Clouds, love, anchovies, bandwidth on the Internet, Neanderthals… Today the CAF-Elhuyar awards have been awarded
2011/03/24 Etxebeste Aduriz, Egoitz - Elhuyar Zientzia
The awards ceremony CAF-Elhuyar 2010 was held at the headquarters of the Elhuyar Foundation. The event has focused on the multimedia show. The awards and winners have been presented through interactive sketches, accompanied by music, and attendees have been able to enjoy a pleasant walk. Naroa Aldanondo, Jos Mar a Rivadeneyra, Xabier Martin, Aitzol Lasa and José Ramón Etxebarria have been the protagonists of this year's CAF-Elhuyar awards.
Article based on the author's thesis
Donostiarra biologist Naroa Aldanondo has been awarded the prize for the best article based on the author's thesis, with the article "Trying to understand the incidents of anchovy". Aldanondo has investigated anchovies in his thesis. In fact, will this year be anchovies? The article explains what he has investigated in order to answer the question.
Aldanondo has worked with a calcareous structure of anchovies in the inner ear, with otoliths, and has used the information stored in it to predict whether there will be anchovy from season to season. The structure of the autumn could be assimilated into the rings of tree trunks. They tell the researcher that he knows how to look when and where anchovy is born, give him information about growth and leave clues to make forecasts.
According to the jury, "Without traffic jams in the return zones, the author goes directly to the bottom of the subject. And thanks to this, it catches the reader from the first lines and arouses curiosity. The writer has elaborated an article of circular disclosure from his thesis, well counted and with good image"
General informative article
The computer scientist Jos Mar a Rivadeneyra Usurbilartua has also started his article with a question: "Is it worth extending the bandwidth?" And for that work he has received the award for the best general outreach article.
"With this work, the author has succeeded in putting on the consumer's skin and explaining a technical and apparently dry topic in a way understandable to anyone. With simple examples and analogies, in addition, the jury has answered the question we have all ever asked," he has argued to explain why they have rewarded the work.
In the article Rivadeneyra explains whether it is worth hiring a greater bandwidth of the Internet and the author explains what the article consists of, explaining the factors that influence the speed of the Internet signal that reaches home, and what is what limits access to the Internet.
Work in Scientific Journalism
Among the articles of dissemination and the work of journalism, the winner of this year has focused on the topic that most interests us human beings, Xabier Martin, journalist of the newspaper Berria, in "The eyes of the same chain". He has spoken of human beings.
The journalist analyses the relationship between Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis from one of the most prominent news in 2010. The decoding of the Neanderthal genome showed that the current human beings keep in their genomes genes of the Neanderthal, with the exception of the Africans, so a hybridization occurred between both species. Furthermore, if hybridization occurred and the following fecunds were left, can we say that they were two different species?
According to the jury, the journalist presents in this report an innovative and surprising vision of the human being, “and he has done it with a compilation of the ingredients that need a journalistic work: a news that arouses the curiosity of the reader, good sources, testimonies of experts, graphics and attractive images”.
Scientific narrative addressed to young people
In addition to the work carried out on reality, the CAF-Elhuyar 2010 awards have awarded the world of fiction. The Aindarra Aitzol Lasa Bara has received a scholarship in the category of narration works aimed at young people, which will have a term of one year to develop the project "Bicycles" presented to the scholarship.
The writer addresses the classic struggle between science and letters. And two are the protagonists: Estibalitz is a good scientist and Odei is madly in love with him. However, Odei is all against him to fall in love with Estibalitz, a more mature man who does not listen to him, and science does not want him. However, the protagonist Odei has a plan to achieve the unattainable and also the writer: "United poetry and science, bicycle and love come together to create solid and attractive characters and projects, with a fresh and irreverent language," the jury said.
"The narrative will have heaven as the main link," said Lasa: "Heaven will be the guiding thread of the narrative, Odei, protagonist, a teenager who lives in the clouds. He likes to be watching the sky and always finds strange ways to describe it." The scientific themes that will appear in the narrative will be those related to the atmosphere and heaven, and the love story of the narration will be based and set in heaven.
See interview with Irrikan Lasa
Meritorio Award
Following the announcement of the winners of the four categories, Euskaltzale and engineer José Ramón Etxebarria received the 2010 Merit Award. As presented by the Vice-President of the Foundation, Eustaquio Arrojería, the Elhuyar Foundation wanted to recognize "for 40 years, and uninterruptedly, its important contribution to Basque and Basque society in the field of science and technology".
Physical of studies and doctor in Engineering. Before completing his studies, faced with the need to spread science in Basque, he began to focus his steps towards this path. It is not easy to define Etxebarria: "Professor, writer, politician, disseminator, translator, scientist, and many more. Joserra is polyhedrical, unclassifiable". And "passion is one of the main characteristics that can be seen in all his work".
Etxebarria stressed that despite giving him the prize, it is not only his: "All my work has been collective and that's why I've done it." In addition, he has not lost the desire to work; he has acknowledged that "with the Basque language, new fields still have to be worked". But he has shown his hope, finishing with some words from Lete: "From the very trunk in which we believe, others will be created."
Works and juries
A total of 48 works have been presented at the 2010 CAF-Elhuyar awards. 27 in the category of general dissemination articles, 6 in the category of articles based on the author's thesis, 11 in the category of scientific journalism and 4 in the category of scientific narratives aimed at young people.
The jury has been composed of nine people:
- Itziar Alkorta, professor of Civil Law and director of bioetikaTxema Pitarke, director of CIC NanoGUNE Juan Ignacio Pérez Iglesias, journalist of the Chair of Scientific Culture of the UPV-EHU Rosa Díez Urrestarazu, head of contents of ETB1 Txema Ramirez
- Josu Wali o, project manager of the Elhuyar Foundation and writer of short stories for young people.
All the awarded works will be published in the May 2011 issue of the magazine Elhuyar Zientzia eta Teknologia, compiled in a special supplement.
Listen to the interviews of Norteko Ferrokarrill: J.M Rivadeney , N. Aldanondo , X. Martín, A. Lasa.
See Teknopolis report on the prize
Gai honi buruzko eduki gehiago
Elhuyarrek garatutako teknologia
