Tag: Europe
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Consortium Building Safe Lightweight E-Car Body, Drivetrain
A consortium of German manufacturers and Technical University Munich (Technische Universität München) is building a prototype concept car that provides a lightweight, yet strong body for electric passenger vehicles. The consortium known as Visio.M is led by car maker BMW and includes Technical University Munich as the group’s scientific partner, as well as 15 other…
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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…
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EC Opens Proof of Concept Funding Call
The European Commission opened a call for proposals to fund early-stage scientific research ideas with commercialization potential. Applications for the €10 million ($US 13.4 million) fund are due 24 April 2013. The Proof of Concept grants, as the program is called, are open to holders of current European Research Council science project funding. The scheme…
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Industrial Process Devised for Carbon Nanotube Fibers
Engineers and materials scientists from the U.S., Netherlands, and Israel developed an industrial-scale process for spinning carbon nanotubes into fibers for a range of commercial products. The team led by chemical engineering professor Matteo Pasquali at Rice University in Houston published its findings in this week’s issue of the journal Science (paid subscription required). Pasquali,…
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Weill Cornell, Tres Cantos Lab to Research TB Chemistry
Weill Cornell Medical College in New York will provide a microbiologist to work at Tres Cantos Open Lab, a facility of GlaxoSmithKline in Spain, to identify the ability of chemical compounds to penetrate the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. Financial aspects of the two-year project, funded by the Tres Cantos Open Lab Foundation, were not disclosed. The…
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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,…
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Graphene Oxide Absorbs Radioactive Material in Wastewater
Researchers at Rice University in Houston and Lomonosov Moscow State University in Russia developed a lab process with graphene oxide to remove radioactive materials from contaminated water. The team from the labs of Rice chemistry professor James Tour and Moscow chemist Stepan Kalmykov published their findings in a recent issue of the journal Physical Chemistry…
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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…
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Potential Cause of Statin-Produced Muscle Pain Revealed
Researchers at Copenhagen University in Denmark identified a possible cause for muscle pain encountered by people taking a leading statin drug for control of cholesterol. The team from the university’s Center for Healthy Aging, led by Flemming Dela, reported its findings in this month’s issue of the Journal of American College of Cardiology. Statins are…
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University, Companies Partner on Air Cleaning Technology
A chemistry professor at University of Copenhagen in Denmark is working with a Danish entrepreneur and waste processor to test a process for cleaning polluting particles from industrial emissions. Environmental chemist Matthew Johnson (pictured right) and the university have also patented the process he devised, which is based on on the natural ability of the…