Today, ICCUB director Xavier Luri was interviewed by the main TV magazine on catalan TV channel TV3. The science section of today’s program was about answering the question “Why do we explore space?”. Within the section, hosted by the journalist Dani Arbós, the invited expert to answer this question was Xavier Luri, who explained many of the useful applications that the technologies developed to allow space exploration have nowadays.

“One of the most well-known uses of the space technology that is common in our daily lives are the apps related to location, or the meteorological ones, since both work with satellite information.” declared the ICCUB director answering to the main question of the section.

Many other interesting matters have been discussed during the interview, such as the possibility of the human exploration of other planets. Click to hear the full section and the interview.

The ICCUB Researcher Alba Cervera-Lierta has just published the entry "Quantum Computing languages landscape" in the Quantum World Association (QWA) Medium. With the article she classifies some of the most well known quantum programming languages in different abstraction levels, especially the ones that are developed by private companies and start-ups.

The ICCUB researcher Alba Cervera participates in the Radio programme Versió RAC1 talking about women in science with another two women scientists. Alba gives example and inspiration to girls in order to change the situation of some research areas as physics which still involves few women.

ICCUB Galaxy Structure researcher, Carme Jordi, explains the expected trajectory and dangerous potential of two asteroids that passed on 28th August night next to the Earth. You can hear the full explanation at Catalunya migdia, Catalunya Radio.

The asteroids are 2016NF23, that is considered potentially dangerous due to its big size, and Neo1998SD9 that is smaller but passed closer to our planet, both passed on 28th August night. Even though the first one was big enough to produce serious damages to our planet, "they are not considered dangerous due to its trajectory, that has been precisely calculated and turned out to be too far to be harmful to the Earth" said Carme Jordi at Catalunya Migdia radio program. But added that “They need to be closely observed because there are always perturbations in their path and the trajectory calculation must be corrected.”

Luckily, the passing of these asteroids is not dangerous for us and in addition it becomes a scientific chance to study the most ancient objects of the Solar System.

Manel Carrasco, ICCUB member of the Galaxy Structure and Evolution group and part of the Gaia Mission, was invited to Catalunya Migdia, a program from Catalunya Radio, to talk about this finding. As said by the researcher during the program “It is a really big lake, with more than 100 milion liters”, which confirms the relevance of the finding, but the water found needs to be analysed, and for the moment the technology development is not enough to allow the humans establish a base on the red planet.

'Alba Cervera, the spanish researcher that will be pioneer in Quantum Computation' is the title for the interview with the ICCUB member, Alba Cervera, published in INOVASPAIN website.

Alba Cervera won the Teach Me QISKit prize in June. (News)

Interview with Xavier Luri about Gaia Mission and with Marc Ribó about CTA project on the radio programme 'Eureka' on Radio USAL, the radio station of the Salamanca University, in the context of the SEA scientific meeting 2018.

• Interview with Xavier Luri (2')
• Interview with Marc Ribó (13' 50 '')

The RECERCAT of this month has just published an article about the Second Data Release (DR2) of the Gaia Mission and an interview with two of its main researchers from the Universitat de Barcelona, Xavier Luri, director of the ICCUB (IEEC-UB) and Carme Jordi, researcher of the Institute.

RECERCAT is the online newsletter of the Secretaria d'universitats i recerca of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

Links:

• with the article: Gaia canvia la nostra visió de la Via Làctia
• with the interview: “La missió Gaia representa un salt en tots els aspectes: ara veiem allò que abans només podíem deduir”

  
  

The ICCUB member, Jordi Portell, has been quoted in an article of La Vanguardia where it is explained how the music festival Sónar has launched a message containing 17 brief electronic pieces in order to celebrate its 25th birthday.

Jordi Portell explains which method they have used to send this message to Luyten b and how extraordinary and unlikely it would be to receive an answer to this message, which would arrive to the Earth in 25 years.