You can guarantee that any beach you walk on, you'll find pieces of plastic," said James Comerford, a senior researcher in materials and nanotechnology at SINTEF, an independent research organisation in Oslo, Norway. Plastics are estimated to comprise 85% of marine litter, with 11 million metric tonnes entering the oceans annually and the volume potentially tripling by 2040. Some have predicted that, by weight, there will be more plastics than fish in the seas by 2050. In light of the alarming outlook, innovative approaches are required to tackle the problem. This is exactly what the EU Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030" is targeting, with the ambition of reducing plastic litter at sea by at least 50%, cutting microplastics released into the environment by 30%, and halving agricultural nutrient losses as well as the use of chemical pesticides. To reduce pollution, the Mission is launching a'lighthouse' in the Mediterranean Sea that will act as a hub to develop, ...

You can guarantee that any beach you walk on, you'll find pieces of plastic,' said James Comerford, a senior researcher in materials and nanotechnology at SINTEF, an independent research organisation in Oslo, Norway. Plastics are estimated to comprise 85% of marine litter, with 11 million metric tonnes entering the oceans annually and the volume potentially tripling by 2040. Some have predicted that, by weight, there will be more plastics than fish in the seas by 2050. In light of the alarming outlook, innovative approaches are required to tackle the problem. This is exactly what the EU Mission "Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030" is targeting, with the ambition of reducing plastic litter at sea by at least 50%, cutting microplastics released into the environment by 30%, and halving agricultural nutrient losses as well as the use of chemical pesticides.

A total of nine Artificial Intelligence (AI) research and development (R&D) projects by the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI), University of the Philippines Mindanao (UPMin), De La Salle University (DLSU), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), and Caraga State University (CarSU) were launched by the Philippines' Department of Science and Technology (DOST Philippines) in April 2021. The AI R&D projects ranging from applications in agriculture to the education sector were launched on April 8 by the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) to spur growth in the AI industry in the Philippines. "AI is one of our priority areas as it truly can boost the country and usher us to the fourth industrial revolution. As a powerful agent for good, AI can disrupt traditional processes and provide solutions and opportunities that Filipinos can maximize," said DOST-PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico C. Paringit during the virtual launch. The Autonomous Societally Inspired Mission Oriented Vehicles (ASIMOV) Program, composed of two-component projects, will be implemented by DOST-ASTI and UPMin.

Researchers at the University of Barcelona have developed an open access, deep learning-based web app that will enable the detection and quantification of floating plastics in the sea with a reliability of over 80%. Floating sea macro-litter is a threat to the conservation of marine ecosystems worldwide. According to UNESCO, plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals. Eroded fragments, known as micro-plastics, are now prevalent across the food chain. The largest density of floating litter is found in the great ocean gyres (systems of circular currents) with litter being caught and spun in these vast cycles.

'I'm an accidental environmentalist,' said Richard Hardiman, who runs a project called WASTESHARK. He says that while walking at his local harbour one day he stopped to watch two men struggle to scoop litter out of the sea using a pool net. Their inefficiency bothered Hardiman, and he set about trying to solve the problem. It was only when he delved deeper into the issue that he realised how damaging marine litter, and plastic in particular, can be, he says. 'I started exploring where this trash goes – ocean gyres (circular currents), junk gyres, and they're just full of plastic.