Category: Rastreador Científico en Español

(English intro to Spanish lang post) Researchers who found extremophile microorganisms under the Atacama Desert say they could inform the search for life on Mars. It was published yesterday. This is no longer newsworthy. We’ve heard about the same approach over an over. In fact we found an identical title from one year ago. It would be big news if researchers find a spot on Earth with no microorganisms at all. Or it will be relevant when they characterize the bacterial structure and metabolism and understand how they survive without neither light nor oxygen and not even the humidity retained by certain minerals. The stories that cover the “discovery” are simple: they say there are bacteria under Atacama Desert (we already knew that), that the conditions could be similar to some areas on Mars (we’ve heard that too), and that the detector used could be used in Mars exploratory missions (more details on this would have been appreciated). There is no context in the stories. Why did...

(English intro to Spanish lang post) Lots of Spanish ink but not much variety in angles in stories on a successful first flight of Vega, the European Space Agency launcher that will allow ESA to put in orbit light satellites weighing less than 2.5 tones. Some Spanish newspapers highlight a minor local detail, that ESA is carrying a satellite built in Galicia, but don't mention LARES, the main satellite build by Italy that will test aspects of Einstein's theory of general relativity. One of the most comprehensive stories explaining the relevance of Vega is published in El Pais, but it is not written by a reporter but a space engineer.

Aunque de poco interés para el público general, noticia importante hoy en todas las secciones de ciencia: Primer vuelo del...

(English intro to Spanish lang post) The economic and social crisis in Spain has not been ignored on the pages of  science sections  Compared to one year ago there are many more stories noting shortage of research funding and conundrums that Spanish researcher face. Yesterday the director of the Instituto Astrofísico de Canarias announced to the press that the severe financial cuts endanger operations of  the Canaries Great Telescope. It was dedicated only 2 years ago. He said “it’s like running a Formula One race on aused car budget”. Similar stories refer to fund raising drives to prevent researchers from being laid off, a proposal for allowing taxpayers to decide if they want to give 0.7% of their taxes to research, and a great story about the initiative SciFund.

Focusing on strict scientific content, we read a very nice story about the naked mole rat; a rodent investigated by scientists due to its extreme longevity (nearly 30 years), weird...

(English intro to Spanish lang post) Eighteen months ago three of the most successful spanish science bloggers decided to join forces. They gathered other bloggers to create the online platform Amazings.es. It is now the most popular science blog in the Spanish speaking world with original content from more than 100 contributors.  Their presence in the science communication landscape is growing rapidly (disclosure: I've collaborated with them). Amazing's current project is to print a magazine with 4000-word articles by 10 of their contributors. Funding is through crowd-sourcing: Last summer Amazings announced intention to print a magazine and that it needed 16.000 euros to do it. Readers were able to buy the magazine in advance for 9 euros. If  the 16.000 euros were not reached, nobody would be charged. If they exceeded, print magazines would be sent to the homes and benefits distributed among the writers. They finally collected nearly 25.000 euros (155% of the project)....

(English intro to Spanish lang text) Newspapers in Latin America give heavy coverage to Internet, social networks or information technologies. Yesterday's SOPA protests are illustration. As an example, the protest occupies most of the front page in El Comercio (Perú). In Bolivia, Chile and many other countries' papers we find long stories explaining the situation and how this US-law would affect the entire world.

One other topics we find two polemics in the press this week. 1) In Chile, the construction of the world’s biggest telescope by ESO is delayed because Brazil is not confirming the 300 million dólars that it previously committed to the project. If it’s not confirmed, the $1500 million program could be stopped. 2) In Spain, last week a German company is recruiting Spanish bone marrow donors without the consent of the local  health authorities. It is seen as an illegal act that endangers the Spanish system of organ donations, one that makes it a world...

(English intro to Spanish lang Post) Huge controversy rages in Europe and Latin America over news that defective PIP breast implants have high risk of rupture and are made with industrial silicone. Around 400.000 PIP implants have been sold around the world since early 90's, half of them in Latin America. They were fabricated by the french company Poly Implant Prostheses, that closed when the scandal started. PIP implants are scarce in the US because the FDA warned about its safety on 2000. The scandal began in 2010 when it was proved that the implants ruptured much more often than expected. The distribution stopped. But the big alarm rang in December. Breast cancer cases among women with the PIP implant raised fears the implants might be a reason. That  link has been refuted. But then it was also revealed that the silicone used in the implants was industrial rather medical-grade. There is intense discussion about the need to remove implants from patients or not. France and...

(English intro to Spanish lang post) Sad news from Argentina. La Nación (the biggest newspaper in the country) decided to eliminate, after 11 years, its daily section on Science and Health. Such stories now go into a broader section called "General information". The decision announcement was December 17th. The paper said that "the change is going to reinforce the coverage of science". We've been tracking the amount and sort of stories on science and health for the last couple of weeks. We see no sign of improvement. It appears quite the reverse. In these two weeks science and health reporting is down significantly. Before Dec-17th the paper carried scientific content every day. Today and yesterday, for instance, nothing.

There are other considerations apart from the number of stories. La Nación had  the only daily science section in the country. It was therefore the main general public source of local and international scientific news. We - probably along...