Uber partners with CMU to open self-driving taxi lab in Pittsburgh, US February 3, 2015 Uber has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in the US to open a robotics lab for the development of driverless cars. Called the Uber Advanced Technologies Center, the purpose of the research centre is to develop long-term technologies that allow Uber to bring “safe, reliable transportation to everyone, everywhere,” according to the driver-on-demand service. [...]
The world in 2030: Bill Gates’s prediction for global change over the next 15 years February 2, 2015 It's impossible to predict exactly how innovations will have changed the world by 2030, but there are few people better equipped to hazard a guess than Bill Gates. The philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft told The Verge he believes four key changes will take place globally over the next 15 years, in terms of how we [...]
Delancey puts Walbrook building up for sale for £500m February 2, 2015 The Walbrook building is being put up for sale by property investment firm Delancey. Estate agents Knight Frank and CBRE have been briefed on the sale, which is expected to raise around £500m, according to Property Week (£). Delancey bought the building from Minerva in August 2011 in a joint venture with Ares Management [...]
General Election 2015: Gordon Brown promises Scotland better pensions and benefits than rest of UK February 2, 2015 Later today, Gordon Brown will promise to give Scots a better deal on pensions and benefits if Labour is voted in at the next general election. Speaking at a press conference in Edinburgh, the former Prime Minister is expected to say Scots will be able to top-up the normal benefits available to people across the [...]
Balfour Beatty reveals £800m contract win from Thames Water February 2, 2015 Balfour Beatty has secured a major deal with Thames Water to maintain and install water infrastucture across the utility firm's network. The five-year project is a joint venture with Skanska and MWH Treatment (known as SMB). The contract as a whole is worth £800m and will be worth around £265m to Balfour Beatty. Once it has [...]
Ryanair share price drops despite raised profit guidance and $400m share buyback February 2, 2015 Ryanair's profits are flying, but the news failed to impress investors. The figures Ryanair has boosted its earnings outlook yet again, with profits expected to reach €840-850m (£630-638m) during the 12 months to 31 March 2015. This is up from the €810-€830m (£610-625m) forecast issued less than two months ago on 4 December. [...]
AstraZeneca puts new gene editing technology to the test with drug research programme January 29, 2015 Earlier today, British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca announced plans to use a new gene-editing technology to develop drugs for a variety of diseases. Called Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (Crispr), it allows the targeted editing of specific genes. When a gene is known to be involved in causing a particular disease, it will [...]
Shared parental leave: How should business prepare for its effects? January 29, 2015 The countdown has begun: employees expecting or adopting a baby/child on or after 5 April will be entitled to the new shared parental leave right, which for the first time gives parents genuine flexibility as to how they divide their caring responsibilities. The government sees the new right as an essential tool in the [...]
Ebola is mutating and could become more contagious, say scientists January 29, 2015 The Ebola virus is mutating and could potentially become more contagious if given enough time to evolve, according to scientists at the Parisian research centre Institut Pasteu. By sequencing the genes of viruses contained in blood samples of 20 Guinean Ebola patients, they tracked changes over time and revealed that some alterations in genetic make-up [...]
Beer – the new medicine? Research shows how the nation’s much-loved drink can protect our brains against disease January 29, 2015 Cheers, beer-drinkers – we have some good news for you. The cool, refreshing beverage doesn't just bring moments of happiness to millions of people at the end, or indeed the middle, of a hard-working day – it also protects our brains against diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. It turns out a certain chemical [...]
