Pere Estupinya's Tracker

(English intro to Spanish lang post) Good stories from Latin America: Paraguay is working on its first electric vehicle. The idea is to take advantage of the huge electricity production provided by the Itaipú hydroelectric station in Iguazú. In Ecuador, a very detailed analysis of the diseases affecting the country reveals that infectious diseases are under control while diabetes or hypertension are affecting younger people. Interesting research in México about a breathalyzer-like device that would detect substances related to diabetes. Spanish press shows spectacular images (photo in this post) of giant gypsum crystals. They accompany basic research published in Science explaining that the mineral bassanite is fundamental to start the crystallization of gypsum. Researchers say that the findings could lead to big savings in producing plaster. Brazil is building its first science satellite, which will be launched in 2017. A story explains that it will measure X-Ray. One...

(English intro to Spanish lang post) It has happened before that a team of French scientists got all the credit from a discovery that Uruguayan scientists made. That did not stop it from happening again. A paleontologist from Uruguay found in her own nation the oldest fossils of reptile embryos. Her Uruguayan University paid for the project. She is the first author of the scientific paper. She wrote it entirely. Several Uruguayan researchers are coauthors of the work. There is only one French scientist, from the that nation's CNRS agency, among the paper's authors. But all the stories except one on it say that French scientists discovered the oldest reptile embryos in Uruguay and Brazil. It’s not the first time that the tracker has made comment on such cases. Too often, North American or European institutions get primary credit in media for research with Latin American collaborators. In the only story that interviews Graciela Piñeiro (the Uruguayan paleontologist and...

(English intro to Spanish lang post) Two weeks ago NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory captured images of a filament apparently connecting the Sun with a weird object the size of Jupiter. A well known Mexican journalist and TV producer told his audience that it was a UFO taking energy from the Sun. NASA explained immediately that it’s a common “coronal cavity” formed by materials expelled from the Sun. They look dark because they are cooler. No science reporter in Mexico has used this information to refute the journalist’s UFO interpretation, whose video has 170.000 views in youtube. That’s the point we want to make: pseudoscience is widespread in many Latin American countries, yet science reporters do not choose to confront it. There is a gap here. It should be part of a science journalist's job.

This is not the only sign that Spanich language press needs more filters to “bad science”. This week a US chemist said in a conference that popcorn has more...

(English intro to Spanish lang post) In 2009 Spain's left-wing government made emergency contraceptive pills available in pharmacies without a medical prescription and with no age restrictions. The new conservative government is considering again requiring a doctor's order to get them. The Ministry of Health promised it will let only scientific criteria shape its decision. A few weeks ago the minister asked for three independent reports. Yesterday she declared that the reports are not conclusive and declared that “the emergency contraceptive pill can damage women’s health”. That sounds suspiciously more like a predetermined belief than an objective analysis. The society of gynecologists replies that that all studies say the pill is not dangerous at all. No matter what, the discussion in the press is focused only on the narrow issue of health dangers. No reporter is raising other relevant questions, such as impact on possible irresponsible sexual behavior, or the drop-off in use...

(English intro to Spanish lang post) UFOs are in the science section of El Mercurio (Chile)! Both print and online versions had yesterday a long story about a Chilean pilot who says he  has documented observations of more than 100 UFOs unexplained by any known source. According to him, the most important one is the picture (below) taken in 2010 of an object traveling 10.000 km/hour. The story is written like if it was a real scientific finding. The reporter says that the results were presented in an international conference, and published in ufologists magazines. The only quote to contrast the information is from an ufologist saying that Chile is leading the field. The 2-pages daily science section of El Mercurio is really good. That's why we were shocked yesterday when reading this article. Elsewhere: Reviewing other Chilean newspapers, we learned about local researchers tracking eye movement for a possible diagnosis of Parkinson, and the creation of first-class baby-...

(English intro to Spanish lang post) The fact that 15% of our genome is more similar to gorillas’ genome than to that of chimps means that the evolution of apes was a bit more complex than we have expected. But some stories in the Spanish speaking press made it even more complex, confusing readers with many irrelevant numbers, percentages and comparisons. In some of these stories the basic messages got diluted. Others go further, distorting the information. Examples include a news agency with a headline saying that our genome is closer to that of gorillas than to the chimp genome. There also are good efforts. El Mundo puts the findings in context, recounting the history of research on similarities between apes and humans.

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(English intro to Spanish lang post) Two philosophers from Italy and Australia got lost in their academic-out-of-real-life world when wrote a paper “After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?” that the Journal of Medical Ethics has published. They argue that since  “1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people [therefore] after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is” (this is from the abstract). The journal’s editor defended publication of the paper and denounced the criticism and threats received by the authors. The Spanish...