Issue # 228 _ February 2015

S&T Policy

COLLECTIONS

Recapturing scientific treasures

Small teams struggle against institutional indifference to protect historical scientific objects

Scientometrics

Single-Author Papers Are Disappearing

Study shows that the number of articles published by a single author has declined in some areas of biology

Dissemination

Science First Hand

Researchers re-introduce project that provides high-school students with small, personal laboratories

Science

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING 

The art of standing still

Understanding how nerves and muscles communicate can help in rehabilitating people with neurodegenerative diseases

EVOLUTION

A secret of paternity

Males that care for their offspring are more commonly found among monkeys with modifications in the hormone oxytocin

Biochemistry

Molecular origami

Structures that only appear when proteins are folded may be essential for recognition by enzymes

PALEONTOLOGY

Uncertain coexistence

Marks on a fossil suggest that Paleoindians interacted with a giant ground sloth 12,500 years ago

Physics

Suspended by sound

Acoustic levitation device could be used to handle delicate substances

ASTRONOMY

Turbulent mergers

Clusters of galaxies grow by swallowing other galaxies

Technology

BIOENGINEERING

Tiny machines of the future

Research projects from Brazilian universities win awards in international contest for genetically modified machines

AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

First flight

Thanks to Sora-e, Brazil is one of the pioneers in the development of electric manned aircraft

Forensic Toxicology

Designer Drugs

Study identifies new types of narcotics distributed under the ecstasy name

Chemistry

Identification by smell

Electronic nose identifies wood species and can help combat illegal logging

Humanities

Critical Studies

The historian and his time

New book by José Jobson de Andrade Arruda reconciles theory and practice in a discussion of historiography

The Architecture of Knowledge

The Architecture of Knowledge

Exhibit and book depict the consolidated schools of yesteryear as the materialization of a republican plan for education

SOCIOLOGY

Rearrangements in the Metropolis

Population figures show that communities on the periphery of Greater São Paulo have become more heterogeneous, with middle and lower classes living closer to each other while the elites still occupy the more exclusive zones