A research group of the Microtechnology Centre at Chalmers, MC2, at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden, has developed an ultra-sensitive device for detecting the presence of organic molecules present in space. Organic material as far away from us as many thousands of light years can be discovered this way. The sensor, which has a world record for sensing low amounts of heat, will be a vital part in satellite systems for the Herschel Mission, a remote sensing satellite project at th

Waiting lists will not be eliminated by makeshift measures like a policy on absenteeism or recruiting people returning to work after having a family. The best way to balance supply and demand in the health care services is the application of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and in particular telemedicine. These are care innovations of the future for which government will also have to open their pockets. This was the political message brought by prof.ir. Theo de Vries in his inaugural le

A project to develop effective techniques for the ‘surface pasteurisation’ of food led by the University of Bristol is being helped by a new technique developed by scientists at the University of the West of England. Officially titled ‘BUGDEATH’ the project, which in total has eight partners, is aimed at ‘Predicting microbial death during heat treatments on foods’.

Researchers based at the University of Bristol Food Refrigeration and Process Engineering Centre, have been looking at ‘steam p

Hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, dyslexia and antisocial or aggressive behaviour in children can be traced back to what they eat. According to Dr Neil Ward from the University of Surrey’s Chemistry department, some children can react to the additives, preservatives and colourants in food products, causing certain behavioural problems. “Parents should identify the products which cause the reaction and eliminate it from the child’s diet,” he said.

Dr Ward monitored groups of children

Exposure to less than one part per billion of the most commonly used herbicide in the U.S. can feminize male frogs, according to a new study. The findings, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that concentrations of chemicals considered safe for humans can have insidious effects on amphibians and could be contributing to the global decline in their populations.

Tyrone B. Hayes of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues studied the ef

Life originated on the Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago. However, the scientists are still disputing over the possible sources of the life origin. The matter is that life on our planet evolved from the molecular level to the level of bacteria organisms within 0.5 – 1 billion years, this period being very short for such an important evolutionary step. The researchers are still racking the brains over this mystery. One of the popular hypothesis asserts that some germs of life have been brought to