A Swedish study in this week’s issue of THE LANCET confirms that people admitted to hospital with an acute heart attack are at an increased risk of having undiagnosed diabetes or increased glucose intolerance. Findings of the new study suggest that the fasting glucose of patients or high glucose concentrations immediately after heart attack could be a marker of patients at high risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease.

People with diabetes who have myocardial infarction (heart attack) are

When solving problems in the public transport sector, the standpoint taken is often too one-sided. These types of problems need an interdisciplinary approach. This is the conclusion of Wijnand Veeneman, who will defend his thesis at TU Delft on Monday 24 June. He researched four different cases in Switzerland, the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands. Veeneman: “An integral, gradual approach is needed.”

Scientists have many useful ideas about better public transport. Veeneman: “The content of the

Choosing a product is largely an emotional process. The subject of Pieter Desmet’s research project was to try to unravel this relationship between product and emotion. Along with his research, he also developed a Product-Emotion meter (PrEmo) with which emotions towards a product can be measured. Desmet will defend his thesis on Tuesday 25 June at TU Delft.

Emotions can, for example, lead us to drive a certain car or use a certain brand of toothpaste. Producers and developers of products

Denied sugar, bingeing rats suffered withdrawal

It’s a common refrain: “I’m addicted to sugar.” Now a study by Princeton University psychologists suggests that such urges really may be a form of addiction, sharing some of the physiological characteristics of drug dependence.

Although the term “sugar addiction” often appears in magazines and on television, scientists had not demonstrated that such a thing as sugar dependency really exists, said neuroscientist Bart H

Adaptive optics technology can remove the blurring effect of the Earth’s atmosphere that has long plagued astronomers, allowing ground-based telescopes to achieve a clarity of vision previously attainable only by space-based instruments. Current adaptive optics (AO) systems are able to make images that are superior to those of the Hubble Space Telescope in infrared light.

The technology still has limitations, however. For example, today’s adaptive optics systems on the largest tel

Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered a new technique to form tiny perfect crystals that have high optical quality, a finding that could usher in a new era of ultra-fast computing and communication using photons instead of electrons.

These crystals, called photonic crystals, could greatly improve both speed and bandwidth in communications systems, says University Professor Geoffrey Ozin of the Department of Chemistry.

“All of the promises of what photonic crysta