Issue # 234 _ August 2015

S&T Policy

OUTREACH

Science on wheels

New guide maps Brazil’s 32 traveling science museums

Indicators

Demonstrated support

FAPESP has continued to invest in research despite the economic downturn says its 2014 Annual Activity Report

INNOVATION

Productive interaction

Books demonstrate that connections between universities and companies make an impact on developing countries

COLLABORATION

Antibody milestone

Brazilian company licenses molecule with potential to treat cancer

Science

ASTRONOMY

A voyage to Pluto

After successful observation of the dwarf planet, the New Horizons probe had to survive threats of mission cancellation

ASTROPHYSICS

A trap for ghosts

Mechanism proposed by researchers at USP may explain the origin of the high energy neutrinos detected in Antarctica

PHYSICS

Many forms of electricity

Special materials find new opportunities to conduct electric current when in contact with semiconductors

GENETICS

The controversial conquest of the Americas

Data analysis suggests that humans reached the continent between 23,000 and 15,000 years ago and that some indigenous people in Brazil carry the DNA originating in peoples of Oceania

PALEOBOTANY

A forest of water and fire

Fossils in a coalfield in Rio Grande do Sul reveal a swampy landscape prone to frequent wildfires 290 million years ago

Ecology

In the mud and sand of Araçá

Despite the loss of mangrove stands in recent years, this bay on the northern coast of São Paulo State displays a great deal of biodiversity

Technology

PARTNERSHIPS

Shared challenges

Eight companies have joined the effort to develop components for the synchrotron light source Sirius

AGRICULTURE

Combating waste

New equipment increases water use efficiency in the field by more than 30%

LIVESTOCK

Lean pork

Acerola manufacturing waste fed to pigs decreases the fat content of pork

Corporate Research

Innovation in defense

Mectron is developing advanced technological solutions for use in the military and space industries

Humanities

Communication

Reporting science

Júlio Abramczyk and José Hamilton Ribeiro have been writing about scientific, medical, and environmental topics for 60 years—with no plans to stop

HISTORY

Ancestral privileges

Book about justice in São Paulo during the colonial period describes the roots of public excess in Brazil