Tag: Europe
-
International Team Develops Optical Packet Router
Researchers from Spain, the Netherlands, and Canada have developed an optical router chip, capable of operating up to 100 times faster than currently available chips. The router, that incorporates the principle of directing packets of data, are described in the latest issue of the journal Optics Express. The new chip is capable of routing optical…
-
Grad Student Improves Solar Collector, Starts Company
A masters degree candidate at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands developed a new type of hybrid solar collector with higher efficiency and longer lifespan than the current hybrid systems. Stefan Roest, who recently completed his degree in sustainable energy technology at Delft, also helped start Eternal Sun, a company to bring solar test…
-
Wood Products Offered As Part of Carbon Control Strategy
Taking advantage of the full life-cycle of forests and wood products offers opportunities for greater control of carbon emissions, according to an analysis by a team of researchers from the U.S. and Sweden. Their paper appears in the June issue of the journal Carbon Management. The review, by Bruce Lippke, University of Washington professor emeritus…
-
Researchers Develop Low-Energy Cardiac Defibrillation
Scientists from Germany, France, and the U.S. have developed a new process to regulate dangerous fluctuations in heart rhythms with far less energy and pain than current methods. The team’s findings appear in the current issue of the journal Nature (paid subscription required). The regular human heartbeat is controlled by the heart’s electrical system. An…
-
Chemical Particles in Diesel Fumes Pose Cardiac Risk
Researchers at University of Edinburgh in the U.K. and colleagues in the Netherlands and Sweden have found that ultrafine particles from the burning of diesel fuel can increase the chances of blood clots forming in arteries, leading to a heart attack or stroke. Their findings appear in the current issue of the European Heart Journal.…
-
International Team Completes Draft Sequence of Potato Genome
The Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium (PGSC), a global group of universities and research institutes, has published a draft sequence of the potato genome. Their work appears in the current issue of the journal Nature. PGSC began in 2006 at Wageningen University & Research Centre in the Netherlands, and has grown to include 29 research groups…
-
Medical Center Commercializes Nanotech Cancer Treatment
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in Germany now offers for selected patients a nanomedicine method for the treatment of recurrent brain tumors. The science underlying the nanotechnology-based cancer therapy was developed by researchers at Charité, which is being marketed by MagForce Nanotechnologies AG, a Charité spin off company. The principle behind the therapy is the use…
-
Lasers, Electric Fields Aid Lab-on-a-Chip Technology
Researchers from universities in the U.S., U.K., and China are developing new processes that combine a laser and electric fields to manipulate fluids and tiny particles such as bacteria, viruses, and DNA on miniature chip-sized analytic devices. These advances, with applications ranging from drug manufacturing to food safety, are described in the current issue of…
-
University Spin-Off to Develop Semiconductor Power Devices
Anvil Semiconductors Ltd, a company created by University of Warwick in Coventry, U.K., will develop silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor power switches that promise to be smaller and more efficient than devices built on traditional silicon. The company was founded by Warwick engineering faculty Phil Mawby and Peter Ward, who designed the company’s development technology in…
-
Integrated Robotic Tactile Skin Sensitivity Developed
Researchers at Technical University Munich (Technische Universität München, TUM) have built small hexagonal plates, which when joined together, provide a tactile-sensitive skin for autonomous robots. A paper describing these developments appears in the June issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Robotics (paid subscription required). The TUM scientists have developed an artificial skin for robots…