Social Sciences Chile  ATACAMA 07/01/2014

Supernova’s Super Dust Factory Imaged with ALMA

Striking new observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope capture, for the first time, the remains of a recent supernova brimming with freshly formed dust

Galaxies can be remarkably dusty places and supernovas are thought to be a primary source of that dust, especially in the early Universe. Direct evidence of a supernova’s dust-making capabilities, however, has been slim and cannot account for the copious amount of dust detected in young, distant galaxies.

Ilustración artística de la supernova 1987A revela las frías regiones interiores de los remanentes de la estrella que explotó (en rojo) donde fueron detectadas enormes cantidades de polvo gracias a ALMA.   Créditos: Alexandra Angelich (NRAO/AUI/NSF).
640 words
2 Images
Technology Mexico  PUEBLA 03/01/2014

Volcanic ash touted as raw material for textile industry

Tecnológico de Monterrey Puebla Campus students and researchers show that due to its fine consistency and abrasive quality, volcanic ash can be employed to distress fabric in place of the most commonly used material: pumice stone

Said Robles, Director of the Automotive Engineering Master's program, and Sergio Castillo, a Civil Engineering student, have developed a method to separate volcano ash components and obtain silica, cristobalite, and alumina, components of extreme hardness that can act on other materials through mechanical efforts like grinding, cutting or polishing.

Said Casolco Robles (left) and Sergio Castillo, teacher-researcher and student of Campus Puebla, respectively, developed a method for separating the components of volcanic ash and get silica, cristobalite and alumina. FOTO: ITESM.
198 words
1 Images
Science Spain  CANARIAS 19/12/2013

Battle of the Titans: Two Black Holes in Action

With the Canaricam instrument on the Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC), a team of researchers known as ‘Los Piratas’ have caught a system of two galaxies fused together in collision, feeding two black holes at their centres

rp 299 is the name given to two galaxies (NGC3690 + IC694) in collision. This interacting system is at a relatively early stage in its chance encounter. Both galaxies have an active nucleus (called Active Galactic Nuclei – AGN) that host black holes in their interiors. Now, for the first time, it has been possible to isolate the mid-infrared emission from the two simultaneously emitting interacting nuclei.

Sistema Arp299, formado por las galaxias NGC3690 y IC694. Créditos: Telescopio Espacial Hubble.
724 words
2 Images
Health Spain  MADRID 18/12/2013

The first cancer operation room with a navigator is created

The system, presented at Gregorio Marañón Hospital, permits real-time interaction with the body of the patient

A team of researchers from Gregorio Marañón Hospital, the company GMV and the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have started the first cancer operation room with a navigator. This image-guided system will allow for increased intraoperative radiotherapy safety. The system, presented at Gregorio Marañón Hospital, permits real-time interaction with the body of the patient (with its different tissues and cancer) as well as the radiotherapy applicator used to radiate the area affected by the tumor. This innovation will be used in the surgery of cancers treated with intraoperative radiotherapy in the hope of achieving greater precision in the radiation of potentially cancerous tissues after the removal of the tumor.

Infografía del quirófano. Imagen: Comunidad de Madrid.
837 words
3 Images
Technology Mexico  MÉXICO 18/12/2013

CentroGeo identifies forests with bigger potential for carbon credit

This is relevant because the interest that organizations and enterprises have for giving, as an incentive, economic resources to countries with preserved forest zones

Using satellite images, researchers at the Center of Geography and Geomatics (CentroGeo) estimate the quantity of carbon that Mexican forests store and identify the species that best serve as a reservoir. This is relevant because the interest that organizations and enterprises have for giving, as an incentive, economic resources to countries with preserved forest zones (payment scheme of environmental services).

Bosque.
   

 

401 words
3 Images
Health Argentina  BUENOS AIRES 17/12/2013

Gene therapy to treat melanoma in dogs

An innovative combined treatment allows increasing the survival five to six times. In 84% of the cases, the patients remain free of metastases.

Since the year 1996 CONICET researchers of the Gene Transfer Unit (UTG) at the ‘Ángel H. Roffo’ Institute of Oncology of the University of Buenos Aires work on the development of a combined therapy to combat a special type of cancer in dogs.

Los investigadores Gerardo Glikin y Liliana Finocchiaro. Foto: CONICET Fotografía.
656 words
1 Images
Technology Spain  MADRID 16/12/2013

A Terahertz generator with the highest signal quality

Researchers at the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) and the firm Luz WaveLabs are developing an innovative Terahertz generator

Researchers at the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) and the firm Luz WaveLabs are developing an innovative Terahertz generator that improves signal quality by one million times as compared to the best device of this kind currently on the market; it will allow this technology to be applied in the areas of biomedicine, transportation safety, industry and radio astronomy, among others.

Representación gráfica del  generador de terahercios con mejor calidad de señal. Foto: UC3M.
785 words
1 Images
1 Audio clips
Science Spain  MADRID 10/12/2013

Network theory to strengthen the banking system

A mathematical and computational study by the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid suggests that restructuring certain interbank loans would help to contain the spread of economic crises in the financial system

A mathematical and computational study by the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) based on network theory suggests that restructuring certain interbank loans would help to contain the spread of economic crises in the financial system.

Economía. Foto: UC3M.
624 words
1 Images
1 Audio clips
Technology Chile  CHILE 04/12/2013

Chilean astroinformatics platform joins International Virtual Observatory

This astroinformatics initiative, which is now completing its first year of execution, is sponsored by REUNA and ALMA with participating academics

The project designed to manage and analyze the almost 250 terabytes of data that the Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) will generate each year has joined the International Virtual Observatory Alliance, becoming a key initiative in Chile's contribution to astroinformatics around the world.

ALMA. FOTO: USM/ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)JoséRivas.
540 words
3 Images
Technology Spain  MADRID 02/12/2013

Google+ registers many users, but few are active

A research group at Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) has analyzed the first months that Google+ has been functioning to study its popularity and compare this platform to others, such as Facebook and Twitter

Social networks have become the Internet’s most used applications. Among these, Facebook and Twitter dominate the market, with billions of users. Given this scenario, “Google, the internet giant, realized that in order to maintain its dominant position, it would have to get involved in the social network market,” declares one of the authors of the study, Rubén Cuevas, of UC3M’s Telematic Engineering Department. His study seeks to settle the debate regarding the success of Google+. On one hand, Google has, on several occasions, declared its social network a huge success; on the other hand, some experts and media sources, such as the Wall Street Journal, have nicknamed the network a “ghost town”.

Gráfico sobre los usuarios de Google+. Imagen: UC3M.
796 words
1 Images
1 Audio clips
Health Argentina  ARGENTINA 25/11/2013

Advances in the identification of novel targets for prolactinoma treatments

CONICET scientists study inhibitory effects of the prolactin secretion and cell proliferation to counterbalance the development of these tumours

In the year 2010, a study of the Division of Endocrinology of the “Hospital de Clinicas José de San Martin” showed that 79 per cent of the patients diagnosed with lesions on the hypothalamic- hypophyseal area of the brain had tumours at the base of the brain, and of those, 19 per cent were prolactinomas, a type of benign tumour of the pituitary gland that is responsible for several hormone secretions.

Díaz Torga, Recouvreux y el equipo del IBYME. Foto: gentileza investigadores.
773 words
1 Images
Social Sciences Chile  ATACAMA 21/11/2013

Infant galaxies merging near ‘Cosmic Dawn’

Astronomers have discovered a far-flung trio of primitive galaxies nestled inside an enormous blob of primordial gas nearly 13 billion light-years from Earth

Astronomers using the combined power of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a far-flung trio of primitive galaxies nestled inside an enormous blob of primordial gas nearly 13 billion light-years from Earth.

Estructura de Himiko, un objeto formado por la fusión de tres galaxias jóvenes y brillantes del Universo temprano. Himiko visto por el telescopio espacial Hubble y el telescopio Subaru. Créditos: NASA/Hubble; NASA/Spitzer; NAOJ/Subaru.
574 words
2 Images
Nutrition Colombia  ANTIOQUIA 13/11/2013

Forensic entomology: crime solving insects

For more than a decade researchers at the University of Antioquia have been studying forensic entomology and compiled a vast collection of insect species that can help determine the elapsed time since a person has died

“Insects are fascinating,” says Professor Martha Wolf, an entomologist at the University of Antioquia who has long been devoted to study the role of insects in death investigations, and current director of the UA Entomology Group (GEUA), established in 1997. The use of insects in forensic investigations dates back to the 13th century in China as evidenced by Chinese physician and forensic expert Song Ci (also known as Sung T’zu) in his book “The washing away of wrongs”.

Professor Martha Isabel Wolf, current director of the UA Entomology Group (GEUA), a pioneer in the field of forensic entomology in Colombia. FOTO: UDEA.
778 words
2 Images
Nutrition Argentina  SANTA FE 12/11/2013

The tick holds the key

Molecular techniques allow detecting and determining the population dynamics of a bacterium that uses ticks as vectors

Lucas Monje is 35, holds a PhD in Biological Sciences and is a CONICET assistant researcher at the Laboratory of Disease Ecology of the Institute of Veterinary Sciences (ICIVET-LITORAL, CONICET-UNL). Although he works in the field of molecular biology, “the subject that I became directly involved with is an investigation that tries to elucidate the eco- epidemiology of Rickettsia parkeri, a bacterium that causes emerging infectious diseases”, he explains.

Fotos Investigadores procesando roedores � Garrapata (Amblyomma triste) hembra. Gentileza Georgina Tumini (ICIVET). Foto Lucas Monje. CCT Santa Fe.
737 words
1 Images
Technology Colombia  ANTIOQUIA 31/10/2013

UA-led research team develops plant-based biofuel

Researchers at the University of Antioquia have managed to produce biofuel from aquatic plants

Most of Ayapel inhabitants derive their livelihood from hunting, fishing and agriculture. However, these resources are being drastically depleted as a result of overexploitation and deforestation. Also overfishing has led to a decline in populations of several species including shad, catfish and bocachico. Illegal gold mining and drop in rice prices due to free trade agreements are also problems affecting this region.

Researchers at the University of Antioquia have managed to produce biofuel from aquatic plants. Author: UDEA.
649 words
1 Images
Social Sciences Chile  ATACAMA 30/10/2013

ALMA reveals ghostly shape of ‘coldest place in the universe’

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope have taken a new look at this intriguing object

At a cosmologically crisp one degree Kelvin (minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit), the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest known object in the Universe – colder, in fact, than the faint afterglow of the Big Bang, which is the natural background temperature of space.

La nebulosa del Búmeran, llamada �el lugar más frío del Universo�, revela su verdadera forma gracias a ALMA.  Crédito: Bill Saxton; NRAO/AUI/NSF; NASA/Hubble; Raghvendra Sahai.
741 words
1 Images
Nutrition Chile  ATACAMA 16/10/2013

ALMA Probes Mysteries of Jets from Giant Black Holes

Astronomers obtained the best view yet of the molecular gas around a nearby

Two international teams of astronomers have used the power of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to focus on jets from the huge black holes at the centres of galaxies and observe how they affect their surroundings. They have respectively obtained the best view yet of the molecular gas around a nearby, quiet black hole and caught an unexpected glimpse of the base of a powerful jet close to a distant black hole.

Composición de la galaxia NGC 1433 con imágenes de ALMA y Hubble. Crédito: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/NASA/ESA/F. Combes.
750 words
2 Images
Science Spain  ZAMORA 15/10/2013

Researches in the late roman site of 'El Castillón' reveal a longer occupation for the settlement

Last summer fieldworks revealed that the settlement of Santa Eulalia was inhabited until the 7th century AD

Last campaign of excavations at El Castillon (located in Santa Eulalia de Tabara, Zamora, Northwestern Spain) have revealed that this Late Roman town was occupied for a longer period of time than the determined by the scientists so far. Prior dating placed the last dwellers of El Castillon not beyond the 5th century AD, but in the 2013 fieldwork, the archaeologists have discovered artefacts enabling to enlarge the chronology of the site until a period between the 6th and the 8th centuries, then the Early Middle Ages.

Trabajos de excavación en El Castillón.
799 words
3 Images
Health Spain  MADRID 15/10/2013

Improvements in the Detection of Drug Interactions Researched

A pharmacological interaction occurs when the effects of one drug are modified by the presence of another

A group of researchers at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) recently organized an international science competition on information extraction techniques to more accurately detect the pharmacological interactions described in biomedical texts.

Administración de fármacos.
967 words
1 Images
1 Audio clips
Nutrition Colombia  ANTIOQUIA 09/10/2013

UA researchers discover new frog species

University of Antioquia researchers claimed to have discovered a new species of amphibian endemic to the department of Antioquia
The discovery was announced last week in Herpetologica, a journal published by the Herpetologist's League, an international organization devoted to the study and conservation of amphibians and reptiles. La nueva especie se dio a conocer el 7 de septiembre del 2013, en la revista estadounidense Herpetologica. Foto: Mauricio Rivera Correa.
396 words
1 Images