Cianobacterias producen sustancia candidata a antecesora de ADN

www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0049043

Tres alumnos de Retamar ganadores del XXV Certamen Nacional de Jóvenes Investigadores

Se ha celebrado la XXV Edición del Certamen Jóvenes Investigadores, el congreso más importante a nivel nacional de trabajos de investigación para alumnos de Secundaria. En él han recibido el Premio Especial del jurado tres alumnos del Colegio Retamar por su trabajo titulado La energía del futuro: la pila microbiana.

Álvaro Mingote, Gonzalo Maortua y Jaime Fernández de Santaella han sido los artífices. Han diseñado una pila de combustible microbiana que logra energía a partir de unas bacterias que se localizan en el barro. La diferencia con otras fuentes renovables radica en que este sistema permite obtener energía «de forma limpia, sin dañar el medio ambiente», cuentan ellos.

Los alumnos y el profesor, Javier Fernández-Portal, han recibido una beca para investigar en un centro del CSIC, durante semanas. Además representarán a España en el Certamen Europeo de Jóvenes Investigadores, que se celebrará en Praga en septiembre de 2013.

Además, Javier Fernández-Portal ha sido premiado por su trayectoria como profesor coordinador cuya labor ha sido apreciada como especialmente destacable en áreas del fomento de la cultura científica, tecnológica e investigadora en el ámbito de la juventud española.

Noticia en la prensa. (diariosur.es)

http://www.diariodepozuelo.es/20121022325907/tres-alumnos-del-colegio-retamar-premiados-en-la-xxv-edicion-del-certamen-de-jovenes-investigadores (diariodepozuelo.es)

Premio Nobel de Medicina 2012: cómo retrasar el reloj celular

Leer más...

Seis Premios Nobel en el Congreso Internacional de Bioquímica.

"Seis premios nobel de Química o Medicina participarán en el Congreso Internacional de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular que esta semana se celebrará en Sevilla, primera capital española que acoge este evento de la Unión Internacional de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (IUBMB, en sus siglas en inglés).

A este congreso se han inscrito unos 2.500 científicos procedentes de diversos centros de investigación, laboratorios y universidades internacionales, según ha informado hoy en un comunicado la organización.

Los seis nobeles cuya presencia está anunciada en este congreso, cuyo lema es "De las moléculas simples a la Biología de Sistemas", son Tim Hunt, Ferid Murad, Ada Yonath, Hamilton Smith, Robert Huber y Venki Ramakrishnan (en la imagen)."

Uno de los workshops del Congreso fue el de Ciencia en la Escuela.

Participaron Pedro Jordano, y Juli Peretó, investigadores de prestigio en España, y que dieron unas conferencias muy enriquecedoras. También participamos Gerard Cobut (secretario de la Olimpiada Internacional de Biología) y yo (Javier Fernández-Portal).

He tenido la suerte de representar a la Olimpiada Española de Biología. En mi intervención hice referencia a la importancia de enseñar la ciencia de forma práctica, la conveniencia de enseñar el método por el que la ciencia llega a la verdad y por tanto hasta dónde puede llegar.

También conté algunas de la iniciativas que estamos desarrollando en la International Biology Olympiad, propuestas por España, referentes a estudios de contenidos entre diferentes países y a modos de enseñar.

También comenté algunos aspectos de la enseñanza del Bachillerato Internacional que considero muy adecuados y que podrían incorporarse a la enseñanza normal en España.

Ha sido una gran experiencia.
Recientemente la página web de la Federación Europea de Sociedades de Bioquímica, FEBS Education Platform ha publicado las presentaciones de diapositivas empleadas por los "speakers".

Aging

www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(12)00809-3

--

Javier 

Noticias veraniegas

a100ciacierta.com/2012/07/31/la-primera-bacteria-virtual

--

Javier 

Hallan un «error fatal» en un experimento histórico sobre la selección sexual

Leer mas...
Artículo publicado.

New domain?

A new domain of life


Plenty more bugs in the sea
Tantalising evidence is emerging of a serious gap in biologists' understanding of the diversity of life on Earth

LIFE, like Caesar's Gaul, is divided into three parts. The Linnaean system of classification, with its prescriptive hierarchy of species, genus, family, order, class, phylum and kingdom, ultimately lumps everything alive into one of three giant groups known as domains.

http://www.economist.com/node/18437900

Migraciones

INTO THE MIDDLE EAST

150,000 to 125,000 years ago.

The global migration began when modern humans left Africa and crossed the Sinai or the base of the Red Sea. Fossils in Israel record their presence, and a 2011 discovery in Arabia suggests that by 125,000 years ago (125 kyr ago), modern humans had reached the doorstep of Asia. Click on the red circles for key sites.

150–125 kyr ago 125–50 kyr ago 50–20 kyr ago 20–10 kyr ago

Microbiome

"nytimes: Human Microbiome Project Decodes Our 100 Trillion Good Bacteria http://t.co/Tr6RAS3v" 

-http://twitter.com/nytimes/status/212959941307277312

"Jack Andraka, Gordon E. Moore Award Winner"

Jack Andraka, Gordon E. Moore Award Winner Jack Andraka was awarded USD 75,000 for his development of a new method to detect pancreatic cancer.

Mi segundo tweet

@javierfportal: In a random world there cannot be constants, says gravity. Is not "chance" another way to call ignorance?

Paralyzed Woman Controls a Robotic Arm With Her Mind

Paralyzed Woman Controls a Robotic Arm With Her Mind
HIGH T3CH | 17 DE MAYO DE 2012


Cathy Hutchinson has been unable to move her own arms or legs for 15 years. But using the most advanced brain-machine interface ... Read more

Johnny

Walking Again After Spinal Cord Injury – Testing on Rats

Walking Again After Spinal Cord Injury – Testing on Rats
HIGH T3CH | 1 DE JUNIO DE 2012


Rats with spinal cord injuries and severe paralysis are now walking (and running) thanks to researchers at EPFL. Published in ... Read more

Fungal fidelity: some ants have been eating the same meal for 5 million years!

Fungal fidelity: some ants have been eating the same meal for 5 million years!
30 DE MAYO DE 2012



When the time comes to fly away from home and start a nest of her own, the daughter queen of a fungus-farming ant colony departs with a small bit of f... Read more

The cockroach beatbox

http://youtu.be/tr4gWi9Jf6k

Congress IUBMB FEBS

Congreso Internacional de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica
September 4th - 9th, 2012

DNA robot could kill cancer cells

Read more...

5 Kinds of Fungus Discovered to Be Capable of Farming Animals!

Read more...

Boom and bust cycle of marine biodiversity every 60 million years linked to uplifting of continents

Boom and bust cycle of marine biodiversity every 60 million years linked to uplifting of continents
SMITHSONIAN SCIENCE | 23 DE FEBRERO DE 2012
http://pulse.me/s/6h0W5


A mysterious cycle of booms and busts in marine biodiversity over the past 500 million years could be tied to a periodic uplifting of the world's cont... Read more

Study: Evolution of earliest horses driven by climate change

Study: Evolution of earliest horses driven by climate change
SCIENCE NEWS | 23 FEBRERO 2012

When Sifrhippus, the earliest known horse, first appeared in the forests of North America more than 50 million years ago, it ... Read more

BSL4 flu

http://www.nature.com/news/flu-meeting-opts-for-openness-1.10067

--
Javier

Wild flower blooms again after 30,000 years on ice : Nature News & Comment

http://www.nature.com/news/wild-flower-blooms-again-after-30-000-years-on-ice-1.10069

Nature: RNA complexity.

http://www.nature.com/nature/supplements/insights/regulatory_rnas/index.html

Nanotechnology Turns Plants into Common Plastic

Read more...

How the first plant evolved

Read more...

Alcohol Consumption as Self-Medication against Blood-Borne Parasites in the Fruit Fly

Read more...

Microbial oasis discovered beneath the Atacama Desert

Microbial oasis discovered beneath the Atacama Desert
BIOLOGY NEWS NET | 16 DE FEBRERO DE 2012


Microbes grow in salt crystals below the Atacama Desert. Two metres below the surface of the Atacama Desert there is an 'oasis' ... Read more

Prions play key role in yeast survival and evolution

Prions play key role in yeast survival and evolution
MIT NEWS - TOPIC - BIOLOGY | 16 DE FEBRERO DE 2012
Misfolded proteins called prions are best known for causing neurodegenerative disorders such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and ... Read more

A Molecule That Can Help Antibiotics Kill Superbugs | 80beats

A Molecule That Can Help Antibiotics Kill Superbugs | 80beats
DISCOVER MAGAZINE | 17 DE FEBRERO DE 2012


_K. pneumoniae_ Bacteria that have evolved defenses against antibiotics are something of a disaster waiting to happen. Whenever a new drug-resistant... Read more

World’s Tiniest Chameleons Found in Madagascar

World's Tiniest Chameleons Found in Madagascar
SCIENCE | 15 DE FEBRERO DE 2012


Researchers have recently discovered four new chameleon species, which rank among the world's tiniest reptiles. Adults of the smallest species are jus... Read more

Amazing skin gives sharks a push

Amazing skin gives sharks a push
BIOLOGY NEWS NET | 9 DE FEBRERO DE 2012

Streamlined sharks are legendary for their effortless swimming. George Lauder from Harvard University, USA, explains that the ... Read more

An advantage of zebra stripes

Polarotactic tabanids find striped patterns with brightnezz and/or polarization modulation least attractive: an advantage of zebra stripes. Leer más...

Another First For 3D Printing – Woman Receives Jaw Implant

Another First For 3D Printing – Woman Receives Jaw Implant
SCIENCE | 7 DE FEBRERO DE 2012



With 3D printing, doctors can now create better bone implants at less cost than with conventional implants. An 83-year-old woman suffering from a low... Read more

Exercise triggers stem cells in muscle

Exercise triggers stem cells in muscle
BIOLOGY NEWS NET | 6 DE FEBRERO DE 2012


Mesenchymal stem cells (green) accumulate in skeletal muscle following exercise and release growth factors to spur ... Read more

New procedure repairs severed nerves in minutes, restoring limb use in days or weeks

New procedure repairs severed nerves in minutes, restoring limb use in days or weeks
BIOLOGY NEWS NET | 4 DE FEBRERO DE 2012

American scientists believe a new procedure to repair severed nerves could result in patients recovering in days or weeks, ... Read more

Viruses con bacteria into working for them - MIT News Office

Viruses con bacteria into working for them - MIT News Office

How spider webs achieve their strength - MIT News Office

How spider webs achieve their strength - MIT News Office

Somatic retrotransposition alters the genetic landscape of the human brain : Nature : Nature Publishing Group

Read more...

Microbial production of fatty-acid-derived fuels and chemicals from plant biomass.

Read more...

Mice sing ultrasonic love songs to their sweethearts [Animal Behavior]

Mice sing ultrasonic love songs to their sweethearts [Animal Behavior]
PULSE SCIENCE | 27 DE ENERO DE 2012
http://pulse.me/s/5nKkq


If you've ever seen a common domestic mouse, your first thought probably wasn't, "You know, I bet that guy has an _amazing_ singing voice." But it tur... Read more

This bizarre tulip-shaped creature is related to nothing else on Earth [Biology]

This bizarre tulip-shaped creature is related to nothing else on Earth [Biology]
PULSE SCIENCE | 25 DE ENERO DE 2012
http://pulse.me/s/5jmih


This is _Siphusauctum gregarium_, a creature that lived in the ocean 500 million years ago. It's so completely strange that it's taken scientists 30 y... Read more

Prion diseases hide out in the spleen, 1/26/12 8:10 PM

Nature News&Comment (@NatureNews) 1/26/12 8:10 PM Prion diseases hide out in the spleen bit.ly/y5OoQR

Mono lake

http://www.nature.com/news/study-challenges-existence-of-arsenic-based-life-1.9861

World’s Tiniest Frog Has Been Discovered

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/01/13/smaller-than-a-dime-the-worlds-tiniest-frog-has-been-discovered/

Gut microbe networks differ from norm in obese people, systems biology approach reveals

Gut microbe networks differ from norm in obese people, systems biology approach reveals