Nanoalloys ten times as effective as pure platinum in fuel cells
A new type of nanocatalyst can result in the long-awaited commercial breakthrough for fuel cell cars. Research results from Chalmers University of Technology and Technical University of Denmark show that it is possible to significantly reduce the need for platinum, a precious and rare metal, by creating a nanoalloy using a new production technique. The technology is also well suited for mass production.
Making a valuable resource usable with water
In oil extraction sites, gaseous methane is simply burned, even though it could actually be a useful precursor material for fuels and products of the chemical industry. One way to make methane usable is to convert it to methanol. Being liquid, methanol is easier to transport than methane, and it can be used both as fuel and as raw material for the chemical industry.
Optical fingerprints can reveal environmental gases
More efficient sensors are needed to be able to detect environmental pollution. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have proposed a new, sophisticated method of detecting molecules with sensors based on ultra-thin nanomaterials. The novel method could improve environmental sensing in the future. The results are published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
Police horses contribute to research in physics
Recently, fifteen police horses in Gothenburg, Sweden, have contributed to science. They have supported the development of a new method to detect damage in the hooves by using thermoelectric sensors. In the future, hopefully, this technique will be an attractive alternative to other diagnostic tools, for example X-rays.
EPS Young Minds Take IBM’s Qubits for a Spin
This past May, IBM Research announced the Quantum Experience, an experimental cloud-enabled quantum computing platform. The technology essentially made 35 years of IBM’s quantum computing research available to students, researchers and general science enthusiasts, at the click of a button.
Research project on the use of information in the innovation process
The mission statement of the European Patent Office (EPO) is that “we support innovation, competitiveness and economic growth across Europe through a commitment to high quality and efficient services”. One of these services is “patent information”.
Joint IOP-EPS scientific session at ESOF 2016
ESOF 2016, the seventh pan-European conference dedicated to scientific research and innovation, will take place from 23-27 July 2016 in Manchester, UK.
Editorial – The Roadmap 2016 of the European Strategic Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI)
From the launch event on September 25th 2014 in Trieste (IT) to the presentation of the Roadmap 2016 on March 1oth in Amsterdam (NL), ESFRI has carried out an important refinement of its method and has produced a new strategy document identifying new projects and consolidated landmarks as well as a thorough analysis of the European Landscape of Research Infrastructures accessible to European scientists and developers.
Conference on the Gender Dimension in Science and Research
How can we target and eliminate existing blind spots concerning the importance of sex and gender in science and research? How can the contribution and potential of the gender dimension to scientific excellence and innovation more purposefully be taken into account for the benefit of science and research as well as research policy at national and European level?
Ancient books destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius ‘read’ for the very first time
Writing that has lain undiscovered for centuries inside a scroll that was charred in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD has been uncovered for the first time. The text, which was written inside a so called ‘papyrus roll’ that was found in the only surviving ancient library, discovered in Herculaneum 260 years ago, has been examined using X-rays at the European Synchrotron, the ESRF. The result, by a team from the Italian CNR, the ESRF, Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität, and the CNRS, was published in Nature Communications (20 January 2015). It offers new possibilities for deciphering hundreds of so far untouched texts, without the damage that can be caused by trying to open them.
ELI-NP Centre in Bucharest visited by the President of Romania
On February 19th, 2015 Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania, paid a visit to the ELI-NP (Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics) Research Center under construction in Bucharest-Magurele, on the premises of the “HoriaHulubei” National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering. ELI-NP will create a new European laboratory to consistently investigate a very broad range of science domains, from new fields of fundamental physics, new nuclear physics and astrophysics topics to applications in material science, life sciences and nuclear materials management.
Nanometres in 3D
Scientists at the Paul Scherrer Institute and ETH Zurich (Switzerland) have created 3D images of tiny objects showing details down to 25 nanometres (1 nanometre = 1 millionth of a millimetre). In addition to the shape, the scientists determined how particular chemical elements were distributed in their sample and whether these elements were in a chemical compound or in their pure state.
