Our scientists have helped to solve a puzzle that could lead to cheaper and more efficient solar power. A team of researchers, including physicists at Durham University, looked at why a certain type of solar panel is much more efficient than others.

A new green technology to generate electricity from discarded cocoa pod husks is set to benefit African farming communities currently with little or no access to grid power. The project, led by the University of Nottingham, aims to spawn an entirely new bio-fuel industry that would also improve socio-economic stability for cocoa producers in rural Ghana.

High speed internet could be delivered through the lights in homes and offices, revolutionising the way we download and upload information in the future, finds UCL researchers.

Researchers at the University of Bristol have successfully demonstrated the high thermal conductivity of a new material, paving the way for safer and more efficient electronic devices - including mobile phones, radars and even electric cars.

Researchers have found that certain ultra-thin magnetic materials can switch from insulator to conductor under high pressure, a phenomenon that could be used in the development of next-generation electronics and memory storage devices.

A multidisciplinary team of engineers from the University of Nottingham and Teledyne e2v are to receive this year's Colin Campbell Mitchell Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering for developing MicroHammer, a revolutionary process for extracting copper from its ore using microwave technology.