Biblioteca da FCUL

12/10/2026

André Moitinho d'Almeida da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa explica como dados da missão Gaia permitiram detetar o maior buraco negro de origem estelar conhecido na nossa galáxia.

https://www.90segundosdeciencia.pt/episodes/ep-2326-andre-almeida/ ‎

08/10/2026

Jorge Buescu da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa explica-nos a relevância e o alcance da Hipótese de Riemann, um dos “Problemas do Milénio”.

https://www.90segundosdeciencia.pt/episodes/ep-2321-jorge-buescu/

07/10/2026

Consulta o livro de Henri Kagan disponível na Biblioteca - "Organic stereochemistry"
https://catalogo-fc.biblioteca.ulisboa.pt/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=1349805&q=Henri%20Kagan

BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2026 in Chemistry to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.”

Some molecules, such as amino acids, exist as two variants that are each other’s mirror image. However, living organisms only contain one of these mirror images. How chemical asymmetry such as this could have emerged was long a mystery to chemists. Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2026 for discovering a solution to this puzzle.

Life’s chemistry is what chemists call homochiral, after the Greek words for “same” and “hand”. Like hands, all amino acids exist as two mirrored variants, but only one of them is found in the proteins in your cells. The other is rarely found in nature.

For a long time, chemists wondered how homochirality can emerge. When they began to experiment with chemical reactions that can form two mirrored molecules, they always obtained equal proportions of both in their test tubes. However, chemists strived to produce only one of these mirror images, because in the development of molecules that will interact with living beings – such as in pharmaceuticals – only one mirror image will have the desired effect.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2026 recognises discoveries that have enabled chemists to drive chemical reactions that lead to homochirality.

Henri Kagan took the first decisive step in 1986, when he discovered a new way of manipulating chemical reactions. This allowed him to create a greater excess of one of the mirror images than had previously been thought possible.

Kenso Soai took the next step. In 1995, a key publication describes how he designed the first ever chemical reaction that had the potential to be homochiral. In 2003, he finally succeeded. He presented a reaction in which only one of the two possible mirror images was formed. Other than life itself, no one had previously achieved this feat.

Thanks to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai, we now know how homochirality can emerge. Their discoveries have been decisive for chemists who design reactions for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.

Learn more
Press release: https://bit.ly/4gWk4Qh
Popular information: https://bit.ly/4iYIScY
Advanced information: https://bit.ly/4xQTcs8

06/10/2026

BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics to Francis Halzen “for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.”

Francis Halzen realised that ice at the South Pole could be used to track particles known as neutrinos. His vision and scientific leadership have been fundamental for the IceCube Neutrino Observatory – a cubic kilometre of ice that is equipped with light sensors. Using IceCube, researchers can capture neutrinos from extremely energy-rich processes in the distant universe.

Neutrinos are everywhere, but they do not make themselves known. They pass all the way through the Earth and through our bodies without us noticing. Very rarely, a single neutrino will interact with an atomic nucleus, which makes it possible for someone with the right equipment to discover them.

Scientists have long known that the cosmos contains natural particle accelerators, which fire out particles with energies up to a million times more than can be achieved in laboratories on Earth. Much about these sources is mysterious: what are they, where are they, and what are the main processes inside them?

Neutrinos with extremely high energies are created in the same environments as other types of particles. However, unlike other particles, neutrinos reach us without changing direction or losing energy. This means they can provide information that is not available in any other way.

Francis Halzen first presented his vision for capturing neutrinos at the South Pole in 1988. When a neutrino collides with an atomic nucleus, it produces a flash of light that can be tracked by sensors in the clear glacial ice. The South Pole’s ice has many advantages, as it is free from various types of interference and the area is geologically stable, with no earthquakes. Halzen and his idea soon gained the support of other researchers and, just a few years later, preliminary testing was conducted on sensors in ice.

Cosmic neutrinos with extremely high energies are very rare, so an enormous volume of ice is needed to observe an adequate number of collisions. IceCube covers an entire cubic kilometre and was finished in 2011. Researchers soon discovered the first high-energy neutrinos and, a few years later, could publish their discovery of neutrinos that must originate far outside our solar system. The search for the universe’s neutrino sources could begin in earnest.

The neutrino interactions that are continuously collected by IceCube will provide researchers with novel knowledge about the violent settings in which high-energy neutrinos can be created – and could even reveal previously unknown cosmic phenomena.

Learn more
Press release: https://bit.ly/4xYId01
Popular information: https://bit.ly/3T69GgT
Advanced information: https://bit.ly/46V5owe

02/10/2026

Mostra bibliográfica sobre Geodiversidade

29/09/2026

Nova obra, disponível de forma gratuita, inclui todas as crónicas e entrevistas ligadas à série "Guardiões das Flores", publicada na Wilder em parceria com o projeto PolinizAÇÃO.

28/09/2026

24/09/2026

NOITE EUROPEIA DOS INVESTIGADORES – NEI Lisboa 🔬

🦖🦴 Viagem ao Jurássico: decifrar ecossistemas através de pegadas e ossos fossilizados de dinossáurios

Na NEI, viaja milhões de anos no tempo e descobre como os paleontólogos usam pegadas, ossos fossilizados e rochas para reconstruir os ecossistemas do Jurássico! 🌍🔍

Conhece algumas das técnicas utilizadas na investigação paleontológica, desde modelos 3D a análises que permitem compreender a locomoção, o comportamento e a ecologia dos dinossáurios.

🦕 Na componente prática, interpreta pegadas, distingue dinossáurios carnívoros de herbívoros, estima o seu tamanho e velocidade e experimenta criar pegadas em diferentes tipos de solo.

🔬 Atividade promovida pelo

📅 25 de setembro | 17h00 às 24h00

📍 Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência da Universidade de Lisboa

Esta é apenas uma das mais de 120 atividades que podes descobrir ao longo da noite no Museu!

Consulta o programa completo e participa na Noite Europeia dos Investigadores. 👉 https://noitedosinvestigadores.org/progr.../programa-lisboa/

24/09/2026

🌼📖 Já está disponível o livro digital “Guardiões das Flores: O elo invisível entre os polinizadores e a vida na Terra”!

Foi hoje lançado pela Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra o novo livro digital “Guardiões das Flores”, uma obra que reúne e dá nova vida à série de crónicas publicada na Wilder - rewilding your days, entre dezembro de 2024 e outubro de 2025, numa colaboração com o projeto PolinizAÇÃO.

🐝 Ao longo de 13 crónicas, investigadores, naturalistas, ecólogos, biólogos, entomólogos e botânicos dão a conhecer a extraordinária diversidade dos nossos polinizadores, a importância da polinização, as coleções científicas e a monitorização, as ameaças que estes animais enfrentam e, sobretudo, o que podemos fazer para os proteger.

👥 No total, o livro envolve 37 autores, ligados a mais de 20 instituições, centros de investigação, universidades, museus, associações, redes e organismos públicos, refletindo a diversidade e a dimensão da comunidade que, em Portugal, estuda e trabalha pela conservação dos polinizadores.

🔬 E porque a ciência também é feita de pessoas, a obra inclui ainda uma série de retratos e entrevistas a especialistas, onde descobrimos os seus percursos, o que investigam, como começaram e as perguntas que ainda os movem.

🌱 Este livro é também mais um resultado do projeto PolinizAÇÃO, coordenado pelo Centre for Functional Ecology - Science for People & the Planet, da Universidade de Coimbra, em articulação com o Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas, I.P. e com a participação da polli.NET, e financiado pelo Fundo Ambiental. A série “Guardiões das Flores” nasceu precisamente com o objetivo de aproximar a sociedade do fascinante mundo dos polinizadores, tornando o conhecimento científico acessível sem perder o rigor.

📚 Coordenado por Carolina Caetano, João Loureiro e Inês Sequeira, “Guardiões das Flores” é, acima de tudo, um convite a conhecer melhor estes pequenos grandes protagonistas da natureza e as pessoas que os estudam e protegem.

💚 Porque conhecer é também o primeiro passo para conservar.

🔗 O livro está disponível gratuitamente em formato digital na Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra: https://monographs.uc.pt/iuc/catalog/book/593

14/09/2026