Energy, Resources and the Environment

Hoverboards, fusion, and future farms: What did Back to the Future (II) get right?

Asmae Ourkiya July 3, 2025

Image source: Bandas sonoras de cine

Fourty years ago, the movie Back to the Future (1985) revved its DeLorean into some hearts, zipping watchers back to 1955 with a grin and a flux capacitor–fueled paradox. Today we’re not just celebrating that original joyride’s 40th anniversary; we’re strapping in for the wild flight of Part II (1989), the movie that dared to ask, “what if Marty McFly really could hoverboard through 2015?” W ...[Read More]

Urban resilience in the age of energy interdependence: Lessons from the 2025 Iberian blackout

Asmae Ourkiya June 6, 2025

Photo by Ante Hamersmith. Source: Unsplash

On April 28, 2025, the Iberian Peninsula experienced an unprecedented power outage that plunged Spain and Portugal into darkness for hours. This large-scale blackout disrupted daily life for millions and exposed the vulnerabilities inherent in contemporary energy infrastructures. It also highlighted the critical importance of cross-border energy cooperation in mitigating such crises. In a striking ...[Read More]

GeoTalk: Meet Annegret Larsen, Biogeomorphologist and Quaternary Scientist passionate about rewilding and a member of EGU’s Biodiversity Task Force.

Chloe Hill May 12, 2025

Annegret Larsen. Photo Credit: Guy Ackermans

Annegret, welcome to GeoTalk! You’re a researcher who focuses on abiotic-biotic environmental interactions. Can you tell us how the implications of your research extend to sustainable management practices? The United Nations, European Union, and national governments require us to restore landscapes to a ‘natural’ state. However, European landscapes have been shaped by human activity for thousands ...[Read More]

AI: the good, the bad, and the forgotten

Lucia Perez-Diaz May 1, 2025

AI: friend, or foe? (Credit: Lucia Perez-Diaz, www.luciaperezdiaz.com / @DrLPerezDiaz)

AI is here, and when I say here, I mean e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. For all you know, this blog may have been written by an algorithm (it wasn’t — I’m not a robot, promise. Or am I?). In what feels like the blink of an eye, AI has gone from a curiosity to a fully-fledged co-pilot in science (and out of science). It’s generating satellite imagery, helping compute paleo-climate predictions, or writing your ...[Read More]