Science and Enterprise

Tag: U.K.

  • Dementia Screening Test Adapted for Smartphone App

    Neuroscientists and clinicians from the U.K. and Australia translated a paper-based screening test for dementia into a smartphone app that the developers believe will make the tool more accurate and widely used. The researchers from Plymouth University in the U.K., Derriford Plymouth Hospitals, and Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney unveiled an advance version of the…

  • Gastric Model Lands Funding for Expanded Applications

    An artificial digestive system developed at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich, U.K. for lab tests of physical and biochemical processes in the human stomach and intestines, secured more than £900,000 ($US 1.4 million) for research on new models of nutritional quality and health benefits. The two-year grant is provided to the Institute of…

  • Nano Patterns in Plastic Help Stem Cells Become Bone Cells

    Medical researchers and engineers at universities of Southampton and Glasgow in the U.K. created a nanoscale process with a common plastic material to convert human embryonic stem cells into skeletal tissue cells. The findings of the team led by Southampton’s Richard Oreffo are described online in a recent issue of the journal Small (paid subscription…

  • 3D Printing Reproduces Human Embryonic Stem Cells

    Biomedical engineers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. and the company Roslin Cellab also near Edinburgh developed a lab technique with ink-jet printing to build human embryonic stem cells. The team led by Heriot-Watt professor Will Wenmiao Shu published its findings yesterday in the journal Biofabrication (available free with regisration for 30 days). While…

  • Weaknesses Found in Online Banking, Facebook Security

    Computer scientists at University of London’s Royal Holloway College found what they call major weaknesses in the security protocol for protecting online e-mail, Facebook, and financial transactions. The team led by Royal Holloway information security professor Kenny Paterson say they found the vulnerabilities in the transport layer security protocol designed to prevent eavesdropping, tampering, and…

  • Techniques Developed for Defect-Free Graphene Formation

    Researchers in the U.K., Germany, and Greece developed a method of forming graphene layers with uniform orientation and alignment, using established and inexpensive techniques. The team led by University of Oxford materials scientist Nicole Grobert published its findings online last week in the journal ACS Nano (paid subscription required). Grobert (pictured right), with colleagues from…

  • U.K. to Spend $20.4 Million on Catalytic Chemistry

    The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council,  or EPSRC, a research funding agency in the U.K., will devote £12.9 million ($US 20.4 million) to the U.K. Catalysis Hub, a catalytic science research program to support economic growth. The program is based at the Research Complex at Harwell in Oxfordshire, and is expected to involve scientists…

  • Chemical Treatments Can Reduce Carbon Nanotube Toxicity

    Researchers at University College London, with colleagues in the U.K., France, Italy, and Spain found ways to reduce the toxicity of carbon nanotubes, which are structurally similar to asbestos. The findings of the team led by UCL chemical engineer and pharmacy professor Kostas Kostarelos appear online in the journal Angewandte Chemie (paid subscription required). Carbon…

  • Carnegie Mellon, Anglo American Partner on Mining Robotics

    Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and the mining company Anglo American PLC, based in London, agreed to develop robotic technologies for the mining industry. Financial terms of the five-year deal were not disclosed. The agreement calls for Carnegie Mellon’s National Robotics Engineering Center to design, build and deploy with Anglo American mining robots, robotic tools,…

  • Color X-Ray System Devised for Health, Security, Industry

    Materials scientists at University of Manchester in the U.K. developed a faster and more feasible 3D color X-ray system with potential uses in health care, security inspections, and industrial quality assurance. The researchers, led by Manchester’s Robert Cernik, describe their invention in the current issue of the journal Analyst (free registration required). Cernik’s team, which…