Researchers in this area study the smallest building blocks to understand how they combine to produce the properties of different types of materials.

On a microscopic scale, researchers study, for example, the properties of magnetic metals, light-harvesting materials for solar panels, and clay.

Within eSSENCE, life sciences signify research that helps us understand the machinery of life, including medical applications and animal behaviour.

For example, researchers are developing methods within organ transplantation and cancer diagnostics, with a particular focus on breast and prostate cancer.

Researchers study animals to learn more about the animals themselves, such as the biological mechanisms in bird migration. But researchers also look at bird feathers as inspiration for better aircraft wings, the processing of visual information by nocturnal bees as a model for navigation in low-light conditions, and dolphins' echolocation as an example for more advanced use of ultrasound.

This focus area is the collection of research dealing with the social and technological aspects of human life, the study of our home planet and its climate, and the exploration of the Universe beyond Earth.

On the human scale, researchers analyse different types of behaviour and the underlying processes, such as, the way we read a text, how we make decisions in the grocery store, or express ourselves when we are suffering from a mental disorder.

e-Science can also be used to map archaeological excavations, to improve city maps to promote walking, and to study and predict climate change and its impact on, for example, agriculture.

Apart from our own planet, researchers are also studying the atmospheres of planets in other solar systems and the history of the Milky Way.

In this area, researchers are focusing on improving and expanding basic e-Science technologies to solve problems faster and more efficiently, regardless of the area of the application.

For example, our researchers are developing methods for distributing calculations and data to computing and storage resources in different parts of the world.