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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Social Sciences Panama  PANAMÁ 12/04/2021

Archaeologists search for the origin of dental modification in Panama

A new study asks when and how the Ngäbe indigenous group began to practice dental modification

Most modern cultures practice some form of dental modification, for health, therapeutic or aesthetic purposes: whether it’s filling a cavity, removing wisdom teeth, adding veneers or braces or whitening teeth.

 

 
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Environment Panama  PANAMÁ 07/04/2021

How the Chicxulub Impactor gave rise to modern rainforests

About 66 million years ago, a huge asteroid crashed into what is now the Yucatan, plunging the Earth into darkness. The impact transformed tropical rainforests, giving rise to the reign of flowers.

Tropical rainforests today are biodiversity hotspots and play an important role in the world’s climate systems. A new study published today in Science sheds light on the origins of modern rainforests and may help scientists understand how rainforests will respond to a rapidly changing climate in the future.

 

 
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Space Chile  ATACAMA 05/04/2021

Stellar eggs near galactic center hatching into baby stars

The observations prove that even in the strongly disturbed areas around the Galactic Center, baby stars still form, astronomers say

Astronomers found a number of baby stars hiding around the center of the Milky Way using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Previous studies had suggested that the environment there is too harsh to form stars because of the strong tidal forces, strong magnetic fields, high energy particles, and frequent supernova explosions. These findings indicate that star formation is more resilient than researchers thought. These observations suggest there is ubiquitous star formation activity hidden deep in dense molecular gas, which may allow for the possibility of a future burst of star formation around the Galactic Center.

 

 
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Technology Portugal  PORTUGAL 26/03/2021

Uncovering the “master switches” of biochemical networks can explain the effects of drugs in the destruction of cancer cells

Researchers developed a mathematical framework that increases the ability to explain and control biochemical systems, including those involved in disease

When applied to computational models of cancer cells, a recently developed methodology reveals why some medications are more effective than others in killing breast cancer cells. The work results from an international collaborative effort, involving researchers from Portugal and the United States, and allowed the development of a mathematical framework that increases the ability to explain and control biochemical systems, including those involved in disease. The study published and highlighted in the cover of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) introduces the effective graph framework that captures the redundancy present in biochemical networks, identifying the components needed to control the cell.

 

 
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Technology Portugal  LISBOA 25/03/2021

Shining light to make hydrogen

ITQB NOVA researchers engineer light-driven bacterial factories to produce hydrogen

Decarbonizing the economy and achieving the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies is one of the most urgent global challenges of the 21st century. Hydrogen can play a key role in this process as a promising climate-neutral energy vehicle. Yet, the so-called green hydrogen economy requires that hydrogen production be based exclusively on renewable energy. In addition, it should ideally not use expensive and rare metal catalysts, whose production has severe environmental consequences. To address this challenge, ITQB NOVA researchers Inês Cardoso Pereira and Mónica Martins are working on an innovative technology to produce hydrogen from light using non-photosynthetic microorganisms.

 
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Space Chile  ATACAMA 18/03/2021

Powerful stratospheric winds measured on Jupiter for the first time

This planet is famous for its distinctive red and white bands: swirling clouds of moving gas that astronomers traditionally use to track winds in Jupiter’s lower atmosphere

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers have directly measured winds in Jupiter’s middle atmosphere for the first time. By analyzing the aftermath of a comet collision from the 1990s, the researchers have revealed incredibly powerful winds, with speeds of up to 1450 kilometers an hour, near Jupiter’s poles. They could represent what the team has described as a “unique meteorological beast in our Solar System.”

 
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Technology Spain  MADRID 17/03/2021

How to improve the measurement of the surface viscosity of filaments and membranes

Researchers at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have published a scientific paper that lays the foundation for developing a more precise method of measuring

Researchers at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have published a scientific paper that lays the foundation for developing a more precise method of measuring surface viscosity in liquid filaments and biological membranes with viscous surfaces. This development could be applied in the food, pharmaceutical or biomedical industries.

 
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Environment Venezuela  VENEZUELA 05/03/2021

Is odor the secret to bats' sex appeal?

Odors come from very different parts of bats' bodies, from their heads and mouths to their wings or genitalia

When falling in love, humans often pay attention to looks. Many non-human animals also choose a sexual partner based on appearance. Male birds may sport flashy feathers to attract females, lionesses prefer lions with thicker manes and colorful male guppies with large spots attract the most females. But bats are active in the dark. How do they attract mates? Mariana Muñoz-Romo, a senior Latin American postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and National Geographic explorer, pioneers research to understand the role of odors in bat mating behavior.

 

 
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Health Spain  VALLADOLID 03/03/2021

Hydrogel injection may change the way the heart muscle heals after a heart attack

The regeneration of cardiac tissue is minimal so that the damage caused cannot be repaired by itself

Researchers at CÚRAM, the SFI Research Centre for Medical Devices based at National University of Ireland Galway, and BIOFORGE Lab, at the University of Valladolid in Spain, have developed an injectable hydrogel that could help repair and prevent further damage to the heart muscle after a heart attack.

 

 
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Environment Panama  PANAMÁ 02/03/2021

First DNA extracted from modern, ancient and fossil tropical shells

The next time you eat seafood, think about the long-term effects. Will consistently eating the biggest fish or the biggest conch, mean that only the smaller individuals will have a chance to reproduce?

In Wonderland, Alice drank a potion to shrink herself. In nature, some animal species shrink to escape the attention of human hunters, a process that takes from decades to millennia. To begin to understand the genetics of shrinking, scientists working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama successfully extracted DNA from marine shells. Their new technique will not only shed light on how animals from lizards to lemurs shrink, it will reveal many other stories hidden in shells.

 

 
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Environment Panama  PANAMÁ 26/02/2021

Are eastern pacific corals climate change survivors?

A tech entrepreneur who dreamed of becoming a marine biologist teams up with STRI researchers and young Latin American biologists to find out if some coral reefs are more resilient than others

 

Coral reefs cover 1% of the Earth’s surface – but are home to 25% of the world’s marine species. Reefs are under threat from climate change, but a team of researchers from STRI has embarked on a four-year quest to solve a tantalizing mystery: why do some corals in the Tropical Eastern Pacific seem to be more resistant to the damaging effects of climate change than corals elsewhere? By unlocking the secrets of these “super-corals,” they hope to help rescue and restore coral reefs worldwide.

 
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Environment Portugal  PORTUGAL 19/02/2021

How larger brains can predict social behaviours

Team of researchers, co-led by IGC principal investigator Rui Oliveira, discovered that the size of the brain is important for complex social decision making

Eager to understand how the environment can impact animal cognitive performance, a team of researchers discovered that, in cleaner fish from the Great Barrier Reef, the size of the brain is important for complex social decision making. The study published in Nature Communications suggests that large forebrains (the forward-most portion of the brain) enable individuals to adapt better to local environmental conditions, important data to add to the study of coral reef ecosystems.

 
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Technology Spain  ESPAÑA 17/02/2021

CoronaSurveys, selected as Finalist in Pandemic Response Challenge

The project, led by researcher Antonio Fernández Anta (IMDEA Networks Institute), is among the 48 finalist teams from 17 countries selected in the $500K Pandemic Response Challenge sponsored by Cognizant

XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, in partnership with Cognizant, one of the world’s leading technology and professional services companies, have announced that 48 teams from 17 countries are advancing to the final round of the $500K Pandemic Response Challenge. Teams competing in Phase 2 will develop artificial intelligence-driven models (courtesy of supporting partner AWS) to prescribe actions for safely reopening society and limiting economic impact while minimizing COVID-19 transmissions (conclusion of the challenge: February 26, 2021).

 
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Technology Spain  MADRID 12/02/2021

DAEMON: Beyond 5G with (Network) Intelligence

The European project involves 12 partners across Europe, and will develop and implement updates to the mobile network architecture so as to best accommodate Network Intelligence (NI) in future 6G systems

IMDEA Networks is the project coordinator for the Network intelligence for aDAptive and sElf-Learning MObile Networks (DAEMON) project, financed under the European Union H2020-ICT-2020-2 call on Information and Communication Technology. From January 2021 to December 2023, the team of researchers will work on the application of Network Intelligence (NI) to 6G systems so as to fully automate network management, with a substantial participation of industry players, including world-leading manufacturers such as Nokia and NEC Corporation, top operators like Telefonica and OTE, as well as innovative SMEs like SRS, ADLINK or WINGS ICT.

 
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Health Portugal  PORTUGAL 10/02/2021

Sepsis: new evidence to understand and fight the disease

Study published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe reveals new mechanisms that confer resistance against sepsis and sheds light on key aspects of hominid evolution

Researchers discover that the loss of a specific molecule may explain how primates evolved to be able to resist to bacterial infections leading to sepsis. The study published in the prestigious scientific journal Cell Host & Microbe reveals that, in mice, the absence of this molecule (the α-Gal glycan) from the antibodies structure increases the ability to the same antibody to kill bacteria. This evolutionary advantage emerged with a cost, the reproductive decline. These findings shed light on key aspects of hominid evolution and reveal new mechanisms that confer resistance against sepsis, crucial to understand and fight the disease.

 
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