Search Results for: Research

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN EU-supported research scheme has developed practical guidelines on recycling waste from 19 food production processes. AWARENET worked out technical solutions for recycling its oils, sugars, vitamins, colorants and antioxidants. *http://ica.cordis.lu/search/index.cfm?fuseaction=proj.simpledocument&PJ_RCN=5059864&CFID=58430&CFTOKEN=21966306…

BY PHILIP FINE

GRAZING cattle beef is leaner and more tender than their feed-lot counterparts, with half the saturated fat and higher levels of the more healthy types of fat, according to preliminary American research. The US Agriculture Research Service is conducting a study that will help eventually market to natural food market niches the mostly grass-fed cattle of the Appalachian mountain range in the American South.…

BY PHILIP FINE

WHILE genetic modification (GM) seems to have scored a public relations disaster regarding food crops, an attempt to garner some praise is being made in the emerging science of GM insects. Scientists hope to modify insects to control noxious weeds and insect pests, reducing the use of pesticides on agricultural, pasture and horticultural lands.…

BY ALAN OSBORN, in London
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered a study of the merits of inter-specific vines, or hybrids, signalling the possible future acceptance of such vines in the European Union wine industry. Until now EU regulations have banned their use for

appellation wines, largely because of pressure from France and other countries anxious to preserve the “pure” traditional varieties grown in natural habitats.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is trying to breed a better honey bee by using recently created bee genomic data. The ARS is identifying specific genes that boost honey bees’ immune systems, to improve both bee breeding and management, enabling the insect to fight diseases that regularly restrict honey production.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EURATOM has released its 2002 report on inquiries carried out by its European Commission officials tasked with checking the safety and security of nuclear installations across the European Union (EU); although the paper’s conclusions was generally satisfactory, it notes a number of problems detected that required resolution.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has approved a three-year supplementary research programme at the EU’s joint research centre high flux reactor, at Petten, the Netherlands. Funded largely by the Dutch government, the Euro 30.6 million studies should improve reactor safety, waste management and develop nuclear fuel unable to be transformed into weapon grade plutonium.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
SCIENTISTS in the United States have found new evidence that carbon dioxide, the main emission linked to global warming, is cooling and shrinking the atmosphere’s outermost layers, causing its air to be thinner. According to research conducted by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory, in Washington, the average density of air 60 miles upwards has dropped by 10 per cent over the last 36 years, and could decline by 50 per cent by the end of the century.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INITIAL results from the world’s largest ever study into whether mobile phone use causes cancer suggest that the technology is safe. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) says that research carried out in Denmark, forming part of the global INTERPHONE study, has concluded: “Use of a cell phone for 10 years or more did not increase acoustic neuroma risk over that of short term users.…

BY PHILIP FINE

THE US Agriculture Research Service is investigating the extent to which grass-fed free range cattle produce meat that is leaner and more tender than beef from feed-lot fattened animals. Its initial aim is to help market the mostly grass-fed cattle of the Appalachian mountain range in the American South, with farms exploiting the "natural beef" market niche, selling directly to retail outlets and wholesalers.…