I have always thought that artificial light could only bring us benefits as it allows us to live and work regardless of the hours of sunlight in a day. However, yesterday my neighbor, who is a big fan of technology and science, explained to me that artificial light can disrupt the life cycles of living beings.

There are many things left to understand about light pollution: that’s why she invited me to participate with her in a citizen science experiment to help researchers study the consequences of the exposition to artificial light. Who would have thought that walking and taking pictures with my cell phone could contribute to science!

I don’t know how I would do it without the internet: all the music I listen to, the stories I read, the photos I share with friends, the videos I watch, … everything is in the cloud!

Did you know that the cloud is not as ethereal as its name suggests?

To distribute information  in an ultrafast way around the world, we need an optical fiber network that physically connects all continents and cities, running even on the ocean floor. In this way, the enormous amount of data that is sent every second can reach our devices in no time, be it the data needed to run a hospital or a video of kittens, and all transported by photons!

I work in the quality control department of a food company and photonics is an ideal tool for our work, because it allows us to do our analyses in a non-invasive way, without damaging the products. We use photonic systems for very different processes, from controlling the shape and color of fruits and vegetables, to measuring the amount of oxygen inside the packages to make sure that the food inside does not decay too soon. Some of our suppliers also use photons to monitor the crops and optimize harvests.

Diversity is a key element to find creative and original solutions to problems: this is why diversity is an important asset for a scientific research center. At ICFO, there are people of more than 60 nationalities with diverse backgrounds (there are people who studied physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, neuroscience, mathematics, computer science, ...): with this mixture of cultures, languages and experiences it is easier to create an open and tolerant environment where new ideas can thrive and grow.

New emergent quantum technologies are promising to revolutionize the world of information and communications: to make the most of this potential, the European Union is planning to build an infrastructure for quantum communications, which would connect quantum devices, becoming a quantum internet. This infrastructure will take advantage of the current optical fiber network for short and medium distance connections and will combine with satellites to cover the longest distances. Thus, thanks to quantum physics, the most sensitive data such as personal, financial, governmental as well as the electricity grid, air control, or healthcare system will be protected.

Photo: Clouds of cold atoms inside one of the ICFO laboratories

Some organisms can transform sunlight into the energy they need to live with photosynthesis. This process, resulting of millions of years of evolution, is incredibly efficient: they can transform 95% of the light that reaches them into energy. In contrast, the best solar commercial panels today translate only 20% of energy into electricity.

At ICFO, we use ultrafast laser pulses to "photograph" the molecules responsible for capturing light energy found in photosynthetic organisms in order to better understand this process and improve the efficiency of solar panels.

Photo: Experimental setup to study some of the relevant molecules for photosynthesis

We are used to movie or music platforms suggesting us what to watch or listen to next. This is possible because algorithms can learn, if we give them a series of initial examples: it is a branch of artificial intelligence called machine learning.

Apart from improving technological services, machine learning is also very useful for people looking for solutions to complex scientific problems. At ICFO we use artificial intelligence to find new strategies to solve complex quantum physics problems, predict the motion of individual particles (very important for biology), or increase computational speed (optimization) for some complex algorithms that apply to significant day-to-day problems.

It is not easy to predict when a particular technology will be available to society: for example, nuclear fusion has been close to solving the problem of energy production for years, but there have been always unforeseen technical issues that delayed its implementation. On the other hand, some technologies that are now ubiquitous, such as lasers, owe their origin to the curiosity about some fundamental questions, such as the interaction between photons and matter, without a specific application in mind.

How can we choose the research fields that will bring us the most benefits?

In order to express critical opinions about the news that we receive through the media outlets, advertising, social media... and avoid falling into scams or misunderstandings, it is important to keep up-to-date about the latest news in science and technology. Sometimes, however, the information comes from pseudoscientific sources of dubious reliability.

How do we handle this often questionable flow of information?

The pandemic that arose in 2020 taught us that public health is an important sector that affects many more aspects of society. A tiny virus can affect the lives of millions of people in all its aspects, not only health, but also the economy, industrial structure, labor market ...

That’s why it’s important to focus most of our efforts on research projects that can improve and care for people’s health.

We live in the information age. More and more companies and institutions are collecting and analyzing large amounts of data to improve industrial processes and services for the population. In addition, digital technologies are essential to communicate with each other, whether for work or fun. If information systems fail, strategic structures such as energy networks, traffic control, hospitals, governments, etc. fail, too. Thus, ensuring data security for quick and massive data transfer is of fundamental importance for a digitized society like ours.

That is why it is important to focus most of our efforts on research projects that can improve data collection, analysis, transmission and security.

We are in the middle of a climate emergency: to be able to solve it we need new environmental policies and the commitment of society as a whole. Science and technology can accelerate the change of paradigm that we need to save the planet with discoveries and innovative technologies. If we do nothing now, the Earth will be uninhabitable and unsustainable, but there’s still time.

That’s why it’s important to focus most of our efforts on research projects that can help us take care of our planet.

Photonics is everywhere and has a positive impact in many different aspects of our lives. Sometimes, the same technology (such as the laser) can improve health, information and care for the environment at the same time. There are many global issues and it is difficult to set a priority, especially because they are interconnected.

That’s why it’s important not to focus our efforts on a single field of application: it’s better to diversify our efforts to have more chances of success.