by Sandrine Ceurstemont The most serious hazard from windblown sand is train derailment, so trains typically travel at a reduced speed on windy days as a precaution. ‘Fewer trains are passing per hour,’ said Dr Lorenzo Raffaele, a wind engineer at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in Sint-Genesius-Rode, Belgium. ‘This causes a loss…
Irish consumers have a slightly more positive perception of bio-based products than their Dutch counterparts, according to research. Results show 93% of respondents from Ireland and 81% of respondents from the Netherlands indicating that they prefer to buy bio-based products instead of fossil-based ones. Price was identified as the main deterrent, but around half of…
The European Commission has announced the second round of direct equity investment through the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund. Since its launch in 2020, the EIC Fund has now approved 111 investments in highly innovative start-ups and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) totalling more than €500 million to scale up breakthrough innovations in areas such…
by Anthony King. In December 1945, during his Nobel Prize lecture for the discovery of penicillin, Dr Alexander Fleming warned that bacteria could become resistant to the drug if exposed to non-lethal amounts. ‘It is not difficult to make microbes resistant to penicillin in the laboratory by exposing them to concentrations not sufficient to kill them,…
by Joanna Roberts ‘It is likely that we are entering an age of pandemics,’ said Prof. Peter Piot, director of the UK’s London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976 and is now special advisor to the president of the European Commission on COVID-19. He told the audience of…
by Sandrine Ceurstemont. Driven by technological innovations, the so-called fourth industrial revolution of the past decade is changing the workplace. Thanks to digital technologies, jobs are becoming more flexible, with self-employment on the rise. New technologies are being adopted at an exponential pace, much faster than in previous waves of innovation, with technologies like artificial…
Recycling Plastics: Towards a More Sustainable Plastic Treatment in 2030 Date: 1 July 2021 Time: 10:00 CEST Location: Online (registration required) The PLAST2BCLEANED, CIRCULAR FLOORING, CREATOR, NONTOX, and REACT initiatives have joined forces to address the current challenge of plastic recycling. During this two hour webinar, projects will share their different approaches to the…
Virus cocktails and ice guns could help to tackle food poisoning risk Bacterial infections are a major problem for poultry producers. Outbreaks of E. coli, for example, can spread quickly through a flock, resulting in high mortality and loss of income for farmers. Other bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter might not be as…
GEARING-Roles announced as the CORDIS Project of the Month for June 2021 CORDIS are featuring the GEARING-Roles project as their Project of the Month due to its intrepid work in the field of gender roles and gender equality in the research and innovation sectors. In particular, CORDIS are highlighting the project’s board game, ‘Nobel Run’,…