This white paper examines the current challenges for clean energy infrastructure and identifies solutions that industrial clusters, transport and logistics industries, and the wider clean energy value chain can jointly explore in order to accelerate its deployment. Thirteen new industrial clusters from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, India, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, …
there is increasing international pressure to shut down a controversial nuclear-reprocessing plant in London. According to reports in the Guardian , Denmark, Iceland and Ireland areplanning to invoke environmental treaties relating to radiation-emissions to compel suspension of all reprocessing activities at the Sellafield plant. The governments are reportedly worried about …
British casino waitress Donna MaClean is taking no chances. In today's harsh world, this 31-year-old woman has taken perhaps a most pragmatic decision: to patent herself specially so that she can protect herself from "genetic exploitation." A spokesperson at the Patent Office confirmed MaClean's application: "We have received a patent …
there is fresh evidence that the ozone layer over the uk and northern Europe is thinning. Scientists are worried by the depletion which was previously thought to be a problem largely confined to the southern hemisphere. Meteorological readings taken in the stratosphere over the Arctic show that in six of …
A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that taxi drivers in London are working their brains so hard that it has become enlarged in the zone associated with navigation
A team of geneticists in the UK has located a mutant gene that increases the risk of a common type of testicular cancer by fifty fold. Testicular germ-cell cancer is the commonest cancer among young males in western Europe. The gene, TGCT1 , which men inherit from their mothers, has …
scientists in the United Kingdom have undertaken a unique project that could help to pinpoint oil and gas deposit sites. The project, which will take two years, involves studying weather information dating back 320 million years and correlating it into a global database. The scientists go back in time to …
When the leaders of two of the most powerful free-market economies take a stance that upholds public good over private profit, it is good news for humankind. The Human Genome Project ( hgp ), aimed at 'mapping' the entire human genetic pool, is at the heart of one of the …
many writers have tried to convey the essence, appeal and worth of orchids. But most have been unsuccessful in their endeavour. Three years ago, I went to the Kew Orchids Festival in London to find out more about them. I have known orchid enthusiasts in the past and have wondered …
THE world's earliest civilisations began on the banks of rivers. With time, this became an accepted phenomenon as water was essential to sustain human habitat. Unfortunately, water has been overused and abused across the world irrespective of the economic status of the region. Take, for instance, Europe. Around 60 per …
there have been renewed demands in Japan for the recall of a shipment of plutonium from the uk following a damning report by the British Nuclear Fuels ( bnfl ). Japan's ministry of international trade and industry and the Kansai Electric Power Company have demanded that Britain take back nuclear …
the Thames Water company was fined us $403,400 by a London court for allowing millions of litres of raw sewage and industrial chemicals to flow into the Thames before diverting it into family homes. Ten families in Erith, Kent, were evacuated as their houses were flooded with sludge in November …
Streams in UK's Lake District are becoming significantly less acidic. Ed Tipping of the Windermere-based Institute of Freshwater Ecology compared pH (a measure of acidity and alkalinity) levels in rain and river water samples collected in 1999 with those in 1998 and 1971-73. He found reduction in acidity in 1999 …
a study conducted by uk -based ici (Imperial Chemical Industries) on the long-term effects of dumping chemicals in quarries near Runcorn, Cheshire, uk has turned up some startling evidence. It has confirmed that some nearby homes have tested positive for hexachlorobutadience ( hcbd ). hcbd is considered responsible for kidney …
will artificial reefs provide a new ecosystem to the dwindling species of marine lifeforms in the near future? The Loch Linnhe Artificial Reef complex, due to be built in Scotland, may answer this and other important questions about reef ecology. In a unique partnership with the industry, researchers at the …
the first uk patent for cloning has been won by the us B iotechnology company Geron Corp. The company has bought the Scottish research institute that cloned Dolly the sheep. Geron bio-med, the company set up to exploit the cloning technology, is a British subsidiary of Geron based inside the …
the uk celebrated a decade of steadily improving drinking water and marked it with a weeklong celebration. "In England and Wales, water companies operate under some of the toughest quality regulations in the world. The Drinking Water Inspectorate ( dwi )has worked hard over the last 10 yearsto achieve high …
biotechnology giant Monsanto seems perpetually embroiled in controversies. While new research has revealed that the warm climates can affect the growth of Monsanto's herbicide-resistant soya beans, Granada Food Services, which runs the cafeteria at Monsanto's headquarters in London, has decided to remove all food that is genetically-modified (gm ) from …
The wide banks of the Huntspill River in England are witnessing a dramatic increase in wildlife population. On the advice of the Hawk and Owl Trust (HOT), the National Rivers Authority (NRA) allowed Chris Sperring, conservation officer of HOT, to conduct trials on grassland management. The NRA, meanwhile, paid for …
According to scientists at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), near Oxford, UK, the Sun's field has more than doubled in the last 100 years, while its total magnetic flux has risen by a factor of 1.4 since 1964. The Sun's brightness has increased by one per cent during the last …
vacuum tubes, the kind one saw in old radio sets and televisions, were the backbone of the electronics industry till the 1960s. However, due to their large sizes, excessive heat generation and lack of integration with other electronic components, they lost the battle to solid state devices like transistors and …
