November 26th – In the year that USP launched a package to benefit public school students (which even included a 3% bonus on the entrance exam score), it was private school graduates who advanced in participation among those enrolled in the selection process. “When a project like this starts, there is pent-up demand. The drop in Fuvest is a surprise”, said the deputy coordinator of the Unicamp exam, Renato Pedrosa. At the State University of Campinas, which has been granting extra points to public school students since the 2005 exam, there was an increase in demand for this student profile in the first exam with the benefit (from 31,4% to 34,1%).

Popular Mail

November 25th – Plants such as espinheira-santa, typical of the Atlantic Forest, a traditional medicine of the Caiçara populations, are among the reasons that lead scientists to hide in the bush. They hunt for plant species with healing power, since our forests are viable alternatives for science and national industry to search for raw materials and active ingredients for new medicines. Several Brazilian research entities have scientists dedicated to searching for sources of new medicines in the Atlantic forest. At Unicamp, in one example, the Multidisciplinary Center for Chemical, Biological and Agricultural Research (CPQBA) studied the herb baleeira, which has anti-inflammatory properties. A partnership with the pharmaceutical industry Aché, seven years of studies and an investment that exceeded R$ 15 million resulted in the launch of Acheflan, an anti-inflammatory cream indicated for chronic diseases such as tendonitis, in mid-2005.

Paraibano Valley

November 25th – Changes in the world of work and their consequences are addressed in works such as “The Caracol and Its Shell”, which brings together 12 essays by the professor of the sociology department at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences at Unicamp, Ricardo Antunes. The work, written between 2000 and 2005, is part of the project “Where the work goes”, financed by CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development).

The Globe

November 24th – Brazil can, growing at 5% to 6% per year, solve its major social problems, unlike countries like China and India, for example, which despite recording much higher expansion rates are experiencing social tragedies much deeper. Plínio de Arruda Sampaio, from Unicamp, proposes a broad debate to create a new agenda that can oppose that of capitalism. He defends capital control in the country, because he thinks that it will only be viable to control capitalism if capital rights are removed.