Conicyt selected for La Tercera the most important advancements of the chilean research of the year
THE SOUTHERNMOST HADROSAURUS
North side of the province of Nueva Esperanza, Región de Magallanes, a series of bones (as shown in the above picture) and cranium parts helped determine that in the Chilean Patagonia inhabited the southernmost hadrosaurs of the continent.
The species, an ornipode dinosaur, , facultative bipedal (has four legs but can walk in two) and a beak similar to a duck’s, lived 66 million years ago and is part of the fossils found in a bed of bones, one of most numerous fossils findings in the country.
The discovery was made by the palaeobotanist Marcelo Leppe, from the Chilean Antarctic Institute (Inach) during an expedition that also allowed to find the first leaves of the Nathofagus -tree species among them the coigüe and the lenga- dating from the dinosaurs era. By the words of the expert, leaves of the 50 million years species had never been found before.
The finding is proof that the south of the continent was once joined to the Antarctic and Australia, which allowed the distribution of the species from one place to the other.
THE SAN RAMON TECTONIC FAULT THREAT
The group lead by Jaime Campos, geophysics of Universidad de Chile, became known in the year 2009 for analysis that concluded that in the near future an earthquake would occur in the Constitución-Concepción zone of a magnitude superior to 8.5, which occurred in February 2010.
This year they published a study that changed the evaluation of the seismic threat in Santiago: the San Ramon fault is not only geologically active, but also presents evidence of seismic activity, they concluded. “This changes drastically what we have considered until today as seismic danger to Santiago. This means that detailed technical studies have to be conducted and the ministries of Housing and Public Works, just like municipalities and regular communal planes, must incorporate from now on these new antecedents», he says.
Campos points out that if studies like these were carried out in each región- for the San Ramon fault data from 25 monitoring stations were used- the potential active tectonic faults could be identified to establish in a better way the seismic threat in the country.
DRUGS FOR FIGHTING THE ALZHEIMER
The team lead by Luis Aguayo, of Universidad de Concepción, patented in EE.UU. a new methodology that could lead to effective therapeutical treatments for neurodegenarative deseases, such as the alzheimer.
The team discovered new actions of the betamiloid protein- present in the alzheimer illness-, and alfa-sinoclein -of the Parkinson illness-, on neuronal membranes. This allowed them to develop a proper methodology for the discovery of new drugs directed against the toxic actions that these proteins cause in the brain, centered in the celular membrane, that protects each cell. “There’s only a few drugs and with very limited efficacy, because the patient stays with the illness», says Aguayo.
According to the researcher, the new way of testing treatments could allow the development of cheaper medicines than the ones the industry offer today.
THE MOST POTENT COMPUTER
The National Laboratory for High Performance Computing (NLHPC), of Universidad de Chile, adjudicated the purchase of the new cluster (set of processors) of 30 Teraflops, that will allow the current fastest computer in the country, called Levque and that has five Teraflops -the third most powerful in Latin America- To reach 30 Teraflops, which is to say, a capacity superior to 10 thousand laptops. Levque has been operating from 2010 and offers services to all the national scientific community becoming key, for example, for the processing of data of the astronomical observatories.
With the new capacity, the challenge will be to obtain the energy necessary for its use and cooling down system, because the processors can’t be close together or stay at a room temperature higher than 20 degrees.
The computer is only surpassed in the regio by the Cenapad-SP, of the National Center for High Performance Processing of Sao Paulo with 27 teraflops, and Miztli, of the Unam (México), with 80 teraflops. Despite the fact both are far from China’s Tianhe-2 that has 33.862 teraflops.
CEAZA CONSOLIDATES A S REGIONAL CENTER
The Center of Advanced Studies in Arid Zones (Ceaza), of the Coquimbo region fulfilled a decade, and as stated by Claudio Bustamante, director of Conicyt’s Regional Program of Investigation, has become a model to be followed. “Is a renowned center, that contributes in a direct way to the region and is a national referent in the Waters matters». says. For this reason, will be financed for three more years.
POLLUTANTS REPORT
The current emissions inventories in Chile consider foreign models, not always applicable in the country. «We use different firewood and heaters» says, Luis Díaz, of Universidad Católica de Temuco, who, together with Francisco Cereceda (UTFSM), determined the pollutant emission factors in Chile, that will allow the Ministry of Environment create more precise inventories and more efficient de-contaminant plans.
THE TUBERCULOSIS IMPACT
Even though the disease prevalence in Chile corresponds to 20 for each 100 thousand inhabitants, in the penal population can reach up to 13 times superior, according to a study by Ximena Aguilera , of Universidad del Desarrollo. Her results confirm that incarceration increases the risk and that the phenomena impacts everybody through the bridge population (visits, police officers and health staff), and the refill of the penal population.
CHILE, NATURAL LABORATORY
The northern skies have permitted the 50% of the world astronomical observation capacity to be in Chile. The objective now is to demonstrate that the country can also be a pole of similar importance to the renewable energies, Antarctic research, Earth sciences and oceanography, amongst others. That was the theme of the year for Conicyt, that through Explora, financed the series “Chile: Natural Laboratory”, aired by TVN.
UNIVERSITY THESES WITH ALMA
The astronomer Ricardo Bustos led a project that allowed engineering and astronomy students of Universidad de Concepción to work with the radio-telescope Alma. The students had the opportunity to use the international laboratory for their theses. The objective was to prepare them in the areas in which they’d potentially work and allowed the student Hugo Pacheco to travel to the place.
A VACCINE FOR IMUNO-CASTRATING PIGS
Mario Maino’s team, from Universidad de Chile, created a vaccine that blocks the hormone GnRH – that regulates the mammal’s reproduction- for imuno-castrating pigs. In the case of these animals, surgical castration at ten days from being born-carried out to prevent their aggressive behaviour and bad smell- cause them to have a lot of grease. To vaccinate them could allow to reach to 110 days and avoid the problem.