Dinosaurs had maternal instincts

Posted by admin on January 24, 2012 Comments Off

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A group of researchers established that dinosaurs that existed 190 million years ago had complex maternal instincts similar to modern birds and reptiles through a set of fossilized nests located in South Africa .

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that even in the earliest moments of the existence of dinosaurs, specimens of the species Massospondylus lay their eggs communally in one place for generations.

“Now we can argue that we have evidence not only that the site is the center of nests of the world’s oldest dinosaur but the center of old nests of any terrestrial vertebrate,” said Professor Robert Reisz of the University of Toronto, for presenting the study at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

Moreover, as explained to Efe Reisz, when breaking eggs, Massospondylus remained in the nest at least until doubled in size.

He explained the scientist, the behavior of these primitive dinosaurs that lived 190 million years ago in what is now the Golden Gate Highlands National Park of South Africa, would be very similar to the birth of the modern species of birds or reptiles.

“We were able to see that all the eggs are placed in a single layer, which is something they do birds. But these dinosaurs did not sit over the eggs, as birds do,” said Reisz.

Now, he added, “for the first time these two elements are separated: putting eggs in a single layer and sit on them are not related, evolved separately.”

According to Reisz, so far only was aware of similar reproductive behavior among dinosaurs in the final stages of their existence on Earth, about 65 or 70 million years so the finding until more than 120 million years these instincts .

He and his team also have found the hand and footprints in the mud left by some of the Massopondylus as the shell broke and began to venture into the world.

“This means that these animals walked four limbs initially. But adults were bipedal. We only know other animal species that begins its existence as a quadruped and biped and ends as are humans,” he said.

The South African site can become an incredible “diary” of the reproductive process of the dinosaurs thanks to the collection of eggs and embryos inside.

“We have a large amount of embryonic material to study. We get what we call ‘dinosaur embryology,’ something that has not yet been done: see how animals grow inside the egg. This is tremendously exciting,” said Reisz.

He added that “because we have young embryos, more advanced and even some that were about to hatch, we expect to see the growing embryo inside the egg. Also recently recovered a just hatched.”

“So now we can study the skeletons and see how they change during embryonic life and immediately after,” said Reisz.

vrs


El Universal: Science

Victimology: a tool to repair emotional damage

Posted by admin on January 24, 2012 Comments Off

readability=”74″> id=”contentNote” While in Mexico, are being developed institutions and government policies to support victims of crime , is still needed to be done in this area, the teacher said Maria del Carmen Nunez Montenegro, Faculty of Psychology of UNAM, who noted that the emotional harm experiencing a victim has different manifestations and is very difficult to identify, so that almost never considered relevant to the legal level.

“Speaking of victims, at times, is to refer to a human condition, whether for objective and, sometimes, by the perception that everyone has in their lives, so it is necessary to establish a classification of victims, in this case victims of crime . The emotional damage is a concept that psychologists do not use it as such, although it can be very clear to us because we work with emotions, it is a term most used in the legal field under characterization of moral damage, which also incorporates the decorum, dignity and heritage, “said university researcher.

He noted that natural events, accidents or criminal acts create victims, who always suffer an emotional impact that can be expressed immediately or many years later.

In the case of a criminal act, he said, any kind of aggression that affects the daily produces alertness and emotional impact is not necessarily the severity of which depends on the severity of the offense, so it is considered that the emotional damage that emerges will determined by variables such as the vulnerability of individuals with previous violent experiences, age or degree of resilience, among other things.

For example, he explained, demonstrating the impairment of the estate can be very easy and repaired with money. The problem that arises in this field is how to repair the emotional damage, especially when it is not expressed immediately to the crime, but many years later.

explains the crime victim

Maricarmen Montenegro said that to understand the victim of a crime is necessary to know the kind of violence that has been exercised against, ie, the crime victim says and vice versa. With this argument, it has managed to establish some profiles of offenders and the emotional impact that victims often report.

He noted, moreover, there is often excessive concern for the victims of crime and lost sight of the perpetrator’s rights. Besides the lack of understanding of crime and appropriate techniques to detect the emotional harm of the victim, in both cases are generated revictimized.

In Mexico, the victimology is a new study area does not have enough experts in the area, which according to the teacher Montenegro Nunez should not improvise and work with victims if there is no training to do so.

Victimology, and multidisciplinary area of ​​expertise is closely linked to criminology. It also provides various elements of psychology to the study, as the theories that explain the behavior, cognitions, values, beliefs and social conditions that determine them, and contribute to its methods and techniques to intervene in the diagnosis of emotional harm and treatment for victims of crime.

Montenegro respect the teacher commented that “the psychologist victimology provides sufficient information to understand that crimes occur as social facts and human interactions in a particular social events, and that their values ​​depend at least the damage done but above all who bears the fact, the perceived threat and causes of social disapproval. ”

Some of the most outstanding contributions of victimology are the result of victimization and social vulnerability, the increased awareness of this and the different types of violence that were previously invisible, such as the State, considers that the victims, the system criminal offenders are the three main sources of information to understand a crime.

Therefore, the researcher believes that those skilled in this area of ​​knowledge “must not exceed the indifference of the criminal law by the victim, the perpetrator’s rights to deny that it will also be victimized by the criminal justice machinery, but also recognize that many times the innocent has been tagged as the alleged offender. ”

Finally, he explained that in Mexico are being developed institutions and policies to accompany victims of crime, but maintained that there needed to be done in this area. At the School of Psychology Research seminars are held waiting contribute information and knowledge to professionalise this area and that victims are treated with respect and dignity for their rights.

Disclosure Directorate of Science, UNAM


El Universal: Science

Captan disintegration of comet approaches the Sun

Posted by admin on January 23, 2012 Comments Off

readability=”37″> id=”contentNote” A team of researchers has combined observations of the Solar Dynamics Observatory NASA (ODS, for its acronym in English), the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), and the Observatory of Solar-Terrestrial Relations (STEREO) to follow the path of Comet C/2011 N3.

In an article in the Jan. 20 issue of Science, Professor Carolus Schrijver of the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto (California) and his team detail how the comet entered the low corona of the sun and disintegrated on 6 in July 2011.

Data from three instruments that allowed the calculation of C/2011 N3 reached about 100 000 km on the solar surface, entered the atmosphere and turned into tiny pieces first before evaporating completely.

This novel method to track comets could provide more detailed information about the body from which it originated and integral part of the early solar system, said Carey Lisse, researcher at the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins.

Lisse, published in the same issue of Science a comment on the work of Schrijver, emphasized that the results of this observation, the first of its kind, lay the groundwork for future measurements of the disintegration of comets.

As explained, it is believed that this family of comets are fragments of a large comet Halley type which broke thousands of years and the study will also help to understand the origins of the solar system.

“Understanding the physical construction of Comets sheds important light on how it was adding the matter from micrometer dust particles and gas molecules to build kilometer rocky bodies like comets in the first billion years of existence of the system solar, “said the researcher.

According to the expert combination of data will improve understanding of the solar corona, using the comets themselves as test particles by analyzing their journey through the crown and observing the traffic at different heights above the photosphere, at different times latitudes and solar longitudes.

It will also help draw the three-dimensional density structure of the corona and learn more about the temperatures, depending on the disintegration of the material in this case, it took between 20 and 30 minutes before disappearing altogether.

Kreutz comets, named after the astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, are distinctive because they perform some orbits that are too close to the Sun at perihelion.

Before NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) SOHO probe launched in 1995, only 16 of these comets known. Its special characteristics have attracted the interest of professional and amateur astronomers have been able to capture its movement and disappearance, but never the way to the interior of the Sun

More information:

Article in Science (in English)

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El Universal: Science

Are considered extinct ape in Indonesia

Posted by admin on January 22, 2012 Comments Off

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Scientists working in the dense jungles of Indonesia “rediscovered” a monkey so rare that I thought was extinct .

The scientists were even more surprised to have found the gray langur Miller in a remote area of ​​habitat previously registered.

The team installed cameras in the woods Wehe, at the eastern end of the island of Borneo, in June, with hopes of capturing images of longibandos leopards, orangutans and other species that congregate in a number of known mineral deposits.

Generated images of surprised everyone: groups of monkeys that nobody had seen before.

As there were virtually no pictures of the langurs of Miller, was initially difficult to confirm his suspicions, said Brent Loken, a doctoral student at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, and one of the leading scientists in the group.

The only existing images were pictures in museums. “We are ecstatic by the fact that this monkey is still alive, and also in Wehe is,” said Loken.

The monkey, whose nose and lips pink and white fur around the school, once roamed the northeastern part of Borneo, as well as the islands of Sumatra and Java and the Malay Peninsula. But there were fears that for years was extinct.

The forests that were their habitat had been destroyed by forest fires and human activity, and an extensive study in 2005 found no evidence of specimens.

“For me, the discovery of this monkey is representative of many species in Indonesia,” said Loken on the phone.

“There are so many animals that we know so little and whose habitats are disappearing so quickly,” he said.

“You feel that many of these animals will fall into extinction.” The next step is to return to the forest of 38 000 hectares to try to determine how many grizzled langur could be there, according to a team of local and foreign scientists, who published their findings Friday at the American Journal of Primatology.

The monkeys appear and more than 4 000 images taken over a period of two months, but may be one or two families returning to the same place.

lae


El Universal: Science

Steal a second to analyze time

Posted by admin on January 18, 2012 Comments Off

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Enigmas of cosmology discussed in Chichen Itza

Posted by admin on January 17, 2012 Comments Off

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Macorra Axel of the Institute of Physics, UNAM, denied that the Mayan civilization with their advanced knowledge of astronomy has predicted the end of the world in 2012, as noted, however, considered that the care can take in recent times is given to the Mayan culture to follow his example and encourage interest in understanding the origins of the universe with the technological tools now available.

In this regard, he announced that renowned cosmologists around the world, including George Smoot, Nobel Laureate in Physics 2006, will meet tomorrow in the Mayan city of Chichen Itza to discuss the fundamental enigmas of modern cosmology .

The researcher noted that for the first time in human history, it may raise questions about the origin of the universe which would have been impossible to imagine, as well as answer some of them thanks to satellites (like the Planck released in 2009) and the new instrumentation on the telescopes that have on Earth.

He noted that thanks to technological advances, we are living the golden age of cosmology and the proof is that in the past 15 years, we have learned more about the universe and its structure than in the entire history of civilization.

By comparison, the Macorra Axel, organizer of the meeting, felt that cosmologists today are humanity as it was in the fifteenth century, when maps of the Earth were obscure and vague. In the universe, he said, there are 100 billion galaxies in the year 2000, had been mapped only about 10 000, very few compared to the size of the universe.

In this regard, he stressed the importance of institutions such as UNAM and CONACYT Mexican cosmologists support to participate in international projects such as the so-called bigboss that aims to map the larger universe ever made, measuring 50 million galaxies.

He also director of the Advanced Institute of Cosmology, said the project bigboss will use a four-meter optical telescope, located at the National Observatory on Kitt Peak , in Arizona, USA to answer some fundamental questions of cosmology and try to clarify what is dark energy.

Currently, we can take the telescopes that have become obsolete for some tasks of astronomy and adaptive optical fibers, so that in every moment can take thousands of photos at the same time, and to reconstruct a part of the universe as it is today and as it was for millions of years, he said.

From Macorra cautioned that date, the project is in its infancy, making it the best time for Mexican researchers involved, as will later be late.

On the fundamental mysteries of modern cosmology is solved, said that it is primarily to clarify what are the matter and dark energy.

The physicist said that only 4 percent of the universe is made up of atoms and molecules, as we know, and 22 percent is made up of dark matter and 74 percent is dark energy. Scientists know that dark matter and dark energy exist and know its effects, but until now no one knows what they are. Cosmologists speculate that in future the person or group of people who can describe what is dark energy, they could win the Nobel Prize.

The meeting of cosmologists, called Visions of Our Universe and the New Era of Cosmology will be held January 18 morning. In your organization participate UNAM, Advanced Institute of Cosmology, the National Institute of Anthropology and History and the Center for Physics and Cosmology, Berkeley (Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, BCCP).

DG Popularization of Science, UNAM


El Universal: Science

Mayans were able to record the transit of Venus in 2012

Posted by admin on January 17, 2012 Comments Off

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From the mural painting discovered in the city of Mayapan, the archaeoastronomer Jesus Galindo raises the possibility that Maya have been able to record the transit of Venus the solar disk will happen this year and not Apocalypse .

The researcher of the Institute of Aesthetic Research of the UNAM, will give the lecture “Mayan Apocalypse in 2012?: A View from the Mesoamerican astronomy and culture” on Thursday January 19 at 12:00 pm in the Auditorium of the Center Information from the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics in Tonantzintla.

The next 5 and 6 June, the planet Venus will be visible from Earth as a dark spot crossing in front of the Sun This show is produced by the transit of the planet passing in front of the King Star when the Earth is also aligned and allows us to see , in Mexico will occur after the setting sun

For scientists, this is a very important event because it allows perfect measure of how the Sun is separate from Earth. The next will occur in 2117.

According to Galindo Trejo Mayan priest-astronomers may have set their own calendrical for the day of that traffic is important to complete a calendar cycle.

The seminar is held under the 40 th anniversary of the creation of INAOE and 70 years of the founding of the National Astrophysical Observatory of Tonantzintla (OANTON).

vrs


El Universal: Science

Find out astronomical events of the week

Posted by admin on January 17, 2012 Comments Off

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Saturday January 14th

A character that stands out from the blue stars is Orion, the brightest constellation of all. The hunter is low in the east at nightfall, with his “belt” of three stars pointing directly upward from the horizon. In Mexico they are popularly known as “The Three Kings.”

Sunday January 15

The Moon in its last quarter placed next to two companions bright tomorrow morning, the star Spica and the planet Saturn. They are quite high in the south, Spica nearer the moon, to his right upper and Saturn farther away and slightly to his left lower.

Monday January 16

The star Spica is just above the Moon as amount as at 1 am with Saturn, which is slightly brighter, and is a little farther from the moon, the star on your left.

Tuesday January 17th

One of the brightest stars in the night sky is Capella, the “goat”, which has a bright yellow-orange. It is in the constellation Auriga, the chariot driver, visible to the north in mid-night.

Wednesday January 18th

Pollux, the brightest star in Gemini, the twins, is the star of “giant” closer to the Earth, just 34 years light. Look her in the middle of the eastern sky around 8 or 9 at night to look for two bright stars near each other. Pollux, with pale orange, is the brighter of the two., The other being Castor.

Thursday January 19

Mars is becoming brighter as it approaches Earth. This night vision amounts to around 10 and looks like a bright orange star. Continue to get brighter until early March.

Friday January 20

The planet Jupiter is visible at the top of the sky at dusk. Seen through a small telescope or binoculars reveals step tonight against the Jovian disk its moon Io.

vrs


El Universal: Science

Increase DNA tests to find out who the father

Posted by admin on January 14, 2012 Comments Off

id=”contentNote” In the delivery room was all joy. The midwife cried when congratulated Dew and walked to the drink to give him a kiss. The father was happy and, outside, the family opened a champagne. But when the mother saw her brand new daughter came down the world. It was perfect. It was very pretty … but had the face of your ex.

Stories like these are increasingly common: couples who go through nine months without knowing who the father and to determine resort to a DNA , whether during pregnancy or immediately after birth.

Consultations of this type grew exponentially in the last five years, they said center managers in genetic studies are conducted.

In Argentina Society for Forensic Genetics there are 18 laboratories authorized for this type of testing, ten of which perform prenatal testing.

“A decade ago we were five prenatal testing each year. Today, more than 200. And we have three queries per day. They represent 10% of all studies of DNA,” explains Eduardo Raimondi, by the Pricai, the center of genetic studies Favaloro Foundation.

Paternity studies are not a rarity. “Today, statistics indicate that ten children born to one or two that are not biological children of their legal parents ” Viviana says Bernath, a member of the Argentina Society of Forensic Genetics, Director of Genda Lab, for each month that usually takes four to five pregnant.

The risks for the baby

“We also recently increased the amount of paternity studies performed to infants during the first year of life. They are women who for some reason, perhaps because of the risk involved in the study during pregnancy, prefer to wait until the birth to do it, “says Dr. Bernath, who published the book last November DNA, lie detector.

There are two types of studies are used to perform prenatal paternity testing. The first is the chorionic villus sampling, which involves a needle between weeks 12 and 13 of pregnancy. The other study was done by taking a sample of amniotic fluid from 16 weeks. For all cases, this requires that the mother and alleged father.

Depending on the laboratory, the results can be obtained within a week, the fast version, or a month.

“Mothers should know that prenatal testing involves a risk to the baby, which is at least 0.5%, but there is,” explains Primarosa Chieri, Primagen laboratory director, the first in the country engaged in such studies. It means that one in 200 pregnancies undergoing this test is lost.

The study of paternity after the birth is via a buccal swab samples and must be made to the mother, father and baby.

There are kits to take home samples, but the labs are not recommended, because in that case, the study loses validity of legal proof. This study will cost between 250 and 300 dollars, depending on the speed.

“Do not fall into the trap of pointing among the causes of this growth to increased promiscuity consultations. This is historic, the difference is that now more accessible as possible to know for certain paternity,” says Chieri.

The profile that most characterizes this type of query is Primagen of women who went through a change of partner and became pregnant in that course. In other laboratories also indicate that there are frequent consultations of men who had sex with a woman who knew and with that came a couple of times, but who want to be sure to be the parents of that baby on the way.

Also classic is the women attending consultation with her lover. At the news of pregnancy, they want to be sure that a child of her husband before making the announcement.

“In the laboratory hall you can see everything. From couples who are happy and relieved to see the test results to those that are dislodged, cry or scream. There is no lie that resist DNA testing,” Bernath concludes.

lae


El Universal: Science

Develop treatment to eradicate yaws

Posted by admin on January 12, 2012 Comments Off

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Two scientists of Hospital Clínic, Barcelona, ​​have developed a new antibiotic by mouth has been shown to effectively eradicate pian , a tropical disease, similar to syphilis, which affects the skin and bones of children from Asia, South America and Africa.

The journal “The Lancet” published today the results of clinical of this new antimicrobial treatment consists of a single dose of azithromycin, an antibiotic and is used to remove other infections as blindness caused by trachoma, according to the Center for International Health Research of Barcelona (CRESIB).

The clinical trial with 250 children between six months and 15 years of age has been conducted in Papua New Guinea under the leadership of Mitjà Oriol, infectious disease specialist, and Quique Bassat, a pediatrician specializing in tropical medicine, both researchers at the CRESIB center linked to the Clinic.

The discovery is a decisive step towards the eradication of this infectious disease, as it would replace the penicillin injection treatment is practiced give the 50 to something more easy to administer to the population.

For Mitjà Oriol, is an oral therapy “which extends the therapeutic arsenal against yaws and that is promising for its ease of administration.”

With this new oral treatment would avoid the obstacles of conventional injections, such as the need for equipment and medical personnel, potential allergies and side effects.

In addition, this new therapeutic alternative “could be easily integrated into mass medication campaigns,” explains the researcher Quique Bassat.

Following the results of the study, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the convening of a technical meeting to examine whether this new treatment is adopted officially, according to the CRESIB in a statement.

Yaws is an infection caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum, which is closely related to that cause syphilis, although the disease is not transmitted sexually.
It affects the skin and bones of children and in the long term, can cause severe bone deformities.

It mainly affects children living in rural areas with overcrowding and lack of sanitary measures of the Caribbean islands, Latin America, West Africa, India and Southeast Asia.
According to WHO, every year we reported about 5 thousand new cases in Southeast Asia, mainly in Indonesia and East Timor.

The international organization counted in 2005 26 thousand cases in Ghana and 18 000 in Papua New Guinea.

Read the original article: CRESIB

Read original study (in English): The Lancet

msh / vrs


El Universal: Science