, developers and experts conceptualise acceptance and opposition. Here, we examine some prominent conceptualisations and suggest that, rather than responding to public opposition with information campaigns designed to transform...

Allowing consumer electricity prices to fluctuate from one time of the day to another could help accelerate the transition towards renewable energies and drive down the costs of this transition. Electricity production from renewable sources, such as wind and solar energy, is expanding rapidly in Europe and around the world. However, integrating these fluctuating sources into the grid is increasing...

Genetic engineering is usually applied to individual plants and animals. But what if we could genetically engineer an entire species? Today techniques have progressed so far so as to make that feasible, allowing us to eradicate malaria and cure ecosystems from exotic pest species, while also bringing with it a host of ethical questions we should urgently ask ourselves. Source: © European Union - E...

Algorithms, are step-by-step procedure for solving a problem, usually expressed in computer code as a set of instructions for a computer to follow in order to complete a task. Day-to-day decisions around the world are increasingly based on data science techniques powered by machine learning algorithms that are gradually making a meaningful impact on human lives. For example, the operation of inter...

The link between high consumption of trans fats, sugar and salt, found in high amounts in processed food, and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), type 2 diabetes and various cancers is well established. In the current food market, calorie-rich, processed food, wrapped with ambiguous labels, is readily available, cheap and heavily promoted. But what if consumers could be prompted t...

Technological systems, once introduced in a particular socio-economic context, often evolve in unforeseen ways and may fall prey to unexpected power relations. Blockchain, as a technology that relies on decentralisation to enable storing and securing data-based transactions without central administration, is currently facing significant centralisation pressures that may undermine the purpose of op...

Exploring the relationship between ethics and technological innovation has always been a challenging task for policy-makers. Ethical considerations concerning the impact of Research and Innovation (R&I) are increasingly important, due to the quickening pace of technological innovation and the transformative potential and complexity of contemporary advancements in science and technology. The multip...

Existing legal structures may prove a poor match for new types of disputes raised by disruptive technologies. Can the legal system overcome the temporal gap between the emergence of a technology and the subsequent need for controlling its possible effects and retain both flexibility and responsiveness? What regulation is justified by a particular technology? How should a particular technology be r...

Εxploring the relationship between law, technological innovation and regulatory governance has always been a challenging task for policy-makers. Technologies are often seen as ordinary objects of formal law that can fit into the traditional doctrinal classification. But what if technologies were legal artefacts that question and challenge the traditional boundaries of legal thought? Some scholars...

Social media platforms are often thought of as open and connected spaces, since they allow users to communicate with a wide range of people and organisations. However, unlike 'old fashioned' telephone and email networks, users cannot change provider without losing access to the entire network. A truly open and connected model for social media could help foster a more competitive market that is mor...

Magnetic levitation is based on the creation of opposite magnetic fields that repel each other to counteract gravity and elevate the magnetised objects off the ground. Could this energy-efficient technology revolutionise transport methods and systems? How can policy-makers ensure that the right conditions are put in place in order to facilitate its development? Source: © European Union - EP

How technology has shaped society and how future technologies might affect it in the years to come are subjects for frequent debate. It can be tempting in this context to think of technologies as neutral 'things' that can be used for good or bad depending on the user's intentions and skills. However, experts on the relationship between technology and society broadly agree that technologies are soc...