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News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Dec-2025 23:11 ET (24-Dec-2025 04:11 GMT/UTC)

Industrial waste is reused to produce alternatives to plastic

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

Researchers at São Paulo State University reused bacterial cellulose scraps usually thrown away by manufacturers of wound dressings to make strong biodegradable film for food packaging

Journal: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Funder: São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

America's crop cousins are numerous, imperiled, and more needed than ever

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

A new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for the first time outlines how poorly protected these plants are: More than half of the 600 plants assessed in the study may be endangered in their natural habitats, while only 7% are well represented in conservation repositories such as public gene banks and botanical gardens.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Virtual reality applied to rehabilitation for stroke and neurodegenerative disease patients

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

A study performed at one of the Research Centers supported by FAPESP resulted in development of a novel rehabilitation device. The article was recognized as outstanding by the 20th International Conference on Computational Science and its Applications

Funder: São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab
Meeting: 20th International Conference on Computational Science and its Applications

High-tech fixes for the food system could have unintended consequences

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

In a new analysis published in The Lancet Planetary Health, a team of scientists examines how technologies to fix the food system can have unanticipated impacts on global development goals.

Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health

The impact of the pandemic on the Brazilian labor market

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

Black people and women are worst-off - blacks because they mainly work in the informal sector and women because they are mainly considered non-essential workers.

Journal: Indian Journal of Labour Economics
Funder: São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

Caterpillars mimic leaves or offer rewards for protection by ants

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

Study reveals different forms of interaction between insect groups: while some caterpillar species have bodies covered with molecules identical to those of the plants they inhabit and are 'invisible' to ants, others offer ants nectar in exchange for protection from predators

Journal: Ecological Entomology
Funder: São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

One-two punch: Sea urchins stuck belly-up in low-oxygen hot water

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Low oxygen seawater (hypoxia) may be more stressful to reef organisms than high water temperatures and ocean acidity, which are usually considered the most serious stressors associated with global change. Researchers at the Smithsonian in Panama test all three by flipping sea urchins.

Journal: Frontiers in Marine Science

'Rambo root' could help with climate action, peace building and environmental issues

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

Planting cassava can help countries tackle key environmental and sustainable development concerns. The low-cost root crop, nicknamed 'Rambo root' for its rugged appearance and resilient attributes, produces the highest amount of calories per hectare in most tropical countries, can withstand increasing temperatures and thrives in poor soils.

Journal: Conservation Science and Practice
Funder: Nature Conservation and NuclearSafety - International Climate Initiative (IKI), International Climate Initiative, Federal Ministry for the Environment, 18_III_106_COL_A_Sustainable productive strategies

FAPESP-promoted webinar tackles challenges on vaccine distribution

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Meeting Announcement

Seventh edition of the FAPESP COVID-19 Research Webinars online seminar series will address the manufacturing and distribution logistics of the COVID-19 vaccine portfolio.

Meeting: FAPESP COVID-19 Research Webinars

Study can orient use of melatonin in the treatment of breast cancer

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

In an article published in the Journal of Pineal Research, researchers at São Paulo State University and collaborators describe a set of genes potentially regulated by the "sleep hormone" in some types of tumor

Journal: Journal of Pineal Research
Funder: São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab