{"title":"MORE BIODIVERSITY TO IMPROVE OUR HEALTH The benefits to human well-being of favouring functional and diverse ecosystems","authors":"F. Valladares","doi":"10.7203/metode.14.24072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.14.24072","url":null,"abstract":"The benefits to human well-being of favouring functional and diverse ecosystems","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74450954","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. Delicado, Jussara Rowland, Empar Vengut Climent, I. Mendoza-Poudereux, Edurne Gaston
{"title":"Citizen consultations on science communication: A citizen science approach","authors":"A. Delicado, Jussara Rowland, Empar Vengut Climent, I. Mendoza-Poudereux, Edurne Gaston","doi":"10.7203/METODE.12.17510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/METODE.12.17510","url":null,"abstract":"Citizen science is part of a wider trend in science and society of promoting two-way dialogue and engagement between scientists and the public, by involving citizens in the research process. This paper examines how CONCISE, an international research project involving Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Slovakia, seeks to understand how citizens acquire and use scientific information, by engaging citizens through public consultations. The consultations gathered close to 500 citizens in 2019. Asking them for suggestions on how to improve science communication and involving them in the dissemination efforts, CONCISE aims to put citizens at the core of the research process.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43923798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Good to eat. Food and health at a time of information overload","authors":"G. Casino, Montserrat Rabassa","doi":"10.7203/METODE.11.19796","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/METODE.11.19796","url":null,"abstract":"For most of the world's population, eating is no longer what it was just a few decades ago. The diversification and globalisation of the food supply, the industrialisation of food, and the abundance of information have simplified this everyday activity, but they have also made it more complex. Never before has it been so easy to eat well and to eat poorly. The proof is that obesity and overweight are no longer a problem exclusive to the richest, while nutritional deficiencies do not affect only the most impoverished. The new thing about our time is that both problems, over-nutrition and under-nutrition, coexist not only in countries and cities, but also within the same family and even throughout a person's lifetime. Growing concern for health has fuelled interest in the relationship between diet and disease prevention. But despite the remarkable scientific advances, there are still many unanswered questions, and many evidence-based messages do not reach the population and are lost in a sea of misinformation and half-truths. In this monograph, apart from presenting a brief social history of food, we will delve into the advances in nutritional epidemiology, we will separate facts and fiction regarding current food, we will review what reliable dietary recommendations are and how they are identified, we will explain the evolution of dietary guidelines with an example, we will tackle the problem of ultra-processed food from the point of view of addiction and we will analyse miracle diets and how to detect them.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"104-105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49105987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Standards. The building blocks of complexity","authors":"J. Peretó, M. Porcar","doi":"10.7203/METODE.11.19795","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/METODE.11.19795","url":null,"abstract":"Without standards, the world as we know it would not be possible. International and supra-cultural standards and norms have been a key factor in engineering, as well as in the development of industrial societies. Despite the obvious successes in electronic and mechanical design, other technological areas present difficulties for the application of standards. In the field of biotechnology and synthetic biology – which aims at studying living things from an engineering perspective – standards are desirable, but whether they can be widely adopted remains to be proved. This monograph reviews the sociological and scientific aspects of standardisation and delves into the more problematic facets of universal standardisation, especially in the biological field. Are standards possible in synthetic biology at all? What are the limitations to the universal use of modular and interchangeable parts in a cellular context? Could it be that the biological world resists standardisation, similarly to the field of software engineering, where these attempts have not progressed? And should some kind of standard be applicable in synthetic biology, what qualities might be required in an environment of open science and responsible research and innovation?","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"64-65"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49102250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The plants of the future. Genome editing in biotechnology","authors":"J. Beltrán","doi":"10.7203/METODE.11.19794","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/METODE.11.19794","url":null,"abstract":"The evolution of life has led to the formation of complex systems where plants are essentials. Homo sapiens ’ success is based on its ability to obtain food. In what remains of this century, the world population will increase by a quarter of the current total, reaching 10 billion people. This is itself a major challenge, amplified by the environmental conditions resulting from global change and the threat to sustainability derived from the use of the planet’s natural resources. Thus, we wonder if we will be able to respond to this challenge and, to that end, how the plants of the future should look. Recent advances in sequencing techniques allow us to identify genomes at a low cost, and genome editing techniques have been developed, such as those derived from CRISPR/Cas9, which allow us to modify plant and animal genomes in a precise and targeted manner. This monograph analyses the possibility of cultivating plants outside our planet Earth; presents advances in genome editing such as those that have allowed my laboratory to obtain seedless tomatoes; assesses strategies that should lead to more plentiful harvests using fewer resources; and explains biotechnological strategies to strengthen plants’ immune systems or to use them as biofactories in which we can harvest molecules of health or nutrition interest. Will that be enough? Will we make it in time?","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":"22-23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2021-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46722031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"MÉS ENLLÀ DE L’ESCALFAMENT GLOBAL","authors":"C. Pelejero, E. Calvo","doi":"10.7203/metode.11.16830","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.11.16830","url":null,"abstract":"The footprint of human activities on the planet is so profound that many scientists are already suggesting that we have entered a new geological era, the Anthropocene. From among these activities, those that are accompanied by large emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) affect our entire planet and, especially, the oceans. Besides becoming warmer, the oceans are also growing progressively more acidic and less oxygenated. In this article we discuss the extent of these global stresses on the oceans after contextualising the disproportionate anthropogenic increase in CO2 and examining how it is distributed. We conclude with a discussion of mitigation possibilities that use the oceans themselves, stressing the urgent need to tackle the problem, especially during this present decade.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"De tsunamis, olas, quijotes y KOvid-19. Una disección metafórica de la pandemia a través de las viñetas","authors":"Laura Filardo-Llamas","doi":"10.7203/metode.11.18273","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.11.18273","url":null,"abstract":"Several studies have shown evidence for the significant role that metaphors play in public health communication. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered not only the use of common communication frameworks such as war metaphors, but also the creative use of metaphors, which is particularly relevant in the case of cartoonists. This article presents a review of the different metaphors used in cartoons (both in Spanish and in English), with the aim of compiling different metaphorical uses and reflecting upon the evaluative function of metaphors and how they contribute to expressing different visions of reality. The examples collected here show not only how certain social and political actions are legitimised or discredited, but also how these uses often appeal to particular contextual knowledge.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"La contaminación olvidada: Lo invisible también es importante","authors":"Belén González-Gaya","doi":"10.7203/metode.11.16976","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.11.16976","url":null,"abstract":"Since the start of the Anthropocene, the planet has been threatened by a number of risks associated with human activity. Among them, chemical pollution is posing conceptual and technical challenges that are particularly difficult to characterise on a global scale. We must ask ourselves, what is a pollutant? What properties are relevant in their definition? Studies on the abundance, persistence, mobility in the environment, and bioaccumulation potential of the chemical compounds we use every day are changing the paradigm of what we consider pollutants. Thus, compounds that do not cause acute toxicity can still be dangerous for the ecosystem when they continually reach the environment, exist in very high concentrations, or disperse easily. Thus, raising awareness about the forgotten pollution that we unknowingly generate but which is affecting our oceans will be essential to protect the planet.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"¿Cuánto se está calentando el Mediterráneo?","authors":"María José López García","doi":"10.7203/metode.11.16693","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.11.16693","url":null,"abstract":"Global warming particularly affects the oceans and seas. In the Mediterranean Sea, in situ oceanographic and meteorological records, together with the most recent satellite observations, show an estimated warming of between 0.6 °C and 1 °C over the last three decades. In this article we present the results of an analysis of a 35-year series of monthly thermal images in the western basins of the Mediterranean. The data indicate an intensification in the summer season: with the summers becoming longer and more intense and the months of June and July recording the highest rates of warming, with increases of 0.6 °C/decade. ","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Microalgues tòxiques i canvi global Perquè han incrementat les proliferacions al litoral mediterrani?","authors":"M. Vila, Jordi Camp, Elisa Berdalet","doi":"10.7203/metode.11.17108","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.11.17108","url":null,"abstract":"The ocean and the continent converge in a very narrow line that is, nonetheless, truly relevant to the health, leisure, and economy of our society. The Mediterranean coastline has undergone major changes over the last fifty years, which is evident in the alteration of its microalgae species. The proliferation of dinoflagellates is now common in microscopic organism communities in this ecosystem as a result of the modifications caused by humans and climate change. The increased frequency with which toxic microalgae blooms are detected has been key to raising awareness of this change.","PeriodicalId":41648,"journal":{"name":"Metode Science Studies Journal","volume":"85 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4,"publicationDate":"2020-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71306488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}