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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, December 17th 2025 - 10:21 UTC

Health & Science

  • Friday, October 27th 2017 - 22:47 UTC

    Glyphosate debate divides Europe and it fails to vote on license extension

    The current license expires at the end of 2017. Europe has been stuck over what to do with the chemical, key ingredient in Monsanto Co’s top-selling Roundup

    European Union countries failed this week to vote on a license extension for weed-killer glyphosate, delaying again a decision on the widely used herbicide that critics say could cause cancer. The EU said in a statement the relevant committee did not hold a vote at a meeting and that it would announce the date of the next meeting shortly.

  • Friday, October 20th 2017 - 05:18 UTC

    Some thoughts about the 9 November Falklands' general election

    Despite Argentine government assertions to the contrary, long gone are the old colonial days when the Governor could nominate members of council

    By John Fowler - At the time of going to press, so far sixteen brave or foolhardy souls have declared their candidature for the General Election. This is one more than in 2013 and may be the most ever. With an average age of less than fifty years this group is almost certainly the youngest. Gone, it would seem, are the days when only the wealthy, retired, unemployed, or possibly unemployable old were available to stand.

  • Thursday, October 19th 2017 - 08:03 UTC

    WHO meeting in Uruguay agree on a Montevideo Roadmap for NCDs

    Uruguay president Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, said the Montevideo Roadmap represented a bold commitment by governments to intensify action to protect people from NCD

    Heads of State and Government and ministers from around the world meeting in Uruguay committed to new and bold action to reduce suffering and death from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), primarily heart and lung diseases, cancers and diabetes, the world’s leading killers.

  • Monday, October 16th 2017 - 11:36 UTC

    Uruguay hosts NCDs global conference organized by WHO and PAHO

    World leaders agree that NCDs, mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, represent one of the major health challenges

    Uruguay will be hosting form 18 to 20 October the global conference on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) which is organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Office of the President of Uruguay Tabare Vazquez, and the Ministry of Health of Uruguay. The purpose of the conference in Montevideo is how to enhance policy coherence between different spheres of policy making that have a bearing on attaining SDG target 3.4 on NCDs by 2030.

  • Monday, October 16th 2017 - 11:19 UTC

    Cannabis as medicine: more research is needed says World Medical Association

    Cannabis has been linked to some serious adverse health effects: increased risk of psychosis, fatal road accidents, dependency, as well as harm to verbal learning, memory and attention

    Legislation to allow the recreational use of cannabis has been strongly opposed on health grounds by the World Medical Association. But in a policy statement this week, the Association says that laws governing research grade cannabis should be reviewed to allow more scientific research on the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

  • Friday, October 13th 2017 - 12:24 UTC

    Ozone layer threatened by compounds (from China) not currently regulated

    Scientists reported last year that they had detected the first evidence that the thinning of the protective ozone layer was diminishing.

    Rising global emissions of some chlorine-containing chemicals could slow the progress made in healing the ozone layer. A study found the substances, widely used for paint stripping and in the manufacture of PVC, are increasing much faster than previously thought. Mainly produced in China, these compounds are not currently regulated.

  • Tuesday, October 10th 2017 - 02:20 UTC

    New map of South Georgia by British Antarctic Survey unveiled

    The sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia is a haven for wildlife, a centre for wildlife and fisheries research and famous for the epic voyage by Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men.

    A team of cartographers at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has re-produced a high-resolution updated map of the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. The island, situated at 37°W 54°10’S is a haven for wildlife, a centre for wildlife and fisheries research and famous for the epic voyage by Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men just over a century ago.

  • Saturday, October 7th 2017 - 19:43 UTC

    Patagonian king crab spawns and develops in lab conditions in Argentina

    King crab is a benthic crustacean distributed in cold waters of subantarctic origin along the South Atlantic from the Falklands and Tierra del Fuego, to south Brazil.

    Argentina's National Institute of Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP), with the Benthic Crustacean Fishery Subprogram, successfully registered the transportation from Ushuaia to Mar del Plata of king crab females with eggs and their subsequent spawning in laboratory conditions.

  • Saturday, October 7th 2017 - 19:17 UTC

    US researchers win Physics Nobel Prize for gravitational waves detection

    The prize is shared by German-born Rainer Weiss of MIT (photo) and Kip Thorne and Barry Barish of the California Institute of Technology

    Three U.S. researchers won this year’s Nobel Prize in physics for developing an observatory that made possible the detection of gravitational waves, ripples in space-time theorized by Albert Einstein 100 years ago, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

  • Tuesday, October 3rd 2017 - 21:31 UTC

    Nobel Prize in Medicine for three US scientists work on the body's daily rhythms

    Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young won the US$1.1 million prize for finding genetic processes that control circadian rhythms.

    Three United States scientists have won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The three were recognized for their work on the body’s daily rhythms -- the biological processes that our bodies repeat over and over again.