Environmentalists the world over been investigating and measuring climate change over the years, and they found that the period from 2000 to 2009 was the warmest since they began taking worldwide climate measurements. Although their studies focused on local areas, there is proof that mountain plant communities are changing, and that this is linked to the warming trend. An EU-funded team of researchers recently took this one step further by looking at the problem from a continental perspective. The study, presented in the journal Nature Climate Change, was backed in part by the ENSEMBLE ('Ensemble-based predictions of climate changes and their impacts') project. This EU-funded project received EUR 15 million under the Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems' Thematic area of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6).
We're constantly on the go, and products that make our lives easier are always welcome. But keeping products safe is important. This is especially true for the food industry. When fats, oils and other food components are oxidised, the foods we eat lose nutrients and colours. Steering clear of oxidation is crucial for food packaging. An EU-funded team of researchers has developed a biomaterial from whey protein as well as a commercially viable method of producing multifunctional films on an industrial scale. This is steps ahead of the conventional films based on petrochemicals. The results are an outcome of the WHEYLAYER ('Whey protein-coated plastic films to replace expensive polymers and increase recyclability') project, which received more than EUR 2.5 million under the 'Research for the Benefit of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises)', Seventh Framework Programme Capacities Work Programme of the EU.
A European team of researchers has discovered that people with a specific form of inherited hearing loss are more sensitive to low frequency vibration. Presented in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the findings provide insight on the association between hearing loss and touch sensitivity. Specialised skin cells must be tuned to enable a person to 'feel'.