The University of Manchester has been awarded £1.7m to build a new instrument which will for the first time combine ToF-SIMS and infrared spectroscopy opening up new possibilities in the study biological, organic and inorganic materials.
The capabilities of the instrument, which is expected to be built within two years, will be tested on materials such as prostate cancer tissue and environmental particulate pollutants.
The new instrument will enable surface and bulk analys
Researchers probe marine mysteries in the western Mediterranean Sea
CIESM launches its first “multi-disciplinary” research cruise in 80 years to help marine scientists understand the poorly studied Sicily Channel, in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Monaco—A summer voyage is planned from July 21-31, with scientists from nine marine Institutes and Universities, to investigate water exchanges and biological fluxes between the eastern and western Mediterranean sub-basins. They will examin
Introducing a simple risk assessment tool could increase the number of patients receiving vital medication for dangerous blood clots, according to a paper just published online by IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice.
Venous thromboembolisms (VTEs) kill more than 25,000 people in the UK every year according to a report released by the Commons Health Committee earlier this month. But a multi-disciplinary team of NHS researchers from Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS T
You have to learn to crack eggs if you’re going to cook an omelet. You have to jump in the water if you’re going to learn to swim. And you have to get your hands on telescopes that can search for signs of life beyond Earth if you’re going to study extraterrestrial biology. That’s why 14 University of Washington graduate biology students will be at Kitt Peak National Observatory this week (March 17 – 21) to learn observing techniques from University of Arizona and N
Advances in science and engineering increasingly require the collaboration of scholars from various fields. This shift is driven by the urgent need to address complex problems that cut across traditional disciplines, and the capacity of new technologies to both transform existing disciplines and generate new ones. At the same time, however, interdisciplinary research is impeded at many institutions by policies on hiring, promotion, tenure, and resource allocation that favor traditional disciplin
X-43A research vehicle screamed into the record books again Tuesday, demonstrating an air-breathing engine can fly at nearly 10 times the speed of sound. Preliminary data from the scramjet-powered research vehicle show its revolutionary engine worked successfully at nearly Mach 9.8, or 7,000 mph, as it flew at about 110,000 feet.
The high-risk, high-payoff flight, originally scheduled for Nov. 15, took place in restricted airspace over the Pacific Ocean northwest of Los Angeles. T
In an interdisciplinary endeavor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, a team of researchers in physics and biology have made a discovery at the nanoscale level that could be instrumental in the production of miniaturized materials with many applications. Dubbed a “living necklace,” the finding was completely unexpected.
This discovery could influence the development of vehicles for chemical, drug, and gene delivery, enzyme encapsulation systems and biosensors, circuitr
Imagine the sound mixing desk in a concert hall controlled not by a technician manipulating hundreds of knobs and sliders, but by pointing to speakers and changing volume and tone with the movement of an arm. This futuristic orchestra conductor is being made reality by the work of researchers in the school of music at the University of Leeds.
Dr Kia Ng of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music is developing ways of capturing human movement in three dimensions and using it t
A ‘Noah’s Ark’ of historic buildings and monuments at risk from climate change is launched this month.
The three-year project brings together experts from 10 European countries including the UK, Italy, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain and Norway to investigate the effects of climate change and pollution on Europe’s historic built environment over the next 100 years. Representing the UK are the University of East Anglia, University College London and the Ecclesiastical Insuran
Is there – or has there ever been – life on Mars? A UK project could help provide the answer to this fascinating question.
The team are working to improve the equipment on space probes which is used to try and identify evidence of life on other planets.
The work is focusing on the development of more effective and robust systems for detecting ’biomarkers’. (’Biomarkers’ are molecules that indicate the existence of current or extinct life.)
Researchers
New packaging designs have been developed that could save lives and make ’childproof’ containers more user-friendly for adults.
A collaboration involving psychologists, engineers and designers has led to the development of radical but practical new child-resistant closure (CRC) designs.
Because they are easier for adults to open, the containers will discourage the decanting of medicines into unsafe packaging – a practice which currently causes an estimated 10,000 cases/y
A tiny speck of an island in the broad expanse of the Mediterranean is drowning with tourists. And for that reason, the exquisite Greek island of Santorini awaits an interdisciplinary team of University of Cincinnati students and faculty this summer. That team – having proven itself in other locales in Greece – will serve as an academic version of “Extreme (Tourism) Make-Over” from June 10-August 14.
On the tiny Greek island of Santorini, a vividly painted village perches precariously
A smooth-talking washing machine may not be savvy enough to keep a user from mixing whites and darks, but it can open doors that the digital revolution has closed to the blind.
New generation appliances are sleek, high-tech – and incomprehensible if the user can’t see the dazzling array of LED displays.
But it’s a problem that can be talked through, literally. A team of engineering students at Michigan State University have figured out a way to cheaply modify household a
Tufts University groundbreaking research on caterpillar locomotion could pave the way to designing first flexible robot to navigate through human body, pipelines, reactors
Tufts University neurobiologist Barry Trimmer is inching his way to unlocking the secrets behind the way caterpillars maneuver and climb, and is using that knowledge to one day build flexible robots that could explore internal organs, blood vessels and the insides of pipelines.
Trimmer recently received hi
Computers, for all of their computational muscle, do not hold a candle to humans in the ability to recognize patterns or images. This basic quandary in computational theory – why can computers crunch numbers but cannot efficiently process images – has stumped scientists for many years.
Now, researchers at Arizona State University have come up with a model that could help unlock some of the secrets of how humans process patterns and possibly lead to smarter robots. The advance concerns oscil
The International Council for Science (ICSU), one of the world’s oldest independent, non-governmental scientific organizations, has launched a completely new Web site (http://www.icsu.org). The diversified content and convivial style reflect ICSU’s interdisciplinary approach and longstanding commitment to international scientific cooperation.
This new site gives access to information on a wide spectrum of scientific topics relevant to both science and society. ICSU’s objective is to provide
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