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IBSA Foundation blog

A collection of regularly updated articles designed to make the world of science and health more accessible and engaging.
Paolo Rossi Castelli11 Jan 20192 min read

Closer and closer to computers that function like the human brain

We could be getting closer to computers and other devices known as neuromorphic, i.e. based on the reproduction of the connections between the nerve cells of ...
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Luca Nicola09 Jan 20192 min read

What makes people different from robots? | IBSA Foundation

The year 2019 is the year in which one of the most famous science fiction films ever made, Blade Runner, filmed in 1982 by Ridley Scott, is actually happening. ...
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Paolo Rossi Castelli04 Jan 20192 min read

Even garlic oil fights the insidious Lyme disease | IBSA Foundation

As it is known, the essential oils of aromatic plants possess antiseptic properties. However, now, according to researchers from the Bloomberg School of Public ...
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Paolo Rossi Castelli20 Dec 20181 min read

Solar nano-panels to make yeast “work” more | IBSA Foundation

Solar nano-panels added to the surface of yeast, so that these single-cell microorganisms are more efficient at synthesizing the substances then used by the ...
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Paolo Rossi Castelli19 Dec 20181 min read

Electrodes from the nose to the brain to recover sense of smell | IBSA Foundation

Researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston (USA) have managed to activate the sense of smell in three volunteers with a state-of-the-art technique, ...
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Paolo Rossi Castelli17 Dec 20181 min read

Monoclonal antibodies to diagnose (and cure?) Zika

The fight against the zika virus has taken a potentially significant step forward, thanks to a study published in the scientific journal PLOS One by ...
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Luca Nicola10 Dec 20183 min read

The formula that makes science fascinating

“7 Brief Lessons on Physics” by Carlo Rovelli is a publishing success story. Released in October 2014, it has sold more than 300,000 copies in Italy alone and ...
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Paolo Rossi Castelli06 Dec 20181 min read

The thyroid “switches on” the color-sensing cells in the eye | IBSA Foundation

In order to understand how the cells that enable us to perceive color (so-called cones) are created, researchers from the John Hopkins University in Baltimore ...
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Paolo Rossi Castelli05 Dec 20182 min read

Viruses that will be transmitted from animals to humans

The spill-over, i.e. the transmitting of a virus from one species to the other (in particular, from an animal species to humans), is one of the phenomena most ...
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Luca Nicola03 Dec 20183 min read

Welcome to the philosophical breakfast club

Science historian Laura Snyder's is a tale that starts way back. To be precise, it begins on June 24, 1833, when...
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Paolo Rossi Castelli30 Nov 20182 min read

At least 133 different types of cells in the brain

How many different types of cells are there in the brain? An interesting response was given to this difficult question in the long-term work conducted over 15 ...
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Paolo Rossi Castelli28 Nov 20182 min read

Only 23% of planet earth remains unspoilt

Bad news for our planet: only 23% of the earth’s surface (excluding Antarctica) can still be considered wild and unspoilt, i.e. without strong signs of human ...
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Luca Nicola26 Nov 20184 min read

Cancer prevention through diet and lifestyle

During the Let's Science! event held on November 17, 2018, Lucilla Titta, Adriana Albini and Maria Cristina Marini took part in a round table
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Paolo Rossi Castelli23 Nov 20181 min read

A “clean” way to deal with waste using purple bacteria

Significant help in dealing with the problem of treating wastewater containing organic residues (from food waste, livestock manure, grass and dry leaves, waste ...
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Paolo Rossi Castelli14 Nov 20181 min read

Microalgae to carry drugs inside our bodies | IBSA Foundation

Bioengineers have been trying to find a way to deliver drugs to desired points inside our bodies, and to these points only, areas which are also difficult to ...
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Paolo Rossi Castelli07 Nov 20182 min read

And that is how the ear can “regenerate” hearing

A study conducted from the Universities of Rochdale and Harvard is offering new hope to people that lost their hearing following the deterioration of the ...
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Paolo Rossi Castelli31 Oct 20181 min read

The map of microbial “dark matter” | IBSA Foundation

In additional to cosmic dark matter, there is also another kind of dark matter: that made up of bacteria and micro-organisms outside the human body.
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Paolo Rossi Castelli31 Oct 20182 min read

New gloves for “grasping” virtual objects | IBSA Foundation

Bioengineers from Lausanne have developed an ultrathin glove that let users “touch” objects created through virtual reality.
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