Last December, a banking institution launched an advertising campaign giving customers tips on how to reduce their carbon footprint. One suggestion was to reduce meat consumption, which led to a strong reaction from the livestock sector, which went as far as holding barbecues in front of the bank’s branches.
One of the biggest problems with the livestock industry is that it is a huge source of methane emissions, contributing to global warming—methane represents 19% of Brazil’s total greenhouse gas emissions. With more head of cattle than any other country in the world, Brazil has a responsibility to develop and implement technologies with which the sector can reduce carbon emissions and its impact on the planet’s climate.
In this month’s issue, Domingos Zaparolli, a journalist who frequently contributes to Pesquisa FAPESP, and Technology Editor Yuri Vasconcelos provide an overview of initiatives currently attempting to reduce livestock emissions in Brazil, including a method developed by EMBRAPA to integrate agricultural cultivation with cattle farming and reforestation.
*
For those who are old enough, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is in some ways reminiscent of the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 90s. A mysterious disease, also caused by a virus, whose diagnosis was initially a death sentence. With the emergence of antiretroviral drugs, the survival rate and quality of life of HIV+ patients have increased substantially. More recently, various research groups have made progress in the search for a functional cure for the infection. This means preventing the replication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, without the need to continuously use antiretrovirals.
A therapeutic approach conceived and tested in Brazil has achieved proof of concept, showing itself to be promising in phase I and II clinical trials. The strategy involves substantially reducing levels of HIV in the body with antiretrovirals and other compounds, then using a personalized vaccine that helps the patient’s immune system find and destroy any of the virus that survived the medication.
Pesquisa FAPESP has been covering the novel coronavirus since March 2020, with a special section created for testimonies about the impact COVID-19 has had on the work of scientists. We believe that in such unusual times, more personal accounts were needed, without straying from our guiding theme of scientific activity. Almost 100 reports have been printed so far, and now, for the first time, the magazine itself is the protagonist of the narrative, recounted on page 45. João Neves, a PhD student and teacher, sent us a detailed and illustrated account, which is the basis for the testimony in this edition, of how he structured his history course at the Paula Souza de Mogi Mirim State Technical School in São Paulo around articles published in Pesquisa FAPESP about the pandemic and other topics relevant to his discipline.
In March 2022, exactly two years later, we returned to our offices—to the physical space where the team that produces, promotes, and sells Pesquisa FAPESP comes to work. Excited by the prospect of new exchanges and inspired by João Neves’s story, we invite our readers to talk to us. Our contact details are listed at the top of the next page; comments, suggestions, questions, constructive criticism, and praise are all welcome.
Republish