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Of course, there are a lot more scientific questions that need to be solved before any trip to Mars as astronauts aside from surviving also need to have a minimum quality of life. “Astronauts need to be able to do their jobs, enjoy their life and not suffer. Therefore, we are also investigating the psychological aspect of humans in space, for example how do we select them? Do we take very quiet people or the most sociable? Usually astronauts are very sociable” concludes Prof. Baatout.

Human life support in Space and the contribution of the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre

By: EBR | Monday, November 6, 2017

Interviews with Eric van Walle and Sarah Baatout

A common feature of these companies is that they develop smart features that bigger firms want. In Vector’s case, this included clever designs and a 30-day battery life. Butcher puts this down to what he called a “slight culture of innovation”. These countries, he said, “haven’t got lots of assets to burn, so they build things efficiently”.

These unexpected places have become start-up hotspots

By: EBR | Friday, November 3, 2017

You know your nation is making it as a tech innovation hub when Silicon Valley companies buy your home-grown startups for a hefty price tag

Why Gates and Jobs shielded their kids from tech

By: EBR | Friday, November 3, 2017

Psychologists are quickly learning how dangerous smartphones can be for teenage brains. Research has found that an eighth-grader's risk for depression jumps 27% when he or she frequently uses social media

Sadly, acting as the biggest block to any social policy improvements in the EU isn’t only a Tory tradition. Yes, exploitative British bosses, traditional supporters of the Conservative party, have always been keen on minimizing their wage bill and avoid paying social security contributions. They have thus seen to it that many workers from poorer EU countries were “posted” to Britain.

Worker Rights: Macron Vs. Britain

By: EBR | Thursday, November 2, 2017

Macron’s important reform move on EU posted workers’ directive goes to complete waste in the UK

Protecting our planet through climate action on multiple fronts

By: EBR | Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Climate change is a scientific fact, and its effects are already being distinctly felt around the world, threatening human health, the places we inhabit, and the sustainability of our socioeconomic systems

With White House aides such as presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner and others given a major role in foreign policy, the question of ‘who is responsible for what segment’ of national security remains an open one, said a senior official in the government of a close European ally, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk about sensitive diplomatic issues. Unpredictability “may be a useful tool with adversaries,” he said, but with allies it creates ‘uncertainty and irritation’.

Rex Tillerson: puppet on a string of Trump?

By: EBR | Tuesday, October 31, 2017

How is US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson doing his job? The former chairman and CEO of Exon Mobil Corporation is in charge since February 1, 2017

Space could be the final frontier for the world’s digital divide

By: EBR | Monday, October 30, 2017

What would happen if we could send an SMS from literally any place on Earth to any other place on the planet?” That’s the best framework for impact I can think of for satellite communications in development

The New Silk Road: 8 steps to ensuring China’s $900 billion project is a success

By: EBR | Monday, October 30, 2017

The Silk Road was the name given in 1877 by the German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen to the ancient network of trade routes linking China to central and western Asia, India and the Mediterranean region

Accelerating Europe’s digital transformation

By: EBR | Thursday, October 26, 2017

The digital and physical worlds are converging, a transformation led by technologies such as cloud computing and the ‘internet of things’ (IoT)

In the wrong hands, the misuse of surveillance-based personal data will have catastrophic consequences for us as individuals and for society as a whole. In an explicitly or implicitly totalitarian state, this kind of information could be used to predict and identify those people who don’t agree with certain government policies and sanction them even before they can exercise their democratic rights.

Digital fascism rising?

By: EBR | Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Any claim that we humans are (already) contending with a new form of – this time digital – fascism will immediately be discredited as overblown

The LIBE report sets a new standard for inflexibility and a refusal to embrace technology innovations, according to DIGITALEUROPE. ‘We need an ePrivacy regulation that ensures a high level of legal protection for confidentiality of communications, and one that enables digital innovation – not one that chooses one over the other’.

EP Report on ePrivacy is ‘unbalanced and lacks broad support’

By: N. Peter Kramer | Monday, October 23, 2017

Only a small majority of the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) voted in favour on the report on ePrivacy

The potential for technologies to enable smart societies is rising. For example, internet-of-things sensor applications are envisioned to deliver a wide range of services, from smart water to industrial controls to e-health. The market for smart technologies is predicted to be worth up to $1.6 trillion by 2020, and $3.5 trillion by 2026. Surely, given the size of the opportunity, increasing interest among governments and policy makers, and the explosion of relevant technologies, we can start to understand what smart societies are and establish standards and ideals to aim for.

The society of the future looks nothing like you might imagine

By: EBR | Friday, October 20, 2017

What is a “smart” society? While flights of imagination from science-fiction writers, filmmakers, and techno-futurists involve things like flying cars and teleportation, in practice smart technology is making inroads in a piecemeal fashion, often in rather banal circumstances

Smedegaard added,”As we are also seeing positive developments in the EU economies as a whole, we are confident about the future. This is good news and supports our plan of deploying larger and more environmentally friendly ships on our North Sea routes in 2019 and 2020. ”It is also good news for the customers, manufacturers, exporters and transport companies we serve. Continued growth in trade will enable them to grow or maintain their activities and the many jobs they create,” he says.

Cross-channel trade continues to grow despite Brexit fears

By: EBR | Thursday, October 19, 2017

The UK Government's recent initiative to maintain the free flow of goods to mainland Europe has been welcomed by DFDS, the leading cross-channel ferry operator

In terms of bare minimum, the adequate level of UBI is determined by the degree to which it would guarantee the financial means for the daily 2,500 calorie intake needed for survival. A higher level of UBI would also buy clothes and shelter. There are ongoing and planned basic income experiments in Finland, Kenya, the Netherlands, Ontario, Scotland, Uganda and the United States. In all of these, benefits do not go beyond the absolute poverty threshold. But poverty is a relative concept. People are poor if they cannot fully participate in the societies in which they live. This notion applies not only to affluent societies in Europe and in the US, but also to low and middle-income countries.

Basic income: Not a panacea, but a step towards a new social contract

By: EBR | Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Discussions about the current and future risks of technological disruptions and ensuing labour market insecurities have brought the idea of a universal basic income (UBI) to everyone’s lips

There are now an average of 500 demonstrations a day in China, albeit largely peaceful. The regime believes that the greatest threat emanates not from possible military attacks from foreign powers, but uprisings among their own people that could be triggered by a spark on social media.

Social media in China: The great distraction

By: EBR | Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Worried about social media helping to create popular movements, China runs an elaborate system of censorship and manipulation

From a strategic perspective, three main issues have to be addressed in a potential communication crisis strategy. The first one refers to the public safety component. Can the company and the manufacturers guarantee that the products based on the suboptimal steel do not create safety concerns for the consumers? If this is the case, what measures are put in place to immediately alleviate and address the public concerns? What are the best tools to reassure the public, to create the sentiment that ”we are all in this together” and to demonstrate that someone is well in charge of the whole situation?

Crisis reputation management: quick steps for Kobeiko and brand Japan

By: EBR | Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Corporate crises are the new norm. Every couple of months the world finds out about some corporate missteps which, given the involved companies, create panic on the international markets and make the stock indices turn red

First of all, Greece is the only country that has promoted a comprehensive active diplomatic agenda for stability and cooperation in one of the most important but also unstable regions in the world.

Greece as a strategic partner of the US in Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean

By: EBR | Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Today, Greece is finally coming out of a severe, deep recession that lasted more than 7 five years, cost a quarter of its GDP, resulted in 27% unemployment and led to an enormous brain drain of our most qualified young professionals

While China is becoming a rule maker in geopolitics, Taiwan has made considerable achievements in democracy, freedom, rule of law and human rights. The US is still probably Taiwan’s most important friend. The relationship, forged during World War Two and the Cold War, underwent its sternest test in 1979, when President Jimmy Carter ended US diplomatic recognition of Taiwan in order to concentrate on burgeoning ties with China.

Taiwan will continue to press for close cross-strait relations with mainland China

By: EBR | Monday, October 16, 2017

Dr. Chang Tien-Chin, deputy minister with the Mainland Affairs Council in Taiwan, was in Brussels to outline current relations between the two sides

Artificial Intelligence will clearly offer new possibilities in reconnaissance, identification, raising the tempo of operations and potentially in decision-making too. But the decision to engage in combat will always be a political decision, and as such it will always depend on whether or not humans actually want to delegate that responsibility to a machine.

Artificial Intelligence: The end of the human race?

By: EBR | Thursday, October 12, 2017

Artificial Intelligence can bring huge benefits for society. And despite the headlines, fears of AI taking over are nothing more than Holywood fantasy

The respondents themselves (based on their IP addresses) were located across multiple regions (see Figure 4) and were drawn from the upper ranks of their organisations. The organisations represented in the sample varied enormously in size and age. They also varied greatly in the number of layers in the hierarchy (from 1 to 33). By layers, we mean the number of bosses that stand between the most junior employee and the CEO. Figure 1 shows average layers for organisations in different size categories.

The shape of hierarchy and why it matters

By: EBR | Thursday, October 12, 2017

Today’s organisations are shaped more like Christmas trees than pyramids

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Guterres: the one and a half Celsius is dead

By: N. Peter Kramer

On the eve of the UN climate conference COP30 in Brazil, the word was finally out.

Europe

Neglecting its poorest regions risks being a fatal EU mistake

Giles Merritt warns against halving cohesion funds in the new MFF when hard-hit rural regions flock to support the populists’ disruptive messages

Business

China to loosen chip export ban to Europe after Netherlands row

Beijing has said it will loosen a chip export ban it imposed after Dutch authorities took over Nexperia, a Chinese-owned chipmaker based in the Netherlands.