Notes
Geology
Water on the near side of the moon
There is water on the Moon, and not only in the dark craters located near its poles
By Redação
Archaeology
A giant cat in the Peruvian desert
Archaeologists have identified a new geoglyph on the side of a hill in the desert between the Peruvian cities of Nazca and Palpa
By Redação
Paleontology
The blood parasites of a dinosaur
Brazilian paleontologists have identified fossilized blood parasites in the back leg bone of a titanosaur that lived some 85 million years ago
By Redação
Computation
Center for Artificial Intelligence
The Center for Artificial Intelligence, an engineering research center funded by FAPESP was inaugurated on October 13 at the University of São Paulo
By Redação
Funding
São Paulo representatives approve fiscal adjustment
Bill 529/2020, which establishes a range of measures for fiscal adjustment, was approved on October 14 by the São Paulo State Legislative Assembly
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Gender
Princeton to pay US$1.2 million to correct wage inequality
Princeton University has announced it will pay just under US$1 million in back pay to a group of 106 female professors
By Redação
Medicine
A jawbone made from fat cells
The researchers were able to regenerate the TMJ bone and cartilage of pigs, whose jaws are similar to those of humans, using stem cells obtained from the animals’ own fat
By Redação
COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2 can attack immune cells
The novel coronavirus is capable of infecting and killing immune cells, say researchers from the University of São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto
By Redação
COVID-19
Study determines Chinese vaccine is safe
CoronaVac is safe and has no serious side effects
By Redação
COVID-19
Antiviral plastic
Researchers have developed an adhesive plastic capable of inactivating 99.8% of novel coronavirus particles in two minutes
By Redação
COVID-19
Manaus and herd immunity
Weeks after the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths peaked in Manaus, the city appeared to have achieved herd immunity
By Redação
COVID-19
Effect on births
Fearful of contracting the novel coronavirus, many pregnant women are putting off going to the hospital until they are at a more advanced stage of labor
By Redação
COVID-19
Antibody treatment reduces time spent in hospital
American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly presented the initial results of a clinical trial that used monoclonal antibodies in patients infected with the novel coronavirus
By Redação
COVID-19
Obesity can exacerbate COVID-19
A large-scale study found that obese people infected with SARS-CoV-2 are twice as likely to need medical care
By Redação
biodiversity
Wildlife shrinks by 68% in five decades
The global populations of about 4,400 mammal, bird, reptile, fish, and amphibian species shrank by 68% between the years 1970 and 2016
By Redação
Pharmacology
Schistosomiasis medicine
The US FDA has granted orphan drug status to the immunomodulator P-MAPA for use against schistosomiasis
By Redação
Genetics
Where Vikings went
Researchers analyzed the remains of 442 humans found in Viking cemeteries in Scotland, concluding that the Viking identity was not limited to people with Scandinavian genetic ancestry
By Redação
Nanotechnology
A water-cooled chip
A group has proposed and manufactured a semiconductor chip equipped with an internal cooling system that works by pumping water through a three-dimensional network of microchannels
By Redação
Chemistry
Life on Venus?
An international group of researchers identified the presence of phosphine, a possible sign of life, in the atmosphere of Venus
By Redação
Biochemistry
The trigger for muscular strength
An international group of researchers has identified a chemical compound that functions as a molecular trigger for the strength gains caused by physical exercise
By Redação
Award
Helena Nader wins national award
On September 23, biochemist Helena Nader, a professor from the Federal University of São Paulo, received the Almirante Álvaro Alberto Award in Life Sciences
By Redação
Energy
Electric cars, the economy, and health
Replacing 25% of American cars with electric vehicles would save the country US$17 billion per year
By Redação
Environment
Record fires in the Pantanal in 2020
There were 2,534 wildfires in the Pantanal in the first half of 2020
By Redação
COVID-19
Seismographs used to measure social distancing
Due to the social distancing measures adopted to contain the pandemic, seismographs in large cities registered a significant reduction in the waves generated by ground movement
By Redação
COVID-19
The content of fake news
Scientific institutions have created websites to combat fake news
By Redação
COVID-19
Intranasal coronavirus vaccine
Two international studies have suggested that COVID-19 aerosol vaccine candidates, administered intranasally, offer protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection in animals
By Redação
COVID-19
Mutation makes COVID-19 less serious
A mutation that erased a stretch of DNA from two SARS-CoV-2 genes appears to make the symptoms of COVID-19 less aggressive
By Redação
COVID-19
High levels of asymptomatic infection in children
Clinical data suggest that although children and young adults tend to develop milder symptoms of COVID-19, they can be silent spreaders of the disease
By Redação
Paleontology
The dinosaur with cancer
An herbivorous dinosaur that lived about 76 million years ago in what is now the province of Alberta in western Canada had highly aggressive bone cancer in its right hind leg
By Redação