Missions to Mars? The immune system goes haywire | IBSA Foundation
There is an obstacle that will make missions from Earth to Mars particularly difficult and risky for astronauts: the effects of the lack of gravity and cosmic ...
Surprise: junk DNA sometimes helps cells
Up to several years ago, the (very large) portion of DNA that appears to have no precise function was labelled “junk”, by researchers. Recently, however, a ...
The lifecycle of nature in 4 minutes
How can you explain the lifecycle of flowers to a three-year old girl and make her understand that the cycle is continuous and never-ending?
Studying neurons with the help of the “eyes” of algae
Researchers from the University of Würzburg and Bielefeld (Germany) have discovered a “family” of light-sensitive molecules (photoreceptors) never seen before ...
The secret of Rembrandt’s “3D” technique revealed
Thanks to the European Synchrotron (particle accelerator) in Grenoble, France, researchers from the Materials Science Department of the Delft University ...
How to change education to give young people a future | IBSA Foundation
Stefano Laffi has very critical, and very interesting, ideas about school education and the future of the young generations. Essentially, he says that we – ...
Now robots can even play the piano | IBSA Foundation
Bioengineers from the University of Cambridge (Great Britain) have succeeded in a bold endeavour, from a technological point of view: to make a robotic hand, ...
Cognitive problems after chemotherapy? Here’s why
After years of doubt and “darkness”, researchers from the University of Stanford (Palo Alto, California) have finally come up with an explanation on “chemo ...
Edgar Morin: uncertainty in the heart of science | IBSA Foundation
How should science be seen in the twenty-first century? Edgar Morin attempts to answer this question in his work
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 ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...