News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Jun-2025 12:10 ET (21-Jun-2025 16:10 GMT/UTC)

16-Apr-2021

Scientists call for climate projections as part of more robust biodiversity conservation

The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Research in the Peruvian Andes highlights critical climate threats to montane forests and urges for current conservation plans to take climate projections into account.

Journal

Forests

16-Apr-2021

Researchers revise indicator of mobility limitation in older adults

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The new cutoff values for a metric widely used by geriatricians, physical therapists and nutritionists are more accurate, facilitate early diagnosis and contribute to preventive treatment.

Journal

Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

15-Apr-2021

Microorganisms on the Rio Grande Rise are a basis for life and a possible origin of metals

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers conducted the first large-scale survey of the microbiota present in the seamount's ferromanganese crusts, describing bacteria and archaea involved in the nutrient cycle and formation of metals. Brazil has mineral exploration rights to the Rise, but mining there will have a major environmental impact.

Journal

Microbial Ecology

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

14-Apr-2021

Bacteria that cause periodontitis are transmitted from parents to children

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study led by researchers at the University of Campinas reinforces the need for prevention and follow-up treatment starting in early childhood to avoid development of this inflammatory disease of the gums.

Journal

Scientific Reports

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

13-Apr-2021

Airborne laser scanning of gaps in Amazon rainforest helps explain tree mortality

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The researchers concluded that water stress, soil fertility and human-induced forest degradation cause gaps in the world's largest tropical forest.

Journal

Scientific Reports

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

7-Apr-2021

Study shows why crossing obstacles is difficult for patients with Parkinson's disease

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The scientists detected incapacities related to gait timing and foot placement. Their discoveries serve as a basis for the development of an exercise protocol that mitigates the difficulty.

Journal

Gait & Posture

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

6-Apr-2021

COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse gains made on Sustainable Development Goal 1 and 2

The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers studying the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on food production among smallholder bean farmers in 11 countries found multiple food security threats.

Journal

Global Food Security

5-Apr-2021

Researchers develop a technique to produce transplantable livers in the laboratory

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An extracellular matrix obtained by controlled decellularization is used to reconstruct the liver with human-like characteristics

Journal

Materials Science and Engineering C

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

1-Apr-2021

Flowers!

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The asteroid that took out the dinosaurs left the planet in darkness. What did rainforests in South America look like before the impact, and how did they change as a result?

Journal

Science

Funder

STRI-Earl S. Tupper fellowship, Gregory D. and Jennifer Walston Johnson, 1923 Fund, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Swiss Nation, National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Trop. Res. Inst., Geological Society of America grad research grant, Anders Foundation

31-Mar-2021

Urban growth creates distortions between providers and receivers of ecosystem services

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers analyzed socioeconomic and environmental indicators for the 180 municipalities in the mega-region around São Paulo state capital, detecting environmental inequity and dependency.

Journal

Journal of Cleaner Production

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab