Camilo Araya Bernales

The National Research and Development Agency (ANID) promotes the Scientific and Technological Equipment Fund (Fondequip) as a primary financing mechanism for Chile's scientific infrastructure. Through its Major and Medium funding lines, the competition enables universities to acquire or update high-standard equipment. This investment is essential for advancing high-impact research and maintaining competitive laboratories across the country.

Just a few years ago, electric vehicles felt like a futuristic promise. Today, they are a global reality, and Chile is rapidly adopting them—most recently evidenced by Copiapó becoming the country's first city with a 100% electric public transport system. While this technology represents a vital, cleaner alternative to traditional fuel, this shift to electromobility simultaneously creates new, complex environmental challenges that current systems are not yet equipped to handle.

On the morning of Tuesday, November 4, the hybrid seminar “Strategies for Improving the Diet of Older Adults” was held at the Center for Postgraduate Studies and Continuing Education at the University of Santiago, Chile (USACH). The event brought together food science researchers, students, and professionals in the field of geriatric nutrition to address the critical challenges associated with improving nutrition and eating habits in older adults.

When we activate a cell phone screen, an LED flashlight, or a device that glows in the dark, the microscopic event is light emission or luminescence. This phenomenon occurs when a material absorbs energy, exciting its electrons. When these electrons return to their ground state, they release that absorbed energy, which is then transformed into light.

Renewable energy is a necessity in the face of climate change, as industries and communities are increasingly adopting clean sources, such as solar and wind power. However, a major challenge is their intermittency; the sun does not always shine, and the wind does not always blow. This variability creates a gap between when energy is generated and when it's consumed, making it difficult to use its full potential.

In one of the greatest tragedies in recent UK history, a fire broke out in Grenfell Tower, a 24-story residential building in London, on June 14, 2017. The fire, which claimed 72 lives, highlighted a major crisis in building safety and led to a nationwide re-evaluation of fire safety regulations and housing standards.

The fire, caused by an electrical fault in a refrigerator, spread rapidly up the exterior of the building. The recently installed cladding, a highly flammable plastic panel, acted as a fuel, causing the flames to engulf the entire tower within hours.

The progress of science and technology in the pharmaceutical industry has facilitated access to effective treatments. However, this has also led to a strong dependence on certain medications, often without fully considering their side effects.

Published last September, the report compiles citation data from over nine million scientists across various disciplines. The comprehensive analysis utilizes several standardized citation indicators, including the h-index, the co-authorship-adjusted hm-index, and the position of authors in scientific articles. The study distinguishes between two main categories of impact: career-long performance and the effect achieved in 2024.

On March 13, 1989, a powerful solar storm caused the entire power grid in the province of Quebec, Canada, to collapse, leaving millions without electricity. In just ninety seconds, a massive cloud of charged particles from a solar explosion struck Earth's magnetosphere, generating a geomagnetic storm that completely paralyzed the system. The outage was not due to a technical failure or overload, but rather to this intense space weather event.

Lactose, a natural carbohydrate abundant and inexpensive in mammalian milk, is a widely used sugar in the food industry. However, its high incidence of intolerance in a large part of the population limits its use. This widespread intolerance leads to global surpluses with few industrial applications and significant accumulation issues.