International issue | February 2004
S&T Policy
Cattle ranching
The advance of the cattle herds
The bovine functional genome project will widen Brazil's competitive advantage in the international beef market
Mega Science

Network of life
Software permits the integration of data banks with information on plants,animals and microorganisms
By Ricardo Zorzettoenvironment
Protection for biodiversity
Biota-Pará Project draws up list of species threatened with extinction
Science
MEDICINE

Restored heart
Results from the first transplants using stem cells in Brazil usher in the prospect of using this technique against cardiac arrest, one of the main causes of death in the world
By Ricardo ZorzettoGenomics

On the trail of a vaccine
Brazilians sequence the genome of the bacterium that causes leptospirosis and request patents for twenty-four proteins
By Marcos PivettaPaleontology

Under the palm trees
A biology teacher and a farmer take part in the discovery of a vast deposit of dinosaur fossils in the interior of Maranhão
By Ricardo ZorzettoPhysics

The genesis of DNA
Mathematical model describes the competition between molecules that made it possible for living beings to emerge on Earth
By Carlos FioravantiBotany

Long life for pernambuco wood
Seeds of the plant are preserved for a year and a half, six times more than used to be thought
By Marcos PivettaEcology
Shadows over the forest
Clouds of smoke from forest clearing fires block out 20% of the light from the sun, reduce rainfall and cool down the Amazon forest
By Marcos Pivettaethology
Monkeys that almost speak
Typical of the Atlantic Rain Forest, the woolly spider monkeys have a singular form of communication
By Carlos FioravantiOceanography
Oasis in danger
Biologists plan the repopulation of the coral reefs, one of the richest environments in the world, threatened by excessive fishing
By Ricardo Zorzetto and Verônica FalcãoTechnology
Software
The computer's voice
Linguists and engineers from Unicamp formulate a speech system with a Brazilian accent
By Tania MarquesSteel Making

Lucrative marriage
A fourteen-year partnership between the university and the company CSN has brought in some US$ 85 million for the company
By Marili RibeiroMaterials engineering

Extra toughness in the air
Unprecedented product gives more resistance to the wingtip lights of Embraer's aircraft
By Yuri VasconcelosChemistry
Cachaça without any mystery
Compared with whiskies, the Brazilian drink has fewer aldehydes, substances that are responsible for hangovers
By Yuri VasconcelosBiotechnology
Hormone on the market
Small company teams up with Brazilian pharmaceutical industry to produce a medicine against dwarfism
Materials Science
Rubber medicine
Material made from the latex of the rubber tree closes ulcers and rebuilds the esophagus and the eardrum
By Dinorah ErenoHumanities
Popular culture
Villa Lobos's backwoods trunk
Researcher organizes collection of tunes, ballads, poems and parodies that were in the composer's collection
By Débora Crivellaro