
De Copas con Ciencia: Jesús Gracia & José M. Fraile
Circular economy, chemistry, fertilisers and polymers that train dogs this month in “De Copas con Ciencia”
On Thursday 25 January a new session of “De Copas con Ciencia” will take place, which on this occasion will present the latest advances in research in the field of fertilisers, their chemistry and their relationship with the circular economy and, in addition, making use of their similarity to mountains and through live music, we will learn what laminar materials are, and why they are so important in our society.
De copas con ciencia is an initiative that aims to satisfy the scientific curiosity of the population in a relaxed, entertaining and fun way, in leisure time, bringing it to the bars. The activity is aimed at anyone with a scientific curiosity, without the need for specific training in science, and aims to be a meeting point for science lovers, in order to facilitate the creation of scientific debates between experts and the general public.
The activity is organised by the research institutes, ISQCH (Instituto de Síntesis Química y Catálisis Homogénea) e INMA (Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón), both joint centres of the CSIC and the University of Zaragoza, and will be repeated periodically on the last Thursday of each month. During these sessions, topics related to chemistry, nanotechnology and materials science will be discussed.
The next session, with free admission, will take place on 25 January at 20:00 at El Sótano Mágico, Calle San Pablo 43, Zaragoza http://elsotanomagico.com/ and will feature the researchers José María Fraile, researcher and director of the ISQCH, and Jesús García Mora.
– Molecularly imprinted polymers. From the key-lock analogy to dog training: Jesús Gracia Mora – ISQCH
Molecularly imprinted polymers are synthetic macromolecules that have holes with a specific geometry for a particular substance. This results in a high affinity between the two species, similar to an enzyme and a substrate. Since their development, very important applications have been achieved mainly in analytical chemistry, however, this talk will discuss unconventional applications from the protection of microfauna to dog training.
Jesús Gracia Mora has a degree in chemistry, a master’s degree in chemical sciences (inorganic chemistry) and a PhD in chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He has been a research professor at the Faculty of Chemistry of the UNAM since 1997. His research focuses on molecular recognition systems and their applications such as controlled drug release and stimulus-sensitive systems.
– Fertilisers, Chemistry and Circular Economy – José M. Fraile – CSIC researcher at ISQCH and director of ISQCH
Why is fertiliser necessary, why does chemistry have to be involved, how can we improve fertilisation by combining the concepts of Circular Economy and chemistry, and how can we improve fertilisation by combining the concepts of Circular Economy and chemistry? These are some of the questions that we will try to answer in this talk, with examples of ongoing research projects.
José María Fraile Dolado is a research scientist at CSIC and director of ISQCH. His research has focused on Heterogeneous Catalysis applied to Organic Synthesis and its relationship with Sustainable Chemistry, and more recently to the transformation of renewable raw materials and waste, within the context of the Circular Economy. He has published more than 190 scientific articles and has supervised 12 doctoral theses.
The session will be complemented by a face-to-face Hi Score Science competition aimed at the general public, which will reward the scientific knowledge acquired by those attending the session.
Hi Score Science is a game of questions and answers about science, in Spanish and English, with versions in French and Basque, for mobile devices, iOS and Android and for Linux, Windows and iOS, which is developed between the two research institutes, the ISQCH and the INMA, which allows to include explanations of the scientific reality behind each of the answers. The game can be downloaded free of charge and without advertising at Apple Store https://goo.gl/q1NjKy and Play Store: https://goo.gl/GgWq6N and for Windows, iOS and Linux at www.HiScoreScience.org. In addition, the app allows users to participate in the project by submitting their own questions via a dedicated website www.hiscorescience.org.