A research team, led by Dr Stuart Walker from Essex University, claims to have developed a data transmission method which can achieve world record telecommunications data rates, of over a terabit (one trillion binary digits) per second, on optical fibres which already exist in the majority of in-building communications networks throughout the world. These optical fibres are known as multimode fibres.
Dr Stuart Walker is presenting the world record transmission concept on Thursday 5 Septembe
What will some 4,000 of the smartest dressed elephant seals, tuna fish, albatrosses, leatherback sea turtles, great white sharks, and other pelagic megafauna in the Pacific all be wearing in the coming seasons? How about the latest in microprocessor-based electronic tags, some no bigger than oversized cufflinks? It’s all in a continuing effort to understand the habits of marine animals in that part of the world: what exactly lives where and why, what their migration routes and diving behaviors m
Research yields another benefit to low-dose aspirin
The original miracle drug, aspirin, continues to surprise medical scientists. While studies have proven that aspirin can prevent a second heart attack by thinning the blood, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown that aspirin can also prevent heart attacks and stroke through an entirely different mechanism. Using laboratory models, the Penn researchers demonstrated that aspirin also lessens the
The Near Earth Asteroid 2002 NY40 was observed with the William Herschel Telescope on La Palma, Canary Islands, on the night of August 17 to 18, 2002. The asteroid was imaged just before its closest approach to Earth, using the Adaptive Optics system NAOMI. These are the first images of a Near Earth Asteroid obtained with an Adaptive Optics system. During these observations the asteroid was 750,000 kilometres away, twice the distance to the Moon, and moving very rapidly across the sky (crossing a di
New research findings by scientists in Germany* – soon to be published in The Royal Society`s Proceedings B journal – will be of major importance for HIV and AIDS treatment in the future. The findings provide estimates on the likely success of drugs which are currently in development and clarifies key factors of HIV dynamics that must be eliminated to pave the way for an efficient treatment of HIV/AIDS.
Using computer simulations to map the `predator-prey` dynamics between viruses and the im
Computer and optical communications engineers are now using optical structures to produce faster, more powerful, light-based processors and networks. However, according to Dr Andrew Parker from Oxford University, they are well behind the times as nature has been making these optical structures for at least 515 million years. He and his team are now planning to unravel nature`s manufacturing process and use it to create man-made optical devices.
Speaking at the Photon02 Conference in Cardiff
The team of senior women physicists (including the University of Warwick’s Professor Sandra Chapman) who represented the UK at the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics first international conference on Women in Physics, looking at the under-representation of women in physics world-wide, have now produced a detailed report entitled “Women Physicists Speak” on the issue with recommendations including: Action to involve more women physicists in science leadership. Key science bodies s
People are more likely to keep to their plans to exercise on non-work days than on work days. However, it is worry over one’s personal life rather than work-related worries that prevents people keeping to their plans. This is the finding of a study reported today, Thursday 5 September 2002, at the British Psychological Society Division of Health Psychology Annual Conference, Sheffield Hallam University, by psychologists Nicola Payne, Fiona Jones, and Peter Harris of Sheffield Hallam University.
Hands free sets for mobile phones may be on the verge of a big comeback thanks to new research by the University of Warwick. Many people used hands free sets in an attempt to avoid what they perceived as a microwave radiation risk from holding a mobile phone close to one`s head. However when it was pointed out that the standard wire based hands free kit actually itself acted as an aerial amplifying any signal to the users head the kit fell out of favour with this type of user. Now
The aerodynamics inside jet engines are not completely understood due to the unpredictable nature of the air flowing through the turbine. However, a research team led by Dr Jim Barton from Heriot-Watt University, has developed tiny fibre optic pressure sensors that can for the first time be used inside jet engine test rigs. These sensors should allow engineers to collect data that will enable them to make more aerodynamic engines, which will improve fuel efficiency and engine performance, ensuring lo
Will we pay using our fingerprint, or enter a building just touching a sensor? Does our mobile phone recognize our fingerprint? It is possible, as far as Dutch PhD student Asker Bazen is concerned. He has improved the verification techniques, resulting in a better result even for deformed and damaged prints. Together with a higher speed, the new methods can take away existing reserves for implementing fingerprint verification. Bazen is finishing his PhD research at the faculty of Electrical Engineeri
Insulin resistance, a condition commonly associated with the development of type 2 diabetes, is likely a major cause of kidney disease, or nephropathy, in people with type 1 diabetes, according to study results published by University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) researchers in the September issue of Kidney International, a journal of the International Society of Nephrology. “Kidney disease is a major lethal complication for people with diabetes, particularly those with type
A Loughborough University research team, led by Professor Peter Smith and Vincent Crabtree, has developed a way of monitoring the blood flowing in human body tissue without actually touching the skin. This hands-free technique could one day be used to assess patients during surgery and monitor the healing of wounds or burns. Other applications include a remote heart rate monitor.
Speaking at the Photon02 Conference in Cardiff on Monday 2 September Mr Crabtree will explain how the team adapte
Not much is known about how clustered cancer cells move, but it is important to understand how individual cancer cells break off from a cluster and spread throughout the human body. A research collaboration between the University of Wales College of Medicine and Kingston University * has lead to the development of a computational imaging technique that tracks the movement of individual cancer cells within cell clusters.
Dr Hoppe, a member of the research team from Kingston University, will
Soap manufacturers and governments in developing countries will today be urged to join forces to promote handwashing with soap, and help to save a million lives a year.
While most households in the world have soap and water, very few use them together to wash their hands, especially not after cleaning up a dirty baby or going to the toilet. Yet recent research at the LSHTM has revealed that the simple act of washing your hands could almost halve the number of deaths from diarrhoeal diseases
Women who have received a heart, heart-lung or lung transplant are having successful pregnancies after transplantation, according to a study by researchers at Jefferson Medical College.
While such pregnancies are considered “high risk,” the results are encouraging, says Vincent Armenti, M.D., Ph.D., professor of surgery at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
The researchers compiled information through the National Pregnancy Transplantation Regi
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