news 2013

Video and computer games have seen a huge rise in popularity worldwide. The fact that such games provide an immersive virtual experience has led to public concerns, often articulated in the media, about a possible link between gaming and real world aggression. However, a new study by the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University has found that although the general population has a diverse set of attitudes towards gaming, our belief in whether there is a link between video and computer games and aggressive behaviour is often influenced by whether we have actual experience of gaming.

13 Dec 2013 University of Manchester scientists have helped demonstrate that long, structurally well-defined ribbons of graphene can be made. Writing , researchers used different characterisation techniques, including Raman spectroscopy – led by Dr Cinzia Casiraghi and her group – to confirm that these ribbons, called GNRs, are structurally well-defined and have excellent charge-carrier mobility.

For a copy of the paper, go to http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/103/20/10. Nano Electronic Diamond Devices and Systems group Researchers at the University of Glasgow have found an improved method to introduce mobile electronic charge into synthetic diamond. The improved method will increase the stability and performance of electronic components such as transistors made from diamond and lead to a new generation of tough and durable electronic systems that could be used in space.

A new modelling technique has been developed that could eliminate the need to build costly prototypes, which are used to test engineering structures such as aeroplanes. The study, by Dr Róbert Szalai at the University of Bristol, is published in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society A .

A rapid way of diagnosing anaemia using microwave technology has been developed by scientists. There are different types of anaemia, which causes lethargy, jaundice, tiredness and shortness of breath. It is generally the result of an iron deficiency in people. According to the World Health Organisation, it affects up to a quarter of the world's population at any given time.

12 Jun 2013 Wonder material graphene can be made magnetic and its magnetism switched on and off at the press of a button, opening a new avenue towards electronics with very low energy consumption. In a report published in Nature , a University of Manchester team led by Dr Irina Grigorieva shows how to create elementary magnetic moments in graphene and then switch them on and off.

Scientists have discovered a way to better exploit a process that could revolutionise the way that electronic products are made. The scientists from Imperial College London say improving the industrial process, which is called crystallisation, could revolutionise the way we produce electronic products, leading to advances across a whole range of fields; including reducing the cost and improving the design of plastic solar cells (see pull-out box).

A weak electrical signal can boost people's powers of mental arithmetic over a period of months, suggests a small scale study at the University of Oxford. The technique involves placing electrodes on the scalp of the head and applying random electrical noise to stimulate parts of the brain and encourage nerve cells to fire.

A new joint innovation by the University of Cambridge and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK's National Measurement Institute, could pave the way for redefining the ampere in terms of fundamental constants of physics. Graphene is constantly revealing exciting new applications and as our understanding of the material advances rapidly, we seem able to do more and more with it Malcolm Connolly The world's first graphene single-electron pump (SEP), described in a paper , provides the speed of electron flow needed to create a new standard for electrical current based on electron charge.

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have shown that some atomic nuclei can assume the shape of a pear which contributes to our understanding of nuclear structure and the underlying fundamental interactions. Most nuclei that exist naturally are not spherical but have the shape of a rugby ball. While state-of-the-art theories are able to predict this, the same theories have predicted that for some particular combinations of protons and neutrons, nuclei can also assume very asymmetric shapes, like a pear where there is more mass at one end of the nucleus than the other.

Imperial researchers develop model to more accurately describe the motion of soft matter particles. Chemical engineers and mathematicians from Imperial College London have put their heads together to create a new model that more accurately describes the motion of soft matter particles. Ben Goddard, a research associate who works with Professor Serafim Kalliadasis in the Department of Chemical Engineering, sat down to talk about soft matter materials, such as paints and sponges, and how their model can be applied in fields ranging from nanotechnology to environmental science.

Academics have demonstrated for the first time that a "sonic lasso" can be used to grip microscopic objects, such as cells, and move them about. The research by academics at the University of Bristol's Department of Mechanical Engineering and the University of Dundee's Institute for Medical Science and Technology is published online in Applied Physics Letters .

Tennis players can adapt their movement/playing style in response to subtle differences in court constructions, according to new research by engineers at the University of Sheffield. The findings - published online in the Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology - are the first steps towards setting international standards to characterise the interaction between shoes and surfaces.

Researchers at the University of Warwick and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust have completed a study that may lead to clinicians being able to more accurately predict which patients will suffer from the side effects of radiotherapy. Gastrointestinal side effects are commonplace in radiotherapy patients and occasionally severe, yet there is no existing means of predicting which patients will suffer from them.

A recent scientific study has shown that pre-stun shocks in commercial broiler processing significantly affect carcase and meat quality as well as bird welfare. A report of a study into the incidence and effect of pre-stun shocks in a commercial broiler processing plant using an electrical waterbath stunning system, the most commonly used system in the UK, has been published in Animal Welfare , the journal of the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW).

A new way of growing graphene without the defects that weaken it and prevent electrons from flowing freely within it could open the way to large-scale manufacturing of graphene-based devices with applications in fields such as electronics, energy, and healthcare. A team led by Oxford University scientists has overcome a key problem of growing graphene - a one atom-thick layer of carbon - when using an established technique called chemical vapour deposition, that the tiny flakes of graphene form with random orientations, leaving defects or 'seams' between flakes that grow together.

Each step on our spintronic staircase is only a few atoms high. I find it amazing that by using nanotechnology not only can we build structures with such precision in the lab but also using advanced laser instruments we can actually see the data climbing this nano-staircase step by step." —Professor Russell Cowburn, lead researcher of the study from the Cavendish Laboratory, the University of Cambridge's Department of Physics Scientists from the University of Cambridge have created, for the first time, a new type of microchip which allows information to travel in three dimensions.

Researchers have found new evidence that metabolic stress can increase the onset of atrial arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation (AF), a common heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate. The findings may pave the way for the development of new therapies for the condition which can be expected to affect almost one in four of the UK population at some point in their lifetime.