Category: Science
Scientists developing robots to clean train carriages
Robots that can clean train carriages and drones that can inspect railway bridge arches are being developed by scientists in two new research projects. The Heriot-Watt University researchers are working on robotised mobile inspection platforms that can operate in hard-to-reach areas such as between and under the seats of a train carriage. The robot platforms will detect…
Public urged to help digitise millions of historical weather records
The public are being asked to lend a hand in digitising millions of historical weather records in a bid to better predict the future of the world’s climate. With 2.5 million pieces of data from between 1860 and 1880 not stored in digital form, scientists are unable to quickly access and compare measurements from the…
World’s most advanced bionic hand with touch developed by UK experts
UK experts have helped develop the world’s most advanced bionic hand. The hand offers a greater degree of sensitivity combined with a fully rechargeable battery, scientists say. It is also the first of its kind to be suitable for people who have had an amputation below the elbow. Previous bionic hands have sometimes relied on…
Black Arrow rocket returns to UK after 50 years in Australian Outback
The Black Arrow programme from 1969-71 saw the first and only successful UK-led orbital launch... An engineer who worked on the only British rocket to launch a satellite into orbit described seeing it again as meeting “an old friend”, as it went on display after almost 50 years languishing in the Australian Outback. The Black…
AI could cut chest X-ray process time, claims University of Warwick
Researchers have created an artificial intelligence (AI) system they claim can spot abnormalities in chest X-rays and speed up the processing of screenings. The software uses computer vision to recognise radiological abnormalities in X-rays and then suggest how quickly these should be reported by a radiologist. The research from the University of Warwick claims the…
Doctor behind ‘gene-edited babies’ acted on his own, says China
Chinese investigators say the doctor behind the reported birth of two babies, whose genes had been edited in the hope of making them resistant to the Aids virus, acted on his own, according to a state media report. Investigators in the southern province of Guangdong determined that Dr He Jiankui organised and handled funding for…
Queen’s Brian May joins NASA mission for New Year
Brian May is seeing in 2019 by unveiling his new single at NASA’s headquarters. The Queen guitarist, 71, is releasing New Horizons, his first solo work in over two decades, as a “tribute” to the spacecraft of the same name. The single, being released digitally, will air for the first time at NASA, in Maryland…
Tiny solar panels embedded in clothes could charge a mobile phone
Researchers at Nottingham Trent University have developed small solar panels which can be embedded in clothes and used to charge a mobile phone. The tiny panels are small enough to be placed into yarn and then knitted or woven into textiles. The team behind the technology said that in testing it was capable of charging…
Scientists design ingestible electronic pill that can be controlled wirelessly
An electronic capsule that can be ingested and controlled wirelessly to deliver drugs has been designed by scientists, in an effort to reduce surgical procedures. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology believe that the device could be used to provide drugs to users for a variety of diseases that require medication over longer periods…
MRI scanners named among top health innovations ever by UK universities
MRI scanners, prosthetic breasts for cancer patients and improvements to hip replacements have been cited among the best health innovations by UK universities. Health featured heavily on the University UK’s (UUK) list of major breakthroughs that have had a transformative impact on people’s lives. MRI scans were developed at the University of Nottingham in the…
