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.

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Fungi essential for the environment

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

There are around 500 species of fungi in Puerto Rico that includes decomposers, edible, poisonous and hallucinogenic fungi. Mycologist Beatriz Ortiz Santana points out the ecological importance of fungi, because they help recycle organic matter and nutrients into the environment. Also, fungi are edible and they can be used to make medicines and prepare certain cheeses, wine, and beers. About the not so nice aspects of fungi, Ortiz Santana explained that some of these organisms are responsible for rotting food, contaminating the environment, deteriorating valuables (like wood, clothes, paintings, electronics, etc.), causing diseases in plants, animals and humans. There’s another variety of fungi that produce mycotoxins and are considered venomous, while other are hallucinogenic.

In Puerto Rico the First BioFarma Latina Conference

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

The First BioFarma Latina Conference will be held simultaneously with the Medical Devices, Supplies and Logistics fairs in the Convention Center on February 1st and 2nd, 2007, and they will focus on planning the future of biotechnology in Latin America. The four events will occupy the whole Convention Center and will have 450 exhibitors. The organizers expect more than 5,000 visitors, mostly from the biosciences and pharmaceutical industry.

Hacienda La Esperanza: a safe haven for birds

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

Hacienda La Esperanza, one of the properties administered by the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, has a diversity of more than 60 bird species that live in a varied number of habitants that incluye the ocean, mangrove swamps, estuaries, flood plains and forests. The Conservation Trust plans to study biodiversity in the different habitats in the long term, with help of citizens interested in the study and conservation of these ecosystems. As part of the efforts to involve non-scientific citizens to the biodiversity data collection, the organization brought to Puerto Rico the eBird system that allows people to enter their data after observing or studying a certain species.

Government invests in knowledge

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

Recently, Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá handed in 26 fellowships awarded by the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO) to teachers from the Department of Education to start graduate studies in mathematics and science.

Government to investigate possible closure of the Radiotelescope

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

A group of Puerto Rican politicians informed that together with the Government they will investigate the possible 2010 closure of the Arecibo Observatory, the biggest radiotelescope in the world, due to lack of funding. This study looks to “support any initiative to continue and expand this research center,” said Kenneth McClintock, president of the Senate of Puerto Rico.

Budget cuts for the Arecibo Observatory

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

The Arecibo Observatory, the biggest radiotelescope in the World, operated by Cornell University and funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) will suffer a dramatic reduction on its operational budget. NSF announced that it plans to reduce the Observatory’s budget by 25% in the next three years. The NSF proposal states that the Arecibo Observatory will have to close by 2011 if it can’t generate enough money to operate the structure.

Congratulations to Coki!

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

The Coki Team of the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez is still celebrating their victory last week in the Chem-E-Car Competition, in San Francisco, California. Coki is a car, the size of a shoe box, that uses a fuel cell with hydrogen and oxygen and is capable of running between 50-100 feet in less than 2 minutes with a load of no more that 500 grams. This year the design was a school bus.

Quick tsunami prediction

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

A new database has been created to predict the altitude of potential Tsunamis along the Purto Rican coast. These data has been generated using computer simulations, and together with information collected from DART buoys, allows scientists to estimate where the event was originated and its magnitude. These tsunami simulations are done using 3 nested computational nets that are made at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez, and allow to simulate the propagation and flooding of the tsunami in less than 10 minutes for several municipalities of the Island.

Tsunami detectors close to the Puerto Rican coast

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

After December 2004 catastrophic tsunami, the United Status Congress assigned $37 million to the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA), to improve the tsunami detection system in various oceans and seas around the world, including the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea. This project includes buoys called DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis) capable of detecting tsunamis while they propagate in the deep sea, five of which have already been installed in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. The closest buoys to the Island will be no more than 30 minutes of propagation time, which once the buoy detects a tsunami, will allow us enough time to evacuate coastal areas. The Center of Coastal Risks of the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez is in charge of part of this project, that will be implemented in Mayaguez and the San Juan area first.

Botanical treasure of the 1900

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

The Puerto Rican flora is the title of a magnificent scientific-artistic project done in the Island at the beginning of the XX century. This project was done under the direction of the married couple of botanists Nathaniel and Elizabeth Britton in collaboration with painter Frances Horne. This collection, available at New York’s Botanic Garden, contains information of the use in Puerto Rico of each of the specimens, and was put together by Nilda González and José García Luiña, from the University of Puerto Rico’s Agricultural Extension Service.

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