Europe gives 2bn euros to science
From BBC News:
Research projects investigating the “miracle material” graphene and the human brain have won unprecedented funding of up to 1bn euros each.
Under the European Commission’s Future and Emerging Technologies programme, the backing is designed to give Europe an edge in key areas of research.
Kielder Water & Forest Park to reintroduce water voles
From BBC News:
An endangered species is set to return to a Northumberland forest more than 30 years after it was wiped out.
Conservationists at Kielder Water & Forest Park plan to reintroduce water voles to the area after they disappeared.
The animals have not been spotted in the area since the 1970s.
Forestry Commission ecologist Tom Dearnley said they were “extremely keen” to see the project go ahead at Kielder.
Star Trek style ‘tractor beam’ created by scientists
From BBC News:
A real-life “tractor beam”, which uses light to attract objects, has been developed by scientists.
It is hoped it could have medical applications by targeting and attracting individual cells.
The research, published in Nature Photonics and led by the University of St Andrews, is limited to moving microscopic particles.
Police winning battle against inner city gun crime
From The Independent:
Firearms offences have fallen by more than 40 percent in less than a decade, with the rise of “gun culture” in Britain’s inner cities apparently reversed because of improved police intelligence.
Figures out next month are expected to confirm the long-term decline in gun crime which resulted in 39 people shot dead in 2011/12 compared with a high of 96 ten years earlier.
Pentagon to end ban on women in front-line combat
From BBC News:
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has decided to lift the military’s ban on women serving in combat, a senior Pentagon official has said.
The move could open hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and elite commando jobs to women.
Nations agree on legally binding mercury rules
From BBC News:
More than 140 countries have agreed on a set of legally binding measures to curb mercury pollution, at UN talks.
Delegates in Geneva approved measures to control the use of the highly toxic metal in order to reduce the amount of mercury released into the environment.
London siblings’ bone marrow Twitter plea boosts Jewish donors
From BBC News:
A brother and sister’s search for a bone marrow match for their mother has led to a jump in the number of Jewish people joining the Anthony Nolan Trust.
Jonni, 34, and Caroline Berger, 31, appealed on Twitter – #spit4mum – after Sharon Berger was told she needed an urgent bone marrow transplant in weeks.
6 Bears Rescued from Bile Farm
From Care2:
Animals Asia received six bears last week after the Sichuan Forestry Department removed them from an illegal farm in China where their bile was being harvested.
The bears were reportedly in rough shape and understandably grumpy when they were taken in by their rescuers. Some had facial injuries from banging their heads on the bars of their cages, another was starving with bile leakage, while yet another will require major abdominal surgery.
Europe and US agree details for Orion astronaut spacecraft
From BBC News:
The US and Europe have cemented their plan to work together on the Americans’ next-generation capsule system to take humans beyond Earth.
The Orion vehicle is being built to carry astronauts to the Moon, asteroids and Mars, but it will need a means to propel itself through space.
Payments by text message service to launch in UK in Spring 2014
From BBC News:
UK mobile users will be able to send and receive money by sharing only their phone number by Spring 2014, the Payments Council has said.
Account owners will be asked by their banks if they want to opt-in to a database that will allow the sending of money by text message.
Good News 2013 