Health Brazil  BRASIL 30/06/2016

Vaccine against Zika virus tested successfully in mice

The results suggest a vaccine can be produced for humans in the near future

An experimental vaccine against Zika virus developed by Brazilian and US researchers has been tested successfully in trials with mice. The results were published on June 28 in Nature and according to the authors suggest a vaccine can be produced for humans in the near future.

Virus del Zika. Imagen: FAPESP.
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Science Chile  CHILE 29/06/2016

ALMA Discovers a Rotating Ring of Complex Organic Molecules

This observation definitively shows that organic materials formed in interstellar space are brought into the planet-forming region

Researchers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered a rotating ring containing large organic molecules around a protostar. This observation definitively shows that organic materials formed in interstellar space are brought into the planet-forming region. Researchers also found that the molecular species brought into the planet-forming region vary from one protostar to another. Chemical composition is a new way to answer the long-standing question of whether or not the Solar System is a typical example of a planetary system.

Anillo giratorio de moléculas orgánicas complejas. Créditos: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Oya et al.
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Science Spain  SALAMANCA 16/06/2016

Improvements in training and technology transfer are required in order to boost Iberoamerican Biotechnology

'BIO.IBEROAMÉRICA 2016' ends with new proposals on bioenergy, agriculture and the environmental preservation

A conference of Pedro Alvarez, a renowned Nicaraguan scientist at Rice University in Houston (Texas, USA), has been an exceptional finishing touch for 'BIO.IBEROAMÉRICA 2016, which throughout the last four days has gathered in Salamanca more than 600 researchers from 22 countries and several scientific areas such as agriculture, environment, medicine and energy. Mexico will take over to host the second edition, to be held in June 2018.

Pedro �lvarez en BIO.IBEROAM�RICA 2016.
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Science Chile  ATACAMA 14/06/2016

ALMA Witness Intergalactic Deluge Feeding a Black Hole

An international team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has witnessed a cosmic weather event that has never been seen before

An international team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has witnessed a cosmic weather event that has never been seen before – a cluster of towering intergalactic gas clouds raining in on the supermassive black hole at the center of a huge galaxy one billion light-years from Earth. The results will appear in the journal Nature on June 9, 2016.

Un pequeño cúmulo de nubes de gas gigantes que precipitan en dirección del agujero negro central. Imagen: NRAO/AUI/NSF; Dana Berry / SkyWorks; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO).
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Nutrition Panama  PANAMÁ 13/06/2016


Using a reverse paint-by-numbers approach, scientists have located another gene that controls the brilliant patterning of Heliconius butterfly wings

Using a reverse paint-by-numbers approach, scientists have located another gene that controls the brilliant patterning of Heliconius butterfly wings. Led by former Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) fellow Nicola Nadeau, the researchers identified variations in the gene that correspond to wing color and pattern variation in three different Heliconius species. Published in Nature, June 2016, the discovery puts scientists a step closer to unlocking the code responsible for diversity and evolution in butterflies and moths.

Mariposa Heliconius. Ilustración por: Paulette Guardia.
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Health Spain  MADRID 09/06/2016

A research project to improve the laws regarding disability

Madrid Sin Barreras

Six Madrid universities, led by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), are carrying out the research project “Madrid Sin Barreras” (Barrier-free Madrid) to promote the social inclusion of persons with disabilities. For that purpose, they are analyzing the laws governing accessibility in education, employment, mobility and participation, among other areas, with the goal of improving these regulations.

Madrid sin Barreras.
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Health Spain  SALAMANCA 08/06/2016

Nanoparticles revolutionazed the way of delivering drugs

'BIO.IBEROAMÉRICA 2016' addresses nanoscience-based treatments that can be applied to various diseases

Biotechnology applied to the improvement of health and food has been the main issue on the third day of BIO.IBEROAMÉRICA 2016. Integrando Continentes', which is being held in Salamanca. In particular, new and more efficient forms of drugs delivery has been one of the more relevant topics of this scientific meeting.

Jesús Santamaría, investigador del Instituto de Nanociencias de Aragón.
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Science Spain  SALAMANCA 07/06/2016

Gene editing is a new challenge for ethics and the law

'BIO.IBEROAMÉRICA 2016' addresses the legal and ethical challenges posed by new genetic engineering techniques

Biotechnology not only brings together various scientific matters, but has repercussions in all areas of human knowledge, as has been demonstrated today during BIO.IBEROAMÉRICA 2016. Integrating Continents'. Carlos María Romeo Casabona, director of the Chair University BBVA-Provincial Government of Vizcaya in Law and Human Genome at the Universities of Deusto and the Basque Country Foundation, examined an issue of topical, editing genes from the point of view of ethics and law.

Asitentes a BIO.IBEROAM�RICA 2016.
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Technology Spain  SALAMANCA 06/06/2016

2016 BIO.IBEROAMÉRICA claims the Iberoamerican scientific heritage in its opening

The keynote lecture of Dr. Tejal Desai, an expert in nanotechnology based therapies , serves as starting point to a outstanding programme

The American researcher Tejal Desai was in charge of the opening lecture of BIO.IBEROAMÉRICA 2016. Intengrando Conteinentes'. The conference started today with an official ceremony, led by the rector of the University of Salamanca, Daniel Hernandez Ruipérez, who wanted to highlight during his intervention the close historical links between Salamanca´s academic institution , who turns 800 years in 2018, and the Latin America region. Ruiperez also expressed his wish that this anniversary would serve as an incentive to create a common university system throughout Latin America.

Asistentes al congreso.
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Nutrition Spain  MADRID 02/06/2016

Discovering How Cyanobacteria Form Patterns for Nitrogen Fixation

These microorganisms are fundamental to life on Earth because they produce much of the oxygen in our planet, and convert nitrogen into chemical forms which can be used by any life form

Almost all the oxygen in the atmosphere today was produced by cyanobacteria 3,000 million years ago; cyanobacteria continue to produce between 20% and 30% of the photosynthetic activity on Earth. Furthermore, they perform additional vital tasks: along with other microorganisms called Archaea, they are the only living beings able to convert nitrogen from the atmosphere into chemical forms which can be used by any life form. According to one of the authors of the research, Saúl Ares of Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC; Interdisciplinary Complex Systems Group) at UC3M. "Without cyanobacteria, neither human beings nor any other complex living organisms could survive on Earth, because we would not have oxygen to breathe or nitrogen with which to build complex molecules like DNA and the proteins in our bodies".

Simulación por ordenador de la evolución temporal de un filamento de cianobacterias. Imagen: UC3M.
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Technology Spain  SALAMANCA 02/06/2016

"Biotechnology will be a key discipline for the sustainable development of the Iberoamerican region"

The Nicaraguan Pedro Alvarez, researcher at Rice University in Houston (Texas, USA), is one of the most prominent speakers at the conference BIO.IBEROAMÉRICA 2016, which starts next Sunday in Salamanca

Next Sunday 5th of June, starts in Salamanca the first edition of the Iberoamerican Biotechnological Conference, BIO.IBEROAMÉRICA 2016 ‘Biotecnología Integrando Continentes’. Salamanca will host during the next four days researchers from different biotechnological areas, and among them some such prominent as the Nicaraguan Pedro Álvarez, scientist at Rice University in Houston (Texas, USA), who has been involved in the development of new methods to assure drinkable water to the population.

Pedro �lvarez, investigador de la Rice University.
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Social Sciences Spain  ESPAÑA 02/06/2016

Spanish University Research Activity

The 2016 IUNE Observatory Report

The Spanish University has lost resources and researchers in recent years, but has improved its international productivity and competitiveness, according to data from the new annual IUNE report on university R+D+i. This Alianza 4U observatory, made up of the following universities: Autónoma de Barcelona, Autónoma de Madrid, Carlos III de Madrid and Pompeu Fabra, presented its new research activity report for the Spanish University system (SUE in Spanish) in the past decade.

Una investigadora trabajando con células. Foto: F. Descubre.
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Education Spain  MADRID 02/06/2016

A UC3M startup brings robotics to secondary school students

Using robotics to prepare today’s student for a technological future tomorrow

Using robotics to prepare today’s student for a technological future tomorrow. This is being done by CREA Robótica Educativa, a startup supported by the Business Incubator at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) Science Park, which offers extracurricular classes for secondary students as well as training courses for secondary teachers in the area of new technologies.

Robot. Foto: UC3M.
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Nutrition Panama  PANAMÁ 31/05/2016

Mangrove decline through the ages in Central and South America

a new study looks to the past to provide conservation lessons for this essential ecosystem

As deforestation erases the thin, green line of mangrove forests along tropical shores, a new study looks to the past to provide conservation lessons for this essential ecosystem. Scientists from Colombia’s Talking Oceans Foundation, the University of York, U.K., and the Smithsonian in Panama document mangrove use and decline through the ages along the Pacific coastline of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador.

Manglar. Foto: STRI.
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Science Chile  ATACAMA 25/05/2016

ALMA Reveals Footprints of Baby Planets in a Gas Disk

New analysis of ALMA data for HL Tauri provides yet more firm evidence of baby planets around the star

New analysis of ALMA data for HL Tauri provides yet more firm evidence of baby planets around the star. Researchers uncovered two gaps in the gas disk around the star. The locations of these gaps in the gas match the locations of gaps in the dust found in the ALMA high resolution image taken in 2014. This discovery supports the idea that planets form in much shorter timescales than previously thought and prompts a reconsideration of alternative planet formation scenarios.

Distribuciones del gas de HCO+ (azul) y el polvo (rojo) en el disco alrededor de HL Tauri. ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Yen et al.
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Technology Spain  MADRID 23/05/2016

UC3M is investigating aerospace engines of the future

A Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) research study is analyzing how to improve rocket engines for use in future spacecrafts

This scientific project, underway at the UC3M Department of Bioengineering and Aerospace Engineering, focuses on the development of plasma propulsion systems. These systems use electromagnetic energy to accelerate the previously ionized propellant, in contrast to a conventional chemical rocket based on heat generated by fuel combustion.

Cámara de vacío. Foto: UC3M.
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Science Chile  ATACAMA 18/05/2016

Cometary Belt around Distant Multi-Planet System Hints at Hidden or Wandering Planets

ALMA have made the first high-resolution image of the cometary belt around HR 8799

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have made the first high-resolution image of the cometary belt (a region analogous to our own Kuiper belt) around HR 8799, the only star where multiple planets have been imaged directly. The shape of this dusty disk, particularly its inner edge, is surprisingly inconsistent with the orbits of the planets, suggesting that either they changed position over time or there is at least one more planet in the system yet to be discovered.

Imagen obtenida por ALMA del anillo de cometas./Booth et al., ALMA (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ); A. Zurlo, et al.
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Nutrition Panama  PANAMÁ 16/05/2016

New species of fly parasitizes fungus-growing ant

The researchers note that this species is the first known of its family, 'Chloropidae', to parasitize ants

Larvae of the newly identified fly species Pseudogaurax paratolmos Wheeler grow up on a gory diet—the larvae of the fungus-growing ant Apterostigma dentigerum. The species is formally described by Cely González and co-authors working with Hermógenez Fernández-Marín, Smithsonian research associate and scientist at the Institute for Scientific Investigations and High-End Technology Services (INDICASAT-AIP). PhD student González discovered the new species in a larger survey of Apterostigma ant parasites.

Nueva mosca. Foto: STRI.
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Nutrition Brazil  BRASIL 13/05/2016

Novel survival tactic discovered in butterflies

A new survival tactic has been discovered in butterflies, according to a paper published in the journal 'Neotropical Entomology'

A new survival tactic has been discovered in butterflies, according to a paper published in the journal Neotropical Entomology. The lead authors are Carlos Eduardo Guimarães Pinheiro, a researcher at the University of Brasília (UnB), and André Lucci Freitas, affiliated with the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo State, Brazil.

Mariposas estudiadas. Imagen: FAPESP.
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Health Brazil  BRASIL 11/05/2016

Study seeks to enhance diagnosis of schizophrenia through imaging

Researchers are working on a more detailed scrutiny of the main brain regions involved and are also attempting to detect possible reorganizations of cortical networks triggered by treatment with drugs

Schizophrenia can already be diagnosed in the scientific sphere by mapping the brain with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and data mining software. Now, researchers are working on a more detailed scrutiny of the main brain regions involved and are also attempting to detect possible reorganizations of cortical networks triggered by treatment with drugs.

fMRI brain images./FAPESP.
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