Search Results for: Research

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE USA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has developed a “curtain of air” that keeps disease-carrying insects from boarding airplanes. High velocity fans blow air at a speed of one metre per second away from the passenger doors on either side of the passenger walkways.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
AMERICAN scientists have developed a new hybrid material made of cotton and clay, with strong heat resistance, durability and suppleness. Researchers mixed microscopic montmorillonite clay particles, the same type used in cat litter, into cotton fibres dissolved by a solvent that was later removed.…

Keith Nuthall
AVITRACK, a three-dimensional monitoring system allowing airport managers to check all groundhandling movements on aircraft runways, taxiways, aprons and parking zones, is being developed by a European Union (EU) research consortium. Coordinated by French IT firm SILOGIC, it involves cameras creating digital images that identify individuals, objects and vehicles, whose movement can be interpreted by computers.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
AMERICAN scientists have developed a new hybrid nanotechnology material made by combining clay with cotton, producing a substance that they claim has strong heat resistance ability, durability and suppleness. Researchers mixed microscopic montmorillonite clay particles into cotton fibres dissolved by a recyclable solvent that was later removed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AIRSHIP owners in the 1930’s would have laughed: hydrogen – the fuel of the future? Remember the Hindenburg? Plunging to the ground over the USA in a ball of fire, crushing a civil airline industry as it fell.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority scientific panel on biological hazards has called for additional research into the risk to consumers posed by BSE-linked prion proteins in beef tongues. The panel has advised there is insufficient data to draw firm conclusions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) joint research centre (JRC) is testing innovative construction materials that are especially designed to fight against air pollution. In a joint scheme with academic institutes, building supply and chemical companies the JRC’s PICADA project (photo-catalytic innovative coverings applications for de-pollution assessment) is examining special plaster, mortar, architectural concrete and anti-pollution coatings.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) backed research project is promoting the use of hemp and flax to make fibreboard used in car manufacture. Coordinator Helmut Zimmer of Austrian renewable raw materials specialist Funder Industries said the Hi-Fi project would generate an “added-value opportunity” for hemp and flax producers, improving fibreboard door panel production.…

BY EDWARD PETERS
THE PAST decade has seen China grasp an increasing share of the world’s cosmetic packaging industry. Low production prices and international manufacturing standards — to say nothing of an increasing appreciation of the beauty business — have all contributed to the People’s Republic upping its packaging profile.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE MOST fortified frontier in the world, Korea’s Demilitarized Zone, (DMZ) is being touted by the (South) Korea National Tourism Organisation as a future destination for wildlife eco-tourism. The DMZ, an area of land four kilometres wide and 250 kilometres long divides North and South Korea across the Korean Peninsula.…