Programa de Pós-graduação em Letras da UEMASUL – PPGLe

Autor: PPGLEMESTRADO

  • Chickens ‘closer to dinosaurs’ than other birds

    Chickens ‘closer to dinosaurs’ than other birds

    New research suggests that chickens have experienced fewer gross genomic changes than other birds as they evolved from their dinosaur ancestor.

    Professor Darren Griffin and a team at the University’s School of Biosciences have conducted research that suggests that chromosomes of the chicken and turkey lineage have undergone the fewest number of changes compared to their ancient avian ancestor, thought to be a feathered dinosaur.

    The Kent research is part of a study by a consortium of leading scientists into avian or bird genomes, which tell a story of species evolution. The living descendants of dinosaurs were thought to have undergone a rapid burst of evolution after most dinosaur species were wiped out. The detailed family tree of modern birds has however confused biologists for centuries and the molecular details of how birds arrived at the spectacular biodiversity of more than 10,000 species is barely known.

    Professor Griffin explained that bird genomes are distinctive in that they have more tiny microchromosomes than any other vertebrate group. These small packages of gene-rich material are thought to have been present in their dinosaur ancestors. The team found that the chicken has the most similar overall chromosome pattern to its avian dinosaur ancestor.

    The research, which formed part of a vast study carried out over the past four years by the international Avian Phylogenomics Consortium, involved the analysis of the whole genome structure of the chicken, turkey, Pekin duck, zebra finch and budgerigar.

    Professor Griffin and the other leaders of the research team ¬- Kent colleague Dr Michael Romanov as well as Dr Denis Larkin and Dr Marta Farré from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London – studied data from a total of 21 avian genomes and one reptile species. The team focused on the six best-assembled genomes to put together a karyotype s– organised profile – of the dinosaur ancestor for each chromosome.

    The researchers also found that the fastest rate of change had occurred in the zebra finch and budgerigar, consistent with more rapid speciation events in songbirds and their relatives.

    The research paper, entitled Reconstruction of gross avian genome structure, organization and evolution suggests that the chicken lineage most closely resembles the dinosaur avian ancestor, is published in the open access journal BMC Genomics.

    Further information from Professor Griffin.

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  • University competition for sustainable urban life

    University competition for sustainable urban life

    Ideas for the future design and configuration of cities are being sought for a new competition promoting greater sustainability in urban environments.

    Dust to Dust: Redesigning Urban Life in Healthy Soils is an urban design ideas competition in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals which include zero hunger, clean water and sanitation, responsible consumption and production, and climate action.

    Currently 98% of cultivable land on earth is being farmed and two thirds of the world’s soils are suffering degradation. The continued encroachment onto, and transformation of, soils resulting from urban sprawl will significantly impact the sustainability and resilience of urban life.

    As such, ideas are invited for urban designs, planning approaches, and tangible interventions that could be implemented in real-life cases of urban planning and development with successful designs promoting a close relationship between urban life and soil ecosystem services.

    From the ideas received the best will be invited to a charrette (an intensive design workshop) held at the Prince’s Foundation, London on 16-18 July 2018. Selected teams will be invited to work with the researchers who are organising the competition and the curating team.

    The aim is to exhibit the best ideas at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia to inform and inspire greater sustainability in the future development of cities as well as how we lead urban lives.

    Organiser Dr Benjamin Vis, who is an expert in urban geography in the Classical & Archaeological Studies department in the School of European Culture and Languages (SECL), said they look forward to receiving ideas ‘outside the box’.

    The competition arises from Dr Vis’s work on ancient Maya urban landscapes as a Research Fellow in Digital Humanities and Digital Heritage for the Eastern Academic Research Consortium (Eastern ARC).

    To compete for a place, teams should apply by developing and submitting outline ideas by 23:59 GMT on Wednesday 9th May 2018.

    For more information about the competition, and to submit outline ideas, please visit the Dust to Dust website: http://www.dusttodustcompetition.org or for more information, contact dusttodustcompetition@gmail.com

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  • Kent academics organise Native American art event in Bristol

    Kent academics organise Native American art event in Bristol

    Public one-day symposium on Native American art will take place in Bristol on 6 June from 09.30-17.30.

    The event has been organised by academics running the Beyond the Spectacle project, led by the University of Kent, which is investigating the impact of Native North American visitors to Britain over the last 400 years.

    The keynote speaker at the event will be Native American artist Marla Allison (Laguna Pueblo) and the symposium will end with the official opening of her exhibition Painter from the Desert at the Rainmaker Gallery in Bristol.

    Other speakers at the symposium include George Alexander (Muscogee (Creek)), Max Carocci, Stephanie Pratt (Dakota and Anglo-American), Joanne Prince, Pat Pruitt (Laguna Pueblo and Chiricahua Apache), Robbie Richardson (Mi’kmaq), Sarah Sense (Chitimacha / Choctaw), and Coll Thrush.

    Tickets for the event are £40 and include lunch and refreshments. It will take place at the Lecture Theatre 1, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Bristol University
    43 Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UU.

    Tickets and more information are available at: https://research.kent.ac.uk/beyondthespectacle/events

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  • New Cambridge institute to tackle policy challenges in our age of disruption

    New Cambridge institute to tackle policy challenges in our age of disruption

    The Bennett Institute for Public Policy will address emerging global patterns of inequality and social unrest by offering a unique combination of deep research, high-level training and effective policy engagement.

    It is time to set aside the ingrained assumption that there are technical fixes or ready-made solutions to our most intractable problems.

    Michael Kenny

    A major gift from Cambridge alumnus and philanthropist Peter Bennett has enabled the launch of a groundbreaking new institute at the University of Cambridge dedicated to researching solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing society in the 21st century.

    The Bennett Institute for Public Policy has been founded to address the new patterns of inequality and social unrest emerging around the globe, while training the policy-makers of tomorrow.

    Its researchers will investigate the ways in which scientific or technical expertise and policy choices interrelate, in a world where so many now feel that the economic and political odds are stacked against them.

    Led by inaugural Director, Professor Michael Kenny, and the Bennett Professor of Public Policy, economist Diane Coyle, the Institute will combine fundamental research and rigorous analysis with the search for new practical solutions to challenges such as the digital divide, resource scarcity and the need for more equitable growth.

    “We live in an age of unprecedented disruption. More and more people are disenchanted with politics, and many feel that the rules of the economic game are rigged. At the same time, technological innovations and breakthroughs in scientific knowledge are gathering speed,” said Professor Kenny.

    “Public policy thinking needs to engage much more deeply with the challenges which these trends pose. It is time to set aside the ingrained assumption that there are technical fixes or ready-made solutions to our most intractable problems.”

    “We want the new Institute to become one of the primary academic venues across the world for understanding these changes and devising responses to them. It will offer a unique combination of deep research, high-level training and effective policy engagement.”

    The Bennett Institute aims to blend Cambridge’s world-class research in technology and science with analysis of the political dimensions of policy. Based at the Department of Politics and International Studies, it will be launching interdisciplinary research programmes on policy challenges in different parts of the world – from California to Calcutta, as well as in the city of Cambridge itself.

    The Institute is already establishing research projects on the constitutional future of the UK and Ireland post-Brexit and the increasing role of ‘GovTech’ as states grapple with digital technologies.

    The territory linking the knowledge our societies produce with the decisions taken by policymakers is becoming harder than ever to navigate, says Professor Coyle.

    “The tensions between expertise and public participation are an unavoidable feature of our complex, technology-powered global world. Universities have a vital civic role to play in this context, ensuring that their accumulated expertise and new knowledge contribute to the development of solutions to significant policy challenges.”

    “The trend toward the creation of new independent policy institutes such as the Bennett Institute marks the growing recognition of this responsibility by the academic world. There could not be a more important time to be launching this endeavour.”

    Peter Bennett established the Peter Bennett Foundation in 2012 to seek innovative ways to reduce poverty and promote equality. He has a long-standing belief in the role of public policy as the most effective way to reach solutions to major social issues.

    He said: “It has long been my vision to see a global institute that can work to address one of the greatest challenges of our age – that for so many of the world’s citizens, the economic and political odds are stacked against them.”

    “The Bennett Institute for Public Policy will harness the remarkable research in technology and science at Cambridge with the economic and political dimensions of policy-making. I am confident that under the leadership of Michael Kenny and Diane Coyle, it will be a leading force in achieving sustainable solutions to some of our most pressing global problems.”

    The Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen Toope said: “This is a very significant launch for Cambridge. The world faces a new age of anxiety, marked by the widespread distrust in business-as-usual politics. Cambridge must take a lead in bringing its unique breadth and depth of expertise to respond to social, political and economic conditions. We are enormously grateful for this generous gift from Peter Bennett. I am certain that the Bennett Institute for Public Policy will be transformational.”

    Cambridge launched its £2 billion Dear World… Yours, Cambridge philanthropic campaign for the University and Colleges in October 2015. To date more than £1.1 billion has been raised towards the total, including the gift from Peter Bennett.

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  • Professor’s pioneering lung work honoured with top international honour

    Professor’s pioneering lung work honoured with top international honour

    Professor Merryn Tawhai, Deputy Director of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI), has been honoured with one of the highest international accolades in her field.

    Today Professor Tawhai was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) for her outstanding contributions to the development and use of computational models for the diagnosis and prognostic assessment of lung disease.

    The AIMBE College of Fellows is comprised of the top two percent of medical and biological engineers in the world. College membership honours those who have made outstanding contributions to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of medical and biological engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to bioengineering education”.

    Professor Tawhai, who joined ABI as a Research Fellow in 2002, is renowned for her world-leading work on developing mathematical models of the lung to help in the understanding of both physiologically normal lungs and the pathological changes that can occur in disease.

    Late last year Professor Tawhai was also named the Director of New Zealand’s Medical Technologies Centre of Research Excellence (MedTech CoRE), hosted at the University of Auckland.

    When she returns from the United States, she will tour New Zealand with the Royal Society on a lecture series titled  “Bioengineering – a boon for New Zealand?”.  The tour will include New Zealand’s cities and smaller centres ranging from Napier to Wanaka.

    In June Professor Tawhai will be back in the United States to be inducted into IAMBE – the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering.

    The Director of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, Professor Peter Hunter says Merryn’s recent election both to the American Institute (AIMBE) and to the International Academy (IAMBE) recognises her achievement in developing the world’s most advanced model of the anatomy and physiology of the lungs.

    “And it is an acknowledgement of the importance this work will have for the clinical understanding and treatment of lung disease,” he says.

    Royal Society Tour

    Contact

    Tess Redgrave | Media Relations Adviser
    Auckland Bioengineering Institute
    Email: t.redgrave@auckland.ac.nz
    Tel: +64 9 923 7383 / Mobile: +64 (027) 562 5868

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