R&D INSIGHT IERC is open for business
The International Energy Research Centre (IERC) held its third annual conference at the beginning of May. Executive Director Tony Day announced a new intellectual property agreement framework that will make the centre a more compelling proposition for energy stakeholders to join and he declared it was “open for business”. The organisation seeks international collaboration and cooperation between academia and industry in an effort to improve energy efficiency, lower C02
emissions
and drive down energy costs. The Minister for Research and Innovation Seán Sherlock TD called the IERC a “vital stakeholder model” that
IMAGE SPOTLIGHT © 2014 Ohl et al. Photo: B. Schurian, MfN.
brings academia, industry and government together. “Industry will come to academia to look for new ideas and this is backed by government, which will maximise the impact of the research,” he said. “This will help us reduce energy consumption and drive down costs – and so far we’ve seen evidence from the IERC of costs coming down by up to 15 per cent.” See page 97 for an overview of the IERC event.
IN BRIEF
Kazakhstan launches first satellite
On the 29th of April Kazakhstan launched its first satellite - KazEOSat-1 - from a European launch complex, located at Kourou, French Guiana. Built by Airbus Defence and Space, the satellite was part of an agreement with Airbus that also included the training of up to 60 Kazakh satellite controllers and engineers. The satellite will be used to monitor the Earth, compiling data on agricultural and natural resources. It will be able to assist rescue workers during disasters and create maps of changing conditions on the Earth’s surface.
European seafloor reveals marine litter problem
A major new seafloor study has revealed that human litter can be found at even the deepest ocean depths. The study, conducted by the Mapping the Deep Project (Plymouth University) and the HERMIONE Project (National Oceanography Centre, Southampton) has found bottles, bags, fishing nets and other rubbish from the continental shelf of Europe to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 2,000 kilometres from land. This litter can be mistaken for food and eaten by animals or entangle coral and fish -- a process known as “ghost fishing.”
European bison to be released into wild
Magical moniker for a wasp
A cockroach paralysing species of wasp, native to Thailand, has found itself with a magical new name after visitors to Berlin’s Natural History Museum voted to rename it. Beating such choices as A. mon,
A.bicolor and
A.plagiator, Ampulex dementor was the winning title. The museum’s description of the name reads, “The species name
www.projectsmagazine.eu.com
refers to the dementors, which are fictional characters appearing from Harry Potter books. Dementors are magical beings, which can consume a person’s soul, leaving their victims as an empty but functional body without personality or emotions. The name is an allusion to the docility of the paralysed cockroach.”
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) has announced that they have released seven female bison into the wild at the Vanatori Neamt Nature Park in Romania. The bison will spend several weeks becoming acclimatised in a large enclosure before they are released. Bison officially became extinct in the wild in Europe in 1927, but captive breeding programs are trying to bring them back. In 2012 the wild bison population reached 3,000 individuals. To find out more see
www.rewildingeurope.com
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