Alessandra Bendini (universidad De Bolonia) ()
14 FEB 2012
Researchers at the University of Bologna come with new proposal of analytical method to evaluate the quality of extra virgin olive oil.
Paula I. Da Silva Moreira (universidad De Coimbra) ()
14 FEB 2012
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly. This degenerative brain disease typically begins with a subtle decline in memory, and progresses to global deterioration in intellectual abilities, particularly memory, problem solving, judgment, awareness and behaviour. More than 14% of people over 65 have AD, increasing to at least 40% in those over 80.
Derya Tilki (universidad Ludwig-maximilians De Munich) | Süleyman Ergün (instituto De Anatomía Del Hospital Universitario De Essen) ()
14 FEB 2012
The extensive efforts to identify and characterize stem cells continue because there is great hope that stem cells can be used to heal currently incurable diseases. Great strides in scientific techniques have enabled us to establish any cell type from differentiated adult human cells. Many niches exist in our body that harbour stem cells; one of these niches is the wall of blood vessels.
Alexandrina Ferreira Mendes (universidad De Coimbra) ()
06 FEB 2012
The challenge came from the Director of the Bone Bank at the University Hospital of Coimbra in Portugal. "Can you find a way of making the cartilage cells in bone grafts survive deep freezing?" The question was interesting, but we needed to understand the problem in more detail.
Dorota Koziel-wierzbowska (universidad Jagiellonian En Cracovia) ()
06 FEB 2012
Be it a beauty contest or a track event, on the field or off the field, the competitive spirit urges us to be the best -the fastest, the strongest, the wisest- in every walk of life. Science is no exception, and the astronomical observatory of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow has discovered a new radio galaxy, which is the largest known object yet in the universe -a cosmic record, no less-.
Meike Bentz (universidad Humboldt De Berlín) ()
06 FEB 2012
These words from the Austrian author and actor Helmut Qualtinger drive to the heart of a simple but often neglected problem: innovations shake up the status quo, which is precisely why we often have trouble dealing with them. In innovation processes, resistance and difficulties are not the exception but rather the rule. This fact takes on particular importance when we consider that knowledge rapidly becomes obsolete in our globalized world, and that product and process lifecycles are becoming ever shorter under increasing cost pressures and competition. Now, more than ever, those who hope to survive in science and business must implement innovative ideas quickly.
Sergi Munné-bosch (universidad De Barcelona) ()
31 ENE 2012
While working on a project to unravel the role of Vitamin E, Jana Cela, from the University of Barcelona, measured the expression of genes involved in ethylene biosynthesis as well as the perception (receptors) and signalling in plants with altered Vitamin E composition. "My idea was to examine the role, if any, of Vitamin E beyond its well-known antioxidant function in plants", Jana says. "First, I investigated how ethylene signalling alters Vitamin E biosynthesis in plants. Later, I wondered if Vitamin E could also affect ethylene-related genes". This idea was developed together with Sergi Munné-Bosch, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Barcelona. Caren Chang, Senior Lecturer of the University of Maryland, also contributed to this research project.
Lars H. Lindner (universidad Ludwig-maximilians De Munich) ()
31 ENE 2012
The magic bullet. Scientists in the sixties believed they had discovered this when they prepared small bubbles composed of natural components of the cell membrane. These artificial vesicles, named liposomes, can be made simply by mixing natural lipid molecules. This leads to liposomes with an aqueous interior forming spontaneously. Drugs can easily be incorporated in the interior of the liposomes, raising the possibility that drugs can be transported specifically to their target. Such a drug delivery strategy would improve therapy, especially in cancer treatment where the patients' life quality is significantly compromised by the severe systemic side effects of conventional treatment.
Javier Baena Preysler (universidad Autónoma De Madrid) ()
20 ENE 2012
Some men always seem to want the latest gadgets, from snazzy iPads to the most up-to-date DIY tools. Ancient man was no different, upgrading tools as soon as new innovations became available. The capacity to develop and use new tools was crucial in allowing ancient man to move from Africa to Europe and start evolving into the humans we are today.
Stascha Rohmer Humboldt (universität Zu Berlin) ()
20 ENE 2012
Many philosophical and political thinkers claim that at the moment Europe is undergoing a profound spiritual crisis of orientation. Like many others, Werner Weidenfels sees the origin of the current crisis in the fact that Europe is not capable of "giving a convincing answer to the question of its own identity and its values". What is Europe, then? Paul Valéry once said: "Europe is a peninsula of Asia". In fact, there is no clear natural border between Asia and its Western subcontinent. Since antiquity there have been attempts by geographers to divide Europe off from Asia using, variously, the Ural Mountains, the Don River or, later, the Wolga River as borders. All of these attempts must be seen as acts of desperation. Thus, the only guarantor of European identity as a product of history is - as Ortega y Gasset pointed out - nothing but our common European culture. Yet the cultural landscape would seem to be much like the geographical one: Together with an immense diversity of landscapes, we find a great diversity of cultural manifestations. If one only considers the great number of languages that are spoken in Europe today, the idea that there is such a thing as a common European identity - the notion that one could even form a more or less consistent concept of "Europe" -seems illusionary, even presumptuous.
David Siegel Humboldt (universität Zu Berlin) ()
20 ENE 2012
Usually encountered as a cover of white, bluegreen or black fur over uneaten fruit or perhaps a leftover slice of pizza, moulds are more associated with a spoiled appetite than a useful part of the natural world. Yet their ecological role is quite positive: together with worms, insects and bacteria, moulds are responsible for the recycling of natural wastes, like dead plant material or animal carcasses. The continual development of life on earth essentially depends on this reprocessing of organic matter.
Stanislaw Kistryn (jagiellonian University In Krakow) ()
20 ENE 2012
The Permanent Platform of Atomium Culture brings together some of the most authoritative universities, newspapers and businesses in Europe to increase the movement of knowledge: across borders, across sectors and to the public at large.
La plataforma permanente Atomium Culture reúne a las universidades, periódicos y empresas más prestigiosos de Europa para promover el flujo del conocimiento más allá de fronteras, entre sectores y hacia el público en general
