Tag: university
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Grant to Fund Research on Network Efficiency Math Theory
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in the U.K. has awarded a £1.6 million ($US 2.5 million) grant to two researchers at University of York to study mathematical theory with applications in electronic communications, including the efficiency of wireless networks. The EPSRC grant will fund the work of York mathematicians Sanju Velani (pictured right)…
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Statins Found to Reduce Cancers After Heart Transplants
A study by physicians and medical researchers at University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland indicates heart transplant patients taking statins — drugs used to lower cholesterol — reduced their risk of getting cancer, and were associated with overall survival independent of their cholesterol levels. The findings were reported yesterday at a meeting of the European Society…
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Faster, Higher Capacity Memory Chip Developed
Engineers at University College London (UCL), with colleagues in France and Spain, have developed a silicon oxide memory chip that is faster can operate in ambient conditions. The discovery is described online in the Journal of Applied Physics (paid subscription required), and a patent has been filed for the technology. The team led by UCL…
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Bay Area Consortium to Fund Large-Scale Solar R&D
The Bay Area Photovoltaic Consortium (BAPVC) unveiled its first research grants aimed at making utility-scale solar power cost-competitive by the end of the decade. The new funds from the consortium — an industry-backed venture led by Stanford University and the University of California-Berkeley — total $7.5 million. The grants will support 18 projects at BAPVC…
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Graphene as Rust-Proof Coating for Steel in Development
Chemistry researchers from University at Buffalo in New York are developing a process for rust-proofing steel using a graphene-based composite as a coating. The Indian steel manufacturer Tata Steel is participating in the research by chemistry professor Sarbajit Banerjee and doctoral candidate Robert Dennis. In early experiments, Banerjee and Dennis were able to increase the…
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Study: FDA Approves Drugs Faster Than in Europe, Canada
Researchers at the Yale University medical school have found that since 2001, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) generally approves drug therapies faster and earlier than its counterparts in Canada and Europe. The findings of medical student Nicholas Downing and colleagues appear online in the New England Journal of Medicine. Downing’s team, under the…
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Two Paralyzed People Use Brain-Controlled Robotic Arms
Two stroke victims with tetraplegia — total loss of the use of limbs and torso — were able to control robotic arms with brain activity to reach, grasp, and use physical objects. The results of this study from the BrainGate project are reported today online in the journal Nature (paid subscription required). The BrainGate project…
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New Heart-Healthy Oat Variety Developed
Agricultural researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a new kind of oat grain with greater amounts of a compound that can lower the amount of the harmful cholesterol in humans. BetaGene, as the new variety is called, is a product of a 14-year project in the Small Grains Breeding Program in UW-Madison’s agronomy department.…
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Technique Devised to Measure Pipeline Gas Bubbles
Researchers at University of Southampton in the U.K. have discovered a method to more accurately measure gas bubbles that develop in pipelines. The team led by Tim Leighton of Southampton’s Institute of Sound and Vibration Research describe their findings online in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A (paid subscription required). Pipelines are used…
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Engineering Students Build Inexpensive IV Drip Controller
A group of engineering undergraduate students at Rice University in Houston have built a simple device to control the flow of intravenous (IV) feeding tubes, like those used with children to treat dehydration. The students, who started the project earlier this year as freshmen, designed the IV device as part of the university’s Beyond Traditional…