Search Results for: Australia

BY MATTHEW BRACE
ELECTRONIC noses being developed in Australia are to be tested to monitor smell levels from factories; industry is being pressured to clean up its act with smell being a key issue.

The odour sentinels, created by the Centre for ChemoSensory Research at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, stand like small sentry boxes sniffing out bad smells and alerting engineers automatically.It…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
ENGINEERS in Australia have developed what they claim is a cleaner, safer and more economical industrial mixer that has important applications for the mining industry.

The Soliquid mixer blends solids and liquids in a continuously flowing stream by creating a vortex, but without using any blades or other external parts.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A FINANCED global action plan to improve safety in the nuclear energy sector has been approved in principle by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. A number of countries have pledged around US$4.6 million to fund its programmes, although this falls far short of the US$12 million price tag claimed by the IAEA, which also wants a fund of US$20 million established to handle security emergencies.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
AUSTRALIAN scientists have produced a virtual 3-D tour of a stretch of ocean floor, which they claim could help geologists discover oil and gas deposits. The data, which will soon be available via the Internet, reveals canyons 1,000m deep and submarine mountain ranges to the south east of Australia.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
INTERNATIONAL moves to remove the maximum permitted dose of irradiation for food could lead to a major world trade dispute, which could undermine European Union regulations, says the London-based Food Irradiation Campaign, (FIC).

A joint study by the Food and Agricultural Organisation, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organisation has concluded that “no upper dose limit need be imposed” as irradiated foods are deemed “wholesome throughout the technologically useful dose range.”…

BY RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg
BIDDERS for the new international airport north of Durban South Africa have begun to stake claims in the project with interest being drawn from Swiss technology group ABB and the investment arm of Australia’s Macquarie Bank.…

Keith Nuthall
INTERNATIONAL airports have been at the centre of a Europol-coordinated series of raids that netted 335,000 ecstasy pills. Airports involved included Amsterdam-Schiphol (89,000 pills), Frankfurt/Main (83,000), Zürich (40,000), Madrid (27,000), Brussels (10,000), Paris Charles de Gaulle (26,500), and Miami (59,000).…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
GROUNDBREAKING Australian research has developed a DNA-based method for rapid detection of toxic blue-green algae in fresh water.

This technology provides water quality managers with an early warning system for potential algal blooms.

Consumption of water contaminated with the algae can damage organs and nerve function.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AUSTRALIAN scientists have produced what they call the world’s first virtual tour of a stretch of ocean floor, an invention that could provide undersea mining prospectors with valuable geological and topographical information.

The 3D map covers 2 million sq km of the 11 million sq km of ocean over which Australia has sovereign rights, off the island continent’s south east shores.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RESEARCHERS from Melbourne, Australia, have invented an alternative to plastic packaging, made from corn starch. It is biodegradable, breaking down in water. It is being used for inner (secondary) packaging but researchers hope they can make it withstand the elements for use in outer packaging too.…