Home Editorial From Mars and the virus

From Mars and the virus

António Bilrero*

The last week brought good news in the fields of science, research, knowledge and innovation in Portuguese language.

Let’s start with the proximity factor. The first Chinese space mission is on its way to Mars. For a week now. A multidisciplinary and multinational team of researchers from the Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) is accompanying the mission step by step.

The collection and analysis of data, in the fields of discovering evidence of life on the red planet, as well as the study of radiation, atmospheric conditions and the geomorphology of the planet, for a safe landing of the “Tianwen-1” spacecraft, are among the priority tasks of the Macau group.

The team brings together, namely Portuguese and Chinese scientists. Continuing the Macao maxim, it has been a meeting point between East and West for centuries. Also in knowledge, science, research and innovation.

The purpose of wisdom was also highlighted in recent days in Portugal. There, the first reusable textile mask was presented, with a proven ability to inactivate the new coronavirus, responsible for Covid-19, when in contact with the tissue.

It is a cooperation project between the business, academic and scientific community that has successfully passed the demanding tests of the João Lobo Antunes Institute of Molecular Medicine. An advance that demonstrates that science, academia and entrepreneurship, when they go together, help humanity to progress.

On Tuesday it became known that a device with pioneering technology was developed, also in Portugal, which manages to inactivate, in just one minute, 99.97 percent of the Covid-19 particles that circulate in the air.

The study was developed by the BLC3 Technology and Innovation Campus, in Oliveira do Hospital, in partnership with the University of Minho and the pharmacy faculties of the universities of Lisbon and Coimbra.

Here, then, is a demonstration that scientific knowledge and innovation are increasingly, fortunately, a solid reality in the different geographies of Portuguese speaking countries.

Contact Us

Generalist media, focusing on the relationship between Portuguese-speaking countries and China.

Plataforma Studio

Newsletter

Subscribe Plataforma Newsletter to keep up with everything!