Search Results for: Research

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) research network Eureka has developed a software ‘uncertainty manager’, which can help pharmaceutical manufacturers manage unpredictable results when testing products for additive concentration, contaminant residues and other microscopic concerns. Because of many variables, from human error to prevailing weather, results can vary, even for the same test on a single medicine.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

RESEARCHERS from the USA’s Agricultural Research Service have developed methods to lessen odour-causing compounds in pigs’ manure. Cutting pigs’ protein intake by using less soybean meal and balancing diets with crystalline amino acids, reduces the stench of manure and pig flatulence: a 1% reduction in dietary crude protein resulted in pigs emitting 8-10% less ammonia, which makes slurry smell bad.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON, in London

A CAR that can think for its driver is a step nearer reality, thanks to a new European Union (EU)-funded project now underway in Switzerland. The 10-partner BACS (Bayesian Approach to Cognitive Systems) project, co-ordinated by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, is creating thinking robots that can react in the right way to incomplete information, in the same way that humans and animals do.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A NEW European Union (EU) expert committee, devoted to developing pollution-free energy has issued its first document outlining its goals and potential projects. The European Technology Platform for Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plants (ZEP) said it would examine a wide area of research into carbon capture and storage, from carbon sequestration to ‘cracking’ fossil fuels to release hydrogen.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SCIENTISTS from Bonn University, Germany, have staged medical trials proving that certain honeys have strong medicinal qualities. It has fused two special honeys to treat skin injuries on children whose immune systems have been weakened through cancer therapies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved a list of priority projects under its 2007-13 trans European network (TENs) energy programme. Three of the 10 gas pipeline projects link Europe to Algeria, a key alternative source to Russia, and there are also priority gas pipelines to Libya and Turkey listed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project has developed special technology to coat aluminium vehicle, aeronautical and heavy industrial parts, making them tough enough to replace steel, boosting demand for the non-ferrous metal. The key would be the lightness of aluminium, crucial for reducing vehicle and aeroplane weight, boosting fuel economy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) may work with private food health alert services, after reviewing how it discovers and combats emerging risks. In an assessment paper, EFSA admitted it "will need to devote new internal resources for the work with emerging risks", which have recently ranged from fresh foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks, to dioxin contamination and new diseases such as SARS.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

AMERICAN research from Cornell University says consumers who love fruit eat more confectionary than those preferring vegetables. Furthermore, people who like sweets eat more fruit than those preferring salty-snacks. It concluded that confectionary could be used with campaigns to persuade people to eat more fruit.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

ONE-in-five car crashes are caused by driver distraction according to an Australian study published in the journal Injury Prevention. The study showed that drivers engage in a distracting activity on average once every six minutes.

Research, performed by The George Institute for International Health and the University of Western Australia, indicated that during a driving trip, 72% of drivers will display a lack of concentration, 69% will adjust in-vehicle equipment, 58% are distracted by outside events, objects or people and 40% talk to passengers.…