Search Results for: Research

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE USA’S Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has developed a sensor that can predict almost immediately how much nutrition a calf is drawing from grazing grass, and say how much weight it could gain from it. Oklahoma firms Durant Design and Development and TerraVerde Technologies are now working with the ARS to design, manufacture and market a small, low-cost, hand-held optical remote sensor that can calculate, store and display data on forage nutrient quality.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations’ International Seabed Authority has delayed agreement of new regulations governing how metal ore mining companies would explore and exploit deep seawaters for hauls such as polymetallic sulphide nodules and cobalt-rich crusts. These mineral resources are rich in copper, iron, zinc, silver, gold and cobalt; sulphides are found around volcanic areas and crusts on oceanic ridges.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) report has called for public health teams in malarial zones to ensure new anti-malarial drugs are used in combination with other medicines, to weaken the ability of the disease’s parasite to become immune.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
AN INTERNATIONAL research team has isolated the three-dimensional molecular structure of a protein that could form the heart of a successful malaria vaccine, the USA’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has reported. Thus far, malaria vaccines have only temporarily suppressed the disease, with a future fully protective malaria vaccine probably involving several components.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report has called for the publishing industry to experiment with business models to encourage digital production of scientific books and journals. The Paris-based OECD wants the sector to trial subscriber-paid multi-journal content, author-paid open access publishing, and publicly available archives and repositories, to see what is most viable.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE USA’S Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has unveiled a natural super-carbohydrate ingredient for biscuits and cookies, but that promotes good health. Calorie-Trim (or C-Trim) is made from whole oats and barley, containing 20-50% soluble fibre beta-glucan, cutting bad cholesterol.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MALARIA parasites make humans infected with the disease when in its transmissible phase more attractive to mosquitoes, encouraging them to bite, become infected themselves, and then spread it to other hosts, researchers claim. The fact that mosquitoes carrying a fully developed malaria parasite are manipulated by this organism to bite more frequently was already known.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have been asked to formally approve a deal struck between the European Commission and the Swiss government on deepening their cooperation in nuclear research projects. The agreement cements the participation of Swiss researchers in the Euratom components of multi-billion Euro EU framework programmes on research.…

BY MARK ROWE
INTRODUCTION

WEATHER forecasting has evolved somewhat beyond the reliance of medieval truisms such as rain on St Swithin’s Day meant 40 more days of showers. But better weather forecasts are only any use if we are able to respond to such information accordingly and effectively.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RESEARCHERS at the Institute of Vegetal Biology and Photosynthesis of the Spanish National Research Council, in Seville, have developed a system producing large amounts of lutein, an antioxidant fighting degenerative diseases such as arteriosclerosis or cataracts. They have created a cell culture production system using the green alga Muriellopsis, which they claim guarantees more abundant and sustained production than from marigold plant petals.…