Search Results for: Research

BY MATTHEW BRACE
A NEW “safe saw” hits the market in April, which could find favour with plant hire companies keen to prevent accidents involving their ‘amateur’ customers.

The brainchild of Arbortech Industries Ltd, in Western Australia, the blades of the Australian KS150 Kango Saw cut with an orbital action slicing through masonry, wood and tough composite materials but not breaking the skin if they accidentally hit flesh.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney
RESEARCHERS in Tasmania, Australia, claim they have developed the world’s first smart car that can actually override driver error and thereby reduce road accidents.

Their full sized prototype model has 25 sensors that can monitor everything from brake pressure to suspension dynamics, steering angle and engine parameters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A CHALLENGE to the extension of copyright protection after an author’s death in the United States, from 50 to 70 years, is to be heard by the US Supreme Court this year, with a decision being issued from October onwards.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
RESEARCHERS in Alberta, Canada, have discovered a novel and potentially revolutionary way to simultaneously sanitise two environmental hazards common to all oil producing regions that are also home to extensive beef industries: hydrocarbon contaminated earth and cattle dung.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NETWORK of noise experts funded by the European Union’s fifth framework programme for research is drawing up a plan for future noise research, to support the preparation of a new European Commission directive on the assessment and management of environmental noise.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A ROAD safety initiative has been launched by the European Commission, which has formally proposed a new directive laying down European Union-wide standards for the installation of additional rear view mirrors and other vision systems, including cameras, for motor vehicles.…

BY MARK ROWE
SHIPPING companies and their related organisations are being invited to submit bids for funding under a new Euro 280 million North Sea initiative launched by the European Union.

Grants will be made available for projects that will promote efficient and integrated transport and maritime systems in the North Sea and its adjacent coastal regions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONCLUDING that the health of between 100,000 to 200,000 people is still at risk because of radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl disaster, a United Nations report has called for an international fight against the resulting pollution.

The joint study involving agencies such as the UN Development Programme and the World Health Organisation has claimed that 2,000 people have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer because of the explosion, and as many as 8,000 to 10,000 cases are expected to develop it over the coming years.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney
SCIENTISTS in Queensland, Australia, have been experimenting with crustacean blood lines to breed prawne that grow faster and produce the biggest specimens; they can now produce one measuring 30cm in length and weighing more than 450g.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW report on the development of photovoltaics (PV) has been published by the European Commission, which recommends that new electricity storage technologies need to be adapted for use by this developing alternative electricity production method and also suggests ways to reduce the high price of developing this energy source.…