Issue # 82 _ December 2002

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Cover

Hormone on the market
Small company teams up with Brazilian pharmaceutical industry to produce a medicine against dwarfism

S&T Policy

conjuncture

Crises, virtues and opportunities

Equipment and input importation has raised the cost of research in Brazil

indicators

Limited innovation

Purchase of machinery and equipment is main principal technological investment by companies, according to the IBGE

Genomics

Science and business

Alellyx hires a twenty five more doctors and promises a product in two years

Mega Science

Network of life

Software permits the integration of data banks with information on plants,animals and microorganisms

Science

Medicine

From obesity to diabetes

The raising of the levels of a protein explains weight gain that generally precedes excess of glucose in the blood

biochemistry

The danger mapped out

Studies confirm the relationship of free radicals with a series of diseases and give a new direction to treatment

hematology

Transplant made to measure

Study shows how genetic mutations help to select donors of bone marrow

Genetics

Welding the DNA

Team from USP corrects genetic defects of a rare kind of cancer

Biochemistry

Pitomba versus pests

Protein extracted from the fruit eliminates fungi and borers

Phytochemical

Alternative extraction

Study in the Ribeira Valley indicates new ways of putting the medicinal plants of the Atlantic Rain Forest to good use

meteorology

The enigmas of the storms

Experiment with weather balloons investigates luminous phenomenon similar to lightning

Physics

Valuable impurity

Behavior of intruding atoms might mean new applications for semiconducting materials

Technology

biomechanics

Details of movement

System assesses athletes and people with motor deficiency

Forested Engineering

Tropicalized Christmas

Selection of coniferous species from Japan results in a more attractive tree

Computing

Changes in sight

Hafnium oxide is a candidate for replacing silicon oxide in the production of chips

foods

From the freezing to the oven

New kind of frozen bread may be a novelty in supermarkets and convenience stores

Optics

Calibrated light

Researchers from USP invent a methodology for measuring laser beams

Humanities

epistemology

Dilemmas of communication

The field of study expands debate on its object and scientific status

Urbanism

A city for all

Project creates kit to help the population to understand and to handle urban legislation

thematic

Philosophizing in Portuguese

Four major projects from USP's Philosophy Department discuss from Aristotle to Habermas