Science News

Collaborations with various media allow us to create a bank of science news of relevance to the Puerto Rican and Hispanic communities and give a venue that our scientific members can use to keep their communities informed and engaged with science.

Also, the news archive can be used as a resource for students and educators

In this section you can find: news written by members of the CienciaPR team and written by other news media and which are reproduced with permission from the original source.

If you want to collaborate with CienciaPR in writing an article, please read this writing and editorial guide and then contact us.

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Spearheading the development of eastern Puerto Rico

Submitted on 18 June 2007 - 1:52pm

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Behind are the military operations. In the old Navy base Roosevelt Roads, in Ceiba, the only signs of military activity are some corroded planes, some military buildings –like the commissary and the living quarters- and a few vehicles used by the reduced personnel left there. The Government plans to develop the are in the proposed Portal of the Future, expected to generate about 20,000 permanent jobs and other 50,000 as the project advances, which counts on a $6,000 million investment through 30 years. At large, the Government wants to build an ambitious project that would consist of a Scientific Park, dedicated mainly to subjects related to the environment, a downtown area with housing and commerce, an airport and a college campus, among other things.

Government plan to donate monkeys for research might fail

Submitted on 18 June 2007 - 12:01pm

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

The Government’s plan to donate the monkeys that invade southwest Puerto Rico for scientific research in the United States could fail because scientists don’t use the species being captured in the Island. The pata monkeys, the yellow monkeys commonly seen and captured by farmers, “are animal models with very few diseases. There is no market for research because they are not used,” said Janis González, associate director of the Medical Sciences Campus Primate Research Center, of the University of Puerto Rico. “In United States, to be able to send a monkey, they require us to have certain tests done on the animals and a health certificate signed by a veterinarian.”

Monkeys brought to Puerto Rico by the Federal Government

Submitted on 18 June 2007 - 11:51am

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Monkeys were brought to southwestern Puerto Rico by the Federal Government, through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), who rented, in 1961, the Cueva and Guayacan Islands, close to Lajas. There they established primate colonies to reproduce them and study their behavior.

Solid opposition to kill the monkeys

Submitted on 18 June 2007 - 11:44am

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Don’t kill the monkeys. Capture them and send them where they can’t harm anybody, or send them to research institutions. That is the opinion of a lot of people about the controversy between farmers and residents of southwest Puerto Rico –which have dealt with the problem for more than two decades- and the government. It is estimated that hundreds of pata and rhesus monkeys live in the zone, eating or destroying crops and entering private properties. The residents of the area have reported the situation for years before the government took definitive action, although there were many warnings about the aggressiveness of the animals and their capacity to transmit diseases.

Experts say the goverment plan won't eradicate monkeys

Submitted on 18 June 2007 - 11:32am

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Farmers and directors of the Primate Center agree that the plan announced by the government will not eradicate monkeys in the Island. Also, to help reduce the monkey population at a constant rate the program would need more than the $450, 000 a year the program has been assigned.

Sour shot for Amgen

Submitted on 18 June 2007 - 10:34am

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Amgen, the world’s biggest biotechnology company, that employs more than 2,300 people in Puerto Rico, has started a massive cost cutting plan. The global plan includes pausing the expansion in Juncos that included a new building for fill and finish of the drug for the treatment of anemia, Aranesp, as well as other building for the productions of the drug’s active ingredient.

Sun, sand, and enterococcus

Submitted on 15 June 2007 - 12:13pm

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

The current beach water quality monitoring system in Puerto Rico, takes about two weeks in releasing the results of the analysis if they find contamination. Also the system monitors only 23 of the most visited beaches in the Island. Puerto Rico has 311.3 miles of coast.

Erosion exposes old garbage dump

Submitted on 15 June 2007 - 12:03pm

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Right in the summer, when hundreds of people go to beaches in Western Puerto Rico, an abandoned municipal garbage dump is attempting against the health and security of beach goers in touristy Rincón, according to some residents. The problem of an old garbage dump, where the municipality used to burn trash more than 30 years ago, has intensified recently with coastal erosion, said Carlos Gastón, former president of the Ecologic League of Rincón. The zone is covered by trash like bottles, glass, and junk, as verified by El Nuevo Día. Although a few decades ago the dump was not as close to the sea, according to neighbors, coastal erosion has started loosening the compacted trash, which includes medical wastes, and sending to sea.

Buying illegal exotic birds can be very expensive

Submitted on 14 June 2007 - 12:01pm

This article is reproduced by CienciaPR with permission from the original source.

Individuals that buy exotic birds illegally expose themselves to fines starting at $1,000, according to the new regulations of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. Among the bird that can be legally owned in Puerto Rico are various species of parrots and macaws, which can be very expensive. The exotic birds authorized by law are supposed to have a ring or microchip that identifies them.

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