Issue # 229 _ March 2015

S&T Policy

Scientometrics

Who Performs Better?

Study shows that grant recipients whose proposals are selected through a peer review process publish more articles in higher impact journals

Promotion

Science on the small screen

TV Cultura and FAPESP have launched the program SP Pesquisa, offering a series of reports highlighting science produced in São Paulo

SCIENTIFIC COLLECTIONS

Millions of plants online

Virtual herbaria—compilations of information on plant collections maintained in other countries—facilitate analysis of Brazilian biodiversity

Science

ASTRONOMY

Danger nearby

Brazilian research on nearby asteroids could help estimate the risk of collisions with Earth

PHYSICS

Sun in the Laboratory

Researchers develop model of luminous atmospheric phenomenon using soap bubbles and a laser pointer

Planetary Cartography

Electronic view

Mathematical tools aid automatic identification of craters and whirlwinds on Mercury and Mars

OBITUARY

Passion for physics and photography

Alejandro Szanto Toledo helped train a generation of nuclear physicists in Brazil

BOTANY

Underground strategies

Root specializations enable plants to live in impoverished environments like Brazil’s rupestrian grasslands

ECOLOGY

Living in freedom

Agoutis raised in captivity are adapting to forest life and breeding

Genetics

Attack in the Dark of Night

Melanin fragments formed hours after sun exposure may damage DNA and cause skin cancer

Technology

AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING

The contribution of the field

Irrigation with treated sewage water decreases the use of water resources and requires less fertilizer

COMPUTER ENGINEERING

Approach simulator

Equipment for virtual training of guards, developed by a small company, is sold to Brink's

Corporate Research

A Range of innovations

Opto, of São Carlos, develops and manufactures lasers for medical use, as well as optical devices for satellite cameras and defense

Biophysics

Two in one

Device uses ultrasound and laser simultaneously to rehabilitate arthritis patients

Humanities

Philosophy

Ideas in transition

Researchers study manuscripts from the intermediate phase between Wittgenstein’s two most famous works

HISTORY

Overseas intrigue

This project highlights the importance of the prophetic idea of “hope” in the relations between Portugal, the Netherlands and England in the 17th century

EDUCATION

Conceptual understanding

Digital tool reveals the structure of texts and improves learning