European Union News - Research & Innovation

Two major EU-funded nuclear waste-disposal projects have allowed researchers to reach a consensus on several key issues surrounding the chemical durability of both high-level waste glass and spent nuclear fuel, thanks to the publication of their results.

The result of a public consultation to which nearly 200 organisations and individuals responded shows that higher education, research and business organisations strongly support the mission of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). In addition, the respondents considere that the EIT should play a distinctive role in 'Horizon 2020', the future EU Programme for Research and Innovation, and forge closer links with other European and national efforts.

European scientists have identified two new genes connected with hereditary renal diseases with a new way of studying networks of proteins, combining systems biology and biochemistry. This study moves forward gene research by taking this innovative network approach. Moreover, this method could also be used to find genes for more common diseases such as diabetes or obesity.

The EU-funded GalileoCast project brings together three small companies to develop innovative weather-related services that use satellite positioning technologies. 'GalileoRoads' is one such service being launched by this project, using hybrid methods that combine fixed and mobile meteorological observations to produce very-high-resolution road condition models and weather forecasts.

The world's largest magnetic confinement fusion device, the Joint European Torus (JET), goes back to work following a 22-month period where the device was out of action whilst being upgraded and commissioned. Thanks to this device the European scientists are about to embark on the first round of experiments of fusion power as a safe, clean, and virtually limitless energy source for future generations.

European scientists have discovered how honeybees depopulation is directly related to the exposure of colonies to low doses of insecticides, as they have a higher risk of dying from infection by Nosema ceranae (N. ceranae). These findings support the theory that combining more N. ceranae with a high pesticide content in beehives could contribute to colony depopulation.

Scientists at Cemagref, the French research institute of science and technology for the environment designed the Government Resource Planning (GRP) software for SCHAPI, France's National Hydrometeorological and Flood Forecasting Centres, in order to forecast river flooding and warn authorities and the public about potential floods, giving vulnerable zones the crucial time they need to protect themselves.

The European Commission has rolled out the competition to give names to the Galileo satellites constellation. Children aged 9–11 can participate and the child with the best drawing related to space or aeronautics in each Member State will have his or her name given to a satellite of the Galileo programme.

A European team of researchers has developed a new transfer technology for video data, without any losses at an extremely fast rate of 100 megabits per second (Mbit/s), equivalent to transmitting four videos in HD quality to four different laptops at the same time. This technology, based on visible light communication (VLC) will able users to send and receive images in high-definition (HD) quality to personal computers, laptops and even mobile phones without any trouble.

A European project has discovered how to increase the data transfer rate between electronic ID documents and readers. Therefore, the future use of electronic ID documents on the Internet is becoming a reality. In addition, the technology developed will also cut administrative expenses, boost the level of security of future electronic ID cards and passports, speed up data transfer between ID document and reader device, and make it easier for users to use electronic services.