The Silver Plaque for the ‘Chini Memorial Lecture 2025’ was awarded to Paolo Fornasiero, professor in the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Vice-Rector for Research at UniTS, for his ‘fundamental contribution to the study of the relationships between the structure and properties of inorganic materials and their impact on energy and heterogeneous catalysis’.

The award was presented in Pisa during the 23rd National Congress of the Industrial Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society.

Previous award winners include Nobel Prize winners Jean-Marie Lehn (Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France), Ernst Otto Fischer (Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany) and Geoffrey Wilkinson (Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, UK).

At the congress, Paolo Fornasiero presented a plenary lecture entitled “The criticality of metal particle size speciation in sustainable catalysis”.

The seismological station on Everest installed by the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS), together with the EvK2CNR association and the Nepalese Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), has been upgraded with new instruments. 

Located at an altitude of 5,050 metres, the IO.EVN station is located at the Italian Piramide Observatory/Laboratory of EvK2CNR, 5 km from Mount Everest base camp. 

‘A new accelerometer has been added, to be paired with the existing seismometer for measuring local and global earthquakes, and an infrasound sensor to record environmental noise, including rock and ice falls and noises associated with glacier movements,’ explains Franco Pettenati, geophysicist at the OGS CRS and representative of the EvK2CNR Seismological Station. He adds: ‘This upgrade will allow us to further our ongoing research into “icequakes”, i.e. earthquakes caused by seismic waves generated by ice movements; these investigations are particularly useful for studies on climate change.’ 

Other work has been carried out on the GPS station: ‘We replaced the Master GPS station's data acquisition device, i.e. the device that acquires and determines the geographical position,’ continues Pettenati. ‘A commercially available device was installed, alongside a low-cost device designed by David Zuliani, an engineer at the OGS Seismological Research Centre (Receiver GNSS LZER0 NET S/N #1013)’. 

The GPS will be used in conjunction with the University of Trieste, which owns the antenna, to study the geodynamics of the region. Finally, a new Wi-Fi bridge was installed to connect the IO.EVN seismological station and the new GPS system to the server of the Piramide Observatory/Laboratory. The new Wi-Fi system will thus replace the previous underground cable connection system. 

The seismological station was inaugurated on 19th May 2014. Since then, it has been operating continuously at 100, 20 and 2 Hz sampling frequencies with 24-bit Guralp digitisers. From the Piramide server, the signals are sent via satellite to a server in Kathmandu and then to the OGS acquisition centre in Italy. On 7th January 2025, the seismological station recorded the Mw 7.1 earthquake in central Tibet, being the closest broadband station to the epicentre of the earthquake (approximately 70 kilometres away).

This shimmering view of interstellar gas and dust was captured by the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope. The nebula is part of a so-called dark cloud, named LDN 1641. It sits at about 1300 light-years from Earth, within a sprawling complex of dusty gas clouds where stars are being formed, in the constellation of Orion.

In visible light this region of the sky appears mostly dark, with few stars dotting what seems to be a primarily empty background. But, by imaging the cloud with the infrared eyes of its NISP instrument, Euclid reveals a multitude of stars shining through a tapestry of dust and gas.
This is because dust grains block visible light from stars behind them very efficiently but are much less effective at dimming near-infrared light.

The nebula is teeming with very young stars. Some of the objects embedded in the dusty surroundings spew out material – a sign of stars being formed. The outflows appear as magenta-coloured spots and coils when zooming into the image.
In the upper left, obstruction by dust diminishes and the view opens toward the more distant Universe with many galaxies lurking beyond the stars of our own galaxy.
Euclid observed this region of the sky in September 2023 to fine-tune its pointing ability. For the guiding tests, the operations team required a field of view where only a few stars would be detectable in visible light; this portion of LDN 1641 proved to be the most suitable area of the sky accessible to Euclid at the time.

The tests were successful and helped ensure that Euclid could point reliably and very precisely in the desired direction. This ability is key to delivering extremely sharp astronomical images of large patches of sky, at a fast pace. The data for this image, which is about 0.64 square degrees in size - or more than three times the area of the full Moon on the sky - were collected in just under five hours of observations.

Euclid is surveying the sky to create the most extensive 3D map of the extragalactic Universe ever made. Its main objective is to enable scientists to pin down the mysterious nature of dark matter and dark energy.
Yet the mission will also deliver a trove of observations of interesting regions in our galaxy, like this one, as well as countless detailed images of other galaxies, offering new avenues of investigation in many different fields of astronomy.

The Euclid Consortium involves several UniTS professors from the Department of Physics (Stefano Borgani, Matteo Costanzi, Marisa Girardi, Anna Gregorio, Pierluigi Monaco, Alexandro Saro), as well as postdocs and PhD students (Lucie Baumont, Yousry Elkhashab, Roberto Ingrao, Marius Lepinzan) with responsibilities ranging from coordinating the Instrument Operation Team to participating in the Euclid Consortium Publication Group - Science, as well as significant involvement in the Science Working Groups on Galaxy Clustering and Clusters of Galaxies and in the Science Ground Segment. These activities, carried out in close collaboration with researchers from INAF-Trieste Astronomical Observatory and SISSA, make Trieste one of the focal points of the Euclid Consortium. 

The mid-term meeting of the European BluEcho project, dedicated to the study of noise pollution in the marine environment, was held in Trieste. Co-funded by the European Union through the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership and coordinated by UniTS, BluEcho addresses issues ranging from numerical noise modelling to the impact on marine fauna, as well as economic models for defining mitigation strategies.

In addition to Italy, the international consortium involves partners from Sweden, Norway and Germany.

Summary of mid-term results 

A year and a half after its launch, the project has achieved significant results in the three main areas of research: numerical modelling, biological impacts and socio-economic analysis. 

In the field of numerical modelling of underwater noise, new source models based on CFD simulations have been developed and tested, with particular attention to the noise generated by cavitating propellers and marine turbines.

Acoustic modelling has so far focused on single sources, wind turbines or marine propellers, allowing for detailed analysis of the interaction between the various components and noise generation mechanisms. The next step will be to extend the analysis to the propagation of multiple sources, in order to more realistically represent the acoustic impact of entire offshore wind farms and shipping traffic.

In parallel, in the field of acoustic propagation modelling, comparative studies on different solvers have been launched and the first reference case studies have been defined, based on accurate collection of environmental and ‘source’ data (bathymetry, seabed characteristics, source types, etc.).

One of the main cases analysed concerns sound propagation in the Gulf of Trieste, chosen as a representative site for the validation of numerical models.

In addition, a measurement campaign was organised in the Bracciano lake, involving ISPRA, CNR and Hydra Ricerche. The data collected will be used to calibrate the acoustic maps and metrics used.

In the area dedicated to biological impacts, a review of the state of the art has been completed and a monitoring campaign has been carried out by the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) at two sites of particular interest: a floating wind farm (Hywind Tampen) and an area subject to intense shipping traffic (LoVe Ocean observatory).

Through the combined use of hydrophones and echosounders, it was possible to correlate environmental noise levels with the abundance and behaviour of different marine species, providing preliminary indications of the influence of anthropogenic noise on local ecosystems.

In the research area dedicated to economic modelling, a review of the most relevant methodologies for the assessment of ecosystem services and mitigation measures has been completed.

An international questionnaire and interviews with maritime stakeholders are being prepared to assess the costs, benefits and preferences associated with noise reduction policies.

Finally, with regard to data management, the infrastructure for standardisation, quality control and sharing of acoustic datasets via the OPUS platform has been implemented.

A joint group of researchers from the University of Padua and the University of Trieste has observed surprising behaviours in jellyfish of the Aurelia species, commonly known

as the four-leaf clover jellyfish. The results of the study, published in the prestigious journal Behavioural and Brain Sciences, raise fascinating questions about the origin of curiosity and the possibility that forms of cognition can emerge even in the absence of a centralised brain.

‘Our results are particularly interesting,’ explains Cinzia Chiandetti, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the Department of Life Sciences of the University of Trieste, ‘because these animals are considered ‘brainless’: their nervous system is organised radially, without a command centre, and equipped only with rudimentary sensory organs. Finding signs of memory and attraction to novelty in them is an important key to understanding the evolution of nervous systems and cognition itself.’

Specifically, the researchers observed the behaviour of young jellyfish placed individually in a rectangular tank. In the first phase, each animal was presented with an object, which elicited an immediate reaction: the jellyfish left the empty part of the tank and headed towards the novelty. In the second phase, after a one-minute interval, a second object was placed alongside the first, and on that occasion, the jellyfish showed a clear preference for the latter. This behaviour, which experts call ‘neophilia’, indicates that jellyfish have a memory of the first object and are attracted to the new one.

‘Not only did the jellyfish show neophilia,’ comments Christian Agrillo, professor of comparative psychology at the University of Padua, ‘but they also showed that they could retain certain information in their memory for at least one minute. We generally think that in the sea they approach us passively, carried by the current. Our study also opens up the possibility that in some cases they do so because of the same attraction to novelty documented here. You could say that perhaps they are curious to get to know us!’

The study invites us to rethink traditional models that link cognition to the presence of centralised brains, suggesting that even ‘diffuse’ nervous systems, such as that of jellyfish, can support complex behaviours. This discovery once again pushes the boundaries of what we think is possible in the animal world.

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UniTS, which coordinates the activities of Spoke 8 of the iNEST (Interconnected North-East) Innovation Ecosystem, is organising, as part of the Ecomondo 2025 fair in Rimini, on 5th November (from 10:30), a workshop focused on the project and public-private collaborations towards digital twins in the (northern) Adriatic Sea.

"This project is dedicated to the development of sustainable technologies and solutions for the marine environment, mobility by sea and inland waterways and the digital transformation of companies in the sector.’ – explains prof. Pierluigi Barbieri, iNEST Coordinator for the University of Trieste – ‘The strategic objective of the project is developing data acquisition models and systems, software, and user interfaces, necessary for the creation of the Digital Twin of the Upper Adriatic, an advanced digital model of the marine-coastal system that will make it possible to improve monitoring, planning and management of maritime resources and activities, in line with the European mission Restore our Ocean and Waters".

Between 2023 and 2024, the University of Trieste applied to several calls under Spoke 8 to finance 24 industrial research and development projects, funding €5,559,535.95 (granted from the NextGenerationEU funds of the Recovery and Resilience Facility). Forty-four companies (30 from Triveneto and 14 from Mezzogiorno) and 9 research institutions have benefited from this co-financing, for projects with a total value of €7,790,800.90. Six companies are classified by turnover and number of employees as ‘large enterprises’. The universities and research institutions involved in these calls are 9, all from Southern Italy.

Spoke 8 activities are divided into five thematic areas: Hydrosphere biology – new systems for biomonitoring and restoration of marine habitats; Chemical and physical risks and impacts on the hydrosphere – innovative technologies for contaminant control and water management; Sustainable mobility by sea and inland waters – prototypes and charging systems for electric navigation; Integrated maritime and territorial land-sea planning – smart solutions for climate change adaptation; Digital Twin of the Northern Adriatic – digital models and infrastructures for the simulation of meteorological and environmental scenarios.

"With these projects – concludes prof. Pierluigi Barbieri – we are networking companies and research centres to promote innovation, sustainability and industrial competitiveness, contributing to the development of the Blue Economy in the North-East and in the whole country. The workshop will include a discussion, mediated by the Alto Adriatico Technological Pole, with the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, and with institutons and companies on the Adriatic coast - Marche and Puglia in particular - in the think tank ‘The Blue Way’, to develop mutual knowledge and outline innovation projects guided by territorial research and development".

THE PROGRAMME:

Workshop ‘iNEST Innovation Ecosystem and public-private collaborations towards digital twins in the (northern) Adriatic Sea’

10:30 Introduction:

Pierluigi Barbieri, iNEST Coordinator, University of Trieste: ‘The iNEST Ecosystem and Research-driven innovation in the Blue Economy: where we are today’

Diego Santaliana, Alto Adriatico Technological Hub – ‘Building relations between research organisations and businesses at the Innovation Melting Pot-Urban Center in Trieste and grounding strategic projects’

Maria Cristina Pedicchio, President of APRE, KIC OneWater proposal ‘Making the Oceans Mission in the Adriatic macro-region concrete’

Salvatore Dore, Technology transfer and partnerships, University of Trieste ‘Technological transfer at the University of Trieste and responses to the challenges of the business system’

10:50 Contributions from Spoke 8 of the iNEST Innovation Ecosystem:

Stefano Querin OGS – Luca Manzoni UniTS – iNEST Spoke 8 Research Topic 5: ‘The contributions of research organisations and companies to the creation of digital twins in the Northern Adriatic’

Ludovico Centis iNEST Spoke 8 Research Topic 4: ‘Integration of information and planning in changing coastal systems’

11:10 Flash presentations: Results of the Waterfall Calls and the CC2 Proof of Concept call (Alessandra Citterio-DBA Group, Giuseppe Borruso-GEP Lab UniTS, BaC winners).

11:30 Giulia Carboni - Programme Coordination Manager for Sustainable Blue Economy at CINEA - European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency - ‘EU Key perspectives in sustainable innovation’

11:45 Roundtable ’The Blue Way Think Tank. Climate, infrastructure, environment: shared energy and projects in the Adriatic area’: Barbieri (UniTS), Santaliana (PoloAA), Querin (OGS), Alberto Monachesi (Typicality in Blue); Q&A.

12:30 Closing of the workshop

Project ‘iNEST Interconnected Nord-Est Innovation Ecosystem’, ECS_00000043, is part of the research programme for the innovation ecosystem from the resources of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), M4C2 – Investment 1.5 Creation and strengthening of ‘Innovation Ecosystems for Sustainability’, funded by the European Union, NextGenerationEU – CUP J43C22000320006.

A group of researchers at the University of Trieste has developed an innovative, rapid and inexpensive diagnostic method that uses low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) to analyse the properties of sputum and provide a reliable indicator of lung function and inflammation, highlighting any pathological alterations. 

The test developed by the researchers could be particularly useful for patients with chronic productive lung diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), characterised by the production of viscous mucus that is difficult to eliminate. It could also be helpful in the management of asthma. 

The sputum sample, taken from the patient, is analysed using low-field nuclear magnetic resonance technology, which returns the result in a few minutes. The test, unique in its kind, evaluates the behaviour of hydrogen atoms in the in the water contained in sputum and translates the signal into clinically relevant parameters, such as viscosity, elasticity, solid content and polymer network structure. These data are closely related to the patient's clinical status and can support the physician in therapeutic decisions. 

Mario Grassi, full professor of Foundations of Chemical Engineering at the Department of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Trieste, and Michela Abrami of the same department, explain: 'The idea of applying low-field nuclear magnetic resonance to the study of sputum arose from an interdisciplinary reflection: the technology, already widely used in quality control in the food industry, has proven to be an economical, transportable tool that can be easily integrated into clinical practice. The test is rapid, repeatable, non-invasive, does not require highly specialised personnel and can be performed during an outpatient visit.’

Low-field magnetic resonance imaging (LF-NMR) is a technology that uses low-intensity magnetic fields to analyse the properties of materials, such as biological tissues, quickly and non-invasively. Unlike traditional high-field magnetic resonance imaging, low-field instruments are more compact, economical and easy to use even in non-hospital settings.

Gabriele Grassi, full professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology at the University Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences at the University of Trieste, comments: ‘The new method represents a step forward in the diagnosis and monitoring of respiratory diseases. With the aim of continuously improving patients' quality of life and optimising therapeutic strategies, we are also implementing specific software (SOFT NMR), which is currently under development. The clinical centres involved are participating with us in the discussion of the results, in light of the patients' clinical history, and in the implementation of experimental campaigns in response to the clinical questions that arise from time to time, with the ultimate goal of making our conclusions increasingly robust.’

Sputum samples are provided by the Burlo Garofolo Research Hospital in Trieste, the Pulmonology Unit of the Cattinara Hospital (Trieste), the Radiology Unit of the Ca' Foncello Hospital in Treviso and the Department of Radiology of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. 

The project partners also include PROTOS, a non-profit research centre based in Trieste, active in the field of biopolymers, medical devices and in vitro diagnostics. 

The project is funded by the PRIN (Projects of National Interest – Ref. 2022K4Y33B) and by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region for the support of projects for the validation of innovative ideas and technologies that aim to achieve a TRL 6, 7 or 8 [Article 7(56-61) of Regional Law No 22/2022].

Sea warming, together with environmental changes caused by human activities, is causing a progressive decline in seagrass meadows in the northern Adriatic Sea. This is demonstrated by a new study recently published in the journal Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. The research shows that the seagrass beds of Posidonia oceanica, Cymodocea nodosa and other marine plants, which are vital for biodiversity, coastal stability and carbon storage, are at risk from a variety of factors.

The study, coordinated by the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS), involved an international group of researchers from the Miramare Marine Protected Area, the University of Trieste, the National Institute of Biology of Slovenia (NIB) and the University of Maribor (Slovenia). It highlighted how environmental change and sea warming contribute significantly to the decline of seagrass beds, particularly Cymodocea nodosa, in the coastal areas of the northern Adriatic. 

The analysis focused mainly on the Slovenian and Italian coasts of the Gulf of Trieste and used an integrated approach of field monitoring and statistical analysis to assess the relationship between anthropogenic pressure and marine vegetation response. The relationship between seagrass dynamics and environmental variations was studied by analysing the spatiotemporal patterns of environmental variables and applying mathematical models referring to two distinct time intervals: 2009-2013 and 2014-2018.

The study shows that the decline of seagrass beds in the gulf is caused by both impacts at the local level (pollution, urbanisation, hydrological alterations) and global climatic stresses (marine warming).

In the northern Adriatic, Cymodocea nodosa is the dominant species, while Posidonia oceanica and several species of Zostera show a much more fragmented distribution, often reduced to small isolated areas.

‘The results indicate that Cymodocea nodosa is still present in the Gulf, particularly along the coast from Monfalcone to the mouth of the Tagliamento, but in the period 2014-2018 there was a 30% regression in Slovenian waters and up to 89% along the coast near Trieste,’ explains Vinko Bandelj, oceanographer at OGS, adding that ‘analysis of physical and chemical variables revealed an increase in sea water temperature throughout the Gulf and a variation in nutrient load, with a particularly significant reduction in Slovenian waters’.

The group of researchers identified light in the water column, nutrient availability, temperature and sediment type as the main determinants of marine plant presence. However, other local factors, such as coastal anthropogenic interventions and urbanisation, have most likely also contributed to reducing the resilience of these species to environmental disturbances.

The conservation of these habitats is considered essential for mitigating climate change and safeguarding marine biodiversity in the Mediterranean. To achieve this goal, the study highlights the need to develop integrated spatial planning strategies, including the reduction of local anthropogenic pressures, the protection of less degraded coastal areas and the long-term monitoring of climatic and biological parameters. Although large-scale studies are useful for predicting the impact of climate change, local investigations, such as the one carried out in this study, remain equally essential for developing targeted conservation strategies.

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Federico Becca, associate professor in Condensed Matter Theory at the Physics Department of the University of Trieste, has been nominated Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), through the Division of Condensed Matter Physics.

The APS Fellowship Program was created to recognize members who have made advances in physics through original research, making outstanding contributions in the field. In particular, Federico Becca has been selected for his ``fundamental contributions to the understanding of strongly correlated systems, including spin liquid states and doped Mott superconductors, and for developments in variational quantum Monte Carlo methods''. 

The number of recommended nominees in each year may not exceed one-half percent of the current membership of the Society, excluding student members. This recognition by the American Physical Society underscores Professor Becca's achievements as a world-renowned leading scientist in the field. The fact that very few Fellows are affiliated outside the U.S. further reinforces the significance of this honor.

When it comes to cardiac arrest, every second counts, and it is the speed with which cardiopulmonary resuscitation is started that makes the real difference, not so much who performs it. This is what emerges from an important study presented at the ESC Acute CardioVascular Care 2025 congress.

The research is the result of the work of a team coordinated by Prof. Aneta Aleksova, cardiologist and lecturer at the Department of Medical Sciences of the University of Trieste and the local health authority (ASUGI). The study group is an integral part of the Department of Cardiology, headed by Prof. Gianfranco Sinagra, and included the contribution of Dr Alessandra Lucia Fluca, research assistant at the Department of Medicine of the University of Trieste, and Dr Andrea Perkan, interventional cardiologist at the Department of Cardiology.

The study analysed 21 years of data (from 2003 to 2024) on 3,315 patients who had suffered a ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a particularly serious form of heart attack in which a major coronary artery is completely blocked, preventing blood flow to part of the heart. Among these patients, 172 suffered out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and 44 of them received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) from bystanders.

Urgent response is crucial 

The results are clear: every 5 minutes of delay in the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) increases the risk of death in hospital by 38%. Even a slight reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction (an indicator of heart function) or increased age is associated with a significant increase in mortality.

'We observed that, regardless of whether cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed by a professional rescuer or a bystander, the determining factor was the speed with which resuscitation was started,' explains Prof. Aleksova, emphasising the value of active prevention. ‘It is essential to raise awareness among the population and promote CPR and defibrillator training courses. Even imperfect intervention, if timely, can save a life. It is better to act immediately than to wait for help without doing anything.’

A positive trend, but still insufficient

The study shows a clear improvement over time: the percentage of CPR performed by bystanders rose from 26% in the period 2003-2007 to 69% in the four-year period 2020-2024. However, considering that about 80% of cardiac arrests occur at home, public involvement remains crucial.

Although the average ROSC times are longer for interventions by bystanders (20 minutes compared to 5 minutes in cases handled by healthcare professionals), the chances of long-term survival do not differ. This suggests that even intervention by ordinary people, provided it is timely, can have a life-saving impact comparable to that of professionals.

A call for public training

The survey also reports that those who receive CPR from bystanders are more frequently subjected to endotracheal intubation (91% versus 65%), indicating more intensive clinical management. But the key factor remains time. All other factors being equal, prompt intervention can mean the difference between life and death.

The study relaunches a simple but urgent message: training more people in basic life support (BLS) techniques is a public health priority. Because every minute counts. And anyone, with the right training, can make a difference.