Short items, December 2009

UN climate talks finally arrive

The highly anticipated UN climate change conference kicks off on 7 Dec, in Copenhagen, Denmark. After months of pre-meeting discussions, the world’s top environmental scientists, international bodies and government representatives will meet to try and devise a strategy to combat climate change.  

Large Hadron Collider half way there

Protons have now made their way around the first half of the Large Hadron Collider’s 27km circumference at Cern in Switzerland. This is the second bid to start the world’s biggest particle accelerator, designed to recreate the conditions after the big bang. The first attempt, in September 2008, failed after just nine days. 

BPA research gets US funding boost

As the controversy over BPA (bisphenol A) rages on in the US, the National Institutes of Health has announced it will invest an extra $30 million over the next two years in investigating possible health risks from this chemical. BPA is widely used in reusable food and drink containers, and experts have so far been unable to agree on whether or not it is harmful.

Say What?

’’We should develop nanotechnology that fulfils the needs of tomorrow, not the day after tomorrow" 

Christos Tokamanis from the European Commission talking at the the Nano and Emerging Technologies Forum in London, UK. He claims that thinking too far ahead will leave us with technology gaps that we can’t fill.