One problem confronting the oil industry is that extracted mineral oil (due to increasing scarcity) is becoming heavier and ’dirtier’. This is reflected, for instance, in a higher content of aromatics (which among other things lead to soot emissions during combustion in diesel engines) and of sulphur (which among things causes acid rain). At the same time, the global ceilings for aromatics and sulphur content in fuels are becoming increasingly strict.
The Delft-based PhD studen
The classic stereotype of an engineer – a man who is brilliant at and passionate about technology, but not so good at dealing with people – bears little resemblance to actual engineers or their work, according to new research from the University of Edinburgh. These stereotypes hamper the engineering profession’s efforts to recruit women, says Dr Wendy Faulkner who carried out the study.
Dr Faulkner, who interviewed and observed 66 men and women engineers working in a range of industr
New research at UT Southwestern Medical Center shows that on a biochemical level, hormone-like molecules in tiny worms called nematodes work similarly to the way in which certain hormones work in humans — findings that one day may help eradicate worm infections that afflict a third of the world’s population.
UT Southwestern researchers have discovered a molecule that activates genes involved in the development and reproduction of Caenorhabditis elegans, a common research worm abou
Coinciding with International Brain Awareness Week (13- 19 March 2006), The George Institute for International Health will launch the second phase of a large-scale study on mild-Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) among non-elite rugby union and league players in Sydney.
The study will provide the evidence upon which guidelines/policies can be developed that manage a player’s return to the sporting field following a concussion. Last year, more than 1200 rugby players from various sch
A study published in the 2006 March issue of Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics by a Swedish group of investigators points to the effects of social isolation and low mood on the progression of coronary disease.
Although both depressive symptoms and social isolation in relation to coronary heart disease have been studied previously, few have examined their joint effects on coronary atherosclerosis progression in women.
Among the women enrolled in the Stockholm Female Corona
A review on the neuropsychological aspects of bipolar disorder (alternations of mania and depression) by the group of Eduard Vieta (university of Barcelona) points to impairments in intellectual functioning in this patient population. The review was published in the 2006 March issue of Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics.
More and more epidemiological, genetic and neuroimaging studies show similarities between bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ). Cognitive functions are known to
An experimental investigation by Carol Ryff and associates (University of Wisconsin), published in the March issue of the journal of Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, underscores the biological consequences of psychological well-being. The article is accompanied by an editorial by Renato Pasquali, Professor of Endocrinology at the University of Bologna.
Increasingly, researchers attend to both positive and negative aspects of mental health. Such distinctions call for clarification of wheth
If blown up in size, it would not have a chance in the car factory, but the microscopic conveyer belt built by Simon Bending’s team in the Department of Physics at the University of Bath and collaborators in Japan and the USA, could just be the next big thing for improving devices relying on the elusive properties of superconductors (Nature Materials, Advanced Online Publication March 12 2006). It’s not your standard rubber band on cylinders though – it moves in an erratic way, a quick jolt t
Saturn’s moon Enceladus is the source of Saturn’s E-ring, confirms research published today.
Writing in the journal Science, scientists show how a plume of icy water vapour bursting out of the South Pole of Enceladus replenishes the water particles that make up the E-ring and creates a dynamic water-based atmosphere around the small moon. The E-ring is Saturn’s outermost ring and is composed of microscopic particles. It is very diffuse and stretches between the orbit of two of Sat
Twenty years ago, in the night between 13 and 14 March 1986, ESA’s Giotto spacecraft encountered Comet Halley. It was ESA’s first deep space mission, and part of an ambitious international effort to solve the riddles surrounding this mysterious object.
The adventure began when Giotto was launched by an Ariane 1 rocket (flight V14) on 2 July 1985. After three revolutions around the Earth, the on-board motor was fired to inject it into an interplanetary orbit.
After a crui
Researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE) have developed a Braille keyboard for PCs that has some unique features. The keyboard provides more applications for blind people and is particularly useful for scientific texts and musical scores.
The new keyboard, which connects to the PC through the USB port, will make using a computer much easier for blind people who are accustomed to using Braille typewriter
Embryonic development is already disturbed at concentrations 10 times lower than the norm for human consumption.
Dioxin-like contaminants such as PCB’s are probably playing a key role in the extinction of the eel. Embronyic development in this species is halted at dioxin concentrations 10 times below the levels for human consumption. This discovery was made by a team of biologists, led by Guido van den Thillart, who are conducting research in Leiden into the sexual maturity and
Probabilistic system on chip technology reduces energy consumption by a factor of more than 500 for some applications
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology announce energy savings by a factor of more than 500 in simulations with their ultra energy efficient embedded architecture based on Probabilistic CMOS (PCMOS). The research team’s PCMOS devices take advantage of noise, currently fabricated at the quarter-micron (0.25 micron) level, and uses probability to extract
Oral cancer is the 6th most common cancer in men and the 14th most common cancer in women. In the US, oral cancer will be diagnosed in an estimated 30,000 Americans this year and will cause more than 8,000 deaths. The disease kills approximately one person every hour. Oral cancer can spread quickly. The majority of oral cancers are diagnosed in late stages, which accounts for the high death rates. Only half of those diagnosed with the disease will survive more than five years. However, if the
Effects could extend from base of food chain to native hunters
Physical changes–including rising air and seawater temperatures and decreasing seasonal ice cover–appear to be the cause of a series of biological changes in the northern Bering Sea ecosystem that could have long-range and irreversible effects on the animals that live there and on the people who depend on them for their livelihoods.
In a paper published March 10 in the journal Science, a team of U.S. and
More help for patients already taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs
A pill containing plant substances called sterols can help lower cholesterol, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The researchers studied patients who already were eating a heart-healthy diet and taking statin drugs to control cholesterol. The addition of plant sterols helped further lower total cholesterol and contributed to a nearly 10 percent reductio
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