Search Results for: Research

BY MARK ROWE
FRENCH scientists may have found the first biological evidence that tobacco can make smokers less intelligent and more forgetful. Scientists at the Paris-based National Institute for Health and Medical Research found in tests on rats that the harmful nicotine in cigarettes destroys brain cells and impedes production of new ones.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GREEK renewable energy company has been ordered to repay the equivalent of Drachma 9.4 million, plus interest, of the Drachma 13.8 million it was given by the European Commission in 1985 to instal a 300 kW wind energy converter on an Aegean island; the idea was to demonstrate the system for two years and then hand it over to an operator.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AUSTRALIAN scientists have produced what they call the world’s first virtual tour of a stretch of ocean floor, an invention that could provide undersea mining prospectors with valuable geological and topographical information.

The 3D map covers 2 million sq km of the 11 million sq km of ocean over which Australia has sovereign rights, off the island continent’s south east shores.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
THE SASKATCHEWAN provincial government in Canada has recently passed a restrictive act that prohibits the advertising and displaying of tobacco products in retail outlets where people under the age of eighteen are allowed on the premises.

Shopkeepers are forced to hide cigarettes from patrons by enclosing them in non- transparent cabinets, behind curtains or blinds or selling them from under the counter.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU Joint Research Centre’s reactor at Geel, the Netherlands, was to be restarted in March, following its shutdown in February for IAEA-led safety assessments. These have led to improved training and monitoring procedures.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CRIMINALS dream of a world without police and although such a concept might seem science-fiction, it is actually easy to commit offences away from the eyes of law enforcement: just hire a boat. On the high seas, there is no-one watching, which is why fishing crime is so common and difficult to detect.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTERNATIONAL cooperation is to be stepped up to fight travel document fraud, with border authorities increasingly anxious to restrict the movement of would-be terrorists.

The European Union Council of Ministers (justice and home affairs) has agreed in principle to allow information on counterfeits to be exchanged between its working party on frontiers and false documents and Europol, Interpol, the USA and Canada.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FINDINGS of three EU funded research projects have concluded that water consumption could be reduced by as much as 90 per cent in certain economic sectors, namely tanneries, abandoned industrial sites and waste water management. The European Commission is now advising industry to further reduce their water consumption through internal recycling.…

BY MARK ROWE
CHINA is drafting its first law governing the use of biotechnology in an attempt to protect public health and the environment. The law will seek to control the potentially harmful effects of genetically modified organisms, such as crops, in areas including research and imports from abroad.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A CLINICAL trials programme aimed at uniting EU and developing country research teams in creating medicines to treat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the third world was to be launched this month. The European Commission wants to dedicate Euro 200 million to the European-Developing Countries Clinical Trials Programme in the next Sixth Framework Programme for research.…