Radiation in Catalonia

By Joel Suñé

Nowadays people are talking a lot about the radiation in Japan, but other events related to the emission of radiation have occurred here in Catalonia. In November 2007, there was a leak in the Asco nuclear plant. The leak was not dangerous, but it could have caused many deaths. On April 16th 2008 the leak was classified as level 2 on a scale from 0 to 7 and the director of the plant was removed from his job. On 21st October 2010 a leak was discovered when a school party was on a day trip in the nuclear plant, and the plant did not stop functioning because the fine was cheaper than the cost of stopping the nuclear plant. Now, in March and April of this year, the courts are judging the former director and the former head of radiation protection service.

Chernobyl disaster

By Alessandra Iparaguirre

The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on April 26th 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. It is considered the worst nuclear accident in history, and the only one classified at level 7 on the international nuclear event scale. At the time of the accident, local residents did not know the real level of radiation to which they were exposed, because they were not informed. The explosion created a toxic cloud that arrived everywhere in the world and is still flying above the Earth’s atmosphere. This explosion also caused many deaths from radiation and now a lot of people, especially children, are suffering from cancer and physical deformities as a result.

Synchrotron ALBA

By Àlex Santomà

The synchrotron ALBA is located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, near of Barcelona. It opened in 2010 and is managed by the "Consorci CELLS".

The synchrotron is used as a big microscope that allows us to see the mysteries of the atoms and molecules. There are 10 synchrotrons in Europe, but only three or four of them are of the third generation.

A synchotron is a particle accelerator, in which some electrons are used to accelerate the synchrotron until velocities close to the speed of light are achieved. And then electrons circulate for many hours in this synchrotron. The electrons, which move almost at the speed of light, emit light through pulsations, and the scientists use this light to investigate these particles. One of the most important questions is: What is it used for? Well, it is used for:

- The study of biological structures

- Surgical implantation

- Creation of new medicine

- Creation of new materials

- The study of bacteria and viruses

Artificial sperm

By Joana Roig

Scientists from Yokohama University (Japan) have produced sperm in the laboratory. This achievement gives hope to men with infertility, although this research was only performed on mice. According to investigators from Nature magazine, creating sperm is one of the longest and most complicated processes in the human body. In the laboratory, Ogawa and his professional team extirpated small pieces of testicles of young mice and cultured them at 34 ºC. This experiment lasted for a few weeks more, because the investigators wanted to check whether the testicles they had used before worked after producing their first sperm. The results show that the culture system can maintain the sperm for two months or more. Then, they had to prove that this artificial sperm could fertilize an ovule, so they tried to fertilize 58 ovules in vitro with some of the sperm they produced in the laboratory. The embryos were implanted into females. The investigators waited for the sperm to grow, and while it was growing they did not observe any health problems. The twelve mice born as a result of the laboratory sperm were fertile. The young mice conceived with this artificial sperm grew normally, without any health problems, and when they became adult they were fertile. This is a big step in the fight against men's infertility, and it will also be useful for men who have suffered from cancer and want to have children.