Leonardo painted the air. He studied the human vision, the effect of the atmosphere and the light at the action of looking and long gone are the vivid canvases of the early Renaissance. Velázquez improved the faithful representation of reality according to our perception, so that the photograph was imposed as a mirror of the world. But neither he nor the movie made it out of the two dimensions. Only experimentally. 'Avatar', the latest adventures of the Canadian James Cameron, has laid the foundations of the new commercial cinema. 'Guest star': 'Technology'.

Ànnia Monreal | 8 March 2010

In 1954, a group of scientists from Bell Labs in New Jersey (USA), famous for discovering the laser and fibre optics, saw how silicon devices, to which the impurities of other metals were added, showed a high sensitivity to light. Then the generating of electricity from sunlight began, from the use of silicon photovoltaic cells. However, the efficiency of current commercial solar panels still exceeds 14%. The good news is that nanotechnology offers new opportunities for a more efficient use of sunlight.

Cristina Jiménez | 26 February 2010

Finding work or a partner through the Internet is no longer something risky, and online business transactions are no longer painful. The network has earned the trust of its users, despite of the existence of interested pressures or jokes that boycott the mesh. But to a world that moves for work, love and health, the time has come to introduce its fortress to the cyber assistance and to telemedicine. In the United States they have understood for a long time now the benefits of e-health. Europe struggles to follow its steps, whilst the United Nations urges the entire planet to change the chip.

Ànnia Monreal | 4 February 2010

"This week I have to kill mice", says an investigator at one of the Sant Pau Hospital laboratories, in Barcelona. Every so often, when the rodents have served their experimental role, they have to be sacrificed. It is not the favourite activity of this young scientist, but for now there is no alternative system that does not require animal testing within her speciality. The road is still long, but since 1992 is working on achieving this goal, at the European Centre for Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM). This institution’s job is to ensure the development and validation of options that could replace animal testing.

Ànnia Monreal | 31 December 2009

Last year Internet managed to gather 131 million Europeans regularly. From home, from work, the car, having a coffee in a bar or in the middle of the street, there is a continental cohesion where citizens are very active. A world talking about film, music, work, politics, economy, geography, environment or whatever issue is proposed. A parallel and tangible reality which many companies and institutions would like to have as addressee.

Ànnia Monreal | 24 desember 2009

Scientists forecast that man will reach mars in 2030. With more than 95% of CO2, the Red Planet's atmosphere is unbreathable, which means that the explorers will have to obtain oxygen and food by other means. The solution passes through creating artificial life supporting systems in space, such as the MELiSSA project. Scientists from the Autonomous University of Barcelona work on this project, managed by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Cristina Jiménez | 4 December 2009

It seems unbelievable that, until not too long ago, researchers and practicing doctors had their backs turned against each other. Up until a few years ago, the activity inside of laboratories was a mystery for hospitals. And vice versa. The implementation of translational investigation has come to fill this gap, to make the latest discoveries available to patients.

Ànnia Monreal | 29 October 2009

Most of the population believes that democracy is the fairest form of government, or at least, the most adequate for the biggest part of society to feel represented. But is it really the best possible option? The truth is that many democracies these days have turned into governmental systems in which two parties take turns in having the power. It seems like, for them it is not so much about doing a good job as actual governments, but about obtaining the biggest possible amount of votes during elections.

Cristina Jiménez | 23 October 2009

Some commercial products of common use, like sun creams, paints or electronic appliances, include amongst their components particles that are smaller than 100 nanometres. They are nanoparticles. It is precisely the minuteness of these particles which gives them special and useful properties, but also forces the study of its effect on health and the environment. This is what the European project ENNSATOX is trying to achieve, to investigate the toxicity of nanoparticles in aqueous environments.

Cristina Jiménez | 16 October 2009

The human brain is riddled with information motorways that connect one billion neurons with each other. Trillions of messages transmit these instantly, but their tours are still not marked in scientific treaties. Thanks to the optic microscope, Ramón y Cajal discovered that the brain tissue was formed by interconnected cells. More than one century later, and with many technological advances in between, neuroscientists of the new century are trying to create a ‘map’ detailing the brain connexions.

Cristina Jiménez | 9 october 2009

With only 10 million years of age, the planet TWHydrae B is a ‘newborn’. The youngest one detected to date. The ‘searchers of planets’ of the Max Planck Institute of Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg perceived it still united to the cosmic dust belt that surrounds its mother star, the TW Hydrae, at 180 light years from Earth. Apart from exploring the Universe, discoveries such as that of TWHydrae B help scientists to know better the processes of planet formation.

Cristina Jiménez | 2 October 2009

For years mankind has modified the appearance of nature. They have managed it as they wanted to take the most out of it, to live better. Loyal to its inhabitants, many things have adapted thanks to the contribution of certain organisms. And they have worked secretly, like the elves from stories of the brothers Grimm, so that the next day the inhabitants could continue their evolution without any obstacles.

Ànnia Monreal | 29 September 2009

In 1997, the IBM ‘Deep Blue’ computer defeated the world champion chess player Garry Kasparov. It was a good day for the neuroscientist Henry Markram from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne (EPFL). If in a battle ‘man against machine’ the artificial brain had won, he thought that maybe supercomputing could in a future help to simulate brain function. The future has arrived, and Markram intends to design a complete brain model within 10 years time. The project is called the ‘Blue Brain Project’.

CRISTINA JIMENEZ | 21 September 2009

In 2005 an epidemic exploded on the Internet game 'World of Warcraft'. In a few weeks, four million avatars that lived in the virtual kingdom died due to a mysterious illness named 'corrupt blood'. Immediately several groups of epidemiologists studied the phenomenon: the game provided an unexpected surrounding to study, at experimental level, the development of a macroscopic infection.

Michele Catanzaro | 4 june 2009

In Germany, in the mid 20’s, Werner Heisenberg was swimming in quantum mechanics. His will to translate electron orbits in full numerical terms hit on a system for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932. He developed the quantum mechanical matrix that opened the door to uncertainty. Residing in doubt, little could he imagine that 80 years later his name would be linked to one of the best inventions of the last third of the twentieth century: the Internet.

Ànnia Monreal | 28 may 2009