The fifth and final drilling campaign of Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice, which involves twelve research institutions from ten European countries, has begun in Antarctica. Coordinated by the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISP), the international team includes 15 scientists and logistics personnel working at the Little Dome C field site, situated 35 kilometres from Concordia Station and at 3,200 metres above sea level.

An increase in tree cover in cities of 5% would reduce air pollution enough to prevent around 5,000 premature deaths each year. This is the result of an international study involving ENEA and conducted in 744 cities across 36 European countries. The findings were published in The Lancet Planetary Health and carried out as part of the EU LIFE “Airfresh” project. The research also shows that up to 12,000 deaths per year could be avoided if every city achieved a tree canopy cover of at least 30%.

The general assembly of IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) hydrogen projects, an annual event bringing together the main European stakeholders in the sector, was held in Rome this year. The assembly aimed to provide an overview of the development potential of the hydrogen technology value chain, assess its impact on the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors, and address challenges related to production, regulation, end-uses, and infrastructure.

Ten innovative superconductive (SC) power lines produced by ICAS - an ENEA spin-off leader in the field of superconductivity composed also by the industrial partners Tratos Cavi and Criotec Impianti - have been delivered to CERN to be installed in the world’s most important particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider - LHC. These SC cables have been manufactured for High Luminosity project and 2 of them have been already tested at CERN at the operative conditions, ready to be installed.

Thanks to the free PDC RISC application, heating your home efficiently is now easier than ever. It allows users to quickly assess whether it is possible to replace a fuel-fired boiler with an electric heat pump without modifying the hydraulic circuit or the radiators, offering significant benefits in terms of higher energy efficiency and improved indoor comfort. The tool was developed by ENEA in collaboration with the University of Padua as part of the Italian National Electricity System Research Programme (RdS).

The installation “City of Plants”, designed by the international studio MAD Architects, was part of the 19th international architecture exhibition at the Venice Biennale. The work explored the interplay between architecture, technology, and nature within the urban fabric, using music as a medium. This was made possible thanks to FBG (Fiber Bragg Grating) optical fiber sensors developed and integrated by researchers from ENEA and Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome.