Researchers at the University of Dundee are calling for 100 new volunteers to help them with ground breaking research into improving current health care services for people with Type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes is fast becoming an epidemic and experts are predicting the problem will continue to get worse as people limit the level of physical activity they do. Since 1999, the number of people with diabetes in Tayside has increased from 9005 to 14,632.
Although regular physical a
Listening to music can reduce chronic pain by up to 21 per cent and depression by up to 25 per cent, according to a paper in the latest UK-based Journal of Advanced Nursing.
It can also make people feel more in control of their pain and less disabled by their condition.
Researchers carried out a controlled clinical trial with sixty people, dividing them into two music groups and a control group.
They found that people who listened to music for an hour ever
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the first-ever picture of a distant quasar lensed into five images. In addition the image holds a treasure of lensed galaxies and even a supernova.
The most unique feature in this new image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is a group of five quasar images produced by a process called ‘gravitational lensing’. By this process the gravitational field of an extremely massive body – in this case, a cluster of galaxies – wa
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express, show Pavonis Mons, the central volcano of the three ’shield’ volcanoes that comprise Tharsis Montes.
ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft obtained these images using the HRSC during orbit 902 with a ground resolution of approximately 14.3 metres per pixel. The images were acquired in the region of Pavonis Mons, at approximately 0.6° South and 246.4° East.
The conte
ESA has announced the shortlist of new Earth Explorer mission proposals within its Living Planet Programme. This is part of the selection procedure that will eventually lead to the launch of the fourth Earth Explorer Core mission during the first half of the next decade.
The six missions cover a range of environmental issues with the aim of furthering our understanding of the Earth system and changing climate: BIOMASS – to take global measurements of forest biomass.
To strengthen the position of natural rubber in relation to its synthetic rival, a CIRAD team has just used an innovative technique to identify a new indicator of the quality of this noble material.
Natural rubber has properties that are still unsurpassed, and many specific uses: aircraft and truck tyres, vehicle engine supports, high-speed train suspension parts, industrial glues and adhesive tapes, elastic yarns, gloves, condoms, etc. However, it is a product of biological ori
Over the past five years, the Central African Republic has embarked upon managing 90% of its forestry concessions. This is the result of an original incentive scheme involving the authorities and logging firms, headed by CIRAD.
In Gabon, Cameroon and the Republic of Congo, industrialists are obliged by law to fund management schemes for their forestry concessions. In the Central African Republic, it is up to the State to draw up such schemes, which are then implemented by priva
Wood is the main energy source in the Sahel. In order to plan for changes in stocks, it is essential to be able to produce a common estimate of the productivity of savannahs in all the countries concerned. This is the aim of the Savafor network, which was founded recently.
Wood and charcoal cover a substantial part of domestic energy requirements in Sahel countries: from 47% of requirements in Senegal to 96% in Chad, according to a 1986 FAO study. Wooded formations, primarily dry s
Europe, and particularly France, are in a unique position in terms of the diversity of their overseas communities, outermost regions (ORs) and overseas countries and territories (OCTs). These regions, which may be islands or continental and are often in the tropics, are home to an exceptional degree of biodiversity, but it is under great threat. They also shed light on and are of use in assessing the impact of human activity on biodiversity.
Our understanding of the interactions between b
Economic expansion in China is threatening the country’s scarce water resources, according to a new study by the University of Leeds. Uneven development of trade across the country means that water-intensive or polluting industries are expanding in areas where water is in shortest supply.
Dr Klaus Hubacek and Mr Dabo Guan from the University’s Sustainability Research Institute assessed how much water different industries consume or pollute. Using these figures, they compared the ‘virtual
Bacteria that can munch through confectionery could be a valuable source of non-polluting energy in the years ahead, new research has shown.
In a feasibility study funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, bioscientists at the University of Birmingham have demonstrated that these bacteria give off hydrogen gas as they consume high-sugar waste produced by the confectionery industry.
The hydrogen has been used to generate clean electricity via a fu
A collaboration between the University of Leicester Space Research Centre and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is about to reach a new stage as hardware built at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai is sent to Leicester for integration into an x-ray camera.
The camera will eventually be returned to India for installation into Astrosat, India’s first national astronomy satellite. The five instruments in Astrosat’s payload will observe exotic o
Researchers at the University of Dundee have made a major breakthrough in observing how our genes function, a development which could offer powerful new methods for understanding how genes misbehave in human diseases such as cancer and Alzheimers.
Dr Jonathan Chubb, Principal Investigator in the Division of Cell and Developmental Biology in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee, in collaboration with researchers in New York, has made a major advance in our unders
New research by Liverpool John Moores University indicates that the Government’s Parental Leave and Flexible Working Request initiatives are failing to help working parents, particularly mothers, achieve a better work life balance.
Dr Kay Standing, who led the LJMU research, explains: “The Flexible Working Request is a move in the right direction, but its voluntary nature means it lacks any real power to help working parents. Very few people know that they are entitled to Par
Giving a mix of farm animals a controlled ’right to roam’ will help to improve biodiversity and solve a vole conservation dilemma in upland Britain, according to new research published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology.
As numbers of hill farmers and grazing animals dwindle, field voles are thriving in undisturbed upland and forest areas. This is great news for protected birds of prey such as hen harriers that use voles as a source of food, but not so good for Br
With the increase of metabolic diseases worldwide, new methods for researching these conditions takes on an ever-increasing priority in order to accelerate the…
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