International issue | July 2017

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Cover

The impacts of investing
Times of crisis bring renewed demands for returns on publicly funded research, but this ignores the fact that scientific production follows complex and interconnected pathways

S&T Policy

DEVELOPMENT

A guiding star for industry

Books discuss ways to address the deindustrialization of Brazil’s economy

Acknowledgement

Mission: Thinking about the future of science

Anthropologist who coordinates a project financed by FAPESP is appointed to a council that advises the U.S. government

Science & Technology System 

Challenges made-to-order

Eighteen São Paulo private institutes conduct research in response to demands in health, technology, agriculture, and the social sciences

Networks of Knowledge 

The DNA of innovation in metropolises

Researcher shows how big universities influence the economy and environment of the urban regions where they are located

Genomics

Precision Medicine

FAPESP-funded research centers establish a shared genetic data platform to support the search for patient-tailored therapies

CLIMATE CHANGE  

From deforestation to urban pollution

Forest code is expected to help Brazil reduce greenhouse gases, but the goals for 2030 are tied to industrial modernization, says report

Human resources 

Women’s odds in academia

Research suggests that having a higher proportion of women in a field does not guarantee female scholars an advantage in reaching the top of their career

Science

HEALTH

Zika, a collaboration to characterize a syndrome

Interdisciplinary work has confirmed that the Zika virus causes microcephaly and other types of brain damage in perinatally-infected infants

Geogenomics

Seeking to understand the origin of the forest

In a joint effort to explain the biological diversity of Amazonia and the Atlantic Forest, biologists and geologists have created the new field of geogenomics

environment

Reefs at the mouth of the Amazon River

The region where the river meets the ocean between the states of Pará and Amapá is home to the northernmost corals along Brazil’s coast

PALEONTOLOGY

The golden age of the cynodonts

Species first discovered in Africa, and now in Brazil, lived during the peak of diversity of mammal precursors

ECOLOGY

The harmful effects of illegal hunting

Banned in Brazil since the 1960s, hunting has reduced the populations of several animal species and increased the risk of environmental imbalance

Physics

Irreversible disorder in the world of atoms

International team measures the increase in entropy in carbon nuclei for the first time

physics

Superproperties in 2D

Simulations suggest that new nanostructured materials capable of storing information can be developed

geomagnetism

Magnetic memories of the Jesuit missions

In ruins located in southern Brazil, geophysicists have recovered information about the Earth’s magnetic field from 350 years ago

Technology

Biotechnology

Laboratory Skin

Brazilian researchers create human skin models to study diseases and replace animal testing for cosmetics and drugs

TRANSPORTATION

More sustainable buses

A Brazilian company launches a cleaner hybrid electric vehicle in line with multinational manufacturing trends

PHOTONICS

Information at a much faster rate

Brazilian researchers break fiber-optic data transmission record without using electronic signal amplifiers

AGRICULTURE

Winged production

Companies develop methods for breeding insects for pollination and pest control

Humanities

Archaeology

The peoples of Lagoa Santa

Human burial sites in Minas Gerais reveal a succession of customs from 10,000 to 8,000 years ago

HISToRy

Negotiated Christianity

Between the 17th and 18th centuries, Jesuit missions in the Spanish Amazon had to deal with indigenous versions of Catholicism

Economics

Good news for sugarcane

In addition to environmental benefits, an increase in ethanol production has helped to improve people’s lives in the countryside