“ATLAS and CMS collaborations (the two largest experiments of the Large Hadron Collider or LHC) have managed to exclude the data collected in 2011 Higgs masses in the standard model above about 127 GeV, which represents a breakthrough in this search “, explains to SINC Juan Alcaraz, principal investigator of CIEMAT in the CMS.

Cintíficos experiments ATLAS and CMS were presented today at a seminar at CERN, the status of your search for the Higgs boson predicted by the Standard Model of Particle Physics.Their results are based on the analysis of a data amount considerably higher than the results presented at the conference last summer, enough to make significant progress in the search for the Higgs boson, but not to make a strong statement on the existence of this elusive particle.

“In the mass range 114-127 GeV, both collaborations are slight excess, particularly on channel two-photon decay and mass in the 124-126 GeV, but the amount of data collected to date is insufficient to to determine if this really is the Higgs particle or simple statistical fluctuations somewhat higher than expected, “says Alcaraz.

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“The platform consists of the aircraft, a block-based communications and control consists of a very rugged tablet computer and type a command such as video games,” explains Carlos Bernabeu DiCYT statements, founder of trees. The operation is very simple and can be used to monitor military operations or conduct digital mapping.

In the market there are many similar systems, called UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), but the ‘aracnocoptero’ has more advanced features, allowing a vertical takeoff and carry a payload of up to 3 kilograms (too much weight given that the device weighs 3’5) is removable, is carried in small bags and flight allows extraordinary stability compared with other devices of this type, which vibrate too much to take precise images.

In other systems, analog radio communications are tight at 1,000 meters, but “our protocols are digital communications, with a theoretical range of 100 miles in optimal conditions. With digital radio waves, we have all the information in real time on the tablet, where we see the video and the position of the device on a map, “said Bernabeu.

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(Enlargement of the pituitary tissue created from embryonic stem cells. Image: Yoshiki Sasai)

The adenohypophysis or anterior pituitary functions as an important center of production of hormones. At present, no type of stem cell culture is capable of generating this type of tissue in humans, but Japanese scientists have just successfully in mice and intend to create a human pituitary in the next three years.

One of the authors of the study, Yoshiki Sasai, the group of Neurogenesis and Organogenesis of the Riken Center for Developmental Biology (Kobe, Japan) has explained to SINC that “as an extension of this success, we plan to apply our technology to human stem cells from the ES (embryonic) and IPS (induced pluripotent). We hope to develop an efficient method for producing human pituitary in the coming years. “

The mouse embryonic stem cells were stimulated in a culture that mimicked three-dimensional tissue interactions, to thereby produce the five hormones generated by different cell types present in the pituitary. The corticotrophic, for example, showed they were capable of secreting the hormone adenocorticotrópica in response to corticotropin-releasing hormone.

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(The magnificent performance of the LHC has forced upward revision of data to achieve objectives in 2011)

After 180 days of operation and 400 trillion proton-proton collisions, the operating cycle of the LHC in 2011 came to an end at 17:15 pm on 30 October. In its second year of operation, the LHC team has exceeded its operational objectives, constantly increasing the speed at which the LHC has provided the data to the experiments.

At the beginning of the year, the goal for the LHC was to accumulate an amount of data that physicists call a reverse femtobarn during 2011. The first reverse femtobarn was reached June 17, leaving the LHC experiments in a good position ahead of the major scientific conferences and forcing Summer to revise the target upward to acquire data in 2011 to 5 femtobarns inverse . This milestone was achieved on 18 October, with a total for the year of nearly six femtobarns reverse delivered to each of the two major LHC experiments, ATLAS and CMS .

“At the end of the operating cycle with protons of the LHC this year has reached cruising speed,” said Accelerators and Technology Director of CERN , Steve Myers.

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(The project aims to help FuturICT “explore and manage our future.” Picture: FuturICT)

” FuturICT bet that science can catch up with the speed at which new challenges and emerging opportunities in our changing world as a result of globalization, technological changes, demographic and environmental, “he explains to SINC Josep Perello, professor of the University of Barcelona (UB) and responsible for dissemination of FuturICT-Spain, Spanish node of the project.

This European initiative, which already has a hundred scientists from the continent, aims to create an observatory of crisis and social dynamics through the intensive use of new technologies and supercomputing, using ideas from physics, mathematics, biology, sociology, psychology and economy.

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(Artist’s impression of protoplanetary disk of TW Hydrae. Image: ESA / NASA / JPL-Caltech)

Scientists think that a good part of the water on our planet came aboard comets struck the Earth during its early formative stages. This hypothesis has been supported recently with the discovery by Herschel of water similar to Earth on a comet (103P/Hartley 2).

Now the same space telescope, thanks to the HIFI instrument has also detected water vapor emission throughout the disk swirling around TW Hydrae, a star formed about 5-10 million years and located at 176 light years the Earth. The discovery shows that there are significant reserves and water in protoplanetary disks surrounding some stars.

TW Hydrae is in the last stage of his training and is surrounded by a disk of dust and gas condensed to be completed to give rise to a whole system of planets.

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(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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(Future linear colliders will take over the circular.Image: UGR/LCWS11.)

The Palacio de Congresos de Granada hosts between 26 and 30 September the International Congress on Future linear colliders ( LCWS11 or Future International Workshop on Linear colliders) . It is a world congress on linear accelerators, the next generation of particle accelerators to be built after the Large Hadron Collider (LHC, for its acronym in English). In this type of facility scientists collide subatomic particles to study the building blocks of matter and answer fundamental questions of physics.

At the congress in Granada, organized by the Department of Theoretical Physics and the Cosmos, University of Granada (UGR) with support from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and the National Center for Particle Physics, Astroparticle and Nuclear Physics (CPAN ) involved 350 scientists from 30 countries. The opening was attended by the director of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Rolf Heuer, an organization that operates the LHC, and the rector of the University of Granada, Francisco González Lodeiro.

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(Those with deficiencies of vitamin B12 in the blood were found to have less brain volume. Photo: Tom Haex.)

“Vitamin B12 deficiency is a potential risk factor for brain atrophy and may contribute to cognitive impairment,” said Christine C. Tangney, author of the study conducted by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago (USA) and published in the journal Neurology .

The analysis of results obtained from older people, who had concluded that deficiencies of vitamin B12 in their blood scored lower on cognitive tests and were found to have less total brain volume. “A British team has done another study using vitamin B which has obtained data that support these results” confirms Tangney.

The study involved 121 people over the south side of Chicago who, for 4 ½ years, underwent several blood tests to identify changes in their levels of vitamin B12. They were also tested to measure their memory and cognitive ability. At the end of the process, MRIs were performed on patients to assess the state of his brain and brain volume.

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(Recreation of the asteroid after the collision that defragmented. Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech)

New data collected by the Infrared Explorer mission of NASA’s Wide Field (WISE, for its acronym in English: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) Seem to discard the theory that pointed to a particular family of asteroids as responsible for the disappearance of the dinosaurs.

“After investigation WISE science team, the disappearance of dinosaurs remains an unsolved case,” said Lindley Johnson, program director Observing Near Earth Objects (NEO, for its acronym in English) of the seat NASA in Washington (USA).

The theory, proposed in 2007, argues that some 160 million years, the asteroid collided with another Baptistina called main belt between Mars and Jupiter. After impact, large size fragments spread and one of them ended up crashing into the earth and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

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