CEBE answers

Here you can find the answers of CEBE's scientists to questions of general interest on scientific aspects

Why is the sound of fingernails on a blackboard so uncomfortable?

Juan Manuel Sarasua · 25-05-2021 10:00 · CEBE answers

Ever wondered why do we have such a strong reaction to a specific sound? Are you one of those people that can’t resist the sound of nails scratching in a blackboard? In this blog post, I explain where your discomfort comes from.

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How does age affect cancer progression?

Mónica Vara Pérez · 25-05-2021 10:00 · CEBE answers

According to the World’s Health Organization, cancer (and not Covid-19) was the leading cause of death worldwide with nearly 10,000,000 deaths in 2020. In this blog post, I approach the relationship between cancer and age to answer the question of one of our readers.

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Why is the sky blue?

Jorge Barrasa Fano · 26-04-2021 10:00 · CEBE answers

Get ready to travel 148 million kilometers at full speed. It will take only 8 minutes. This is the journey we are going to take to answer this question. However, as you will see, the most interesting stuff will happen in the last 100 km of the trip...

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Vaccines against Covid19: differently equal

Lorena Sánchez · 29-03-2021 10:00 · CEBE answers

2020 came with a pandemic and 2021 brings us various types of vaccines, with a ton of new terms. But do you know how each vaccine works? In this post, I explain what is essential for you to distinguish them.

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Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food… when possible!

Javier Aguilera Lizarraga · 15-02-2021 10:00 · CEBE answers

Do you have a recurring stomachache or a certain intestinal discomfort after eating? Have you been told it's not a big deal, or that it might be due to stress? In this post we explain that these ailments have a biological origin and are more common than you thought.

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How does immunotherapy against cancer work?

Diana Campillo Davó · 14-01-2021 10:00 · CEBE answers

In the first blog entry about cancer immunotherapy, I guided you through the ins and outs of how our own immune system can help us fight cancer and the strategies that are used to help and improve this system in that fight. In this second entry, I am going to explain vaccines based on tumor proteins and those vaccines used against cancer-related viruses.

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What are the Millennium Prize problems?

Jennifer Alonso García · 14-01-2021 10:00 · CEBE answers

Mathematics rules most natural and scientific phenomena. But not all problems have been solved yet and here I tell you all about the most famous ones, the Millenium Prize problems!

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Genome à la carte. How does CRISPR-Cas9 work?

Montse López · 15-11-2020 10:00 · CEBE answers

In October of 2020, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for designing the tool that allows modifying the cellular genome in a desired position. But what is CRISPR and how does it work?

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What is quantum computing?

Daniel Pérez · 15-11-2020 10:00 · CEBE answers

Quantum computing is about to start a technological revolution. Here, we will tell you how and why!

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What are shooting stars?

Ana Escorza Santos · 15-10-2020 10:00 · CEBE answers

Spoiler alert! Shooting stars are not stars but little pieces of a comet that have visited our neighborhood in the solar system. In this post we will explain their formation and origin and we will talk about the most popular meteor showers.

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How does immunotherapy against cancer work?

Diana Campillo Davó · 15-10-2020 10:00 · CEBE answers

The immune system, our great ally against infections, is also an essential tool in our fight against cancer. But how does it do it?

 

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What is an artificial neural network?

Ana Barragán Montero · 01-09-2020 10:00 · CEBE answers

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming part of our lives. However, many people still imagine AI as something futuristic and hard to understand, typical from sci-fi movies but far from our daily routine. But is it really something reserved for computer science experts? In this post we introduce the concept of one of the building blocks of AI: the artificial neural network (ANN).

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What is the difference between bacteria and viruses?

Mónica Vara Pérez · 01-09-2020 10:00 · CEBE answers

Nowadays, we all carry with us a disinfecting gel with bactericidal and virucidal properties, but why this distinction? Are virus and bacteria so different? Well, yes, they are and in this blog entry we will cover the main differences between the two.

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This blog is supported by the Arts and Culture section of the Spanish Embassy in Belgium and by the Brussels section of the “Instituto Cervantes”, under the SciComm initiative #SPreadScience.

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Disclaimer: The content of each post in “A Spoonful Of Science” is the responsibility of the corresponding author(s). Therefore, the viewpoints expressed on the blog are those of the author(s) of each post, which do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints, thoughts and opinions of CEBE members and representatives.