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LONDON, England (Reuters) — A new one-step process that turns spent coffee grounds into biofuel could help in the fight to reduce our reliance on diesel made from fossil fuels, say researchers at Lancaster University. Using feedstocks, such as soybean, rapeseed, or corn, grown specifically to extract oils to make biodiesel is controversial because of their cost and because they divert crops from food production. Lead researcher Dr Vesna Najdanovic-Visak told Reuters: “These kind of […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Wind farms in the open ocean can generate far more renewable energy than those on land, possibly enough to power the whole world, said a US study on Monday. Researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science found that higher wind speeds over the open seas could produce five times as much energy as wind turbines over land. While no commercial-scale deep water wind farms exist at present, the findings suggest […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese researchers have genetically engineered hens whose eggs contain drugs that can fight serious diseases including cancer, in a bid to dramatically reduce the cost of treatment, a report said Monday. If the scientists are able to safely produce “interferon beta”, a type of protein used to treat illnesses including multiple sclerosis and hepatitis, by rearing the hens, the price of the drug — currently up to 100,000 yen ($888) for a few microgrammes — […]
WARSAW, Poland (Reuters) — A group of Warsaw-based scientists say they have developed a new, economically viable method for transforming non-recyclable plastic waste into gasoline and diesel fuel which complies with European standards. Inventor Adam Handerek’s team have worked together with the Automotive Industry Institute in Warsaw to construct a prototype reactor that converts popular plastics including polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene into gasoline and diesel fuel fractions. Their method uses a vertical reactor with internal […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Google’s parent company is set to launch balloons into the Caribbean skies in an attempt to restore telephone networks in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. Alphabet Inc., which controls Google, obtained authorization from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deploy the devices — developed from 2013 as part of a project known as “Loon.” It aims to temporarily re-establish Puerto Rico’s cellular network — where 83 per cent of cell […]
MERIGNAC, France (Reuters) — This aircraft has a very special mission. It allows its passengers to experience zero gravity – or weightlessness – the next best thing to being in the International Space Station. Passengers of the Zero-G plane, an Airbus A310, can experience zero gravity for over 20 seconds at a time when the plane leaps through the sky. Company Novespace runs the program with French space agency CNES, allowing researchers to study the […]
NEW YORK, United States (Reuters) — In a designer-obsessed world, counterfeiters run amok. New York startup Entrupy has found a way to fight the fakes with a handheld microscope camera that lets users with their smartphones detect the difference between real Gucci, Chanel, Hermès and Louis Vuitton luxury handbags and frauds. “Nobody’s ever done this before, right?” said Entrupy’s co-founder and CEO, Vidyuth Srinivasan. “So we had to catalog the world in a microscopic way […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Two NASA astronauts wrapped up a successful spacewalk Thursday to repair the International Space Station’s aging robotic arm, the US space agency said. The outing by Americans Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei ended at 3 pm (1900 GMT), marking a “very successful day,” a NASA spokesman said. The spacewalk lasted six hours and 55 minutes, almost a half hour longer than planned because the pair managed to tack on […]
by Glenn Chapman Agence France-Presse San Francisco, United States (AFP) — Google on Wednesday unveiled new versions of its Pixel smartphone, the highlight of a refreshed line aimed at weaving artificial intelligence deeper into modern lives. Google software and artificial intelligence were common threads in the gamut of new devices it unveiled to step up its challenge on the hardware front to rivals such as Apple and Amazon The new Pixel 2 and larger Pixel 2 XL are […]
TEXAS, United States (Reuters) — A team of US researchers have developed a way of accurately spotting cancer within seconds, allowing surgeons to make sure they remove all and only cancerous tissue. The device, called a MassSpec Pen, takes only 10 seconds to distinguish between healthy and cancerous tissue with 96 percent accuracy, according to the team at the University of Texas at Austin. “A ‘MassSpec Pen’ is a non-destructive hand-held device which can be […]
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — US astrophysicists Barry Barish, Kip Thorne and Rainer Weiss were awarded the Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday for the discovery of gravitational waves, the Nobel jury said. Predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago as part of his theory of general relativity, but only detected in 2015, gravitational waves are “ripples” in the fabric of space-time caused by violent processes such as colliding black holes or the collapse of […]
SEATTLE, USA (Reuters) — In a laboratory in the Computer Sciences building at the University of Washington a photograph is being taken. The blue box was produced by 3D printing and the phone being slid into it is just a standard smartphone. Its camera is going to take a ‘selfie’ of the subject’s eyes. The photograph is analyzed using an app called BiliScreen being developed in the lab. It evaluates the color of the white […]
