Raluca et al . (2014) provide a survey of the economic studies regarding the performance of Fair Trade certifications. They focus on the coffee industry, by large the most important product under the Fair Trade label. In this article I summarize their main findings and conclusions. The aim of Fair Trade certification is to improve […]
The way a carbon atom binds to other atoms is what make this element so important. Apart from its capacity to bind to a wide range of different atoms, most remarkable is the way it can form long chains of carbon atoms with different kinds of covalent bonds between them . Biologically, for instance, the […]
Since its discovery in 2003, graphene has become one of the “materials of the future”, with applications ranging from tissue engineering to energy storage. Recently, a paper published in Oncotarget by researchers at the University of Manchester has shown its potential in anti-cancer therapy, in addition to its already known applications in medicine as a […]
“ Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering”. Grand Master Yoda This is the second chapter of a series of 2 articles that pretends to illustrate how the emotional state of our parents influence our brain development. The first article focused completely […]
Humanities & Social Sciences • Science • Technology • Weekly Selection
Star ring at edge of Milky Way may actually be part of galaxy A ring of stars surrounding the Milky Way may, in reality, be part of it, increasing the galaxy’s size by 50%. Discovery Ideas about hibernation challenged by warm dormant bats Two species of bats have been found hibernating in caves considered too […]
Hydraulic fracturing or Fracking is a controversial technique in which a solvent (water with chemicals) is injected at high pressure into deep rocks in order to break them so that natural gas and petroleum can flow freely. In a paper published recently in Nature Materials , researchers from the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia claim […]
Technology is all around us. There are a lot of acts that we perform daily that involve much more technology than we can imagine. Take for example removing the lid of a diary product; you would expect that the lid will offer some resistance but not so high as to make it impossible to open […]
One of the most strongly debated philosophical problems is that of the nature of consciousness. This is no surprise, since it is probably the most difficult question, at least apparently, for naturalistic or materialistic views of the world. After all, the necessity of having a spiritual cause of the existence and order of the cosmos […]
It was reported last year that the carborane superacid H-(CHB 11 F 11 ) (see Fig. 1) was synthesized and that its primacy of the strength over all other known superacids was confirmed . This is an extremely sensitive to moisture solid which was prepared by a treatment of the [(C 2 H 5 ) […]
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Multiple views of a supernova seen by astronomers Astronomers have been able to witness the same supernova multiple times at different spots because of the gravitational lense effect of a galaxy cluster. The New York Times Snowflakes aren’t symmetrical, according to cutting-edge camera Snowflakes are even more complex than previously thought, according to high-speed 3D […]