A Revolutionary Portable Lab For Rapid And Low-Cost Diagnosis

European researchers have developed a ground-breaking diagnostic system based on smart cards and skin patches combined with a portable reader. Test results can directly be sent to a remote computer, a tablet or a smartphone through a wireless connection. This small lab can already identify...
Read more A Revolutionary Portable Lab For Rapid And Low-Cost Diagnosis

Understanding plant-soil interaction could lead to new ways to combat weeds

Using high-powered DNA-based tools, a recent study at the University of Illinois identified soil microbes that negatively affect ragweed and provided a new understanding of the complex relationships going on beneath the soil surface between plants and microorganisms.
“Plant scientists have b...
Read more DNA-based Tools To Help Combat Weeds

Oil seed can slash Co2 emissions in farming by 13%

According to the initial results of EU-funded research the use of rapeseed cake in the production of livestock feed can cut methane and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 13%. This is the preliminary finding of a study carried out by the LIFE-SEED CAPITAL project, co-funded by the European...
Read more Oil Seed Can Reduce Methane And Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Eco-friendly pig and poultry production

Slowing the rate of climate change and improving energy use efficiency, whilst also feeding the growing global population, are key targets for the livestock sector, policy-makers and scientists alike.
Through a better understanding of the interactions between animal genetics, gut...
Read more EU Project To Help Developing Eco-friendly Poultry and Pigs Production

Nestlé opens food safety research centre in Beijing

Nestlé has opened a food safety research centre in Beijing. The Nestle Food Safety Institute will work “closely” with Chinese authorities to help provide a “scientific foundation” for policy and standards, Nestlé said.
Support will include early management of food s...
Read more Nestlé Opens Food Safety Institute In China

Un Consorcio Vasco Desarrollará Una Metodología Para Aprovechar El 70% De Los Restos Vegetales, Cárnicos Y Lácteos

El proyecto europeo GISWASTE tiene como objetivo establecer una metodología y una herramienta que priorice las opciones de valorización de subproductos orgánicos: restos vegetales, cárnicos y lácteos, principalmente. Se comprobará la validez del método con dos modelos reales de estudio: una pla...
Read more Un Consorcio Vasco Desarrollará Una Metodología Para Aprovechar El 70% De Los Restos Vegetales, Cárnicos Y Lácteos

Studying crops, from outer space

This is an illustration of the process of measuring photosynthesis from space, courtesy of the Keck Institute for Space Studies. Credit: Keck Institute for Space Studies

Plants convert energy from sunlight into chemical energy during a process called photosynthesis. This energy is passed on...
Read more Observing Crops Using Satellite Technology

A Basque consortium will develop a method to recycle up to 70% of vegetable, meat and dairy waste

GISWASTE European project aims to establish a methodology and a tool that prioritizes recovery options of organic products: vegetables, meat and milk residues, mainly. The validity of the method with two real study models will be tested with a biogas plant and feed another.
Every day in Europe...
Read more Researchers To Develop A Method To Recycle Up To 70% Of Vegetable, Meat And Dairy Waste

Bioenergy from sustainable forestry does not meet EU emission reduction criteria

The levels of forest residue bioenergy, considered to be sustainable from a forestry perspective, may provide considerable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in European countries. Still, these reductions fall short of a 60 % threshold planned by the EU. This mismatch may have important...
Read more EU Emission Reduction Criteria Not Met By Bioenergy From Sustainable Forestry

Safe Development of Nanotechnology for Food and Food Packaging Investigated at Toxicology Conference

Toxicologists are presenting information on the uses of nanotechnology in food and food packaging and the current efforts to assure the safe development of the technology at the Society of Toxicology (SOT) 53rd Annual Meeting and ToxExpo in Phoenix, Ariz.
A number of food-related products in...
Read more Nanoparticles To Help Increase Food Shelf Life And Preserve Food Quality

Recovering valuable substances from wastewater

 
Using magnets the superparamagnetic particles in the water can be removed along with their phosphorus load. © Knut Dobberke / Fraunhofer ISC

Phosphorus can be found in fertilizers, drinks and detergents. It accumulates in waterways and pollutes them. For this reason the German ...
Read more Researchers Recover Pollutants From Wastewater

Lots of carbon dioxide equivalents from aquatic environments

Large amounts of carbon dioxide equivalents taken up by plants on land are returned to the atmosphere from aquatic environments. This is the conclusions from a study carried out by two students at Linköping University, Sweden.
As students at the Master program Science for Sustainable ...
Read more Carbon Dioxide Equivalents Are Returned From Aquatic Environments

Research Finds Soda Tax Does Little to Decrease Obesity

Extra sales taxes on soda may not do anything to improve people’s health, according to new research from health economist Jason Fletcher of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
“Some older studies suggest taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages will reduc...
Read more Soft Drink Tax Is Not A Way To Combat Obesity

Kellys Sausage Roll Products Recalled

IRELAND – Various Kellys Sausage Roll products, sold in Aldi, have been recalled because the products contain sulphites and sulphur dioxide. Sulphites were not declared on the label of all batches of the sausage rolls listed above. This may make them unsafe for consumers who are allergic...
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UF/IFAS Finds Way to Reduce E. coli in Cows, Improving Food Safety

A new biological treatment could help dairy cattle stave off uterine diseases and eventually may help improve food safety for humans, a University of Florida study shows.
Kwang Cheol Jeong, an assistant professor in animal sciences and UF’s Emerging Pathogens Institute, examined cattle uterine ...
Read more Researchers Find Way To Reduce E. coli in Cattle

Teagasc Research Automatic Milking Systems

In an automatic milking system a robot undertakes the manual work traditionally associated with milking a herd of cows. The system is set up to guide individual cows to come to a milking stall on a voluntarily basis on up to three occasions per day. A study is currently being conducted at...
Read more Irish Researchers Study Automatic Milking Systems

High-tech answer to fat analysis in meat industry

For decades, the meat industry has made good use of laboratory analysis. Now the focus is shifting to rapid analytical methods on the production floor and meat producers are perhaps spoilt for choice in terms of rapid analytical options. But which is the right solution for that all important...
Read more EU Project To Help Meat Processors With Automatic In-Line Fat Analysis

Pathogens in Cheese – Researchers Follow the Traces of Deadly Bacteria

Listeria is a rod-shaped bacterium highly prevalent in the environment and generally not a threat to human health.  One species however, Listeria monocytogenes, can cause listeriosis, a very dangerous disease. This pathogen can be present in raw milk and soft cheeses, smoked fish, raw meat and ...
Read more Researchers Follow the Traces of Listeria Monocytogenes

Cold short-cut to CO2 storage

Core participants in the “Cold CO2 Capture” project discuss their results. From the left; chief scientist Petter Nekså, research scientist Kristin Jordal and David Berstad, MSc, all of SINTEF Energy Research. Photo: SINTEF/Thor Nielsen

All over the world, scientists are on the hunt for solu...
Read more Cold Technology Could Reduce Energy Consumption And Cost Of CO2 Capture

When air quality governs traffic management

Poor air quality costs Europe more than €700 million per year, in health expenditures and loss of economic performance, according to official EU sources. To tackle such major issue, the EU-funded MACC-II research project, due to be fully operational in 2014, aims at delivering accurate air qua...
Read more EU Funds A Research Project To Help Managing Traffic