Ciencia Boricua Profiles

Every month we profile the work of an outstanding CienciaPR member or discuss a topic of relevance to our community

Green Way or Future Environmental Disaster?

Marcos Lopez's picture
Gas Pipeline
The Gas Pipeline will impact several acres of rivers, forests and residential areas.

For some time, in Puerto Rico we have been hearing about the Gas Pipeline project or the Green Way. Since CienciaPR¥s mission is to impartially educate the general public, we have prepared this small special story a about what is in reality the Gas Pipeline and what are the possible advantages and risks associated with the construction, management and maintenance of it.

What is the Gas Pipeline or Green Way?

From Las Piedras to NASA

Jacqueline Flores Otero's picture
Dr. Félix Miranda
Dr. Félix Miranda

When the different NASA spacecraft such as Voyager, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), and MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging), among others, currently exploring the universe send messages to Earth, they do so through the transmission of microwaves, a type of electromagnetic wave, shorter in wavelength than that of radio, that can travel far distances and penetrate through the atmosphere. While longer microwaves are used to cook our food, shorter microwaves are used for satellite communication to Earth, for radar systems such as the Doppler weather radar, for GPS navigation, and even for wireless internet signals.

The Taino Inside: Science Helps to Decipher Our Origins

Greetchen Díaz-Muñoz's picture
Haplogroup A from Puerto Rico
mtDNA can be classified in haplogroups which are specific for differents regions in the world. This figure shows the haplogroup A of PR.

Do you remember the stories about the native inhabitants of Puerto Rico that we were taught in school? Yes, the Taino Indians. They faded with the arrival of Spanish colonizers, according to the story. When exactly TaÌno ceased to exist? There is archaeological evidence indicating that the Tainos lived on the island longer than historians point, but there are still conflicting versions of both lines. Not only archaeologists and historians were interested in learning more about the Taino culture. A curious scientist that since he was a teenager was fascinated with stories about the Tainos, had in mind a number of questions, but mostly an effort to answer them.

Beyond the Stars... Legacy of the First Puerto Rican Astronomer, Dr. Victor M. Blanco

Giovanna Guerrero-Medina's picture
Dr. Victor M. Blanco and the Victor Blanco Telescope at Cerro Tololo

The study of the planets, the stars, and the universe, in which we live, is the passion of many scientists.. Since the times of the British astronomer Edmund Halley and the British physicist Isaac Newton, the study field of Astronomy has been essential to understand what distinguishes celestial objects (position, distribution, movement, composition and energy).

The Science Behind Earthquakes

Mónica Ivelisse Feliú-Mójer's picture
Earthquake in Puerto Rico
Ruins from Puerto Rico's earthquake in 1918.

Two months ago we received 2010 with the news that neighboring Haiti was struck with a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Not recovered from Haiti’s situation, in the last days of February, Chile also experiences an earthquake; this time an 8.8 one and nowadays they are still getting aftershocks. After all these events have you ever asked yourself what causes an earthquake? Can Puerto Rico be struck by an earthquake? Fortunately, the answers to all these questions and the science behind earthquakes are the focus of the research of geologists like Dr. Daniel Laó Dávila and the Puerto Rico Seismic Network.

Sea cucumbers and regeneration

Anonymous's picture
Holothuria glaberrima
Sea cucumber, Holothuria glaberrima.

Sea cucumbers are echinoderms commonly found in the coasts of Puerto Rico. Although they are called ìcucumbersî due to their morphology, they are not really plants, but animals. In Asia they are considered a delicacy, but in Puerto Rico they are not used as food. Instead, they are used by researchers to understand one of the biggest mysteries in biology: the process of regeneration. Certain organisms, like echinoderms, have regenerative capacities, and can grow new organs from scratch even as adults. Other organisms, such as mammals, have very limited regenerative capacities.

Supernovas and X-Rays

Marcos Lopez's picture
The Puppis A Supernova Remnant. The square shows the Bright Eastern Knot which is the target of the Micro-X rocket.

When we look at the sky during the night it is possible to appreciate stars of different colors and brightnesses. However, although we may think that stars will bright forever, the stars, as all the existence on the Earth and space, also have their life-cycle. There’s a type of stars called the supergiants that emit lots of luminosity. When a supergiant star collapse with itself in a way that they can produce an explosion, it produces what is known as supernova. A supernova is the process that occurs when a star’s life-cycle ends and explodes. In this process, the supernova explosion may produce a huge amount of energy similar to the one emitted by the Sun that is also a star.

Metagenomics of the Puerto Rican Soil

Marcos Lopez's picture
El Yunque
El Yunque National Forest. One of the sampling sites of GeMS.

Although we are in a constant war to get rid of them, we have always lived in a world dominated by microbes. Interestingly, there is a new science field that aims to reveal the secrets of the microbial planet, but not as a tactic of war. Even though we donít pay a lot of attention to our microscopic friends, the microbial communities support all life of Earth, even ours. For this cause, understanding the characteristics of this unexplored microbial world may help us to solve many of the environmental, medical, biotechnological, energetical, and economical challenges of the world. The name of this new science is Metagenomics.

Development of the Neuronal Circuit

Marcos Lopez's picture
Neuron
Neuron cell (click image to zoom)

Did you know that in average humans have approximately 100 billion neurons in the brain? Neurons are cells of the nervous system that respond to electric stimulus and process and transmit information. If you though that neurons only reside in the brain, you are wrong because they are found also in the spinal cord and the peripheral nerves. The complex area of science that study neurons, their development and pathology is neuroscience.

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