Brazil is ready for giant telescopes

This week the Science and Technology Ministry have signed agreement with the European Southern Observatory (ESO), directed by Tim de Zeeuw, stating that Brazil can now be part of three main projects: Giant Magellan Telescope - GMT; Thirty Meter Telescope –TMT and European Extremely Large Telescope – E-ELT).

Brazil is open about its intentions, to be introduced to the international community and open the opportunity for national companies to be part of construction and infrastructure projects. Finally Brazil is taking seriously the National Plan for Astronomy (PNA).

PACTI investment results published

PACTI stands for Action Plan in Science, Technology and Innovation, for National Development, integrates all shares of the Growth Acceleration Program (CAP). R$6.6 billion invested in three years proved to have made the difference:
- The amount of companies using the Internet for generating business grew about 80%
- 14 states now have their own regional laws for innovative incentives of industry and commerce
- Benefits paid to science students and researchers is now R$2.8 billion per year, almost 3 times greater than it was in 2001

The detailed report in Portuguese.

Government invests in private IT training

CNPq, ..., is an organ of the federal government and they are responsible for the new Brazilian initiative of placing 3.5 million reais into personnel training for the private sector. Companies and individuals can subscribe to the project (see official edital). Simple IT knowledge such as Microsoft Word, Windows and even typing are still necessary since millions of Brazilians have never owned a computer and just now that they are having an opportunity to have a generation of informatics abitues, like the middle and higher-classes did in the 80's.

Russia's new uranium bank

With the intention of stopping countries from developing their own Uranium enrichment infrastructure Russia has created a nuclear fuel bank. In this bank they will deposit Uranium ready to be used in nuclear reactors, which are different from the Uranium used in atomic bombs. They are trying to stop developing country from creating their own enrichment facilities that could, ultimately, be used to treat the mineral for atomic weapons and by doing that they will guarantee secure energy fuel distribution.

News Update:

-- 07 Dec 2010 --

Apparently the fuel market won't be affected by this initiative, mining that Brazil, Argentina and South Africa will still be allowed to export enriched uranium. I don't think this is going to last long though and is funny to see "free" countries taking freedom out of others. (Institute for defence studies and analysis).

-- 06 Dec 2010 --

Three days ago in Vienna the IAEA board approved the construction of the UN's fuel bank, making that two: one managed by Russia and the other by the IAEA (sponsored by Warren Buffett).

My opinion:
After documents published in WikiLeaks.org and many other stories of corruption and disgraceful abuse from Russian authorities, I don't think any country other than the old URSS partners will use fuel provided by this bank. The problem of unconditional reliance on a single country for providing energy is an old issue and diplomacy has come a long way far from this type of initiative that doesn't add in terms security and doesn't improve life on Earth.

The USA wants to create a similar bank for Iran and Syria with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which has gone into "dirty-sheets" after revelations of "close relationship" with the US even though it is meant to be an impartial international organ.

Plus, countries like Brazil, India and Pakistan have their own enrichment facilities and although the last two have developed atomic bombs to trough on each other, they all comply with the IAEA and UN regulations. Politics and weapons are going the wrong direction again!

Lowest deforestation rate since 1988

15 Ministries em representaves of 9 Brazilian states are discussing the Macrozoning Ecological-Economic Amazon (MacroZEE), a Federal project that is helping to save the Amazon.
The deforestation rate in 2009/2010 indicates a decrease of 13.6% over the previous period. It is the lowest rate measured by INPE since 1988 and the plan to keep a sustainable development for the communities over this vast area of rain forest is still very much alive.

High-Tech Geology

With the intension of spread the culture of innovation through the mining and geology sector in Brazil, historically conservative, the secretary of Technological Development and Innovation of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT), Ronaldo Mota, presents this Thursday (2nd December 2010) governmental programs and actions available that support this initiative. This is a very import part of the country's structure and advances in technology are required to make it more competitive and help productivity.