Issue # 215 _ January 2014

Cover

The Emperor’s Favorite – Her Final Act: 3-D images reveal secrets of a 2,800 year-old mummy of a singer-priestess, star of the Egyptian collection at the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro

S&T Policy

Research support

A great leap forward

The Innovative Research in Small Businesses Program (PIPE) broke a record for assistance grants in 2013, which shows that small businesses are becoming increasingly interested in innovation

INDICATORS

Adverse environment

The Innovation Survey (Pintec) shows that the percentage of companies that produce innovations is down, but cooperative research and development is up

I. T.

Science in a haystack

eScience program tries to extract new knowledge in the midst of huge volumes of data

PUBLIC POLICY

Expanded Details

Fourth Edition of Inventário Florestal will show São Paulo’s native vegetation in high-definition

Science

ENDOCRINOLOGY

Early awakening

Brazilian researchers have identified the first gene associated with a hereditary form of premature puberty

NEUROSCIENCE

Persistent minds

Researchers want to understand what makes the brains of some people resist the effects of Alzheimer's disease

GENETICS

The origin of the lake people

Study reveals that the Uros people of today may be descendants of the first inhabitants of the Andean plateau

ECOLOGY

Trip of No Return

Female Magellanic penguins are more likely than males to die during the annual migration

BIODIVERSITY

Keeping an eye on the cat

Researchers mobilize to increase the jaguar population in the Atlantic Forest by 20% in five years

OCEANOGRAPHY

Mud from the South

Sediments from the Rio de la Plata travel almost 2,000 kilometers, as far north as the coast at São Sebastião

Physics

Twice as much information

Technique doubles the amount of data that can be recovered from a quantum system

Technology

ENTREPRENEURIAL RESEARCH

A new home

The recently opened BRF Innovation Center plans to become a model for creating new lines of business

OPTICS

A light in the field

São Carlos group builds a laser-equipped robotic device to analyze chemicals in soil and plant leaves

Chemistry

Images of fraud

Scanner test indicates whether or not milk has been tampered with

GENETIC ENGINEERING

Beneficial mutations

New traditional yeast strains and wild microorganisms can increase ethanol production

Computers

In the fundus of the eye

Software contributes to early detection and analysis of diabetic retinopathy

Humanities

Science communication

From monkey to man

A permanent exhibit on human evolution is now on display at Catavento Cultural in São Paulo

DEMOGRAPHICS

Population Flows in São Paulo

The Population Studies Center at Unicamp publishes an atlas about 200 years of immigration in São Paulo