Is food packaging a blight on our environment, or might it help to save it? Why does the food industry spend less than any other on developing new products? And who really has the power to make change happen on our supermarket shelves? Professor Paul Trott has the answers. After all, as academics around the world will tell you, he wrote the book.
Research at the University of Portsmouth tackles this century’s most important challenges. We solve society’s problems and confront major issues facing the planet.
Billions of barrels of oil. Commuters in smog masks. Heavy metals leaching into the soil… Boats, planes and cars can have a bad reputation for environmental impact. Yet, when it comes to protecting the planet, the sustainable use of transport has a vital role to play.
Plastic pollution is reaching crisis level. Of the 1 million plastic bottles sold every minute across the globe, only 14% are recycled. The vast amount of unrecycled plastic that ends up in our oceans contaminates marine ecosystems and harms ocean life.
A huge part of the problem is the strong plastic used in drinks bottles: polyethylene terephthalate (PET). It currently takes hundreds of years for PET to break down naturally in the environment.
When emergency services arrive at a crime scene, one of the main jobs for the officers present is to preserve the forensic evidence. Without it, vital clues about the cause of the incident and the people responsible could be lost.
But it's not the only important scene to consider – the fragile memory of the witness must be preserved too.
Home at last after a hard day’s work, all you want to do is put your feet up with a nice cup of tea. But as you head for the kettle, something feels wrong.
The house feels different, somehow. It doesn’t look quite right. And then it hits you: Somebody has been here. There’s been a break-in. I’ve been robbed.
As you pace from room to room, checking off a mental list of what’s missing and what remains, you feel shocked, angry and sad.
Modern supply chains bring exotic foods and local produce to our shelves all year round. In that climate, traceability has become one of the biggest problems for the food and drink industry today.
51 per cent of the UK population is female, but only 32 per cent of our MPs are women. 43 per cent of NHS chief execs are women, but 77 per cent of its employees are female. Professor Karen Johnston’s research demonstrates that the lack of diversity in organisations makes for poor performance and lack of trust. And it’s not enough just to legislate for change.
LIFE SOLVED lifts the lid on the latest ideas and discoveries that look set to change our lives. Every week we'll bring you a fresh episode featuring cutting-edge research. Find out how this is set to revolutionise the way our world works. We'll explain how technology and community go hand in hand with the natural world, and how industry and sustainable environments can connect for the benefit of society.
Real research. Real world change.