The telescope at Bradford University has now been put on-line on the Internet and can be operated remotely

The telescope at Bradford University has now been put on-line on the Internet and can be operated remotely to get it to focus on the stars and planets. The majority of users are in American schools but the university is now seeking to offer facilities to all British schools as part of the National Curriculum.. "If you're a pot-bellied traditionalist like myself, it's very worrying that the variety of subtle- flavoured beers might be forced out of the market," he said.. British schoolchildren could soon be searching for life on other planets through a computer network connected to a robotic telescope. So we have to take precautions now."The HSE has been monitoring death rates from mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung characteristically associated with exposure to asbestos fibres.

But few studies of asbestos exposures of building workers have been carried out, Dr Burdett said. The HSE hopes its new passive dust sampler will change all this.New methods of "wet stripping", cutting dust levels mean "we can control exposures and achieve a 100-fold reduction in potential risk", Dr Burdett said.. Modern technology is threatening the taste and character of the traditional British pint, an historian of the brewing industry warned yesterday. Terry Gourvish, of the London School of Economics, said the "widgets" brewers put into cans to mimic the taste of pumped ale were destroying the Great British Pint. "Widget" technology, he said, was now being introduced into pubs to create beers with high aeration and a foamy head, which spoilt the flavour. It found that over a 20-year period fewer than 1 per cent of the deaths were among workers in asbestos production factories.Workers in the construction industry were the largest affected group even though "we expected them to get a much lower exposure than in the production industry", he said. The passive sampler uses a piece of charged plastic to attract dust for analysis: it is easy to wear and costs a couple of pounds to make, whereas the EC-approved pumped air sampler with replaceable filter, currently in use, costs more than pounds 220 and is heavy and intrusive to wear.Dr Burdett warned that "most asbestos was imported into Britain during the 1960s and 1970s, installed in buildings and is still there.

They are at risk every time they pull away asbestos- impregnated insulating material around pipes or drill through ceiling tiles, which may contain one of the more dangerous forms, brown asbestos.The HSE's laboratory has developed and patented a lapel-badge asbestos detector to monitor workers' exposure, he said. Nothing can be done to save the 10,000 who are doomed to die each year, because they have already received a fatal exposure to asbestos fibres. But the HSE yesterday launched a campaign to prevent fresh recruits to the construction industry from joining the death roll. Plumbers, gas-fitters, carpenters, electricians and other building maintenance workers are more at risk of asbestos-related diseases than those who actually worked in asbestos production plants, Gary Burdett, an HSE scientist, warned yesterday. In Japan, scientists are designing intelligent reinforced concrete for buildings to monitor structural defects automatically, he said.Dr Friend believes the first lovable products could be on sale within the next 10 years, but refused to name the leading company interested in the work..