Being able to sense time helps us do everything from waking and sleeping to knowing precisely when to catch a ball that’s hurtling towards us. And we owe all these abilities to an interconnected system of timekeepers in our brains. But how do they work? Marco A. Sotomayor details how...
Ocean Literacy MOOC for science teachers
06/11/2016
“From ABC to ABSeas: Ocean Literacy for all” is a free and online course organized as part of the Sea Change project. The project, funded by the European Union, aims to change the point of view of the population on the sea. This MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) is aimed at science teachers and...
23 International Environmental Film Festival
27/10/2016
From November 3rd until 10th, the 23rd International Environmental Film Festival, the longest Film Festival in its genre, is taking place at CaixaForum, CosmoCaixa, Cinemas Girona, French Institute of Barcelona and in the following Universities: University of Barcelona, Pompeu Fabra and Blanquerna. More information
Awesome Oceans
14/10/2016
Awesome Oceans is a video made by Edeos, an agency that specializes in the design and production of audiovisual educational materials. This illustrated explainer video shows the fascination of the ocean, but also it biggest threats. More information about Edeos
Coral Colors
03/10/2016
This video show the movements and the enormous chromatic beauty of corals, a kind of marine animals that despite being one of the oldest animals on our planet, are mostly unknown. To capture these images it was necessary to apply the technique of time lapse as the slow movements of these...
How a single-celled organism almost wiped out life on Earth – Anusuya Willis
19/09/2016
There’s an organism that changed the world. It caused the first mass extinction in Earth’s history … and also paved the way for complex life. How? Anusuya Willis explains how cyanobacteria, simple organisms that don’t even have nuclei or any other organelles, wrote a pivotal chapter in the story of...
Climate change: Earth’s giant game of Tetris
09/09/2016
There’s a game of Tetris happening on a global scale: The playing space is planet Earth, and all those pesky, stacking blocks represent carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas that is piling up ever more rapidly as we burn the fossil fuels that run our cars, factories and power plants....
Apps para la tierra
20/04/2016
Con motivo de la celebración del Día Internacional de la Tierra, App Store en conjunto con WWF y 24 desarrolladores han ideado el proyecto benéfico Apps para la Tierra. Esta iniciativa cuenta con la intervención de 27 aplicaciones de la App Store que han modificado sus apps o, incluso, creado versiones con contenidos exclusivos para ayudar a...
How do we know what color dinosaurs were?
20/01/2016
The microraptor was a four-winged carnivorous dinosaur with iridescent black feathers. But if our information about this dinosaur comes from fossils, how can we be certain about its color? Len Bloch shows how making sense of the evidence requires careful examination of the fossil and a good understanding of the...
Do animals have language?
18/01/2016
All animals communicate. But do they have language? Michele Bishop details the four specific qualities we associate with language and investigates whether or not certain animals utilize some or all of those qualities to communicate.
Seven reasons why do we dream
15/01/2016
In the 3rd millennium BCE, Mesopotamian kings recorded and interpreted their dreams on wax tablets. In the years since, we haven’t paused in our quest to understand why we dream. And while we still don’t have any definitive answers, we have some theories. Amy Adkins reveals the top seven reasons...
Human face evolution
22/12/2015
Using the morphing technique, this video summarizes the evolution of the human face. A six million years trip…
The Tapir: a living fossil threatened with extinction
09/11/2015
Although the Tapir is one of the world’s largest land mammals, the lives of these solitary, nocturnal creatures have remained a mystery. Known as “the living fossil,” the very same Tapir that roams the forests and grasslands of South America today arrived on the evolutionary scene more than 5 million...
Can we, as adults, grow new neurons?
13/10/2015
Neuroscientist Sandrine Thuret says that we can, and she offers research and practical advice on how we can help our brains better perform neurogenesis—improving mood, increasing memory formation and preventing the decline associated with aging along the way.
BBC Earth: flying rays
27/07/2015
Mobula rays leap spectacularly from the sea when they gather in large groups, but scientists still don’t know why they do it. This behaviour –filmed in the Gulf of California, Mexico, as part of BBC / Discovery coproduction– can last for 24 hours and happens as many hundreds of rays shoal together to...
Blood donation and citizen education
06/07/2015
The Banc de Sang i Teixits de Catalunya has conducted the project “Donació de Sang i educació per a la ciutadania” that aims to involve young children and minors in the task of spreading the need to donate blood. Thus, young people learn content related to blood donation and...
Microbial Mats
16/06/2015
Rubén Duro Pérez is a graduate in biology from the University of Barcelona, Member of the Spanish Society for Microbiology and is devoted to scientific photography. Ricardo Guerrero is professor emeritus of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Barcelona, associate professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, USA and...
Love between dogs and their owners
09/06/2015
The veterinarian Takefumi Kikusui with a research team from three Japanese universities (Azabu University, Jichi Medical University and University of Tokyo Health Sciences) recently published an article in Science about hormonal changes that dogs and their owners produce to each other. Researchers put 30 dogs to interact with their owners...
La Dinosfera de Coll de Nargó
03/06/2015
El Ayuntamiento de Coll de Nargó y el Instituto Catalán de Paleontología Miquel Crusafont son los organizadores del nuevo espacio expositivo que se centra en la reproducción de los dinosaurios. La Dinosfera quiere contribuir a dar a conocer el espectacular registro fósil de los yacimientos de dinosaurios de la zona...
Exposición de dibujos de Luis Feo
El Museu Blau inaugura la exposición temporal Dibujos de Luis Feo, unas sesenta obras que proponen una mirada insólita al mundo animal. El autor propone una mirada inspirada en la ilustración científica y también en los grandes maestros del dibujo, el grabado y la fotografía como Durero, José Hernández, Piranesi, Escher o...
Fiesta del Voluntariado Ambiental en el Día Mundial del Medio Ambiente
En diciembre de 1972, la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas designó el 5 de junio como Día Mundial del Medio Ambiente para sensibilizar a la opinión pública respecto de la necesidad de preservar y mejorar el medio ambiente. La fecha elegida fue en recuerdo al día en que se inauguró,...
BioBlitzBcn 2015
07/05/2015
BioBlitz es un evento dirigido a toda la ciudadanía interesada en observar y descubrir la naturaleza urbana con el acompañamiento de naturalistas expertos. En un periodo de 24 horas, científicos que estudian grupos específicos de flora y fauna, ayudados por voluntarios, buscarán identificar todos los organismos que se encuentran en un...
Greg Gage: How to control someone else’s arm with your brain
04/05/2015
Greg Gage is on a mission to make brain science accessible to all. In this fun, kind of creepy demo, the neuroscientist and TED Senior Fellow uses a simple, inexpensive DIY kit to take away the free will of an audience member. It’s not a parlor trick; it actually works....
Ciclo de conferencias “Ciencia abierta al barrio”
30/04/2015
La Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Barcelona ha organizado el ciclo de divulgación sanitaria Ciencia abierta al barrio. El ciclo consta de tres conferencias que tratarán sobre la malaria, la voz y la curación de los linfomas. Todas las charlas se realizarán en el Aula Magna de la Facultad de...
Audiovisual Festival on Science, Technology and Innovation
17/04/2015
The NOVUM Festival invites at the Diseny Hub Barcelona to enjoy a selection of the best unpublished documentaries on science, technology and innovation on 17th, 18th and 19th April. Free admission with limited capacity as screening room. Location: Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, 37, 08018 Barcelona Alive Inside Date: 17th April, 20 h. Original...
Not only do Chameleons change color to camouflage itself, but also to flirt and fight
16/04/2015
The research team of Laboratory of Artificial & Natural Evolution, University of Geneva, led by Michel Milinkovitch, published this year in the Nature Communications Journal their latest findings on the dynamic color change of chameleons. The results of the research, based on the study of Panther Chameleon (Furcifer pardalis), indicate...
Workshop Gillian Wearing- CaixaForum Girona
What do the members of Gillian Wearing’s family have in common? What does she have inherited from her parents? In what do we resemble our relatives? Observing, deducing and experimenting, the treasure hunt game invites you to find answers to these and other issues. Date: Saturday, May 23th at 18.00h Duration:...
Institute for Research in Biomedicine -IRB- Open house
26/03/2015
El próximo sábado 18 de abril el Institute for Research in Biomedicine -IRB Barcelona abre sus puertas para recibir visitantes de todas las edades que quieran conocer de cerca el mundo de la investigación y a algunos de los científicos que trabajan estudiando enfermedades como el cáncer, la diabetes o el Alzheimer,...
Scientific Perspectives: 2015 the International Year of Light
17/02/2015
The United Nations and Unesco have declared 2015 the International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies. In proclaiming an International Year focusing on the topic of light science and its applications, the UN has recognized the importance of raising global awareness about how light-based technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions...
«Papirobiologia»: dinosaurs, mammals, insects and reptiles made with paper
Dinosaurs, insects, amphibians, mammals, birds, reptiles, plants and fungi all created a small scale with the art of papiroflexia, also known as origami. This is the proposal of “Papirobiologia”, an exhibition of nearly two hundred works made by members of the Spanish Origami Association (AEP), an organization that brings together mathematicians, biologists,...
Today is the 206th anniversary of the birth of CharlesDarwin
12/02/2015
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change" Charles Darwin, 1809-1882. Darwin, a naturalist’s voyage around the world On the basis of Charles Darwin’s book “Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Surveying...
Citizen science project to fight Asian tiger mosquitoes AtrapaelTigre.com
10/02/2015
Tiger mosquitoes pose a problem that affects many people. The project takes a task traditionally delegated to technical services and professional scientists and it passes on to the public. Citizen science is based on the idea that common knowledge and participation by a large group can help to solve scientific...
How can we avoid kelp beds turning into barren grounds?
15/12/2014
Urchins are marine invertebrates that mould the biological richness of marine grounds. However, an excessive proliferation of urchins may also have severe ecological consequences on marine grounds as they reduce algal cover and affect the survival of other marine species. To explore global dynamics and the factors that turn kelp...
Qué aprendemos de nuevo del mar. Edición 2015
12/11/2014
Una parte importante de nuestro país vive de cara al mar y parte de su economía depende de él, sea por el turismo, la pesca o las comunicaciones. A pesar de esto, el mar sigue siendo poco conocido por la sociedad. Esta formación servirá para presentar al profesorado el estado...
19th Science Week in CosmoCaixa Barcelona
05/11/2014
From 18 to 23 November 2014 Cosmocaixa Barcelona organizes exhibitions and open workshops. Schedule Exhibition “X Science Book Fair”. From 18 to 23 November 2014. An annual meeting with the science book. An event to appreciate the significance of the book of science and its contribution to culture and the formation...
Enverinats
“Enverinats” gives us a close-up on the world of Nature’s venoms, with 50 live animals such as tarantulas, frogs and snakes, as well as a considerable number of plants, mushrooms and minerals. The exhibition shows us the workings and uses of poison, demystifying beliefs and revealing unknown aspects of this toxic...
Science Perspectives: Big scientific questions
27/10/2014
Robots, Quantum Physics, Genetic Engineering… Scientific knowledge is making constant progress but there are still many unanswered questions, which will be discussed in the Libraries of Barcelona. On November mondays, Barcelona Libraries propose us to explore some of the biggest questions that science has raised, with the Visions of Science...
One more reason to get a good night’s sleep
19/10/2014
The brain uses a quarter of the body’s entire energy supply, yet only accounts for about two percent of the body’s mass. So how does this unique organ receive and, perhaps more importantly, rid itself of vital nutrients? New research suggests it has to do with sleep.
L’aigua que no veiem, però sí que usem
27/06/2014
L’aigua subterrània constitueix la principal fracció d’aigua dolça disponible al nostre planeta per satisfer les necessitats de proveïment d’una població creixent que, a més, a mesura que augmenten el desenvolupament econòmic i el benestar social, demana una dotació més gran per càpita d’aquest recurs. L’exploració, el control, la modelització i...
La ciència de l’aigua: “Què fem amb l’aigua quan està bruta?”
In this session, Joan Mata, professor from the Department of Chemical Engineering of Universitat de Barcelona, speaks about the water cycle, particularly the management of waste water. He describes how is it generated and how it can be reduced. The activity is part of the series La ciència de l’aigua...
Explorando el mundo marino
04/06/2014
Los próximos 7 y 8 de junio en CosmoCaixa Barcelona se llevarán a cabo talleres para niños sobre temáticas relacionadas con el mar. En las actividades los niños y niñas podrán conocer la fauna y la flora marina, cómo funciona un submarino y la importancia del hielo antártico para el...