Technology Spain  MADRID 20/07/2021

An automated flight control system for drone swarms has been developed

Creating new procedures that improve mass drone traffic is the purpose of LABYRINTH, a European research project

Creating new procedures that improve mass drone traffic is the purpose of LABYRINTH, a European research project coordinated by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) with the participation of 13 international organisations within the R&D&I, transport, emergency, and auxiliary services fields. Researchers hope to use these drone swarm applications to improve civil road, train, sea, and air transport, making it safer, more efficient, and more sustainable.

 
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Space Chile  ATACAMA 20/07/2021

EHT pinpoints dark heart of the nearest radio galaxy

The astronomers reveal how a gigantic jet is being born

An international team anchored by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, which is known for capturing the first image of a black hole in the galaxy Messier 87, has now imaged the heart of the nearby radio galaxy Centaurus A in unprecedented detail. The astronomers pinpoint the location of the central supermassive black hole and reveal how a gigantic jet is being born. Most remarkably, only the outer edges of the jet seem to emit radiation, which challenges our theoretical models of jets. This work, led by Michael Janssen from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn and Radboud University Nijmegen is published in Nature Astronomy on July 19th.

 

 
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Health Portugal  PORTUGAL 07/07/2021

Into the complexity of microbial communities

New research bridges colonization processes and complexity in interacting systems of microbes, adding to a body of work with implications for understanding how biodiversity is maintained and how it changes

Microbial communities form complex ecosystems, built on networks of interactions. Gut bacteria, inside our bodies are an example, and we depend on them to help us digest food, to control our mood, or to protect us from infection. Nasopharyngeal multi-strain bacteria like Streptococcus pneumoniae are another example, often carried asymptomatically but sometimes causing trouble to the host. Depending on underlying diversity, microbial community dynamics can lead to different outcomes between health and disease, and display different stability or resistance to invasion.

 
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Technology Spain  MADRID 02/07/2021

A new framework to improve the performance and flexibility of supercomputing

Spanish scientists have accelerated massive data processing in urban environments and mobile telephony industries or in the detection of parasites in beehives, among other fields

Researchers from the European research project ASPIDE, coordinated by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), have created a tool and utility pack for high-performance software developers to improve performance and flexibility when creating applications within the supercomputing industry. As a result, they have accelerated massive data processing in urban environments and mobile telephony industries or in the detection of parasites in beehives, among other fields.

 
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Technology Chile  CHILE 30/06/2021

Chilean discovery lays the foundations for the creation of clothes and plastics with super properties

The scientific breakthrough was led by researchers from the Physics Department of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile and the Millennium Institute for Research in Optics MIRO

Completely waterproof windbreakers, shirts that do not stain the underarm area, mega-resistant and ultra-light parka, are some of the items that could benefit from a technology developed by Chilean scientists. “We work with liquid crystals, the same ones that are in the screens of cell phones and high-tech televisions. What few people know is that they are the essential basis for forming polymers, a type of plastic, the same ones that make up many of the fabrics of the clothes we wear every day,” explains Gregorio Gonzalez, a Ph.D. student in science with a mention in physics at the University of Chile.

 
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Technology Spain  MADRID 22/06/2021

Patenting a fibre optic monitoring system for 5G light-powered networks

This system will optimise energy consumption, preserving data transmission capacity

The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), together with the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV), has patented a multicore fibre optic monitoring system for future use in 5G networks. This system will optimise energy consumption, preserving data transmission capacity.

 
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Technology Portugal  PORTUGAL 17/06/2021

Artificial Intelligence aids the analysis of microscopy images

New platform detects cellular traits associated with diseases like cancer or infection

Researchers develop a new platform of artificial intelligence able to explore microscopy data and hasten new biomedical discoveries in health and disease. The platform—ZeroCostDL4Mic—is available in open access and allows anyone with little to no experience in coding to quickly use it and develop powerful actions, like identifying cellular traits and characterize their relation to diseases like cancer or infection.

 

 
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Health Spain  MADRID 16/06/2021

Mathematics to improve macular degeneration treatment

Age-related macular degeneration is one of the main causes of blindness

Researchers from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have created a mathematical model and simulated numerically the progression of age-related macular degeneration, one of the main causes of blindness. This model can be used to better understand how this disease appears and assess the most effective treatments.

 
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Space Chile  ATACAMA 14/06/2021

Earliest gigantic black hole storm discovered

This finding confirm that huge black holes have a profound effect on the growth of galaxies from the very early history of the Universe

Researchers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) discovered a titanic galactic wind driven by a supermassive black hole 13.1 billion years ago. This is the earliest-yet-observed example of such wind to date and is a telltale sign that huge black holes have a profound effect on the growth of galaxies from the very early history of the Universe.

 

 
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Technology Spain  MADRID 02/06/2021

Intelligent system designed to improve vehicle stability systems

This will help to optimise the performance of skid and rollover control systems in cars, as well as to prevent potential traffic accidents

Researchers at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have developed an intelligent system for estimating a vehicle’s dynamic behaviour and improving its stability. This will help to optimise the performance of skid and rollover control systems in cars, as well as to prevent potential traffic accidents.

 
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Social Sciences Panama  PANAMÁ 27/05/2021

Microscopic wood analyses reveal source of cathedral altarpiece

Timber anatomy studies help inform conservation and restoration decisions for historical monuments, and may provide previously unknown information about the artistic techniques or materials used in the past

The Metropolitan Basilica Cathedral Santa María La Antigua in Panama is a national monument. Possibly dating back to the late 18th century, it has survived fires and termite damage. To understand the origin and history of the cathedral’s wooden structures and contribute scientific knowledge for conservation and restoration decisions, a team that included the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and collaborating institutions analysed its wood and identified its sources.

 

 
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Space Chile  ATACAMA 24/05/2021

Oldest spiral galaxy discovered

Studies have shown that the proportion of spiral galaxies declines rapidly as we look back through the history of the Universe. So, when were the spiral galaxies formed?

Analyzing data obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), researchers found a galaxy with a spiral morphology in the Universe, only 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang. This is the most ancient galaxy of its kind ever observed. The discovery of a galaxy with a spiral structure at such an early stage is an essential clue to solve the classic questions of astronomy: “How and when did spiral galaxies form?".

 
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Environment Panama  PANAMÁ 18/05/2021

Informed tourists make whale watching safer for whales

How does whale watching affect whale behavior? Who watches whales in Panama’s Las Perlas Archipelago? Researchers from STRI and ASU hope to recommend innovative data-based conservation strategies

According to the International Whaling Commission, whale-watching tourism generates more than $2.5 billion a year. After the COVID-19 pandemic, this relatively safe outdoor activity is expected to rebound. Two new studies funded by a collaborative initiative between the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama and Arizona State University (ASU) show how science can contribute to whale watching practices that ensure the conservation and safety of whales and dolphins.

 
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Social Sciences Spain  MADRID 11/05/2021

A research study analyzes the mingling of documentary and fiction in movies and series

Systematically resorting to “facts” and “true stories” generates a false sensation of transparency and diminishes fiction’s artistic, political and reflexive potential

The hybridization of documentary and fictional discourses has recently adopted very specific forms with clear political and cultural implications. Continuously invoking “actual facts” in fictional audiovisual production goes beyond a mere strategy to endow the narrated story with greater authenticity. Systematically resorting to “facts” and “true stories” generates a false sensation of transparency and diminishes fiction’s artistic, political and reflexive potential, by turning it into merely “relating” some de-problematized facts and which are taken as a given (obviously, these supposed “facts” conceal very concrete discourses and which are heavily biased). This dogmatic turn in fiction is related to a progressive restriction and depletion of ways to narrate and telling, in the guise of audiovisual diversity that supposedly characterizes the digital multiplatform environment. These are some of the conclusions from a study by Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) professor, Pilar Carrera, who analyzes the proliferation of para-documentary resources in audiovisual fiction.

 
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Technology Spain  ESPAÑA 07/05/2021

Smart magnetic soft materials to develop artificial muscles and therapeutic robots

The UC3M’s 4D-BIOMAP project

Developing a new generation of artificial muscles and soft nanorobots for drug delivery are some of the long-term goals of 4D-BIOMAP, an ERC research project being undertaken by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M).This project develops cross-cutting bio-magneto-mechanical methodologies to stimulate and control biological processes such as cell migration and proliferation, the organism’s electrophysiological response, and the origin and development of soft tissue pathologies.

 
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Social Sciences Spain  MADRID 28/04/2021

The factors that improve job resiliency in North American cities have been identified

“Job connectivity” is a key factor for the recovery of local economies

“Job connectivity” (the possibility of finding a similar job) is a key factor for the recovery of local economies in the face of crises, according to a study published recently in Nature Communications by researchers from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Max Planck Society and the University of Pittsburgh. The researchers in this study reached this conclusion by drawing on network modelling research and mapped the job landscapes in cities across the United States during economic crises.

 
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Technology Spain  MADRID 28/04/2021

Arturo Azcorra named new Director General of Telecommunications

He begins a new stage in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation

Arturo Azcorra has been appointed Director General of Telecommunications and Organization of Communication Services in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. The designation has been published this Wednesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE).

 

 
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Space Chile  ATACAMA 23/04/2021

Rotating infant galaxy with help of natural cosmic telescope

The team was able to explore for the first time the nature of small and dark “normal galaxies” in the early Universe, representative of the main population of the first galaxies

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers found a rotating baby galaxy 1/100th the size of the Milky Way at a time when the Universe was only seven percent of its present age. Assisted by the gravitational lens effect, the team was able to explore for the first time the nature of small and dark “normal galaxies” in the early Universe, representative of the main population of the first galaxies, which greatly advances our understanding of the initial phase of galaxy evolution.

 
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Environment Panama  PANAMÁ 19/04/2021

How will the biggest tropical trees respond to climate change?

Scientists think that climate change may have greater impact the largest trees in tropical forests. but because these monumental trees are few and far between, almost nothing is known about what causes them to die.

Giant trees in tropical forests, witnesses to centuries of civilization, may be trapped in a dangerous feedback loop according to a new report in Nature Plants from researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama and the University of Birmingham, U.K. The biggest trees store half of the carbon in mature tropical forests, but they could be at risk of death as a result of climate change—releasing massive amounts of carbon back into the atmosphere.

 

 
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Space Spain  MADRID 14/04/2021

A European project to develop electrodeless plasma thrusters

The results could also be applied in other fields, such as nuclear fusion by magnetic confinement

In-depth research into the physics of a new type of plasma rockets for space missions and revolutionising their design. This is the aim of ZARATHUSTRA, a European ERC Starting Grant research project at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) that aims to develop a new aerospace technology and whose results could also be applied in other fields, such as nuclear fusion by magnetic confinement.

 
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