news 2014

Industrial sites and highways could become cleaner in the future thanks to shark-shaped samplers that hunt 'fugitive' air pollutants. Scientists at Lancaster University and the Environment Agency are working together to develop a new sampler to measure levels of so-called fugitive pollutants - such as particulates, and gases such as ammonia and nitrogen dioxide.

Press release issued: 1 December 2014 There is an ever growing demand for high speed internet communication systems. New research has shown optical switching technology built on nanoantenna reflectarrays and tunable materials could transform high speed optical networks. The study by Dr Maciej Klemm and Professor Martin Cryan from the University of Bristol's Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is published in the journal, Optics Express .

Press release issued: 6 October 2014 The next generation of aircraft could be thinner and lighter thanks to the development of a new imaging technique that could detect damage previously invisible to acoustic imaging systems. The nonlinear acoustic technique developed by researchers from the University of Bristol's Ultrasonics and Non-destructive Testing (NDT) research group is published in the current issue of Physical Review Letters together with an accompanying article in Physics .

Engineers discover new technique to make 3D printing faster and more economical Aerospace and automotive industries will benefit New method could also provide boost to the sports footwear industry A 'less is more' approach has enabled UK engineers to make 3D printed parts lighter and stronger, using methods that will also make 3D printing faster and more economical.

Press release issued: 30 July 2014 Physicists are one step closer to proving the reliability of a quantum computer - a machine which promises to revolutionise the way we trade over the internet and provide new tools to perform powerful simulations. By harnessing the strange laws of quantum mechanics, future quantum computers offer the hope of quickly solving problems that would take even the best supercomputers the lifetime of the universe to solve.

Fire is the second leading cause of accidents in wind turbines, after blade failure, according to research out today. Wind farming is one of the leading industries in the renewable energy sector. However, the industry faces a number of challenges, such as opposition by wind farm lobbyists. Today's research suggests that incidents of wind turbines catching fire are a big problem that is not currently being fully reported.

New analysis of large-scale 'concentrating solar power' plants suggests they could meet 70-80% of electricity demand if they are linked together. In a new study published Climate Change, researchers from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, Stellenbosch University , and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) have calculated for the first time that connecting 'concentrating solar power' (CSP) plants could supply a significant amount of current electricity demand, alleviating concerns over the reliability and intermittency of renewable power.

A highly accurate model of how neurons behave when performing complex movements could aid in the design of robotic limbs which behave more realistically.

Spider silk transmits vibrations across a wide range of frequencies so that, when plucked like a guitar string, its sound carries information about prey, mates, and even the structural integrity of a web. The discovery was made by researchers from the Universities of Oxford, Strathclyde, and Sheffield who fired bullets and lasers at spider silk to study how it vibrates.

Press release issued: 14 May 2014 A team of researchers from the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Dundee has discovered for the first time that ultrasonic waves can be used to grab several microparticles at a time, effectively creating a pair of invisible 'ultrasonic hands' that can move tiny objects, such as cells, under a microscope.

An international team of researchers including a group from the London Centre for Nanotechnology (LCN) at UCL have uncovered vital information regarding the "quantum melting" of the magnetic structure of Thallium Copper Trichloride (TlCuCl 3 ), reports Nature Physics. The findings of team from the UK, Switzerland, France and China establish for the first time that thermal and quantum routes to melting behave largely independently of one another.

The flight muscles moving inside flies have been filmed for the first time using a new 3D X-ray scanning technique. 3D movies of the muscles were created by a team from Oxford University, Imperial College London, and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), using the PSI's Swiss Light Source, a powerful X-ray source.

Experiments have identified a dedicated information highway that combines visual cues with body motion. This mechanism triggers responses to cues before the conscious brain has become aware of them. The study shows that our brains also have separate hard-wired systems to track our own bodies visually even when we are not paying attention to them.

Your brain's ability to instantly link what you see with what you do is down to a dedicated information 'highway', suggests new UCL-led research. For the first time, researchers from UCL and Cambridge University have found evidence of a specialised mechanism for spatial self-awareness that combines visual cues with body motion.

An international research group of scientists and engineers led by the University of Bristol, UK, has made an important advance towards a quantum computer by shrinking down key components and integrating them onto a silicon microchip. Scientists and engineers from an international collaboration led by Dr Mark Thompson from the University of Bristol have, for the first time, generated and manipulated single particles of light (photons) on a silicon chip - a major step forward in the race to build a quantum computer.