How we can create a more ambitious, more radical (and maybe even more optimistic) view of the low-carbon future.

Transport accounts for a quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions and remains one of few sectors where emissions are still growing. A key challenge is determining the relative importance of pursuing a technological or a sociological solution: should we change transportation or the behaviour of people?

Astronauts survive in space by utilizing protective and augmentative suits. Space suits can act as self-contained and self-cleaning environments, that protect and help the astronaut from the harshness of space. Scaling analogous suits down to the nanoscale allows for simple organisms to survive and even thrive in normally toxic environments. These augmented organisms are termed “bionic lifeforms” as they combine the promise of nanomaterials with life.

Livelihoods of rural populations, especially in developing countries, depend heavily on weather and climate. The use of climate information in economic activities may serve as a possible adaptation strategy to changing climate conditions. Climate services channel climate information to individuals or organisations in a way that supports decision-making. Here we summarise the potential of climate services as a contributor to the Sustainable Development Goals and present an overview on how their economic value is assessed. We suggest that climate services could constitute, especially in the most vulnerable settings, an important element of climate change adaptation strategies boosting ongoing poverty alleviation efforts.

For years scientists have been studying E. coli as historians would an ancient tome. Biologists, biochemists, and geneticists have dissected, poked, and prodded E. coli until it gave up its secrets: the basic principles of cellular life. Synthetic biologists, on the other hand, look at E. coli and think to themselves: “let’s make a computer”.

Natural biological sensors, designed, tested, and adapted via evolutionary processes, typically exhibit sensing performances that far exceed those currently achieved by human-engineered sensors. Bioinspired and biomimetic flow velocity sensors, inspired by the mechanosensory lateral-line system found in blind cavefish, can be used for a wide range of applications including underwater robots.

With an ever-increasing energy demand, the world is in need of a powerful and inexhaustible energy source. Nuclear fusion, presenting the additional advantage of being a clean source of energy, is the ideal candidate. Inertial confinement could solve the remaining challenge of producing high enough temperatures and pressures to hold the fusion material together.

What distinguishes many of today's problems from those faced by former generations? The interconnected nature of global issues like emerging bio-technologies and climate change raises the possibility of 'wildfire risks', where the actions of one can have a great impact on many.

Marine energy has the potential to play a key role in the UK's energy mix in the coming decades, benefited by both its geography and its historical expertise. It is now critical that the necessary steps are taken to enable the technology to progress to the commercially viable stage, and realise its full potential.

The challenge of moving towards a low carbon future is one now embraced by the political leaders of the G7, but how that path will unfold is still a live political debate. Local energy co-operatives offer a viable and progressive path to sustainability.

One in six of the world’s population live in rural areas, and suffer from poor health - especially chronic diseases caused by infection with parasitic diseases now known as ‘Neglected Tropical Diseases’ or NTDs.

The hand is a crucial part of the body, and the desire to replace it following an amputation – with trauma or cancer being the main underlying causes – is a natural one. Existing bionic hands are already good substitutes for the natural limb yet a number of limitations prevail.

The science of the very small, nanotechnology could play a key role in tackling many sustainable development issues ranging from fresh water supply and food decontamination to green technology.

High rates of urbanisation and population growth has led to housing and infrastructural incapacity in Ghana, threatening the country's economic success story.