This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features an interview with Henri Lorach, who is part of the team that won the 2023 Physics World Breakthrough of the Year award. The Swiss–French group bagged the prize for creating a brain–computer interface that allows a paralysed person to walk. Lorach, who is based at EPFL, explains how the technology works and describes the team’s plans to miniaturize and commercialize the system.

Also in this week’s podcast is Jonas Baltrusaitis, who is editor-in-chief of the new journal Sustainability Science and Technology. Produced by IOP Publishing, which also brings you Physics World, the journal will open for submissions later this month.

Baltrusaitis explains that the journal will highlight the roles that scientists and engineers are playing in achieving the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. He also talks about his research into sustainable catalysis processes, which he does using cutting-edge surface-science tools at Lehigh University in the US.