Europe’s | Common News Update

Nov282019 by adminNo Comments

Europe’s new space budget to enable CO2 mapping

Europe will press ahead with a network of satellites to track carbon dioxide emissions across the globe.They will be developed out of a new European Space Agency (Esa) budget agreed in Seville, Spain.Research ministers on Thursday approved a package of proposals worth some €14.4bn (£12.3bn/$ 15.9bn) over the next five years.As well as the new CO2 monitoring system, the funds will also pave the way for missions to the Moon and Mars. Media playback is unsupported on your device "You're looking at a very happy DG," said Jan Worner, the director general of Esa, after getting pretty much everything he wanted from the "Space19+" Ministerial Council. "It always looks so simple. But it took

Nov62019 by adminNo Comments

Sony’s venture arm is ‘optimistic’ about Europe’s tech sector and thinks it can rival the US

Finance

A visitor holds illuminated controllers while wearing a prototype of the Sony Project Morpheus virtual reality gaming headset at the IFA tech show in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 3.Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesLISBON, Portugal — Europe's technology industry is thriving and showing signs that it can compete with the U.S., the chief of Sony's venture capital arm told CNBC."When we started the Sony Innovation Fund, we thought it would consist of mainly the U.S portfolio," Gen Tsuchikawa, head of the unit, said in an interview at the Web Summit technology conference. "But as we cultivated the European market, we found lots of different ideas in Europe."Tsuchikawa cited examples in the continent, such as innovations in Sweden's music industry and Germany's gaming scene. Sony's VC fund

Oct202019 by adminNo Comments

Ancient microbes are living inside Europe’s deepest meteorite crater

Science

Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Rock cores collected from deep beneath the planet's surface suggest ancient microbes have been living inside Europe's largest meteorite crater for millions of years. Some 400 million years ago, a massive space rock slammed into northern Europe, excavating a giant crater in the middle of what's now Sweden. Today, prospectors are drilling for natural gas within the confines of the ancient crater, the contours of which are called the Siljan Ring. The drilling attempts have yielded fresh rock cores, several of which made their way to geochemistry labs at Linnaeus University in Sweden. When scientists at Linnaeus investigated the rocks, they found evidence of long-term deep microbial activity. "We examined the intensively fractured rock at significant depth in the crater and...

Sep292019 by adminNo Comments

‘Alarming’ extinction threat to Europe’s trees

Science

The conker tree has been put on the official extinction list.Ravaged by moths and disease, the horse chestnut is now classified as vulnerable to extinction.The tree is among more than 400 native European tree species assessed for their risk of extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).About half face disappearing from the natural landscape.Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of the IUCN Red List unit, described the findings as "alarming"."Trees are essential for life on Earth, and European trees in all their diversity are a source of food and shelter for countless animal species such as birds and squirrels, and play a key economic role," he said. ...

Jul292019 by adminNo Comments

Drug-resistant superbug spreading in Europe’s hospitals

Health

Superbugs resistant to emergency antibiotics are spreading in hospitals, a Europe-wide study shows. Drugs called carbapenems are used when an infection cannot be treated with anything else. The spread of resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae was "extremely concerning", researchers from the Sanger Institute said.And they warned other bugs could become resistant too - because of the unique way bacteria have sex. What is Klebsiella pneumoniae?It can live completely naturally in the intestines without causing problems for healthy people.However, when the body is unwell, it can infect the lungs to cause pneumonia, and the blood, cuts in the skin and the lining of the brain to cause meningitis. Is it becoming a problem? Antibiotic resistance has led to...