Search Results for: Research

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has told the European Ombudsman that a German chemist who protested about the “illegal transport and export of radioactive materials” from the Institute for Transuranium, a nuclear research institute in Karlsruhe, had left her protest too late for it to be acted on.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
AMERICAN scientists from the USA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have designed a new way to produce mannitol, a low-calorie mint-tasting sweetener. The “biobased” method involves feeding high-fructose corn syrup to bacteria Lactobacillus intermedius in a fermentation tank. After several hours the bacteria converts 72% percent of the syrup into mannitol.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
NURSES caring for the elderly and the infirm are to receive help from a Euro 1 million research programme funded by the European Commission that will focus on ways to improve their patients’ nutrition. The NUTRI-SENEX multi-national initiative marks the first project of its kind to link experts in the care, dietary and teaching professions in different EU countries “to produce recommendations, survey health legislation and develop guidelines for functional and nutritionally-balanced food for the elderly.”…

BY LIZ HALL
A PROFUSION of family-run businesses, corrupt and under-resourced authorities and low wages has traditionally meant much commercial crime goes undetected in Latin America. But the tide is turning, with more and more companies unwilling to turn a blind eye to fraud, bribery and counterfeit goods production.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FEEDING of elderly and infirm patients at care-homes will come under the microscope in a Euro 1 million research programme funded by the European Commission focusing on their nutrition. The NUTRI-SENEX initiative is expected to make detailed recommendations on manufacturing special foodstuffs for older people and offering more dietary choices in care-homes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FIRST soil atlas of Europe has been published by the European Commission, which includes advice on how to protect soil against erosion and pollution, as well as detailed regional maps of soil types. Welcoming its launch, European Union (EU) research Commissioner Janez Potocnik said: “We definitely undervalue the contribution of soil to our bio-diversity, but unless we protect it better, we will soon realise its importance in the worst possible way – by seeing the problems caused by its loss.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
STRESS levels in pigs increase in temperatures of 19C or above, resulting in them eating and growing less, according to research from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. Pigs with cooling systems, such as floor cooling, sprinkling or water baths, remained cool and grew better.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ANDRIS Piebalgs, the European Union (EU) Commissioner for energy, has announced that clean coal technologies and CO2 capture will be his top priorities for energy research during his five-year term. Speaking as the European Commission attempts to persuade EU ministers to support expanding Brussels’ budget for research for 2007-13, Piebalgs said: “Such technologies are not just important in order to enable Europe to meet its Kyoto obligations and the challenges of the (EU’s) Lisbon agenda” on economic competitiveness.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
SMOKING may help some people cope with depression according to new University of Western Michigan, USA, research. It was spurred a failure by scientists to determine why from 1990 to 2003, only 3% of Americans quit smoking, after a surge in the 80s.…

BY MARK ROWE
IN the days of the Soviet Union, Russians would make jokes about the shades of “concrete” grey available for any internal redecorating you planned to do. No longer. Disposable incomes are higher, so Russians are discovering DIY, while a vast face-lift has been given to many of the country’s cities and towns.…