Research Horizons

A new analysis from the Peace Research Institute Oslo examines how Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy could move beyond managing humanitarian emergencies toward a credible political horizon. The piece frames the Gaza crisis as inseparable from longer-term questions of regional diplomacy, arguing that relief efforts alone cannot substitute for a political settlement. It is drawing attention amid ongoing debates over how regional and international actors should shape a durable peace process.

EU research ministers are urging Members of the European Parliament to allow dual-use research in the next Horizon Europe framework programme. The appeal means ministers want funding rules to cover research with both civilian and military applications, a shift from the current civilian-focused scope of the EU research programme as negotiations over the next framework advance.

The European Union and Moldova have convened the fifth meeting of their joint Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Committee. The committee oversees cooperation in research and innovation under Moldova's association to the Horizon Europe programme. The meeting covers the state of bilateral scientific collaboration, funding opportunities for Moldovan institutions, and priorities for deeper integration with EU research networks amid Moldova's broader push toward closer EU ties.

The European Union's research and innovation commissioner has called for 'creative destruction' in the bloc's research policy and for opening up Horizon Europe to broader participation. The remarks signal a push to shake up how EU research funding is structured and to make the flagship programme more accessible, drawing attention from the research and policy community.

Physicists propose that under certain conditions a black hole could shed its 'hair' — quantum fields trapped around it — and transition into a boson star, an exotic object made of particles with no surface or event horizon. The idea, reported by ScienceAlert, touches on the 'no-hair theorem' and could offer new ways to test black hole physics through gravitational wave observations.