Issue # 267 _ May 2018

S&T Policy

INNOVATION

The battle for quality

Companies and universities discuss strategies for improving engineering education

Management

A strategy for research data

Researchers are being encouraged to better manage and share the data they produce

INTERVIEW

Cristiana Simão Seixas: How to measure the value of nature

Biologist who coordinated assessment of biodiversity in the Americas shares strategies to slow down losses

Science

ECOLOGY

The Metamorphoses of the Atlantic Forest

Survey of 2,000 species shows a predominance of small animals and resistance to forest fragmentation

GEOLOGY

The rain that united two forests

Periods of heavy rainfall between 120,000 and 12,000 years ago may have connected the Atlantic Forest to the Amazon

PHYSICS

Creative turbulence

Stimulating random fluctuations may increase energy production in nuclear fusion reactors

EPIDEMIOLOGY

Hidden incidence

Cases of Hansen’s disease in children in the Amazon suggest that available figures underestimate the disease

PUBLIC HEALTH 

A barrier against HIV

New medication to prevent transmission of the AIDS virus is adopted and evaluated in Brazil

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 

Zika against cancer

The Zika virus is being tested as a tool for treating aggressive tumors of the central nervous system

Technology

COMPUTING

A free space for creativity

Hackerspaces—locations that bring technology aficionados together—are multiplying across the country

Computation

24-hour challenge

Competition asks programming students to tackle real-world problems

AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

Imported efficiency

Cars use less fuel with technologies fostered by the Inovar Auto program, nearly all of which are foreign

AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING

Blimp over the forest

Pilotless aircraft built in Brazil will monitor environmental reserves in the Amazon

Humanities

HISTORY

Paths to freedom

On the 130^th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Brazil, studies reveal the different roles of those involved in the process

Interview

Paulina Alberto: Black activism in the twentieth century

A book explores why black intellectuals first relucted to endorse the ideals of racial harmony, then abandoned them altogether

MUSIC

The (almost) unknown Villa-Lobos

Analysis of his musical oeuvre, in particular the symphonies, reveals the Brazilian composer’s complex creative process