Science

BOTANY

The roots of knowledge

Installed a decade ago in its own building at Quinta da Boa Vista, the herbarium survived intact

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ZOOLOGY

Saved fauna

The National Museum and USP Zoology Museum hold vast animal collections that can be difficult to preserve

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GEOSCIENCES

The ruins of rare stones

The geology and paleontology collection at the National Museum contained 70,000 pieces, such as meteorites, unique pterosaurs, and mineral specimens from the Portuguese royal family

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INTERVIEW

Niède Guidon: “I’m going to open the Museum of Nature and then I will rest”

After four decades in the Serra da Capivara, the archaeologist confirms that she will leave Piauí after the opening of the new exhibition space

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NATURAL HISTORY

A new window on the sertão

The foundation created by archaeologist Niède Guidon is set to inaugurate its Museum of Nature in December at Serra da Capivara National Park in Piauí

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Archaeology

Prehistory in pieces

The skull of Luzia and a 2,800-year-old Egyptian mummy were among the more than 100,000 items in the archaeology and biological anthropology collections

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SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Rebuilding heritage

Partnerships with indigenous peoples and community associations will be decisive to the restoration of ethnographic and linguistic collections

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GRADUATE STUDIES

Studies in jeopardy

Fire affects six of the institution’s graduate programs, of which two are world-class

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HISTORY

Memories indelible by fire

For 200 years, the National Museum contributed knowledge in the natural sciences and inspired the creation of several other science museums

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UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS

Centers for generating knowledge

University museums organize exhibitions, administer graduate programs, and do research

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MANAGEMENT

Strategies to keep museums healthy

Financial sustainability and flexible management are challenges facing museum managers

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ORGANIZATION

Dashed hopes

The National Museum was preparing for a revitalization project when it was obliterated by fire

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HERITAGE

The pain of loss

Six hours of fire destroyed 200 years of heritage at the largest natural-history museum in Latin America

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Physics

Frozen light

Theoretical study proposes a new way of stopping light

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Physics

Creative turbulence

Stimulating random fluctuations may increase energy production in nuclear fusion reactors

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INTERVIEW

Robert Shelton: Partnership between giants

President of the GMT telescope explains why he joined with competitor TMT to secure funding from the National Science Foundation

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Evolution

Male or female?

The mystery unfolds Amazonian frog species has more sex chromosomes than any other vertebrate

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ENVIRONMENT

Contamination beyond the mines

Areas of the Amazon flooded by dams may lead to an increase of the mercury levels in fish consumed by local residents

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ECOLOGY

Underwater Forest

Coral reefs at the mouth of the Amazon River may be larger, deeper, and more complex than expected

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Public health

A parasite reaches the big city

Difficult diagnosis and a warmer climate facilitate the advance of visceral leishmaniasis toward large urban centers

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GEOLOGY

China and Brazil may once have been neighbors

Graphite-rich rocks suggest that areas of both countries, as well as Africa, were joined together nearly 2 billion years ago

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Physics

Heated up by the cold

Cold particles transfer heat to hotter ones in a quantum experiment, thereby reversing the thermodynamic arrow of time

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PHYSICS

The effects of quantum turbulence

Disturbing a cloud of cold rubidium atoms produces a wave phenomenon similar to light

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Astronomy

Devouring stars

According to a survey, the Milky Way cannibalized eleven neighboring galaxies

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ASTRONOMY

The rocks that remained

An alternative model suggests that the asteroid belt originated from leftovers from the formation of the planets in the solar system

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Biology

The chemical language of insects

Within colonies, bees and ants recognize each other and organize themselves through compounds that cover their bodies

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ETHOLOGY

Primate culture

Transmission of tool-use practices among capuchin monkeys helps redefine the role of traditions in evolution

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SBPC

In search of new audiences

Brazilian science association targets young people, liberal professionals, and businesses in an effort to extend their social reach

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ASTROPHYSICS

Signs of new worlds

Gravitational waves could be used to detect exoplanets in close orbit around their parent star

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OCEANOGRAPHY

Sources of methane under the sea

Two thousand craters releasing greenhouse gas found off the Brazilian coast

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