Alexandra Ozorio de Almeida - Editor in Chief

Letter from the editor | 313

A worrying drop

After a slow start, Brazil is now one of the top 10 countries with regard to the percentage of the population vaccinated against COVID-19. The country’s National Immunization Program (PNI), managed by the public health system (SUS), offers 29 vaccines as routine, at no cost to the public. The PNI has been so successful that... View Article

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR | 312

Understanding and overcoming obstacles

The knowledge gained from scientific research can improve the quality of life of individuals and social groups, but it is not always effectively or quickly adopted—more so with procedures and methods than equipment and drugs. There are many obstacles, including ignorance, habit, lack of training, absence of rules, and cultural resistance. The problem can occur... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 311

Theater demonstrations

Brazilian rapper Emicida recorded a show at the Municipal Theater of São Paulo for the documentary AmarElo – É tudo para ontem (“It’s all for yesterday”). The musician chose the theater—where a 1922 exhibition known as Modern Art Week demanded greater Brazilian contribution to art—as his stage to talk about Afro-Brazilians who have played a... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 310

Capturing subtleties

Brazil is known for producing more clean energy than the average country. In 2019, 46% of its electricity came from low-carbon sources, compared to 16% worldwide (and 26% in Europe). The majority of this renewable, nonpolluting energy is produced by more than 200 hydroelectric power plants that generate two-thirds of the electricity consumed nationwide. The... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 309

Coffee, wine, açaí

It has long been known that local soil and climate characteristics, combined with cultivation and manufacturing techniques, result in unique attributes for certain agricultural or food products. There are records of this dating back to the fifth century BC, such as references to wine from the Greek island of Chios, considered a luxury item in... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 308

Diversity

The idea of using criteria for spaces on higher education courses based on anything other than performance may seem incompatible with scientific work. Conceptually, science has no color, gender, age, or any other characteristic, but it is a social activity, and we live in an unequal society. Thinking of ways to ensure equal access to... View Article

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Letter from the Editor | 307

Unequivocal demonstration

Unequivocal. That is how the sixth report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) described humanity’s influence on the warming of the atmosphere, ocean, and land. The first part of the latest report summarizes 14,000 recent scientific studies on the issue. There was nothing incidental about the choice of words: the IPCC precisely... View Article

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Letter from the Editor | 306

At a crossroads

The eastern Amazon is no longer a carbon dioxide sink and is now a source of this greenhouse gas, according to a recently published study. Confirming previous, less comprehensive data, the research sought to measure the carbon balance in areas of the Amazon suffering varying levels of deforestation, wild fires, and climate change. The results... View Article

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Letter from the Editor | 305

No census

Every 10 years, IBGE researchers visit every household in Brazil to carry out the national census, collecting demographic and socioeconomic data on the country’s inhabitants. Brazil’s first census took place almost 150 years ago, at a time when one of the questions was whether the individual was free or enslaved. It is the main source... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 304

A bleak outlook

On January 15, 1951, Brazilian President Eurico Dutra passed Law 1310, establishing what was at the time called the National Research Council (CNPq). The law’s first article outlined the council’s purpose: “to foster and stimulate the development of scientific and technological research in all fields of knowledge.” Almost six months later, on July 11, CAPES... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 303

Education is not a privilege

One of the lasting impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic relates to an essential area for all nations: education, which is fundamental to the future of developing countries like Brazil. In addition to the already high number of 1.3 million children and teenagers not enrolled in education in Brazil, a further 4 million students have... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 302

Principles and decisions

Viruses are simple but sophisticated organisms. They have no efficient mechanism for correcting genetic errors that occur during replication, meaning that changes to their genome are incorporated into future generations. These mutations can be harmless, or they can make the virus more efficient—which is all the more undesirable when humans are the hosts. A year... View Article

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Letter from the editor

Stolen heritage

Illegal fossil extraction is poorly reported and a more common problem than you would think. Developing nations whose soils are rich in prehistoric records often suffer from limitations such as insufficient security and oversight, leading to increased smuggling of valuable artifacts, which frequently end up in the hands of private collectors or even in museums.... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 300

Numbers

With the second most COVID-19 deaths in the world, Brazil has already surpassed 200,000 victims of the disease. The figure could be much lower if preventive measures proven to be effective were more widely followed, such as social distancing, the use of masks, and strict hygiene practices. It is equally undeniable that the number could... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 299

Take care

Surgeon Angelita Habr-Gama has dedicated her career to developing treatment strategies that aim to prevent rectal cancer patients from needing to have the organ removed. The results of research carried out by her group since the 1990s were published last month, showing that patients need not undergo a proctocolectomy if the tumor regresses completely after... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 298

Encouraging prospects

In February of this year, when we were putting together the March issue, the first official record of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Brazil was confirmed. We had no idea what the future might bring. Our first article on the topic, “The Novel Coronavirus in Brazil,” reported on the disease’s arrival and described the other types of... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 296

Legal subjects

The idea that children are individuals who deserve the same rights as adults, as well as other specific rights based on their inherent vulnerability, is a recent one. Previously seen as belonging to the family or the State, the notion that they deserve particular attention grew in popularity as we learned more about childhood development,... View Article

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Letter from the Editor | 294

The plague and the pain

It is no surprise that pandemics have a significant impact on the population’s mental health. The fear of contagion and death, the immediate impact of an economic downturn, the stress of confinement, the burden of having to take on  tasks that used to be shared by multiple people, and worrying about the future have all... View Article

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Letter from the Editor | 293

The challenge of immunization

Less than four months after China notified the WHO that it had identified a cluster of pneumonia cases “of unknown cause,” potential vaccines for the novel coronavirus had already begun human testing. One of the first companies to start phase 1 clinical trials (in humans) was Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech, with which the Butantan... View Article

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Letter from the Editor | 292

Crucial numbers

Little is known about viruses. Existing on the boundary between the living and the nonliving, they are found in all environments where there is life. Their effects on living beings can be beneficial, harmless, or capable of triggering devastating epidemics, such as Ebola, Zika, and now, SARS-CoV-2. Although the number of species is estimated in... View Article

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Letter from the editor

Journalism during a pandemic

On March 20, the Pesquisa FAPESP offices closed and the team began working remotely. The April issue was completed in the midst of a rush to establish new working processes involving videoconferences, content-sharing platforms, and cloud storage. The May edition, meanwhile, was planned and executed from a distance, with only the journal’s photographer, Léo Ramos... View Article

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Letter from the editor

A challenge for science

In May 1919, when the H1N1 pandemic known as the Spanish flu was slowing down, the journal Science published an article titled “The Lessons of the Pandemic.” In the article, American sanitation engineer and epidemiologist George A. Soper wrote: “The most astonishing thing about the pandemic was the complete mystery which surrounded it. Nobody seemed... View Article

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Editorial

Women and Science

Modern science and its remarkable advances are closely associated with the ideas and research of men. Although this perception is not entirely accurate, it is also not incorrect. Like all human activity, science is a part of our current social structure, which is undoubtedly based on a male perspective. Londa Schiebinger, a professor of the... View Article

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Pesquisa Fapesp, 20 years

n 1963, a report by the Royal Society on the emigration of scientists sparked a public debate over so-called brain drain. Half a century later, international mobility among scientists is still an object of debate fueled by reports and studies. Initially restricted to people with a background in science and technology, the term currently covers... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 286

Evangelicalism and politics

In 1872, the year of the first Brazilian census, almost the entire population of the country defined themselves as Catholic (99.7%). One hundred years later, the proportion had changed, but only slightly, to 91.8% in 1970. Since then, official statistics show, the decline has accelerated: in 1991, the total was 83.3%, and in 2010 it... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 284

Journalism for science

In October 1999, the Notícias FAPESP newsletter became the Pesquisa FAPESP journal, expanding the mission for scientific dissemination begun four years earlier by the foundation from which the publication gets its name. Two decades later, the need and desire to inform the public about science produced in Brazil and in the state of São Paulo... View Article

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Letter from the editor

Fortune and chance

Science evolves in a nonlinear manner. Subject to mishaps and chance, its path is much more lively and interesting than one might presume. Frequently, there is a good story behind important discoveries. One of these stories happened one hundred years ago and had Brazil as its stage. In 1919, Albert Einstein was not yet the... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 283

Brains on the move

In 1963, a report on the emigration of scientists by the British scientific academy The Royal Society triggered what would come to be known as the brain drain debate. The origin of the term is attributed to then Minister of Science Lord Hailsham, who accused the USA of “parasitizing British brains.” Half a century later,... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 282

Technology Purchase

Five years ago, the Brazilian government signed a purchasing contract for a batch of military jets from Swedish company Saab. This month, the first model of the new generation Gripen E fighter is scheduled to take off from the city of Linköping, Sweden, to begin its flight test campaign, the last stage before delivery in... View Article

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Letter from the editor | 281

Too much plastic

Versatility is one of the many useful characteristics of plastic, which can be used in a range of applications in place of glass, wood, paper, metal, and natural fabrics, making it ubiquitous in modern society. Global plastic production was 2 million tons in 1950, and reached around 400 million tons in 2016. It is the... View Article

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