news 2018

Researchers from the Cambridge Graphene Centre, together with industrial and academic collaborators within the European Graphene Flagship project, showed that integrated graphene-based photonic devices offer a solution for the next generation of optical communications. The researchers have demonstrated how properties of graphene - a two-dimensional form of carbon - enable ultra-wide bandwidth communications and low power consumption to radically change the way data is transmitted across the optical communications systems.

Apps that can detect what mode of transport phone users are travelling on and automatically offer relevant advice are set to become a reality after extensive data-gathering research led by the University of Sussex.

A new easy-to-use legal tool that enables exchange of biological material between research institutes and companies launches today. The OpenMTA provides a new pathway for open exchange of DNA components - the basic building blocks for new engineering approaches in biology Jim Haseloff The OpenMTA is a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) designed to foster a spirit of openness, sharing and innovation in global biotechnology.

Valérie Castellani, Thierry Chartier, and Daniel Le Berre are the recipients of the 2018 CNRS Innovation Medals. All three will be handed their medals during a ceremony held on October 10 in Paris. Since 2011, CNRS Innovation Medals have recognized scientists whose outstanding research has led to innovations having notable technological, economic, therapeutic, or social impacts.

Theresa May's 'precious Union' has little in the way of meaningful support from her own supporters or self-professed Unionists in other parties, research suggests. Moreover, according to the study carried out by Cardiff University in conjunction with the University of Edinburgh, attitudes to the Union are marked principally by rivalry and mutual-indifference.

Oxford University's Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) is to benefit from a donation of up to £13.3 million from the philanthropic organisations Good Ventures and the Open Philanthropy Project. The donation, which includes a £6 million up-front commitment, with further funds earmarked for the recruitment of staff, is the largest in the history of the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford.

Researchers from the UCLA School of Dentistry and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA have been awarded $5 million over five years from the National Cancer Institute to develop liquid biopsy tools for testing individuals who could have lung cancer — the leading cause of cancer death in both U.S. men and women.

Carnegie Mellon University alumna Shinjini Kundu is using artificial intelligence to interpret medical images in ways that humans cannot. Her program, 3D Transport-Based Morphometry, could significantly impact diagnoses and treatments for diseases. "Some statistics say that up to 80 percent of all medical diagnoses are made or confirmed through imaging studies.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham have found that survivors of sexual assault are more likely to blame themselves for the incident if they were drunk at the time. People with higher levels of self-blame indicated they would be less willing to report a rape or assault to the police, found the results of the study, published in scientific journal Aggressive Behaviour.

Dealing with wastewater right where it is being produced, instead of in central treatment plants, can be more flexible and economical depending on the location. In Switzerland, however, there are very few such decentralised wastewater treatment plants - although, as Eawag researchers have established, there is a surprisingly strong market potential for them.

EPFL's SolAce pilot unit was inaugurated today at the NEST R&D center on the Empa campus in Dübendorf, Switzerland. Researchers at this solar-powered unit will test out new technology designed to make buildings energy positive and carbon neutral - while providing maximum comfort for their occupants.

Anyone who spends most of their day indoors knows the importance of a comfortable atmosphere to work and live in. Researchers from EPFL's Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory are searching for ways to maximize the energy gain from a building's envelope while also optimizing interior comfort in an environmentally friendly way.

By Birgit Baustädter The MoreGrasp project is coming to an end and has provided substantial results. The mental control of neuroprostheses can be considerably simplified in the future with the help of reprocessed brain signals. Marcel is paralysed and can only partially move his arms and legs. He cannot grasp glasses and needs support to eat.

Parenting interventions for helping children with behavioural problems are just as effective in school age, as in younger children, according to new Oxford University research. There is a predominant view amongst scientists and policy-makers that, for greatest effect, interventions need to be applied early in life, when children's brain function and behaviour are thought to be more malleable.

An academic from the University of Birmingham has developed a novel method for high accuracy Question Answering which is believed to be the most accurate in the world. Question answering software automatically answers questions posed by users much like Siri, Alexa and Google Now. Harish Tayyar Madabushi, a PhD student in Computer Science, has integrated information extracted from the analysis of language with deep learning to achieve this result.

People in wealthy countries are less concerned about the reliability, vulnerability and affordability of their energy supplies, a new study has shown. An international team led by researchers from Cardiff University has revealed that across Europe, national social and economic factors play a key role in how people feel about the security of their energy sources.

Wastewater smells foul and is full of pathogens. For these reasons it is usually removed and disposed of quickly.

Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window) Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Click to print (Opens in new window) The following statement about today's U.S. Court of Appeals decision on the University of California's patent interference claim before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board may be attributed to Charles F. Robinson, Office of General Counsel, UC Office of the President: The U.S. Court of Appeals today concluded that the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in plant and animal cells is separately patentable from Drs.

EPFL scientists have mapped out the steps required to build a self-sustaining research base on Mars that would be habitable for the long term. Their work can help researchers set priorities for space programs exploring Mars as well as the solar system as a whole. If there was ever life on Mars, its traces are most likely to be found at the planet's poles.

The University of Bristol is pioneering the monitoring of volcanic activity by developing a cutting-edge measurement system that can withstand the harsh conditions around the heart of an active volcano. Such extreme, hazardous and unpredictable environments present a very difficult challenge to reliably record volcanic behaviour for analytical models.