International issue | February 2009

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Cover

Paths for advancement as ethanol leader
FAPESP launches a bioenergy research program

S&T Policy

INNOVATION

Risk rewarded

Sale of Alellyx and CanaVialis to Monsanto for US$290 million is an example of wealth creation through competitive research

environment

Bringing people together

FAPESP launches program and summons researchers from many fields, from natural sciences to the humanities, to increase Brazil´s contribution in the study of global climate change

fostering research

Measured merit

Mega-evaluation based on peer review to guide distribution of funds to UK universities

Science

NEUROSCIENCE

An essential protein

Brazilian team explains how the working of the healthy form of prion is essential for the protection of the brain cells

PHARMACOLOGY

War in the cells

Discoveries show how to help the immune system fight generalized infections

IMMUNOLOGY

Death swarm

Brazilian group obtains the first serum against bee poison

PUBLIC HEALTH

A pre-announced disease

Lethal infection caused by a single cell parasite, visceral leishmaniasis spreads throughout Brazilian cities

ECOLOGY

Emergency manual

Maps define guidelines for preserving native vegetation, restoring degraded areas and carrying out environmental research in São Paulo

GEOGRAPHY

More people, fewer trees

Minas Gerais researchers develop index to identify Amazon Forest areas prone to deforestation

PHYSICS

Cosmic rays long journey

and the scientists who wanted to learn where the rays come from

Technology

PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

Marine challenges

Exploiting oil and gas beneath the sea’s salt layer creates demand for knowledge and technology

AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

Quieter aircraft

Project led by Embraer plans to cut aircraft noise

NEW MATERIALS

Renewable plastic

Firms use ethanol and bacteria as the raw materials to make substitutes for oil products

SEMICONDUCTORS

Memory of the future

A ceramics center will develop raw materials for a new chip factory in São Carlos

Humanities

History

A break in Brazil’s history

Bicentenary of the arrival of the royal family demands a historiographic reflection

Literature

Why love Jorge?

Re-edition of the complete works brings about a critical review of one of Brazil’s most popular authors

ANTHROPOLOGY

Amazonia lost and found

Scientists discover that the first inhabitants established civilizations that were organized and complex