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, …
One of the main components of a video conferencing system is the codec (coder-decoder), which converts video pictures, sound and control information into a compressed digital form for transmission. Origin, a UK company, has developed a technology that can double the performance of video codecs. Origin has increased the codecs' …
Microbes found in mud, soil, and water contain compounds with potent anti-cancer activity, say Michael Shipman and his research team, which is supported by the UK Cancer Research Campaign at Loughborough University of Technology. Researchers are hopeful that these compounds, called azinomycins, will be valuable in treating some of the …
Waste Gas Technology (WGT) Inc, Hampshire, UK, has developed a new technique for utilising waste to produce electricity which, it claims, is twice as effective as conventional incineration. Depending on the waste material used, the thermo-crack system developed by WGT will generate 1000-4000 kilo-watt-hour (kwh) from a tonne of waste, …
nearly hundred and fifty years ago, William Grove, an amateur British scientist, discovered that he could produce electricity as a byproduct of the process which mixes hydrogen and oxygen to make water. Now, some British engineers say that his discovery will be the key to smog-free driving in the next …
an unusual controversy has enveloped the whole of Europe. The issue in question is the decision of the uk government to abide by the law and destroy some 3,000 frozen embryos. A 1990 British law lays down that frozen embryos, which are used in in vitro fertilisation must be destroyed …
A sample of fluid taken from the womb can reveal a lot about the health of the unborn baby. This test called amniocentesis is ordinarily given between the 15th and 18th weeks of pregnancy and is used to detect genetic problems and birth defects in the foetus. Researchers at the …
The delivery of a suspicious-looking parcel can cause enormous disruption in the working hours of any organisation, even if it eventually proves to be entirely harmless. Algis, a Derby-based company in the UK, that specialises in blast protection equipment has designed a
National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Langley Research Centre and Accurate Automation of Tennessee, US are designing a 23-foot-long subsonic flyer model of a Mach 5
Tobacco companies in the UK got a temporary reprieve when the Legal Aid Board, which grants public funds to needy litigants, refused to fund a case filed by smokers seeking billions of dollars in damages. Unless private money can be found to fund the case, 300 people suffering from lung …
The British pharmaceutical giant Glaxo Wellcome has got itself entangled in another suit ( Down To Earth , Vol 5, No 6). This time, the fight is against Emory University of Atlanta, US, over the patent on its AIDS drug, Epivir, also known as 3TC. The drug had been patented …
Research departments in the UK are likely to lose out to international competition due to a severe shortage of equipment required for critical experiments in areas of current research. Multinational companies have already started switching their research collaborations to other countries due to poor infrastructure in research departments here, according …
British scientists have developed a new range of fuel cells, regarded as viable alternatives to the currently used petrol engines in automobiles. These direct methanol fuel cells, developed by researchers at the Newcastle University in north eastern England, are electrochemical systems that convert chemical energy into electricity. Methanol and steam …
A group of researchers at a British firm, Owens Corning, have developed a new coating technology that can prevent water from damaging sensitive optical fibres in telecommunication cables. Water is known to corrode optical fibres, leading to decreased signal strength and complete failure. The new
The world's largest seller of pharmaceuticals, Glaxo Wellcome of UK, lost the latest round of a protracted legal battle in the US. A North Carolina court ruling on July 5 gave the green signal to Novopharm, the Canadian drugs company, to retail a generic version of Zantac when Glaxo's patent …
In the ongoing battle over beef, UK suffered yet another defeat when the European Court of Justice rejected its demand for an immediate lifting of the ban on its beef exports. The court in Luxembourg dismissed UK's argument that the ban was purely an economic strategy tailored to protect continental …
leaks of halon, chlorofluorocarbon, hydrochlorofluorocarbon and hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants in concentrations as low as 10 parts per million can now be located with a hand-held, easy-to-use, portable leak detector from Lidbury, a uk-based company. The portable detector, called Portamonitor, weighs 370 gm and has its sensor mounted on a 250 mm …
truce has been called by the uk and the European Union ( eu) in the three month-old battle over beef. The agreement was reached last month at the eu summit in Florence, Italy. The agreement consists of a package of measures that aims at a long term eradication of bovine …
