A nanorobot which defends a single cell against dangers such as the AIDS virus or H1N1 is the main character of a video game about molecular biology that is being developed by the Universidad Santo Tomas, in Chile.

Kokori, which means “collective game” in Rapanui (the language spoken in Easter Island), is one of six projects that won 2.3 million dollars in a contest about applying informative technology for educational purposes, organized by the National Commission of Scientific and Technological Research.

Of the six projects, Kokori, which uses information taught at the high school level biology, won $424,000.

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For thousands of years, the native Aymara people have been harvesting scarcely fallen raindrops along the Andean foothills in northern Chile by capturing the rainwater in nets for irrigation and drinking purposes. The people in this region, in and around the Atacama desert, are accustomed to fragile ecosystems and an extremely dry climate. However, today, even in the fertile central and southern regions of Chile, there are noticeable tensions over water rights and water availability.

Presently, it is not as if there are times when nothing flows out of the tap here. Nor are the urban folks of Santiago running outside their homes with their own polypropylene mesh nets ready to catch any drop of rain that falls. However, a convergence of factors – an increase in population growth, perceptible changes in climate patterns, and competition for water resources between various industries and hydro power – have caused a national “war over water” of sorts to emerge at the forefront of national environmental, economic, and political discussions.
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“No doubts remain. Climate change is real and the build-up of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is increasingly at an alarming rate.” With these words, Rafael Quiroga, General Manager of Accion RSE, initiated the seminar “Corporate Strategic Management of Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions.” This is not another “green business” seminar from a European or North American city, it took place here — in Santiago, Chile.

The event brought together speakers from the Chilean private sector that gave concrete examples of their companies’ climate change and GHG management initiatives. First, it showed how Essbio, a water purification company, has been dealing with the ever-prescient and escalating challenges of decreasing water reserves due to climate change.  Second, it illustrated the emissions and energy reductions Xstrata Copper, a mining company, has committed to and the steps it has taken to minimize the release of contaminants in its industrial processes. Third, it explained what Natura cosmetics has done since 2007 to become a “carbon neutral” business by calculating all GHG emissions in the company’s supply chain, transportation, and production of its various cosmetics products, and purchasing the equivalent amount of CO2 tonnage in carbon credits on the international carbon markets.

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Chile is essentially a very long coast, with mountains in the back with nice people between the two that have set up the most stable state in Latin America. A great environment to install wind turbines. If you add to that the presence of enough local skilled workers, with a good safety culture – essential in the industry – that comes from the mining sector, and a good grid, then you would for sure assume that there are already plenty of wind farms up and running.

Well no. As of last December, only one was operational: a mere 18 MW owned by Endesa (of all utilities). The main reason of this seems to be the lack of a wind cartography.

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