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The Minister for Science and Innovation, Cristina Garmendia, today took part in the presentation of the ‘White Paper on the status of women in Spanish science’, a document prepared by the Women and Science Unit of the MICINN, with the collaboration of the Foundation for Applied Economic Research (FEDEA), which provides the keys to understand the reality of the scientist.
(The book highlights that more needs to be done to address gender inequality in science. Picture: UPO)
“We have to influence the causes of structural, stereotypes and practices in the institutional and personal biases and barriers which generate negative effects on women’s careers are very real,” said Cristina Garmendia, Minister of Science and Innovation.
The book highlights that more needs to be done to address gender inequality in science, especially in the highest levels of the academic hierarchy, while intended as a background document to help work on correcting the imbalance is the low representation of women in science.
The minister said the government has actively worked to correct this imbalance with such important initiatives as the new Law on Science, Technology and Innovation, “which gives an important step in promoting the role women should play, incorporating gender perspective. ” He also wanted to stress that this law incorporates obligations aimed at ensuring that the Spanish system of science, technology and innovation moving towards a situation of gender equality effectively.
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Understanding the mechanisms of functioning of these receptors is considered of paramount importance to clarify the causes of serious neurological disorders such as autism or epilepsy
You can activate GABAergic receptors in the nervous system including through a single molecule of the neurotransmitter GABA rather than two, the important result was achieved thanks to a study produced in collaboration with the Department of Neuroscience and neurotechnologies of the Italian Institute of Technology ( IIT) and the University of Genoa.
“The discovery that you can only partially activate the receptors is of paramount importance: we can say that today we have proved that you can adjust the volume so the end of what are called neurons, allowing you to whisper a correct message, rather than cried one wrong. In fact, the ability to control the intensity of excitatory and inhibitory signals becomes a great impact on those diseases arising from imbalances in its delicate mechanism of neurotransmission, “said Andrea Barberis who signed the article Influence of GABAAR Monoliganded States on GABAergic Responses published in the journal “The Journal of Neuroscience.
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Forest fires are a natural phenomenon in Mediterranean ecosystems. In recent decades, however, repetition and extension have become a major economic, social and biodiversity conservation. The abandonment of farming, ranching and traditional exploitation of forests has led to the dynamics of the current fires. Today, the forest area in Catalonia is the largest that has ever been and the structure and the load of plant communities is highly prone to flammability.
To learn how fires and forest treatments currently applied after a fire can affect the conservation of biodiversity, researchers and Alex Rollan Real Joan of Team Conservation Biology from the UB , has led to out a specific project on the evolution of a key species such as wild rabbits ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) in a Mediterranean forest fire . The work has been published in European Journal of Wildlife Research .
Currently, the timber value of Mediterranean forests, typical of Catalonia, is small, so most are not exploited and, therefore, are usually declared fire. Undoubtedly, farm forestry need other forms of economic and social recovery if you want to keep. In this regard, one option could be hunting, if done sustainably.
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Space Shuttle Endeavour late take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA), after announcing NASA to suspend the launch scheduled for Friday April 29 due to technical problems. This is the last shuttle mission, which on this occasion transported to the International Space Station experiment with Spanish technology: the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-2), the largest research project with cosmic rays in the history of science.
Everything was ready at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral (Florida, USA) for the last shuttle launch Endeavour planned for 21h47 (GMT) on April 29, but due to a problem with heaters “one auxiliary power unit” has suspended the takeoff. The shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach, reported to be delayed at least 72 hours, so that has been rescheduled for no earlier than Monday 2 May.
Personalities from around the world had come to the event, including Spanish Minister of Science and Innovation, Cristina Garmendia. The Spanish minister is leading a delegation that is part of the general director of the Center for Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT), Cayetano Lopez, the director of Basic Research Department CIEMAT, Manuel Aguilar, the director of the Institute of Astrophysics de Canarias (IAC), Francisco Sanchez, and IAC scientist Ramon Garcia, among others.
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The study of minerals beyond the limits of mineralogy, crystallography and geology, getting to be real interest and cross pieces connecting the geology, mineralogy, gemology, History, Art, Anthropology, Archaeology and even Mythology.
A good example is the turquoise. This mineral gives us the ability to easily interrelate with the History of Science and Arts. Undoubtedly the turquoise found in nature, so that is the subject of study in Geology, but also semi-precious stone is a deep blue-green, which has been used by ancient cultures as the Mayas and Aztecs, to the native American Southwest. The cause of the broad appeal that has worked on various mythological civilizations and their implications is yet to be discovered, as well as scientific interest, can be investigated from a historical perspective and artistic.
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Hunter-gatherer populations are a minority and are fairly isolated geographically, but have a special interest in presenting a way of life before the advent of agriculture and livestock in Africa about 5000 years. The study of evolution and demographic history of the African continent is a challenge for geneticists due to the high genetic diversity that exists among the hundreds of people who live there.
An article published on 8 March in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Led by Stanford University (USA) that have collaborated David Comas i Laura RodrÃguez-Botigues, Researchers Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), analyzes the autosomal genetic diversity of three populations of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania and South Africa compared to other African populations.
Using genetic data has been determined that the most likely geographic location of the origin of humans is located in southern Africa. These results disagree with the demographic most accepted hypothesis to date, which postulated that the origin of modern man could be in East Africa. This discrepancy highlights the importance of comprehensive analysis like ours to correctly infer demographic events that have taken place in the history of human populations.
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His genes are increasing at a rate three times higher than that of other invertebrates and 30 percent higher than that of the human
With about 31,000 genes, Daphnia (Daphnia pulex), A tiny freshwater crustacean known as the water flea species and considered a model for environmental studies, is a candidate to be the animal with the most rich genetic heritage. To establish a point of comparison, the human being has approximately 23,000 genes. The news is in an article published in Science, By the Daphnia Genomics Consortium.
The crustacean Daphnia is also the first of which has been completely sequenced genome.
“Daphnia has a high number of genes because its genes are increasing, creating copies of itself at a faster rate than other species, “says John Colbourne, director of the CGB.” We estimate that this rate is three times higher than that of other invertebrates and 30 percent higher than that of human beings. ”
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Toshiba has developed a new method for extraction of earth and rare metals from a liquid waste from extraction of uranium. The company will test his method in a mine in Kazakhstan, in partnership with the Kazakh national company Kazatomprom and the Organization of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Mineral Resources Metal (JOGMEC). She plans to commercialize in 2012.
The technology involves the extraction of dysprosium, neodymium (both are used for the manufacture of magnets in motors for electric vehicles) and rhenium (used in aircraft engines) by electrolysis of a solution of sulfuric acid released during leaching of uranium ore [1]. This solution contains rare earths that were present in the ore, which were dissolved along with uranium. Their extraction is difficult, sulfuric acid is usually discarded. Toshiba has developed a technique of electrolysis to enhance the waste and recover 5% of the land and rare metals it contains.
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Micro-RNAs are expressed more individuals during childbirth and allow the uterus to contract.
During pregnancy, one of the strongest muscles in the human body, the muscle of the uterus expands and distends to accommodate the child develops. At the time of delivery, under the effect of hormones, the uterus contracts to expel the baby. Nora Renthal and colleagues, Medical Center University of Texas at Dallas have identified new molecular mechanisms that transform the uterus at rest in a contracting muscle.
During pregnancy, a sex hormone, progesterone, is present in high quantities in the blood by acting on receptors in the uterus, progesterone makes the uterus quiescent muscle, preventing it from contracting. To do this, it blocks the activity of genes encoding proteins that cause contraction, including the receptor for oxytocin, the hormone that triggers labor. At the time of delivery, the decrease in blood progesterone or inhibition of its receptors and the increase of oxytocin would cause uterine contractions. But how do they affect hormone gene expression at the time of delivery?
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UPM researchers have developed a new method of fire risk assessment that evaluates the safety of complex projects based on performance.
Under the Technical Building Code (CTE) and within the activities of “Lafarge Cementos Security Chair“Of ETSI IndustrialesResearchers from the UPM have developed a method of risk assessment in case of fire (MEREDICTE) to quantify and compare the potential hazard and the level of protection, obtaining the level of risk in case of fire in a building.
A major difficulty in developing this method has been the complexity of all the parameters that affect the fire safety of a building. The percentages and ratios of the formulation and weights of primary and secondary parameters have been allocated based on actual fire statistics, the requirements of the CTE and the opinion of experts, and have been verified through mathematical analysis and application awareness of thirty representative case studies.
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(The book highlights that more needs to be done to address gender inequality in science. Picture: UPO)
During pregnancy, one of the strongest muscles in the human body, the muscle of the uterus expands and distends to accommodate the child develops. At the time of delivery, under the effect of hormones, the uterus contracts to expel the baby. Nora Renthal and colleagues, Medical Center University of Texas at Dallas have identified new molecular mechanisms that transform the uterus at rest in a contracting muscle.