Life in Zwijndrecht: A European PFAS hotspot

NASA’s decision to speed up plans for building a nuclear reactor on the Moon has raised questions about the United States’ broader space strategy and renewed curiosity about the use of nuclear energy beyond Earth. In this episode of Euronews Tech Talks, we address these questions with professor Simon Middleburgh, co-director of the Nuclear Futures Institute at the University of Bangor (UK), Alfredo Carpineti, astrophysicist and senior science writer at IFL Science, and Francesco Lodi, researcher at ENEA (Italy).Do you want to reach out to Euronews Tech Talks? Email [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this final chapter of our journey into the world of PFAS, we speak with Fajer Mushtaq, whose company Oxyle is working to contain and destroy PFAS in wastewater, and with Miika Nikinmaa and Diana Lau, who are developing alternatives for food packaging and textiles through the ZeroF project.Do you want to reach out to Euronews Tech Talks? Email [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is it like to live in one of Europe’s hotspots for PFAS contamination? Jeroen Van Reeth, a resident of Zwijndrecht—the Belgian town affected by PFAS produced by the chemical company 3M—opens his home to Euronews Tech Talks to share his experience.We, then, speak with experts Jacob de Boer, Hans Peter Arp and Madeleine Bussemaker to uncover if and how it is possible to contain and destroy “forever chemicals”.  Do you want to reach out to Euronews Tech Talks? Email [email protected]  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are man-made chemicals widely used in the industry, but potentially harmful to human health. They can be found on pizza boxes, ski clothing, and sanitary pads, but some studies associate them with multiple kinds of health problems. In this Q&A episode, we explore PFAS by putting your questions to chemist Martin Scheringer, research scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich).The Map of Forever Pollution: https://foreverpollution.eu/map/ Do you want to reach out to Euronews Tech Talks? Email [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this season finale of Euronews Tech Talks, former professional cyclist Bo Hamburger reflects on his use of EPO in the 1990s and early 2000s, offering insights into how doping works, why athletes turn to it, and its potential health effects. We’re also joined by April Henning, Associate Professor of International Sport Management at the Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, and Dominic Sagoe, Professor of Psychology at the University of Bergen in Norway and founder of the Human Enhancement and Body Image Lab.Euronews Tech Talks will return in September — enjoy your summer!Credits for the intro race audio in San Sebastián:Funnycycling: 1997 World Cycling Championships – Campeonato Mundial de Ciclismo – San Sebastián – Brochard Courtesy (2015) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Researchers are developing AI programmes to make doping detection more effective, faster, and cheaper. How do these systems work? What challenges do their creators face?Euronews Tech Talks sits down with Wolfgang Maass, Professor of Business Informatics and Computer Science at Saarland University and Francesco Botrè, Director of the WADA-accredited anti-doping laboratory in Rome, to answer these questions.Credits: Oscars, "Icarus" wins Best Documentary Feature, YouTube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is doping? How do these prohibited substances work? In this Q&A episode, Euronews Tech Talks explores this topic with Andrea Petróczi, Professor of Public Health at Kingston University.Credit for Lance Armstrong interview: Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). “Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive”. Aired January 17–18, 2013. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Plastic and chemical pollution in marine environments pose a major threat to the health of our oceans. Euronews Tech Talks interviews two experts to understand the scale of the problem and explore the technological solutions that could help address it. Simon Bernard, CEO of Plastic Odyssey, is on a world tour to collect solutions to plastic pollution; Anneliese Hodge is a researcher working on the impact sunscreen has on the marine environment.The next episode of Euronews Tech Talks will delve into the world of doping. If you have a scientific question about it, please reach out to [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens on a satellite’s launch day? What are the thoughts and emotions of those behind the mission?In this second of two special episodes on the European Space Agency’s Biomass satellite, Euronews Tech Talks takes you to Kourou for a behind-the-scenes look at the launch to answer these questions.Podcast cover credits: ESA-CNES-ARIANESPACE/Optique vidéo du CSG–S. Martin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The European Space Agency (ESA)’s Biomass satellite is designed to measure the amount of carbon stored in tropical forests. It was launched from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, on 29 April 2025.In the first of two special episodes dedicated to the mission, Euronews Tech Talks takes you to French Guiana on the eve of the launch to explore what the satellite is designed to do and how people were feeling in the final hours before liftoff.Credits podcast cover: ESA - M. Pédoussaut/Zetapress Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.