This weekend, spirit of the Middle Ages will be revived in Trakai. On Saturday, the traditional celebration of the Middle Ages starts in Trakai.

While Sweden may be a global leader in R&D investment, the EU as a whole is still lagging behind the Japan and the US: new data shows that 6.6% of the total R&D government support is invested in ICT in the EU, compared to 9.1% in Japan and 7.9% in the US.

Scientists in Spain, Italy and the UK have developed a way to monitor the effect of climate change and pollution on the environment, by creating a special kind of plant which have in-built sensors. The PLEASED project @pleasedfp7 (PLants Employed As SEnsing Devices) led by the Italian SME WLAB and part funded by the EU has developed 'talking plants' which act as environmental monitors. Once inside the plant, the micro-sensors collect the plant's signals, analyse them, combine them with those of other plants nearby, and produce a clear analysis of the environment around it. In other words, the plant will tell you how it feels and why.

An exhibition featuring the finalists of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Award over the past 25 years will be on display for the first time during the Venice Biennale (La Biennale di Venezia). The 'Made in Europe' exhibition, which includes 150 models of the prize-winning projects and audiovisual content, will open with a seminar on 6 June in the presence of world-renowned architects Dominique Perrault, Vittorio Gregotti, Iñaki Ábalos and Kjetil Trædal Thorsen. The exhibition, which takes place at the Palazzo Michiel, runs until 4 August.

Social media have transformed voting from a democratic duty into an event. Where before it was an anonymous act in the privacy of a voting booth, these days it is something you share on Facebook or Twitter, sometimes accompanied with a "stemfie" of yourself voting in the polling station. It has allowed a lively debate online in the weeks leading up to the elections. Perhaps this has helped to stabilise turnout after years of decline, but it is certain it has enabled people to become involved.

Healthcare: less invasive and more precise surgery

In surgery, robotics can make surgery less invasive and more precise, thereby increasing a patient's survival outcome and reducing recovery time. As a result, robotics technologies can cut down the overall cost of medical interventions. In rehabilitation, robotic technologies offer the potential for more intensive therapies at reduced costs, again increasing the recovery potential.

On the occasion of the Last Bell celebration, Lithuania's Minister of Education and Science Dainius Pavalkis extends congratulations graduates of Lithuanian and foreign schools.

Ballet troupe of the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre has left for a tour in Italy. Five charity performances will take place in Catania's Massimo Bellini Theatre.

The Danish travel project Our Europe has won the first prize at the Charlemagne Youth Prize in Aachen where out of the 28 finalists the three final European winners were announced. The second prize went to the Dutch project JouwDelft & Co youth congress and the third to Employment4U, a training project from Cyprus.

During the meeting with Oman's Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Sarmi on 26 May in Vilnius, the Lithuanian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Neris Germanas stressed that cooperation in the field of education and science was a meaningful investment, which would help to lay a solid foundation of a better future relationship.