Social Sciences Brazil  BRASIL 03/09/2014

Astronomers observe the inside of a star for the first time

Data obtained by the international team monitoring the phenomena on Eta Carinae, led by Augusto Damineli, professor at the IAG/USP, could validate or disprove existing theoretical models about the structure of large stars

Through a small telescope installed at the top of a mountain covered by banana trees between the southern Minas Gerais towns of Brazópolis and Piranguçu, a group of scientists has been monitoring a first-of-its-kind astronomic phenomenon whose peak is expected to occur within days: the opening of a hole in the surface of a giant star known as Eta Carinae, allowing discovery of the secrets inside.

 Estrella CW Leonis.
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Nutrition Paraguay  PARAGUAY 02/09/2014

Deforestation of Amazônia is increasing pollution in South American countries

Study indicates that smoke from fires in Amazon states migrates to Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay, raising the atmospheric pollution levels of these countries

The Amazon states of Pará, Rondônia, Amazonas and Acre have "exported" the smoke produced by burning to clear land to Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay and have contributed to increasing the levels of atmospheric pollution in these neighboring countries. Along with Mato Grosso, these four states have also registered the highest number of wildfires in South America.

 Imagen aérea del río Amazonas corriendo a través de la selva brasileña. (Foto: NASA)
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Science Chile  ATACAMA 01/09/2014

Methods of Sherlock Holmes to get the best view yet of merging galaxies in distant Universe

Astronomers are now combining the power of many telescopes on Earth and in space with a vastly larger form of cosmic lens to study a case of vigorous star formation in the early Universe

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and many other telescopes on the ground and in space, an international team of astronomers has obtained the best view yet of a collision that took place between two galaxies when the Universe was only half its current age. They enlisted the help of a galaxy-sized magnifying glass to reveal otherwise invisible detail. These new studies of the galaxy H-ATLAS J142935.3-002836 have shown that this complex and distant object looks like the well-known local galaxy collision, the Antennae Galaxies.

 Fusión de galaxias en el universo distante amplificada a través de una lente gravitacional. Crédito: ESO/NASA/ESA/W. M. Keck Observatory
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Social Sciences Panama  PANAMÁ 24/07/2014

STRI defends biological collections in ‘Science’

Is there a role for scientific specimen collecting in today’s biodiversity science?

Given the ubiquity of technology in contemporary biology, from whole genome sequencing to the ability to radio track migratory whales across their ocean migration, is there a role for scientific specimen collecting in today’s biodiversity science? Recently, such a challenge was put forth in the journal Science.

 Colecta de muestras biológicas. FOTO: STRI.
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Environment Brazil  BRASIL 23/07/2014

Brazilian plants may help to mitigate impact of climate change

Studying the genomes of heat- and drought-tolerant species (such as the pequi) from the semi-arid and Cerrado regions may contribute to the genetic improvement of crops such as soya, maize, rice and beans

The seriguela (Spondias purpurea) and umbuzeiro (Spondias tuberosa), trees commonly found in Brazil’s northeastern semi-arid region, and the Brazilian chestnut, native to the Cerrado, are part of a group of plants that could play an important role in agriculture by mitigating the consequences of climate change. They are among several Brazilian species that have enhanced adaptive capacity and are heat and drought tolerant.

 Caryocar brasiliense. FOTO: Conrado.
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Nutrition Spain  VALLADOLID 22/07/2014

Developed a faster and more precise technic for dioxin quantification

With the European project Dioxdetector in which the technological center Cartif and the enterprise SEADM of Valladolid participate

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dioxins are a group of persistent toxic chemical compounds (named PBT) which may be found in the environment all around the world and that accumulate in food chain, mainly in animals’ fat tissue. Its high toxicity may produce different health problems in human beings like reproduction difficulties and fetal development, affect the immune system or interfere with hormones causing cancer.

 Incineradora. Foto cedida por las investigadoras.
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Technology Mexico  NUEVO LEÓN 21/07/2014

Underwater robot created to explore Mexico’s reefs

Tecnológico de Monterrey Puebla Campus students designed an underwater survey robot which will allow scientists to determine the current state of Mexico's reefs, but also be used for recreation and entertainment purposes

Tecnológico de Monterrey Puebla Campus Mechatronics Engineering students José Rafael Aguilar, Victor Lobato, Iván Ascención Martínez, and Jorge Leandro created this robot to help address the environmental issues Mexico's reefs face. According to several studies, the culprits are global warming, pollution, and natural overexploitation.

Víctor Lobato Ríos, Jorge Leandro, Iván Ascensión and José Rafael Aguilar, Tecnologico de Monterrey students in Puebla, created this robot to solve environmental problems presented reefs in Mexico.
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Health Brazil  BRASIL 18/07/2014

Protein analysis aids in planning treatment of vulvar cancer

The research study was conducted during the doctoral work of FAPESP scholarship recipient Beatriz de Milo Maya, under the mentorship of Rocha

A study conducted at the A.C. Camargo Cancer Center and published in the journal Human Pathology reveals that analysis of the expression of a protein known as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in vulvar tumors may be critical to determining patient prognosis and treatment.

 Imagen de un tumor con expresión heterogénea de la EGFR. Las partes marrones indican la zona de expresión de la proteína (imagen: A. C. Camargo Cancer Center)
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Environment Panama  PANAMÁ 17/07/2014

How could climate change affect fiddler crab reproduction?

A new study by scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute shows how two species of fiddler crab change behavior to maintain reproductive success even as temperatures fall

One reason some species of fiddler crabs are so abundant on the beaches and mudflats around Panama City is that they reproduce year-round, closely timing reproduction around the high tides that increase success of offspring survival. Many species maintain this cycle during the “cold” part of the tropical year when upwelling causes ocean surface temperature to drop, even though lower temperatures can produce timing errors that increase offspring mortality.

 Cangrejo violinista. FOTO: STRI.
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Nutrition Colombia  VALLE DEL CAUCA 16/07/2014

Sacha inchi, Indian oil with medicinal value

The results showed that the oil contains high polyunsaturated fatty acid content

The native sacha inchi seed is also known as the “Inca-peanut” and has high fatty polyunsaturated acid and antioxidant content, with promising industrial, cosmetic and medicinal potential. This was determined by UNal-Palmira Agricultural Sciences master’s candidate Zully Adriana Hurtado, who assessed the potential of products produced using sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis).

La semilla sacha inchi es una oleaginosa autóctona de la Amazonia peruana. Foto: nutraperu.wordpress.com La semilla sacha inchi es una oleaginosa autóctona de la Amazonia peruana. Foto: nutraperu.wordpress.com
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Social Sciences Argentina  BUENOS AIRES 15/07/2014

“We have to promote the development of a regional conscience”

Sara Rietti, the first nuclear chemist in Argentina, talked with TSS about the need to build a Latin American scientific and technological way of thinking that answers to the region’s needs and that confronts hegemonic interests

Sara Rietti speaks about Andrés Carrasco and gets emotional. She is the first nuclear chemist in Argentina; a pioneer in a world in which podiums were (and still are) exclusively for men; a woman that resisted the police’s “bastones largos” (long batons), sent by Onganía’s military government, when they forcefully entered the building of UBA’s Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; someone who spent that dark night in 1966 retrieveing her colleagues from the police station, together with her husband, Victor Rietti; a woman who organized their exile to other countries in the region. “I made an effort to keep the researchers in Latin America, because if they left to the huge centers, then they did not return,” recalls Rietti, who was in charge of repatriating them after the recovery of democracy, from her position as Manuel Sadosky’s chief of staff, in the Secretariat for Science and Technology.

 Sara Rietti pugna por la democratización del conocimiento por sobre los intereses hegemónicos de los países que ponen las reglas del juego en la investigación. / Foto Diego Sandstede
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Culture Mexico  MÉXICO 11/07/2014

Research Makes First-Time Study of Frida Kahlo Portrait Photos

The characteristics of the nearly 800 photographs of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo taken over a period of more than 40 years are analyzed in their entirety and for the first time in a study carried out by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M)

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Nutrition Colombia  VALLE DEL CAUCA 11/07/2014

Guava variety with greater vitamin C content discovered

Knowing its physical, chemical and organoleptic (odor and flavor) properties is very important for good fruit productive behavior

An analysis of the physical and chemical characteristics of guava performed by UNal and the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Caldas (Corpoica for its Spanish acronym) discovered a guava variety with increased vitamin C levels. UNal-Palmira Biological Sciences master’s candidate Anyelo Andrey Gutiérrez Devia directed his research towards the quality of guava fruits of the Corpoica germoplasm bank.

Guayaba. FOTO: UN.
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Health Brazil  BRASIL 10/07/2014

Intermittent fasting deregulates the cerebral mechanism for controlling hunger

The experiment was conducted on rats by researchers at the University of São Paulo; findings were published in the journal 'Endocrinology'

Diets that alternate between cycles of prolonged fasting and regular eating are capable of preventing excessive weight gain but may also cause undesirable metabolic changes, such as deregulating the brain mechanisms that control appetite.

 Una rata Wistar. Foto: UGR.
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Nutrition Colombia  ANTIOQUIA 09/07/2014

UA launches strategy to protect Uraba estuaries

Often called natural nurseries of the sea, estuaries are important natural places as they are critical for the continued survival of fish and other forms of aquatic life, birds, mammals and reptiles

Fish in their early development stages (eggs and larvae) are extremely vulnerable to predation and become food for a wide variety of aquatic species. So they are usually found in areas that provide them food and protection from predators. The Atrato River flows into the Caribbean Sea through more than 15 tributaries across the regions of Antioquia and Chocó, northwestern Colombia. “Mangroves are among the most common forms of estuarine habitats, however many different habitat types are found in and around estuaries, including arracachales and eneales, which are a type of grass commonly found in soft-sediment areas,” says UA biologist Tatiana Correa.

 Estuario, peces y pescadores: equilibrio esencial en el delta del Atrato. Foto: cortesía grupos GEOC e Ictiología.
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Social Sciences Chile  ATACAMA 07/07/2014

Dynamical Star-Forming Gas Interaction Witnessed by ALMA

A research team led by Kazuki Tokuda and Toshikazu Onishi at Osaka Prefecture University conducted ALMA observations of a high-density gas cloud called MC27/L1521F in the constellation Taurus

Dynamical interaction of star-forming gas was found in a star-forming region by observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). This is a remarkable observation result that disproves a conventional assumption that stars are formed by slow contraction of gas clouds.

Fig. 2: Ilustración del centro del núcleo de la nube molecular MC27 basada en los resultados de observación de ALMA. Créditos: NAOJ
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Social Sciences Brazil  BRASIL 04/07/2014

Astronomers develop new model to explain the formation of Mars

International study led by Brazilian researchers analyzes the density of the cloud that formed the Solar System to explain the size of the Red Planet

Models of formation of the Solar System’s rocky planets developed in the past two decades have been successful in explaining the origin of Venus and Earth, which are similar in size, as well as that of Mercury, which has only 5% of the Earth’s mass.

 Marte.
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Nutrition Panama  PANAMÁ 02/07/2014

Vines choke a forest's ability to capture carbon

As abandoned agricultural land in the tropics is taken over by forests, scientists expect these new forests to mop up industrial quantities of atmospheric carbon

Tropical forests are a sometimes underappreciated asset in the battle against climate change. They cover seven percent of land surface yet hold more than 30 percent of Earth’s terrestrial carbon. As abandoned agricultural land in the tropics is taken over by forests, scientists expect these new forests to mop up industrial quantities of atmospheric carbon. New research by Smithsonian scientists shows increasingly abundant vines could hamper this potential and may even cause tropical forests to lose carbon.
 

 Las lianas sofocan la capacidad del bosque para capturar carbono. FOTO: STRI.
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Health Costa Rica  COSTA RICA 30/06/2014

Psychological aspects that influence soccer players’ performance in Costa Rica

A study with elite athletes of Costa Rica, most of them soccer players, shows the importance of taking into consideration psychological and social aspects when planning the trainings

Millions of eyes are set on the soccer players who are participating in Brazil World Cup. They are very talented players with great physical qualities; however, their success depends very much on their capacity of obtaining the best performance. Definitely, Costa Rica is one of the teams which has accomplished it, because according to FIFA rank, it occupies a modest 34 position; nevertheless, it is the greatest revelation of the Cup because it occupies the first position in a group in which it had to confront Uruguay, Italy and England, three World Cup champions. Before the World Cup started, ten Costa Rican soccer players participated, with many other elite athletes, in a research about the aspects related to performance and recovery, a research which showed that not only physical questions are important but also the psychological ones.

 Pruebas a un deportista en la Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. Foto: Braulio Sánchez.
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Nutrition Panama  PANAMÁ 27/06/2014

Beetle Genus named for STRI'S Don Windsor

STRI’s Donald Windsor was recently placed one branch higher on the taxonomy tree with a genus named after him

Some people are honored with the name of a species. STRI’s Donald Windsor was recently placed one branch higher on the taxonomy tree with a genus named after him. In an exhaustive review of a tribe of cassidinae beetles, taxonomist Lukáš Sekerka reclassified three species in a new genus, Windsorispa.

 Escarabajo del género Windsorispa. FOTO: STRI.
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