In 2012 and Q1 2013, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the chemical industry was low. Now, according to consensus view of the world´s leading consultancy firms, M&A activities in the chemical industry are expected to take off.
The Indian Supreme court has rejected a key patent of Novartis for their cancer drug Glivec. The verdict adds to a series of strikes against multinational pharmaceutical companies to gain patent rights in India, potentially one of the biggest pharmaceutical markets in the world.
Membrane technologies are applied for seawater desalination to address one of the world´s biggest challenge: scarcity of clean water. Scientific progress is reported with nano-scaled perforated graphene membranes. Potentially this would allow more affordable water desalination and give access to abundant clean water.
Smart textiles are a big hope for the European textile industry for future business opportunities. The article outlines the differences to wearable electronics and functional textiles, and explains the challenges for the development of smart textiles.
The joint roadmap of the zero discharge of hazardous chemicals (ZDHC) programme in the textile industry is moving to version 2. An environmental management system and work streams are suggested. Greenpeace criticized some of the proposed changes to the roadmap.
15 year old teenager Jack Andraka invented a pancreatic cancer test many times faster, considerably cheaper and more accurate than the current testing standard in today’s standard cancer diagnostics.
Cotton processing has various ecological problems, from polluted effluents to high water and energy consumption. Various concepts to improve this situation are discussed in this article. Best available technology can achieve zero discharge, especially by careful selection of dyes and processes, proper effluent treatment and recycling concepts. Future prospects include modified cellulose fibres, by chemical modifications, or bioengineered cotton.
Solar Flares hit the Earth 2013, in its 11 year peak cycle, potentially causing serious damage, as much as 2 trilion USD of damage to the power grid
The search for a new Earth is ongoing. A promising candidate, the exoplanet KOI-172.02, has been discovered, at 1040 light years distance.
e-cat - A detailed scientific analysis of the Rossi-Focardi energy catalyser (e-cat), looking at the evidence for excess energy, nuclear reaction products, and the theoretical model.