Issue # 205 _ March 2013

S&T Policy

EDUCATION

They enjoy science and challenges

Brazil’s progress in science Olympiads motivates secondary school students and helps train new researchers

Human Resources

A Controversial Change

The scientific community expresses concern over the law that changes the career plan for faculty members at federal universities

Media

A more open science

Editor in chief of Nature and a director of the Royal Society meet at FAPESP to discuss the challenges and limitations of open access to scientific data

Science

Ecology

Amazonia in three dimensions

Three-dimensional maps show details of forest structure and aid monitoring of the impacts of fragmentation on native vegetation

SPECIAL BIOTA EDUCATION I

Amid challenges, ideas and threats

Biologists give teachers and high school students an overview of the effects of fragmented ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity in Brazil

Paleontology

The tapeworm and the shark

Fossilized feces of fish 270 million years old found in Rio Grande do Sul contain tapeworm eggs

Brian Schmidt

Brian Schmidt: The dark energy enigma

Nobel Laureate says new methods are needed to measure the composition of most of the Universe

A GATHERING OF NOTABLES

Five Nobel Laureates at a Single Symposium

Event in São Carlos honors American physicist and brings together a quintet of Laureates

Physics

The secrets of the Lençóis Maranhenses

Clockwork variations between wind and rain guarantee the beauty of the dunes and ponds of Lençóis Maranhenses National Park

Technology

Industry

More sophisticated ceramic tiles

Technological developments adopted by manufacturers of ceramic wall and floor tiles propel Brazil to the rank of world’s second largest producer

Chemistry

Glucose battery

Pacemakers and other implanted devices will run on electricity obtained from the blood

New materials

Imitation of nature

Brazilian researchers in Switzerland develop a way to connect plastic to ceramics just like muscle to bone

ENGINEERING

Ozone to be used to treat mining waste

A São Paulo company plans to clean the water and soil contaminated by heavy metals at a uranium mine

Humanities

History

The past that intrudes into the present

Collection compiles articles by historians so that a broader audience can understand contemporary Brazil