AdvCompBio - A conference to promote women's research in computational biology
The international congress Advances in Computational Biology - Fostering collaboration among women scientists, one of the activities within the programme Bioinfo4Women of the BSC, will be held in Barcelona on the 28th and 29th of November 2019.
All the speakers will be women but the event, an affiliated conference of the International Society of Computational Biology (ISCB), will be open to everyone. Mar Albà is one of the organisers, Núria López-Bigas will chair one of the track sessions, and Natasa Przulj will be one of the keynote speakers, the three of them are ICREA Research Professors. Click on committees & keynote speakers for further information.
89th ICREA BREAKFAST COLLOQUIUM - Can green cities be healthy and just?
Speaker: ICREA Research Professor Isabelle Anguelovski from UAB and Dr. Helen Cole, from the Barcelona Laboratory for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability (BCNUEJ).
When: 12th of November 2019, 9:00h
Where: Hotel Catalonia Plaza Catalunya, Bergara, 11, 08002 Barcelona
Abstract:
Our research examines processes and dynamics that lead to more just, resilient, healthy, and sustainable cities, bringing together theory and methods from urban planning, public policy, urban and environmental sociology, urban geography and public health. We analyze the extent to which urban plans and policy decisions contribute to more just, resilient, healthy, and sustainable cities, and how community groups in distressed neighborhoods contest the existence, creation, or exacerbation of environmental inequities as a result of urban (re)development processes and policies.
Our presentation will introduce the field of urban environmental justice and green gentrification, present results from our recent studies on environmental and health inequities in cities of the global North, and draw some policy and planning implications for municipalities.
The ICREA colloquia are a great way to learn about remote fields of research from our best experts. We usually have two speakers, who offer their opinions on the same subject from very different angles. They are open to all ICREAs and their guests.
88th ICREA BREAKFAST COLLOQUIUM - Rock Art and Human Evolution
Speakers: ICREA Research Professors Inés Domingo and João Zilhao (both from the UB)
When: 8th of October 2019, 9:00h
Where: Hotel Catalonia Plaza Catalunya, Bergara, 11, 08002 Barcelona
Abstract:
When and where did humans develop the capacity to communicate through symbols? Was symbolism recent, and unique to anatomically modern humans? Or did our more remote ancestors already possess a similar capacity? What can be termed as the earliest evidence of symbolism? The use of colour? Personal adornments? Visual arts? Figurative representation?
For nearly a century, the use of visual symbols to store and communicate information has been considered as one of the definitory features of the human species. Indeed, evidence gathered over the last two decades shows that the feature can now be documented much earlier than hitherto thought, including among the Neandertal peoples of Eurasia.
Using two different but complementary perspectives, archaeology and ethnoarchaeology (working with Indigenous people from Arnhem Land, Australia), ICREA Research Professors João Zilhão and Inés Domingo will explore these and other hot issues in current debates on what it means to be “human”.
The ICREA colloquia are a great way to learn about remote fields of research from our best experts. We usually have two speakers, who offer their opinions on the same subject from very different angles. They are open to all ICREAs and their guests.
87th ICREA BREAKFAST COLLOQUIUM - Observing the dark side of the Universe with gravitational lensing and gravitational waves
Speakers: ICREA Research Professors Ramon Miquel and Mario Martínez (both from IFAE)
When: 11th of June 2019, 9:00h
Where: Hotel Catalonia Plaça Catalunya, Bergara, 11, 08002 Barcelona
Abstracts:
Ramon Miquel
There is overwhelming evidence that most of the matter in the universe is in a "dark" form that neither emits nor blocks light, and is therefore invisible to even the largest telescopes. While the detailed nature of this "dark matter" remains unknown, its gravitational interactions can be used to detect it and study its spatial distribution as a function of cosmic time. Particularly relevant is the so-called "weak gravitational lensing" effect, in which the observed shapes of distant galaxies are slightly modified by the gravitational pull of the masses between them and us.
Since 2013, the DES Collaboration has been surveying an entire octant of the sky, measuring the position on the sky, redshift and shape of 300 million galaxies, together with thousands of galaxy clusters and supernovae. Using the dataset from its first season of observations, DES has measured the shapes of about 35 million galaxies, from which it has produced the largest (dark) matter map to date. Combining this with other DES measurements, DES has achieved an unprecedented precision in the determination of the cosmological parameters governing the growth of structures in the universe. The talk will present these measurements and discuss their relevance in shaping our understanding of the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of our universe.
Mario Martínez
The detection of Gravitational Waves from a black hole binary merger by the LIGO interferometer in 2016, confirming a 100-year old Einstein prediction, represented the beginning of a new era in the exploration of the universe. Shortly thereafter, the addition of the Virgo antenna into the network led to the detection of the first neutron star binary merger, which could then be followed in electromagnetic signals, and thus represented the beginning of multi-messenger astronomy. This single observation led to stringent tests of models for Gravity beyond General Relativity, an independent measurement of the universe expansion rate, and the observation of a so-called kilonovae and the ratification of the astrophysical origin of heavy elements in the periodic table. The LIGO and Virgo interferometers resume operations in String 2019 with improved sensitivity, thus promising new discoveries.
The talk will describe the sources of Gravitational Waves, their detection using extremely precise interferometry, the prospects of the experiments in the following years, and how Gravitation Waves are considered unique windows towards the understanding of Gravity at extreme conditions and the very early universe 13.8 billion years ago.
The ICREA colloquia are a great way to learn about remote fields of research from our best experts. We usually have two speakers, who offer their opinions on the same subject from very different angles. They are open to all ICREAs and their guests.
