Community-driven restoration in Spain recognized as best-practice example

Pensoft Publishers

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

Spongy Slopes

view more 

Credit: Spongy Slopes

Over recent centuries, the intensification of land use has led to the loss of natural sponge functions in many European landscapes. Changes such as soil sealing, erosion-prone land management and rapid surface runoff reduce the ability of landscapes to retain water, increase flood risks and aggravate drought impacts. Restoring sponge landscapes is therefore a key measure to address both the climate and biodiversity crises.

The SpongeBoost project supports policy-making, restoration and land-use planning by promoting cost-effective, nature-based solutions that strengthen water retention in landscapes and align with the EU Climate Adaptation goals. With the establishment of the “SpongeBooster of the year” award, SpongeBoost recognises outstanding initiatives that actively restore and support sponge landscapes and inspire others through implementation, communication, environmental education and cooperation.

“It is a pleasure for us, as the SpongeBoost project team, to once again recognise committed practitioners and to use our reach to support and amplify their work. By highlighting projects such as Spongy Slopes, we aim to inspire others and strengthen and encourage the momentum for sponge landscape restoration across Europe.”

— Mathias Scholz
UFZ, project coordinator of the EU SpongeBoost project — 

After evaluating this year’s submissions, the Spanish initiative “Asociación Amigos de la Cornisa Este” was selected as the winner of the SpongeBooster of the year 2026.

The project is located on two steep slopes within the municipal public park Parque de Santa Brígida in Camas, near Seville. Previously, these slopes suffered from severe erosion, rapid surface runoff, poor soils and very low biodiversity. Through the implementation of nature-based measures such as infiltration trenches, direct seeding of native Mediterranean tree species, soil improvement techniques and erosion control, the project has successfully restored key sponge functions in the landscape.

As a result, rainwater is now retained and released more slowly, erosion has been reduced, and biodiversity has increased significantly. Native trees and shrubs have been re-established, birds have returned to the area, and the slopes have become more attractive and resilient green spaces for local communities.

“Spongy Slopes shows the power of community-driven action. Around 250 volunteers, together with local associations and the municipal administration, have actively shaped and maintained the project. It demonstrates that small-scale, low-cost measures on slopes can deliver meaningful sponge effects beyond riverbanks and significantly improve landscape-level hydrological resilience.”

— Carina Darmstadt,  Environmental Action Germany (DUH) — 

By awarding Spongy Slopes this year, the SpongeBoost project highlights how local initiatives can deliver tangible ecological benefits and advance climate adaptation through nature-based solutions.

The “SpongeBooster of the year” award celebrates projects that make sponge landscape restoration visible, understandable and replicable — and Spongy Slopes stands as a strong example of how local action can drive meaningful change.

Looking ahead, the “SpongeBooster of the year” award will return in 2026. The next application round will open in fall 2026, again under the coordination of DUH. The project’s team looks forward to getting to know more inspiring and pioneering projects throughout Europe.

Stay tuned for more project information on the SpongeBoost website: www.spongeboost.eu

Find the SpongeBoost project on social media on LinkedIn, Instagram and Bluesky.

***

SpongeBoost receives funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No.101112906.

Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the EU nor the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) can be held responsible for them.

 

Contacts:

Dr. Mathias Scholz, Project coordinator

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ

E-mail: mathias.scholz@ufz.de 

 

Carina Darmstadt

Responsible for the “SpongeBooster of the year” award and Environmental Action Germany (DUH)

E-mail: darmstadt@duh.de 

 

Your car’s tire sensors could be used to track you

Researchers at IMDEA Networks show standard tire sensors can expose drivers’ movements, raising privacy concerns

IMDEA Networks Institute

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

Researchers at IMDEA Networks Institute, together with European partners, have found that tire pressure sensors in modern cars can unintentionally expose drivers to tracking. Over a ten-week study, they collected signals from more than 20,000 vehicles, revealing a hidden privacy risk and highlighting the need for stronger security measures in future vehicle sensor systems.

Most modern cars are equipped with a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), mandatory since the late 2000s in many countries for their contribution to road safety. This system uses small sensors in each wheel to monitor tire pressure and sends wireless signals to the car’s computer to alert the driver if a tire is underinflated.

However, the researchers found that these tire sensors also send a unique ID number in clear, unencrypted wireless signals, meaning that anyone nearby with a simple radio receiver can capture the signal, and recognize the same car again later. Most vehicle tracking today uses cameras that need clear visibility and line-of-sight to a car. TPMS tracking is different: tire sensors automatically send radio signals that pass through walls and vehicles, allowing small hidden wireless receivers to capture them without being seen. Because each sensor broadcasts a fixed unique ID, the same car can be recognized repeatedly without reading a license plate. This makes TPMS-based tracking cheaper, harder to detect, and more difficult to avoid than camera-based surveillance, and therefore a stronger privacy threat.

To test how serious this risk is, the team built a network of low-cost radio receivers, located near roads and parking areas. The necessary equipment costs only $100 per receiver. In total, they collected more than six million tire sensor messages from over 20,000 cars.

“Our results show that these tire sensor signals can be used to follow vehicles and learn their movement patterns,” says Domenico Giustiniano, Research Professor at IMDEA Networks Institute. “This means a network of inexpensive wireless receivers could quietly monitor the patterns of cars in real-world environments. Such information could reveal daily routines, such as work arrival times or travel habits.”

The researchers also developed methods to match signals from the four tires of a car. This allowed them to increase the accuracy of specific vehicles arriving, living, or following regular schedules. The study showed that signals can be captured from moving cars and from distances greater than 50 meters, even when sensors are inside buildings or hidden locations. This makes covert tracking technically feasible.

Additionally, TPMS signals include tire pressure readings, which may reveal the type of vehicle or whether a car or truck is carrying heavy loads. This could allow more advanced forms of surveillance.

“As vehicles become increasingly connected, even safety-oriented sensors like TPMS should be designed with security in mind, since data that appears passive and harmless can become a powerful identifier when collected at scale,” highlights Alessio Scalingi, former PhD student at IMDEA Networks and now Assistant Professor at UC3M, Madrid.

Despite these risks, current vehicle cybersecurity regulations do not yet specifically address TPMS security. The researchers warn that without encryption or authentication, tire sensors remain an easy target for passive surveillance.

“TPMS was designed for safety, not security,” adds Dr. Yago Lizarribar, former PhD student at IMDEA Networks during the research study, and now Researcher at Armasuisse, Switzerland. “Our findings show the need for manufacturers and regulators to improve protection in future vehicle sensor systems.”

Therefore, the research team urges the manufacturers and policymakers to strengthen cybersecurity in future cars, so that safety systems do not become tracking tools. 

The paper, titled “Can’t Hide Your Stride: Inferring Car Movement Patterns from Passive TPMS Measurements,” has been accepted for publication at IEEE WONS 2026.

Smarter shelf strategy can boost retail profits and cut food waste by more than 20%, new study finds

Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

BALTIMORE, Feb. 25, 2026— Grocery retailers may not need new technology—or behavior change from shoppers—to meaningfully reduce food waste. New research in the INFORMS journal Management Science finds that small operational decisions already under a retailer’s control, including how perishable items are displayed and when (and how much) they’re discounted, can increase profits while reducing spoilage.

The new study takes a close look at perishables with declining quality over time, such as fresh produce, dairy and meat. Using advanced analytical modeling and thousands of simulated retail scenarios, the researchers examined how three factors interact: product display, discount timing and discount depth.

Their conclusion: where a product sits on the shelf matters almost as much as its price. By making small, strategic changes to where items are placed when discounts appear, retailers can increase profits by an average of 6% and cut waste by more than 21%, according to the study.

The findings challenge a long-held assumption in retail: that selling only the freshest items at full price is the safest way to protect margins. Instead, the research shows that smarter display and discounting strategies can deliver a rare win-win, benefiting retailers, consumers and the environment at the same time.

“Retailers don’t have to choose between profitability and sustainability,” said Zumbul Atan of Eindhoven University of Technology, one of the study’s authors. “In many cases, the same decisions that improve profits also dramatically reduce waste.”

Food waste is a global problem hiding in plain sight. Roughly 17% of all food produced worldwide is wasted, with retail accounting for a significant share. In the United States alone, up to 40% of food goes uneaten. At the same time, food waste is a major driver of methane emissions and climate change.

When older, soon-to-expire items are made easier to reach, such as by placing them at the front of a display, shoppers are more likely to buy them. Compared with a common industry benchmark where fresh and older items are equally accessible and no discounts are offered, optimizing display and discount decisions led to a 6.01% increase in profit and a 21.24% reduction in relative waste on average.

The study also found that the best strategy depends on the product. Items that deteriorate slowly, like dairy, benefit most from displaying older products more prominently and offering modest discounts. Products that deteriorate quickly and are costly to discard, such as meat or prepared foods, perform better when fresher items are emphasized and discounts are used more aggressively. For fast-decaying, low-cost items like fresh bread, it can still make sense to clear shelves entirely when new stock arrives.

Perhaps most surprising is what the research says about “everyday low price” retailers, such as Walmart, that avoid discounting altogether. Even without changing prices, simply adjusting how products are displayed can reduce waste and improve profitability when customer traffic is unpredictable, which is the reality for most stores.

“For retailers worried that discounts might hurt their brand or cannibalize full-price sales, display strategy alone can deliver meaningful gains,” said Dorothee Honhon of the University of Texas at Dallas, a co-author of the study.

Beyond the balance sheet, the implications ripple outward. The research underscores that meaningful gains in both profit and sustainability can come from decisions retailers already control. Small adjustments to shelf design and pricing strategy can yield substantial economic and environmental benefits across food supply chains.

“This research shows that better operations decisions can improve lives in very real ways,” said Amy Pan of the University of Florida, one of the study’s authors. “It’s not about asking consumers to do more. It’s about designing systems that work better for everyone.”

Editors Note:

The study, “Displaying and Discounting Perishables: Impact on Retail Profits and Waste,” was published online in Management Science, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) can be accessed here.

About INFORMS and Management Science

INFORMS is the world’s largest association for professionals and students in operations research, AI, analytics, data science and related disciplines, serving as a global authority in advancing cutting-edge practices and fostering an interdisciplinary community of innovation. Management Science, a leading journal published by INFORMS, publishes quantitative research on management practices across organizations. INFORMS empowers its community to improve organizational performance and drive data-driven decision-making through its journals, conferences and resources. Learn more at informs.org or @informs.

 

Contact

Rebecca Seel

Public Affairs Specialist, INFORMS

rseel@informs.org

(443) 757-3578

 

###

---

Journal

Management Science

DOI

10.1287/mnsc.2023.00316 

Article Title

Displaying and Discounting Perishables: Impact on RetailProfits and Waste

 

Tiny’ dinosaur, big impact: 90-million-year-old fossil rewrites history

New study says Alnashetri originated when the continents were still connected as the supercontinent Pangaea

University of Minnesota

FacebookXLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

 

image: 

A new study of fossils from a bird-like dinosaur, called Alnashetri, provides new insight into how its lineage evolved, shrank and spread across the ancient world.

view more 

Credit: Gabriel Díaz Yantén, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro.

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (02/25/2026) — A team co-led by University of Minnesota Twin Cities researcher Peter Makovicky and Argentinean colleague Sebastian Apesteguía has identified a 90-million-year-old fossil that provides the “missing link” for a mysterious group of prehistoric animals. 

The study, published in the peer-review journal Nature, details the discovery of a complete skeleton of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis. Alnashetri belongs to a group of bird-like dinosaurs, known as alvarezsaurs, that are famous for their tiny teeth and stubby arms ending in a single large thumb claw. For decades, they have remained a mystery because most of the well-preserved fossils were found in Asia, while records from South America were fragmented and difficult to interpret.

In 2014, the almost complete fossil of Alnashetri was discovered in the northern part of Patagonia, Argentina, at a site that is world-renowned for its exquisite Cretaceous fossils. The species was originally named a few years prior based on fragmentary remains, but this newer, more complete specimen allowed the team to finally map the group's strange anatomy. The team spent the last decade carefully preparing and piecing together the fossils to avoid damaging the small bones.

“Going from fragmentary skeletons that are hard to interpret, to having a near complete and articulated animal is like finding a paleontological Rosetta Stone,” said Peter Makovicky, lead author on the paper and a professor in the University of Minnesota Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. “We now have a reference point that allows us to accurately identify more scrappy finds and map out evolutionary transitions in anatomy and body size.”

The discovery of this nearly complete skeleton opens up a new understanding of how its lineage evolved, shrank and spread across the ancient world.

• Unlike its later relatives, Alnashetri had long arms and larger teeth. This proves that some alvarezsaurs evolved to be tiny long before they developed these specialized features thought to be adaptations for an "ant-eating" diet.

• Microscopic analysis of the bones confirmed the animal was indeed an adult of at least four years old. These animals are not just among the tiniest non-avian dinosaurs, but they never get any bigger—the largest species are the size of an average human, very small for dinosaurs, and Alnashetri itself weighed less than 2 lbs making it one of the smallest dinosaurs known from South America.

• By identifying previously found alvarezsaurs fossils in museum collections from North America and Europe, the team proved these animals originated much earlier than expected when the continents were still connected as the supercontinent Pangaea. Their distribution was caused by the breakup of the earth's landmasses, not unlikely treks across oceans.

The well-preserved fossil was recovered from the La Buitrera fossil area, a site that has yielded other scientifically critical animals, including primitive snakes and tiny saber-toothed mammals.

“After more than 20 years of work, the La Buitrera fossil area has given us a unique insight into small dinosaurs and other vertebrates like no other site in South America," said Apesteguía, a researcher at Universidad Maimónides in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Their work is far from over, as the scientists continue to discover and study fossils from the same area where they discovered Alnashetri. “We have already found the next chapter of the alvarezsaurid story there, and it is in the lab being prepared right now,” added Makovicky.

In addition to Makovicky and Apesteguía, the international team included Jonathan S. Mitchell from Coe College in Iowa; Jorge G. Meso and Ignacio Cerda from Instituto de Investigación, Universidad Nacional de Río Negro and Museo Provincial; and Federico A. Gianechini from Instituto Multidisciplinario de Investigaciones Biológicas de San Luis.

The research was supported by the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), The Field Museum, National Geographic, University of Minnesota, United States National Science Foundation and the Fulbright U.S. Scholar program.

Read the full paper entitled, “Argentine fossil rewrites evolutionary history of a baffling dinosaur clade,” on the Nature website

Alnashetri was rapidly covered by an advancing sand dune that preserved it almost intact for 90 million years.

Credit

Peter Makovicky, University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota Professor Peter Makovicky uncovers fossil bones at the La Buitrera fossil area.

Credit

Minyoung Son, University of Minnesota

Alnashetri animation [VIDEO] |

Alnashetri belongs to a group of bird-like dinosaurs, known as alvarezsaurs, that are famous for their tiny teeth and stubby arms ending in a single large thumb claw.

Credit

Universidad Nacional de Río Negro and University of Minneso

Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-026-10194-3 

Article Title

Argentine fossil rewrites evolutionary history of a baffling dinosaur clade

Article Publication Date

25-Feb-2026