A declaration by the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU committing Member States to developing eHealth ecosystems that could contribute to the reform of health systems has been welcomed by European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes and Health Commissioner Tonio Borg. The Irish Presidency presented the Declaration at the Ministerial eHealth High Level Conference in Dublin on May 13th.

The Network of Excellence on Engineering Secure Future Internet Software Services and Systems (NESSoS) is an EC co-funded project that aims at constituting and integrating a long lasting research community on engineering secure software-based services and systems. The new roadmap and research agenda was published in February 2013.

Media reports about substances that are supposedly hazardous to health may cause suggestible people to develop symptoms of a disease even though there is no objective reason for doing so. This is the conclusion of a study of the phenomenon known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Those affected report experiencing certain symptoms on exposure to electromagnetic waves, such as those emitted by cell phones, and these take the form of physical reactions.

At the start of its 'European Month of the Brain' initiative, the European Commission has earmarked some €150 million of funding for 20 new international brain research projects. It will bring the total EU investment in brain research since 2007 to over €1.9 billion. The 'European Month of the Brain' (#brainmonth) will highlight European research and innovation in the area of neuroscience, cognition and related areas through over 50 events across Europe this May.

Research to set up an online system enabling doctors to access patient's health records from all across the European Union, has been launched. The University of Bedfordshire is leading the European Commission project, MyHealthAvatar, which is designed to give people more knowledge and control of their health via their computers and mobile phones.

Researchers at the University of Leeds are using the feet of tree frogs as a model for a tiny robot designed to crawl inside patients' bodies during keyhole surgery. The tiny device is one of a growing stable of bio-inspired robots being built in the University's School of Mechanical Engineering and featured on the BBC's The One Show.

The use of social media by older people can offer valuable additional support in cases of sickness and diseases, new research from the University of Luxembourg has shown. In a new publication, Dr Anja Leist from the University's Research Unit INSIDE, concludes that possibilities for a systematic application in clinical practice seem promising.