Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
Bacharelado em Ciências e Tecnologia
Práticas de Leitura e Escrita em Gêneros Acadêmicos em Língua Inglesa
Aluno: Antônio Paulino Dantas Júnior
Summary of the text “Brazilian Science: Riding a Gusher”
The text “Brazilian Science: Riding a Gusher” mentions the big economic advance and the growth of scientific papers publication these last year’s made in Brazil. But also raising the important questions in about the scientific leaders that must overcome the challenge of weak education system and a low-impact track record.
Initially the text mentions the Brazil’s best-known scientist Miguel Nicolelis. He is a neurobiologist at Duke University in Durham. Giving emphasis to his substantial project he calls “Campus of the Brain” in which would be complex neurosciences cutting-edge that aims to strengthen science in Brazil. And behind that an important mission: the development of one of the poorest regions country in the northeastern Brazilian.
The growth of Brazilian economy these last years and the intense production of Scientifics articles have given the international exposure to Brazil. The oil propels of the research in which the Petrobras Company is the main facilitator and by helping governments on the reform of basic education. Scientists believe that in 2020 Brazil can be advanced formidably in scientific researches. But it is because of many factors as said Nicolelis such as the productions of few high-impact papers and only a trickle of patents and the systems of basic education need improved priority.
The topic text "boom times" portrays the current good position of Brazil. Everything is positively contributing to the scientific and economic development of country. The wording gives examples of companies that are striving to improve the levels of scientific researches such as the EMPRAPA Company. Before scientific researches was focused on agriculture and the most low-impact papers. Today scientific researches have been into genetic improvement and strategies to use renewable energy.
The secondary wording “Tapping a Deep, ‘Pre-Salt’ Bounty” is of the discovery of the ‘pré-salt’ in which has leveraged scientific researches in Brazil. The Petrobras now spends about $1 billion a year on R&D, including some $225 million that goes directly to the universities, which Petrobras has been rushing to outfit laboratories, erect new geophysics centers, and train a new generation of engineers.
In “Private money” the text mentions the capital investment priorities of country that according to the minister of science Sérgio Rezende “is for science to make a difference in the productivity of industry. I’d have to say that is our great challenge.” Other goals are to increase the number of scientists, invest in strategic areas, and solve key social problems.
In the penultimate topic “Share the wealth” in short it is the asymmetric complex development of the country in which are concentrated in the south Brazilian most of the publications of scientific researches and economic development. The government is with some projects such as the 2009 program called “Stipends for Everyone” in which officials in Brasília said they would give study grants to all graduate students in distant regions, regardless of academic merit. But this and other incentives already in use are not enough to overcome this problem. The Amazon is an example of it. Many are published studies involving the Amazon region and most of researchers are not Brazilian. And this is very serious, since this is an area targeted by major international carbon credits.
In the other secondary text “Talented But Underfunded: Brazil’s Future Scientists”, in short is the history of Reinaldo Sousa dos Santos, a Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and a resident of Parque União, a crowded “favela” where residents live under the thumb of a drug gang. A reality that shows the results of government assistance that has been trying to expand access to education to the poorest communities, with programs and scholarships as ProUni, which have facilitated the poor communities’ access in universities across the country.
In the last topic "Making it real", the author gives examples that Brazil is still at beginner level in science and that despite its growth ambitions, the country still have long way to go. Publications of Brazil are of few impact, and so far no Brazilian won the Nobel science or medicine.
Reference:
REGALADO, Antonio. Brazilian Science: Riding a Gusher. Science Magazine, Washington, DC, v. 330, n. 1, p. 1306-1312, dec. 2010.
