Tag: Europe
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Ozone Acts As Vaccine to Protect Fruit from Spoilage
Biologists at Newcastle University in the U.K. have found that exposing fruit to a blast of ozone gas can protect them against spoilage from fungus. Microbiologist Ian Singleton (pictured right) and plant biologist Jerry Barnes at Newcastle present their findings today at the spring conference of the Society for General Microbiology. Singleton says the ozone…
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Q1 2011 Venture Fund Raising Up in U.S., Down in Europe
Venture capital (VC) funds in the U.S. raised $7.7 billion in the first quarter of 2011, nearly double the $3.9 billion raised in the first quarter of 2010, according to Dow Jones LP Source. Early-stage funds — those that invest in start up companies, such enterprises begun by university researchers — were among the VCs…
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African Plants Tested as Malaria Therapies, Insecticides
Researchers at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, near Oslo, are studying and testing plant extracts that have been used in traditional African medicine to fight malaria. The team hopes the project leads to supplements and replacements for today’s conventional medicines. Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite. People with malaria often experience…
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Wind Turbine Blade Edge Helps Reduce Power Costs
Denmark’s National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy and three corporate partners have developed a controllable trailing edge for wind turbine blades that can reduce loads on turbines and help reduce the cost of electricity from wind power. The lab, known as Risø DTU, is part of the Technical University of Denmark in Roskilde. Wind turbines are…
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Merck to Offer Biotech Funding, Incubator in Israel
The global pharmaceutical company Merck in Darmstadt, Germany has opened the Merck Serono Israel Bioincubator Fund, to support Israeli biotech and materials science start up companies. Merck’s chairman Karl-Ludwig Kley announced the initiative yesterday during meetings with officials in Israel. Merck’s incubator program covers pharmaceuticals, life sciences, and high-performance materials. The program will offer start…
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University Studying Smart Polymer Film to Control Substrates
Researchers at Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany are developing thin plastics with the ability to control the properties of materials to which they are attached. The films made of polymers — long, repeating chains of molecules — would contain elements that react to external stimuli, such as light or magnetic fields, and change the underlying…
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iPhone App Helps Doctors Deal with Cardiac Emergencies
A study of an iPhone application giving emergency medical instructions suggests that the app helps doctors perform better in a simulated cardiac arrest case. The results of the study appear online in the journal Anaesthesia. The iResus app was developed by the U.K.’s Resuscitation Council and offers guidelines on medical emergency responses for adults and…
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U.K. Grant Funds Composite Materials Research
A research team from two universities in the U.K. have been awarded a grant to develop a new generation of high performance, fiber-reinforced polymer composites to overcome failures that can happen with little warning. The £6 million ($US 9.6 million) six-year grant by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council was awarded to University of…
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Electrolyte Nanocrystals Increase Efficiency of Fuel Cells
Researchers at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands found that adding small crystals to solid electrolyte material can raise the efficiency of fuel cells. The TU Delft team published its findings, the second recent article on this subject, in the journal Advanced Functional Materials (paid subscription required). Fuel cells are devices that…
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European Patent Office to Translate Patents with Google Tech
The European Patent Office (EPO), headquarted in Munich, Germany and Google signed an agreement to collaborate on machine translation of patents into 32 European and Asian languages. The signing follows a November agreement between EPO and Google to pursue the deal. EPO will use Google’s technology to offer translation of patents on its Web site…