Search Results for: Research

BY LUCY JONES, in Dallas, Texas

THERE is another side to the loss of life and devastation wreaked in the USA by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Wilma and Dennis last year, a market reaction that has brought unsought benefits to the US paint and coatings industry.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

IDENTIFYING people contaminated with superbugs could soon be done mechanically with an electronic nose allowing laboratory and health service staff to quickly contain and attack deadly bacteria.

The e-nose is a polymer-based device with software that can correctly detect three strains of staphylococcus aureus bacteria, including the notorious MRSA, (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus), with more than 99% accuracy.…

BY MONICA DOBIE

SCIENTISTS from the USA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have developed a system that calms cattle herds, in turn, lessening the risk of workers being injured. Calves are rated 1-5 for calmness or aggression prior to handling. Any unstable cattle are removed from the herd and painful tools such as cattle prods are avoided, calming livestock when being through chutes, or instance.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EU research network Eureka has developed a simple, fast and easy test to check the vulnerability of poultry to infection, using molecular markers to secure data in two days. Current immunity tests are imprecise, expensive and take weeks – too late to be useful.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPE’S oldest international research organisation is about to undergo a major organisation to streamline its decision-making processes, enabling a prioritisation of its study topics.
The COST (European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research) institution will from June 1 slash the number of its ruling subject ‘domain committees’ from 15 to nine, and institute 75% majority voting, where these institutions cannot form a consensus.…

BY MARK ROWE

THERE is no doubt that nanotechnology is having a huge bearing on thinking, research and production in the edible oils sector. The reason for this is clear enough: new developments could offer huge coast savings for companies, improve shelf life, taste and even offer health benefits.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE THREE-WHEELED car has a bad rap. From the boffin-like eccentricity of the Sinclair C5, or the all-round ugliness of the Robin Reliant, lets face it – they’re a marketing disaster. Until now, that is. A European Union (EU) research project has attempted to revive three-wheelers by involving BMW and aeronautics engineers to produce ‘CLEVER’, a low pollution speedy three-wheeler that tilts on corners, like a high-speed train.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

ECVAM, the European Centre for Validation of Alternative Methods, is preparing a spate of studies and reports to be released in the next six months, in its quest to devise alternatives to cosmetics animal testing. Documents from its parent, the European Union’s Joint Research Centre show ECVAM will later this year release:

*Background review documents on in vitro methods for eye irritation;

*An assessment of the validity of the micronucleus test in vitro;

*A report on the role of skin absorption in skin sensitisation hazard assessment;

*A report on using gold standards in test validation; and

*An interim validation study on endocrine disruption.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) scientists have been tasked with creating Europe-wide standards both for high quality buildings and engineering works, and the materials used to make them. Researchers directly employed by the EU, under the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) will undertake the work.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN researchers are helping build a biodiesel plant in Hangzhou, China. The universities of Milan, Jaen (in Spain), and Cordoba are working with China’s University of Tianjin and the University of Malaya to build a plant fuelled by locally available animal or vegetable matter.…