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.
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.
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.
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.
When we think of galaxies, we often picture them as solitary, spinning disks of stars. However, the reality is far more intricate. Galaxies actually reside in cosmic neighborhoods called galaxy clusters, where hundreds of other galaxies are tightly bound together by gravity. These immense clusters typically feature a dominant central galaxy, which almost always hosts a supermassive black hole at its core.
Globally, Chile is the second-largest producer of Atlantic salmon, a highly nutritious and widely consumed species. Domestically, salmon farming ranks as the nation’s second most important industry after copper. Concentrated primarily in the regions of Puerto Montt, Aysén, and Magallanes, this sector significantly impacts the economy, society, and science, driving employment, technological innovation, and regional development.
The University of Santiago, Chile (Usach) proudly announces that Dr. José Zagal, a distinguished professor in its Faculty of Chemistry and Biology and recipient of the 2024 National Prize for Natural Sciences, is among the fifteen finalists for the 2025 Global Energy Prize. This prominent international award sees Dr. Zagal as the only Latin American representative at this stage of the competition.