Fair of Science

The Fair of Sustainable Science was organized last May 6 by the UVa, the Scientific Park and the City of Valladolid. The Fair intends to communicate Science to the general public, and included different activities and stands of several schools, research groups and companies.

Below the ecologic motor presented by the students of the “Antonio Tovar” High School:

March for Science

The federation of Spanish scientific societies (COSCE) is promoting the “Manifest for Science 2017“, asking for  a coherent and permanent impulse to Science in Spain. The document can be signed on-line. This initiative is coincident with the global “March for Science” organized worldwide last April, 22, and near simultaneous with the discussion of the Spanish national budget, where scientific funding will decrease (again) by ca. 2.64% in 2017 according to COSCE. The funding cuts in Science accumulate more than 30% in recent years. Choose your option: 1) There is no future for Science in Spain; 2) We are so smart that we can work without budget. 3) No problem because we have very good football teams.

You can see below a picture of our lab taken from a satellite:

And a picture of Madrid’s “March for Science”:

Expansion expanding

The expansion rate of the Universe seems to be 5-9% faster than expected, according to new data from the space telescope Hubble which give an improved value of the Hubble constant. The report is published in Astrophysical Journal. However, this new value is in conflict with measurements of the microwave background radiation using the NASA Wilkinson MW probe and ESA Planck satellite. There are no explanations yet. According to leading scientist Adam Reiss “This surprising finding may be an important clue to understanding those mysterious parts of the Universe that make up 95 percent of everything and don’t emit light, such as dark energy, dark matter, and dark radiation”. I cannot avoid thinking that this looks like the ether hypothesis in the XIX century …

RSEQ talk

Prof. Miguel A. Sierra (UCM, Madrid), General Editor of Anales de Química (the Journal of the Spanish Chemical Society), gave a lecture to the UVa Chemistry students last October 23. The talk was titled “Chemistry: An impure Science?” and discussed on the relevance and double use of chemical tools. Prof. Silverio Coco, local President of the RSEQ, presented the local section to the students and explained some of their activities.

Neutrino mass

Particle Physics made a hit again. The Nobel prize of Physics was awarded to researchers working in neutrino oscillation. The experiments showing conversion between different types of neutrinos prove that they must have some mass (unlike the initial assumption of the Standard Model). The Swedish Academy called it “Metamorphosis in the particle world“. The Chemistry prize was (again) Biochemistry, and focused in DNA repair.

The ultra-pure water pool used in theSuper-Kamiokande neutrino detection experiment in Japan may have nice recreational possibilities (credits).

Philae wakes up

The Philae space probe woke up from hybernation last June 14 and transmited for 85 seconds. The probe was sitting at the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet since November 2014, waiting for more sun on its panels. In the following months ten instruments on board Philae, including X-ray and IR spectrometers, a cromatograph and TOF  mass detector, may provide insight about the comet chemical composition and other physical properties. The video below shows the hazardous landing of the probe.

The simulation video was prepared by David Ducros for the French CNES.