Science
for
Brazil
ScienceForBrazil.com celebrates the achievements of Brazilian science, identifies research opportunities and funding for foreign scientists working in Brazil, and profiles technology innovation in the academic, public policy, business development and commercial arenas.
Making the Smart City Liveable
There’s a huge new global mission for applied science: dismantling the dystopian impetus that is making our megacities less and less tolerable for human life. And to re-humanize the city, scientists are reaching for statistical tools, while relying increasingly on advanced computer science. If transforming the megalopolis into a Smart City has become a multi-disciplinary …Continue Reading
“Brexit Dividend” for Brazil science ties
There’s a faint yet distinct promise of a “Brexit Dividend” for scientists in both Brazil and the UK who have watched their budget allocations for research beset by uncertainty over the last 24 months – and for whom the future is fraught with anxiety. The beneficiaries will be researchers working in applied science fields, as …Continue Reading
Cancer: Explaining RT cell survivors
Brazilian scientists are making progress with solving a problem that has long frustrated oncologists: after cancerous tumours in patients are subjected to radiotherapy, not all the mutated cells die. In fact some surviving cells exhibit accelerated growth despite the absence of visible irritation, so negating the beneficial effects of radiotherapy. Now, a group of immunologists …Continue Reading
Decoding Motor Neurone Disease
British physicist Stephen Hawking and the 1930’s US baseball player Lou Gehrig had something in common: both were diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Motor Neurone Disease, also named after the US sportsman. The disease, which causes the death of neurons controlling the voluntary muscles and results in stiffness and twitching, is accompanied by …Continue Reading
Measuring Innovation
Innovation transforms pure science into relative economic and societal advantage around the world. Not just in countries, but in regions too. It defines today’s and tomorrow’s cities of success. So how do you measure innovation? Is it by the number of patents for new ideas a country or region registers with international gatekeepers? Is it …Continue Reading
The Appliance of Science for “Industry 4.0”
Brazil’s industrial heartland is making a determined push to escape from the “rich commodity producers’ poverty trap” by expanding its engineering and high technology capacity, creating new opportunities for researchers. Playing catch-up in order to climb aboard the “fourth industrial revolution” (known as Industry 4.0) now sweeping the world with the help of advanced manufacturing …Continue Reading
Zika: From Godzilla to “Science can fix it.”
It has been called “the Godzilla of infections,” a virus that attacks only the most vulnerable of humankind – unborn children in the womb. Once born, these same children face a limited life of neurological challenges caused by microcephaly or diminished skull size. No wonder the Zika virus, which burst upon the world stage one …Continue Reading
Norway to Axe Forest Funds.
Brazilian conservationists are reeling with the disclosure that Norway is considering axing US$1 billion in funding for the Amazon rainforest, because of the Latin American giant’s record of rising deforestation. Norway is the biggest foreign donor helping tropical forest conservation and the Amazon Fund, into which it has paid more than a US$1.1 billion dollars …Continue Reading
Amazonia’s answer to the ‘Ozone Hole’
Over three decades ago, the existence of an “Ozone Hole” above the Antarctic caused scientists to start fretting about the effects of man-made gases, eventually resulting in the Montreal Protocol that banned the use of CFCs responsible for ozone depletion. Today there’s a whole new focus of concern about ozone and the volatile gases responsible …Continue Reading
New Energy for Oil and Gas Futures
Now it has become a major oil and gas producer, Brazil is hosting a new generation of research activities to optimize carbon-based energy use, with an eye to both sustainability and economic efficiency. A number of research bases sponsored by the oil majors have sprung up in recent years, of which the latest is the …Continue Reading
Researching in Brazil
Brazil’s best-known scientist, the veteran nuclear physicist José Goldemberg, in September 2015 took office as the president of the São…Read more