2020

Where is the universe expanding to? (Español/English)

Media: ScienceLogs (Personal Blog)

When people learn about the expansion of the universe, they often ask, “Where is it expanding? What is the universe expanding into? Modern cosmology has a simple and accurate answer to this question

The brain much more than neurons: The Neurovascular Unit

Media: ScienceLogs (Personal Blog)

The concept of neurovascular unit reminds us that the brain is composed of a diverse and coordinated cellular community. Phenomena such as consciousness, sleep and wakefulness, perception, and movement are not only the product of neuronal activity; on the contrary, they are the result of the organized action of dozens of cells and factors that direct the brain’s functioning in healthy or pathological conditions.

The unknown brain: Von Economo neurons

Media: ScienceLogs (Personal Blog)

In a 1925 paper entitled Die Cytoarchitektonik der Hirnrinde des erwachsenen Menschen (The Cytoarchitecture of the Crust of the Adult Human), this scientist described these cells as spindle elongated neurons (spindle-shaped) reaching 70-100 µm, which makes them four times larger than a pyramidal cell of the V-layer

HBP: The challenge of simulating the brain

Media: ScienceLogs (Personal Blog)

With The Human Brain Project (HBP), the European Union established a state-of-the-art research platform that will study the brain interdisciplinarily for 10 years, from molecular scales to higher cognitive processes.

Interneurons and Cerebral Circuits

Media: ScienceLogs (Personal Blog)

Also called associative neurons, interneurons are a large group of cells characterized by facilitating communication between sensory pyramidal neurons and motor pyramidal neurons. Using GABA as an inhibitory neurotransmitter, they are associated with reflexes and neuronal circuit modulation.

How many cells are in our brains?

Media: ScienceLogs (Personal Blog)

Since the school years, the idea that neurons are the cells of the brain has entered our heads. While doing social research for my next popular science book, I learned that no one outside of the field of neuroscience knows that there are up to a dozen other cells in the brain besides neurons. Well, I think it is absolutely necessary that we start to change this very limited perspective on the central nervous system (CNS).

2019

75 años de una cruel batalla que se recuerda también por un casco lleno de cerveza (Spanish)

Media: Cali Buenas Noticias (Colombia)

A chronicle recapitulating the events of the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium during World War II.

Una cita con el destino 75 años después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial (Spanish)

Media: El Espectador Newspaper (Colombia)

On September 17, 2019, a 98-year-old man will jump out of a C-47 aircraft at the same spot where he did so 75 years ago to liberate Europe from the Nazis.

La imaginación siempre fue primero: de Galileo a Star Trek (Spanish)

Media: El Espectador Newspaper (Colombia)

Article from the commemorative collection of the 50th anniversary of the moon landings

Las mujeres que nos llevaron a la Luna (Spanish)

Media: El Espectador Newspaper (Colombia)

Article from the commemorative collection of the 50th anniversary of the moon landings

El científico nazi que nos llevó a la Luna (Spanish)

Media: El Espectador Newspaper (Colombia)

Article from the commemorative collection of the 50th anniversary of the moon landings

Sputnik-1, el primer “round” de la guerra espacial (Spanish)

Media: El Espectador Newspaper (Colombia)

Article from the commemorative collection of the 50th anniversary of the moon landings

50 datos curiosos de la llegada del hombre a Luna (Spanish)

Media: Cali Buenas Noticias (Colombia)

Article from the commemorative collection of the 50th anniversary of the moon landings

2018

No hay científicos prolíferos, hay mala conducta científica (Spanish)

Media: El Espectador Newspaper (Colombia)

Scientific misconduct seems to have no limits in the modern world, where researchers put their names on research in which they have not participated.

¿Cuántas células tiene el cerebro? (Spanish)

Media: Hablemos de Neurociencia (Spain)

The number of neurons and neuroglia in the brain has been one of the best examples of dogmas in the sciences. For years we reproduced information without having any experimental evidence.

2017

Las interneuronas y los circuitos cerebrales: los compañeros desconocidos (Spanish)

Media: Hablemos de Neurociencia (Spain)

Interneurons are cells that closely regulate the way information is processed in various brain circuits.

Human Brain Project: el reto de simular el cerebro (Spanish)

Media: Hablemos de Neurociencia (Spain)

The Human Brain Poject aims to achieve a comprehensive simulation of the human brain in the coming decades.

Las neuronas de Von Economo: el cerebro desconocido (Spanish)

Media: Hablemos de Neurociencia (Spain)

Von Echonome neurons are cells excluded from the frontal lobe of animals with complex social systems that can provide information about brain evolution.

La unidad neurovascular: el cerebro mucho más que neuronas (Spanish)

Media: Hablemos de Neurociencia (Spain)

The brain is a system whose functioning depends on the harmonious communication of dozens of cells, not just neurons.

¿Hay que abandonar el planeta si queremos sobrevivir? (Spanish)

Media: El Espectador Newspaper (Colombia)

During the Starmus IV event in Norway, the well-known popularizer Neil DeGrasse Tyson spoke about the opportunities we have to remain on the planet.

La diasquisis: un nuevo paradigma para la Neuropatología (Spanish)

Media: Hablemos de Neurociencia (Spain)

Alterations in distant regions of the brain may be the important keys to neurological recovery after injury

Tratamiento de Enfermedades Neurológicas ¿está la evolución en contra? (Spanish)

Media: Hablemos de Neurociencia (Spain)

ABC transporters are phylogenetically ancient structures that limit drug access to the brain.

2016

Mapendo el cerebro: una frontera científica (Spanish)

Media: Hablemos de Neurociencia (Spain)

Popular science article exploring the main research projects for mapping and digital modeling of the brain.

¿Es la Neurociencia fiable? (Spanish)

Media: Hablemos de Neurociencia (Spain)

Reflection article on the reproducibility and reliability of reports in neuroscience and biomedical science.

La Matriz Extracelular: el cerebro desconocido (Spanish)

Media: Hablemos de Neurociencia (Spain)

Educational text on the extracellular matrix, a little-explored and little-known compartment of the brain.

Escuchando las voces del pasado en el cráter del Vesubio (Spanish)

Media: Cali Buenas Noticias (Colombia)

Account of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum

Astrocitos y cerebro lesionado (Spanish)

Media: Hablemos de Neurociencias (Spain)

Educational text describing the role of astrocytes during brain injury.

Lecciones de guerra e historia en Núremberg (Spanish)

Media: Cali Buenas Noticias (Colombia)

Recounting the visit to the site of the Nuremberg trials to convict World War II war criminals.

Por entre las cicatrices del Muro de Berlín (Spanish)

Media: El Espectador Newspaper (Colombia)

Chronicle to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall .

2015

2015: Los cien años de la teoría que reinventó el universo (Spanish)

Media: El Espectador Newspaper (Colombia)

Text to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s publication of the theory of general relativity.

Un viaje en el tiempo al Día D (Spanish)

Media: Cali Buenas Noticias (Colombia)

Chronicle about the events of the Allied landing on the beaches of Normandy (France) during the Second World War..

Tiquete al miedo en el día D (Spanish)

Media: El Espectador Newspaper (Colombia)

Chronicle about the events of the Allied landing on the beaches of Normandy (France) during the Second World War.