Issue # 76 _ June 2002

Browse the magazine

Cover

The origin of the mammals: Fossils of small species discovered in Rio Grande do Sul could be the closest ancestors to the larger animals of today

S&T Policy

Biodiversity

Actions against biopiracy

WIPO studies how to protect cultures and genetic resources

Report

Genomics for health

WHO foresees advances in the struggle against morbid and genetic diseases

FAPs

State indicators

Foundations will take part in the National System for Information in Science&Technology

Worker’s Health

Underdiagnosis jeopardizes public policies

Project will quantify real incidence work accidents in Piracicaba

Science

Paleontology

Luzia living with the sloths

The huge South American mammals were contemporaries of the oldest human fossil of the Americas

ENVIRONMENT

Scars of occupation

Satellite map of the Northeast depicts the devastation of the caatinga (semi-arid vegetation) and the coastline

GENOMICS

Three new attack routes against the pest

Article published in Nature compares the genomes of the Xanthomonas citri and campestri and shows how to avoid citric canker, which makes orange trees unproductive

EPIDEMIOLOGY

The bacteria of modern life

The level of infestation by Escherichia coli is changing in Brazil and brings with it serious public health problems

Medicine

Identities revealed

Santa Catarina progresses with fluorescent trypanosome in the fight to reduce false diagnoses of Chagas's disease

Zootechny

The unexpected bull

Thanks to a mistake, the first Brazilian clone from a fetus somatic cell is born

Syndrome

The first map of Down

Team from São Carlos begins to relate genetic origins to the different manifestations of the syndrome

Genetics

More 19 genes

Brazilian team participates in the discovery of new components of the chromosome responsible for Down syndrome

PSYCHIATRY

Cards on the table

Prizewinning thesis defines personality of pathological gamblers

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

Dialogs with water

Simulation with molecules that change their behavior when immersed in solvents makes it possible to model new substances

Physics

The high relief of memory

Team from Pernambuco clarifies an essential phenomenon in computers

Technology

NEW MATERIAL

Much more than simple glass

Researchers at the Federal University of São Carlos produce vitreous material that can be used in telescopes, high-tech ovens and artificial bones

ENGINEERING

Tiny and notable

National Synchrotron Light Laboratory develops micro parts with wide usage in the academic and industrial worlds

Metallurgy engineering

Controlled noise

A sandwich of steel sheets and a polymer form plates that absorb the vibrations of motors

computing

Creation without limits

Company from São Paulo develops software that incorporates special effects into video systems

Agronomy industry

Environmental and energy gains

Innovative project of mini mills proposes total integration around alcohol production

yeast

Wealth in the mill's leftovers

Ital and Copersucar develop edible products from the residues of alcohol production

Agronomy

Land without fire

In Pará, instead of burning, the stubble is ground up and becomes a fertilizer

Humanities

Fusion

Delicate relationship

More and more often scientists are making use of art in their analysis and artists are making use of science to understand their creations

Anthropology

In the footsteps of Macunaíma

Unicamp researchers retrace the 1938 folklore research mission that passed through the North and Northeast and was organized by Mario de Andrade

Urbanism

The new land of mist that the economy invented

Project maps out the changes that have occurred in the city of São Paulo brought about by globalization

School Memories

Project organizes a data bank to archive public policies in education