As any viewer of Crimewatch will know, E-fit pictures don’t always give a true likeness of a human face. However, all this is set to change thanks to researchers at the University of Kent who are working with their counterparts at the Open University to create a software system that will generate far more life-like, and therefore far more easily identifiable, faces.
Using a combination of computer science and forensic psychology, the team are developing a revolutionary system that will enabl
A University of Ulster researcher has come up with a new method, using Artificial Intelligence techniques, to forecast wind energy more accurately than ever before.
Predicting how fast the wind will blow has always been a major problem for wind farm operators. It is essential that they have some idea of how much electricity they will be able to produce each day based on the strength of the wind.
Energy forecasting has become a critical factor in the efficient generation of power from w
First-Ever Census of Variable Mira-Type Stars in Galaxy Outside the Local Group
An international team led by ESO astronomer Marina Rejkuba has discovered more than 1000 luminous red variable stars in the nearby elliptical galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128).
Brightness changes and periods of these stars were measured accurately and reveal that they are mostly cool long-period variable stars of the so-called ‘Mira-type’. The observed variability is caused by stellar pulsation.
This is
A team of astrophysicists at the University of the Basque Country has detected, for the first time ever, changes in Saturn’s winds. The research has merited front page coverage in the scientific magazine, Nature.
The winds blowing around Saturn and Jupiter are special. Unlike those of the rest of the planets, these move in an eastwards direction and are ten times stronger than the earth’s winds. On our planet it is solar radiation which governs the winds, but on the distant planets it is bel
A unique group of oxide materials that readily gives up and accepts oxygen atoms with changes in temperature could be the basis for a small-scale hydrogen production system able to power fuel cells in homes — and potentially in automotive applications.
Scientists have long known that oxides of the rare earth elements cerium (Ce), terbium (Tb), and praseodymium (Pr) can produce hydrogen from water vapor and methane in continuous “inhale and exhale” cycles. By doping iron atoms into the oxid
Cells show promise for cancer and transplant patients because of rapid growth in bone marrow
Scientists with University Health Network have discovered a new class of human stem cells that rapidly grow when implanted in the bone marrow of mice. The findings, available today in an advance on-line publication of the international scientific journal Nature Medicine, are a major advancement in human stem cell research with possible significant clinical implications for designing more effec
Researchers have identified a mechanism by which the eight amino acid peptide NAP, an active fragment of a neuroprotective brain protein, protects against alcohol-induced embryo toxicity and growth retardation in mice. Their findings bring alcohol researchers a critical step closer to developing pharmacologic agents to prevent alcohol-induced fetal damage. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the National Institute o
Joint news release of Infineon Technologies and IBM
IBM and Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE: IFX) today announced they have developed the most advanced Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM) technology to date by integrating magnetic memory components into a high-performance logic base.
Today’s announcement could accelerate the commercialization of MRAM, a breakthrough memory technology with the potential to begin replacing some of today’s memory technologies as early as
Scientists working with cells that may someday be used to replace diseased or damaged cells in the brain have taken neural stem cell technology a key step closer to the clinic.
Writing in the current online edition (June 2003) of the Journal of Neurochemistry, scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Waisman Center describe the first molecular profile for human fetal neural stem cell lines that have been coaxed to thrive in culture for more than a year.
The work is a
Whether food-borne bacteria make people sick depends on a variety of factors, and better understanding of the infection process could lead to ways to stop such illnesses from occurring, according to Purdue University scientists.
In the first comprehensive study of the virulence of Listeria monocytogenes, researchers report that how well the bacteria attach to cells does not alone determine the degree of illness. The factors that determine if a person becomes ill and the degree of illness in
If the world’s human population continues to rise at its current rate, the planet will increase the numbers of threatened species at least 7 percent worldwide in the next 20 years and twice that many by the year 2050.
In a recent model of the impact human population growth has on biological diversity, Ohio State University anthropologist Jeffrey McKee and his colleagues warn that the United States alone will add at least 10 additional species to the “threatened” list within 50 years.
In experiments conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, researchers have found a way to tap into the telltale electrical signals that mark cell death, opening the door to the creation of a “canary on a chip” that can be used to sound the alarm of a biochemical attack or test drug toxicity on human tissue.
In a study appearing in the June 15 issue of Sensors and Actuators, researchers used a microchip to electrically determine cell viability by detecting changes in the electrica
Genetically modified crops could help small-scale farmers in developing countries according to the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in The use of genetically modified crops in developing countries, a Discussion Paper published today. The Nuffield Council is inviting comments on the draft paper which aims to contribute to ‘GM Nation?’, the public debate organised by the government in the UK during the next six weeks.
In 1999, the Nuffield Council recommended that there was a moral imperative f
Advanced Control Research Ltd (ACR) is developing a new microchip system that will give prosthetic arm users more movement and control of their artificial limbs thanks to an Invention & Innovation award of £65,000 from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts), the organisation that invests in UK creativity and innovation.
The ACR system uses myoelectric technology to transfer the user’s thought processes into a range of movements. It does this by interpreting electr
Humans became hairless to reduce the effects of the many biting flies and other disease-carrying parasites that live in fur and to enhance sexual attractiveness and selection, according to scientists from the Universities of Reading and Oxford. The new theory, which challenges the accepted view that human hairlessness evolved to control body temperature in hot climates, is to be published by the Royal Society in Biology Letters, a new companion to Proceedings: Biological Sciences.
Humans ar
A new way to make gold form inside the cells of a micro-organism is published today in the Institute of Physics journal Nanotechnology. Researchers from the National Chemical Laboratory and the Armed Forces Medical College, both in Pune, India, have been using “green chemistry” to develop an eco-friendly way to make tiny gold particles without using toxic chemicals.
Such gold nanoparticles of uniform size can be used in labelling proteins, nucleic acids and other biomolecules, which could l
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