Search Results for: Research

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced that it intends to apply the same strict state aid rules for the European Union steel industry that have applied in the past under the regulations of the European Coal and Steel Community, which expires on July 23.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AS acts of international largesse go, the expansion of the European Union eastwards and southwards must rank as being one of the most generous in history. With research estimates claiming that the size of the EU budget will soar to accommodate the needs of the former communist republics, (plus Cyprus and Malta), we are talking Marshall Plan here; billions of Euro’s being transferred from national coffers in western Europe to the east, via Brussels.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
Australian researchers have invented a super-microscope that minutely examines the chemical components of a wide range of minerals and then produces a clear image to work from.

It is being hailed as a breakthrough by geologists and mining companies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL organisation is to be set up later this year to help developing country governments negotiate better deals for drug access, as well as helping local researchers to protect their ideas from being poached. The MIHR, (Management of Intellectual property in Health Research and development), will be set up by public health and intellectual property experts from Britain and the Netherlands, with the assistance of experts from Asia, Africa, south America and north America.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE, in Sydney
RESEARCHERS at the University of Tasmania, Australia, have developed the world’s first smart car that can override driver error and reduce road accidents.

“In terms of a comprehensive central processing unit working as an artificial brain to make driving safer, this is a world first,” said project leader Dr Vishy Karri.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
AN AUSTRALIAN company has made a breakthrough in developing insect-repellent clothing. In tests, cloth samples impregnated with a synthetic pyrethroid repellent killed most mosquitoes before they even touched the material.

Its manufacturing method applies the chemicals with the softeners onto the fabric and becomes part of the chemical finish on the treated textile.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
CANADIAN meat producers in Alberta are using their livestock excrement to heal contaminated soil caused by leaks from oil and gas exploration.

Researchers at colleges in Lethbridge and Olds, Alberta, have found that contaminated earth mixed with raw cattle or poultry manure, which was turned repeatedly to introduce oxygen to the mix, developed micro-organisms, (fungus and molds), getting to work to break down hardened hydrocarbons.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU research Commissioner Philippe Busquin has called for a European organisation spreading expertise on plant science to be created. He has also stressed that the oncoming 2003-2006 EU Sixth Framework Programme for research has earmarked Euro 685 million for food quality and safety studies.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
A SYSTEM for turning crushed and pulverized waste glass into powder with a particle size finer than 5mm has been developed by Japan’s Garasu Resourcing Co, for use as an alternative construction material solidifying flimsy terrain in place of natural sand.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SERIES of good practice recommendations on the prevention and detection of e-coli outbreaks has been issued by the European Commission, following a study of how six EU Member States deal with the pathogen.

Officials looked at the monitoring and control systems for red meat and milk in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Portugal and Sweden and concluded that although all were alert to the risks of e-coli contamination, there was a wide range of different public and private control measures.…