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, …
LARGE quantities of alcohol - ethanol - as consumed by earthlings have been recently found in abundance in the spatial region. Ethanol was discovered by two radio astronomers Geoff Macdonald and Rolf Habing from the Kent University in Canterbury, UK, close to a newly formed star known as G34.3+1.15. The …
WITH yet another, oil spill, this time off the coast of south Wales in the UK, the world's oceans may soon contain more oil rather than water! The recent Oil spill occured when an oil tanker - Sea Empress - ran aground ds it was enter- ing the estuary at …
INTERNET, the world's communication network will soon becorne the source for crofters - tenants in Scotland holding small plots of arable land near their homes - to access information al;6ut the ecological impact of fanning a4iions on their land. "We would like to explore @o what extent computer technology @ould …
The day may not be far when people with balding pates will have a permanent solution to their problem. Bradford University (UK) researchers have isolated hair cells from balding pates for the first time. (Spectrum, November-December 1995, No 249). The research involves comparing test-tube cultures of cells from balding and …
ORGAN transplant rejections could soon become a thing of the past. A new drug which can halve the rejection rate of transplanted organs and billed as 'the most exciting development in transplantation in the 'last decade', has been recently developed by the UK-b6sed Roche company. Though the drug, CellCept, could …
A STUDY conducted by British researchers concluded that with rising mercury levels, temperate farmlands face a potential threat in the form of insecticide-resistant aphids (insects of the Homopteran order, which live on plant juices). The aphid population had till date been kept under check due to winter frost, but when …
DEVELOPED by Roger Gosden of the University of Leeds in the UK, the process of restoring woman's fertility involves the removal of the ovaries before chemotherapy and radiation in cancer patients. A few slices of it are put in cold storage with the hope that the frozen pieces of this …
A device to aid walking, comprising eight wheels for maximum stability, built-in automatic brakes for security and a seat for resting, has been .developed by the Kingswood Supply Company of UK: to assist the elderly and others suffering from restricted mobility. The aid can also be folded up for easy …
RESEARCHERS at the Silsoe Research Institute near London have developed automatic devices which can carry out farm operations at lower costs and are more efficient. The catch in designing the system was to develop machines which could deal with both living and non-living matter and change their mode of operation …
As SPACE research becomes costlier, inexpensive propulsion systems are being widely sought. Research with a view to achieving a major reduction in the cost of satellite operation is now underway at the University of Surrey. At present, it is necessary to employ costly propulsion systems using either solid or liquid …
I Sainsbury's Horsham store in Sussex, Britain, goes green by adopting secondary refrigeration for storing both chilled and frozen foods. Ammonia is used as the main refrigerant while the secondary cooling agent is a combination of glycol and silicon oil (Technology Partnership Initiative, issue 7). Each of the nine compressors …
The proposed Newbury Bypass in southern England is the latest target of local environmentalists' ire. The Bypass is to cut across a nature reserve and a number of sites designated as being of special scientific interest. The government on the other hand claims that the bypass will reduce traffic congestion …
Surgeons perpetually fear risking the life of the patient they keep under anaesthesia. Deciding on the exact dosages of the drugs required bothers many of them. The problem has been resolved by a team of scientists in the UK (New Scientist, Vol 148, No 2005). Researchers at the Royal Adelaide …
THEY have finally caught the nasty genes - which have been plaguing women with breast cancer -- red-handed. Breast cancer research took three significant strides this year with the isolation of the BRCA-2 gene, with scientists zeroing in on the relationship between cancer gene mutation and the type of cancer …
A PORTABLE infusion pump that allows patients to carry their 'drip' around, is certainly a boon for them. This electronic pump developed by the UK medical equipment company, Smith and Nephew Industry, will enable patients to undergo treatment in the comfort of their homes while they go about their normal …
IT is known since long that high blood cholesterol levels could cause heart ailments. But recently, researchers report that its low levels could be bothersome too. Lower blood cholesterol levels have been held responsible for an increase in suicidal tendency and aggressive behaviour (Current Science, Vol 69, No 6). A …
ALTHOUGH fibre-optics has brought a revolution in the field of teleco nications, the stumbling blocks arel the switches in use. Though the move through the fibres at the spi light (300,000 krn per sec), the inter between the electronics and the filll by electronic switches which are extrei slow in …
FINDING a cure for cancer has been unending drive for many a drug fil for years now. But the UK-based Brit Biotech company seems poised to lea the others far behind with its flagst anticancer drug, Marimastat showi positive results in trial tests. Such is t euphoria surrounding its new …
DIET to lose those fat contours and you lose your memory too - warn researchers at the Institute of Food Research in the UK. Rejecting poor nutrition or lack of energy as causes for poor mental performance of dieters, scientists conclude that the cause is actually psychological, says a report …
Every month countless women suffer abdominal pain caused due to the menstrual cycle. Nigel Cronin at the University of Bath, UK, has developed a microwave probe to treat this problem. The probe, inserted into the uterus, sends out heat producing microwaves of 3.3 cm wavelengths which destroy only the endometrium …
