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Brazil is the world's largest producer of niobium and holds about 98 percent of the active reserves on the planet. This chemical element is used in metal alloys, especially high-strength steel, and in an almost unlimited array of high-tech applications from cell phones to aircraft engines. Brazil exports most of the niobium it produces in the form of commodities such as ferroniobium. Another substance Brazil also has in copious quantities but underuses is glycerol , a byproduct of oil and [...]

The bacteria that form the gut microbiota influence important processes of the human body, such as digestion, nutrient absorption, and defense against pathogens. The same type of relationship is present in most animals, including in the Anhopheles darlingi mosquito, the main vector of malaria in Brazil. In the case of this insect, the composition of the gut microbiota appears to determine the susceptibility to infection by Plasmodium vivax - the species responsible for 90% of malaria cases in [...]

Machines can be trained to classify images and thus identify tumors in CT scans, mineral compositions in rocks, or pathologies in optical microscopy analyses. This artificial intelligence technique is known as machine learning and has gained new applications in recent years. Machine training is carried out via the repetition of images used as examples of a particular context or situation and the adequate preparation of that material requires the effort of experts from a variety of areas. The [...]

Besides swathes of destroyed vegetation, forest fires in Amazonia leave their imprint on the Amazon River and its tributaries. Incomplete burning of trees results in the production of black carbon, solid particles that enter the waters of the Amazon in the form of charcoal and soot and are transported to the Atlantic Ocean as dissolved organic carbon. For the first time, an international group of researchers have quantified and characterized the black carbon flowing in the Amazon River. Their [...]

France is one of the main international partners in research projects supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), which has cooperation agreements with 15 French funding agencies, universities, research institutions and companies. More than 120 research projects have been approved under the auspices of these agreements. To celebrate the partnership and stimulate new collaborations in the most diverse knowledge areas, FAPESP Week France will be held on November 21-27, 2019, [...]

Margays (Leopardus wiedii), small wild cats living in forest areas fragmented by agriculture near Campinas and Botucatu in São Paulo State, Brazil, prey on animals inhabiting nearby sugarcane plantations, such as birds and small rodents. The diet of other mammals, such as the herbivorous Wild cavy (Cavia aperea) or the omnivorous Crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous), is also influenced by the region's agriculture. They live in areas of native vegetation but often have to seek food in [...]

The 270 million hectares of native vegetation preserved by rural landowners (Legal Reserves and unprotected areas) yield Brazil the equivalent of some USD 1.5 trillion per year in ecosystem services, such as crop pollination, pest control, water security, rain production and soil quality maintenance. The calculation is part of a paper published in the journal Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation and endorsed by 407 scientist signatories, including 371 researchers affiliated with 79 [...]

The common phase transitions are those that occur as a function of temperature variation. Ice changes phase to become liquid water at 0 °C. Liquid water changes phase to become water vapor at 100 °C. Similarly, magnetic materials become nonmagnetic at critical temperatures. However, there are also phase transitions that do not depend on temperature. They occur in the vicinity of absolute zero [-273.15 °C] and are associated with quantum fluctuations. A study involving experiments [...]

HOUSTON – (Nov. 13, 2019) – A lightweight material full of holes is nearly as hard as diamond. The mere dents left by speeding bullets prove it. Researchers at Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering and their colleagues are testing polymers based on tubulanes, theoretical structures of crosslinked carbon nanotubes predicted to have extraordinary strength. The Rice lab of materials scientist Pulickel Ajayan found tubulanes can be mimicked as scaled-up, 3D-printed [...]