Automated motor and drive systems are fast becoming the norm for a host of applications, from Arsenal’s under-pitch aeration system to super-cranes. Colin Carter reports.

Researchers have attached magnetic nanoparticles to DNA and then cut these "DNA wires" into pieces, offering the promise of creating low-cost, self-assembling devices for future computers.

BASF is to supply diesel particulate filters for over 2,500 Hong Kong buses, marking the first large-scale commercial use of diesel particulate filters in the city.

BAE Systems has been awarded a $950,000 contract to integrate and test a rear-view camera system for US Army combat vehicles.

A professor at Queen’s University Human Media Laboratory in Kingston, Ontario has unveiled what is claimed to be the world’s first interactive ’paper computer’.

General Motors has reportedly reached a tentative agreement with Canadian-Austrian car parts maker Magna International to purchase the carmaker’s European units.

Gujarat State Electricity Corporation has awarded Alstom a contract worth approximately €175m to build the first Alstom GT26-based combined cycle power plant in India

Alcoa has announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with India’s Council of Scientific & Industrial Research to collaborate on environmental energy projects.

ABB, the power and automation technology group, has signed a $30m contract with Bombardier to supply traction transformers for 172 new trains

A waterless washing machine that uses negative ions, compressed air and deodorants to clean clothes has won the 2005 Electrolux Design Lab Award.