News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Oct-2026 08:16 ET (29-Oct-2026 12:16 GMT/UTC)

29-Oct-2020

 

Tube-dwelling anemone toxins have pharmacological potential, mapping study shows

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

Analysis identified 525 genes encoding proteins that act on the nervous system, cardiovascular system and cell walls. One of the molecules proved effective against cancer cells in preliminary test results.

Journal

Marine Drugs

Funder

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

28-Oct-2020

 

Brazilian researchers discover how muscle regenerates after exercise

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

Adaptation of muscle tissue to aerobic exercise alters the metabolism of muscle stem cells, helping them recover from injury. Findings may contribute to treatment of cachexia, sarcopenia and other conditions associated with lean mass loss.

Funder

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

27-Oct-2020

 

Study reveals factors that can make placenta less capable of protecting fetus from zika

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

Findings reported by Brazilian researchers in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases help explain why only some babies whose mothers are infected during pregnancy are born with microcephaly and other anomalies.

Journal

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Funder

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

26-Oct-2020

   

The Darwinian diet: You are what you eat

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Ant farmers in tropical forests respond to the nutritional needs of their fungus gardens. And just as in human agriculture, the needs of each partner become more specialized as the relationship evolves.

Journal

Nature Ecology & Evolution

26-Oct-2020

 

Modern computational tools may open a new era for fossil pollen research

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

By integrating machine-learning technology with high-resolution imaging, scientists are improving the taxonomic resolution of fossil pollen identifications and greatly enhancing the use of pollen data in ecological and evolutionary research.

Funder

National Science Foundation grants NSF-DBI-Advances in Bioinformatics and NSF-IIS-Information and Intelligent Systems

23-Oct-2020

 

Regenerated forests offset 12% of carbon emissions in Brazilian Amazon in 33 years

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

A study quantified the size and age of the forests that grow naturally in degraded and abandoned areas, creating 131 benchmark maps for Brazil. The Amazon has the most restored forests and the Atlantic Rainforest biome has the oldest.

Journal

Scientific Data

Funder

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

22-Oct-2020

 

Aerial images detect and track food security threats for millions of African farmers

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

New research shows how a combination of imagery from mobile phones, drones and satellites can be used to clamp down on banana threats. The images of varying resolutions are fed into a platform 'trained' through machine learning to identify banana crops and analyze threats with 97% overall accuracy.

Journal

ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

22-Oct-2020

The next generation of biodiversity conservation targets must aim higher than ever

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

Writing this week in Science, 40 researchers argue for a set of holistic actions for new biodiversity goals that are unambiguously clear, sufficiently ambitious, and based on the best knowledge available. Most importantly, the goals need to aim higher if they are to be successful in the face of worsening trends for the climate and life on Earth.

Journal

Science

22-Oct-2020

 

DNA in fringe-lipped bat poop reveals unexpected eating habits

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

By examining the poop of the fringe-lipped bat (Trachops cirrhosus), a team at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) encountered surprising results about its eating habits and foraging abilities.

Journal

Behavioral Ecology

Funder

P.E.O. Scholars Award, The Smithsonian Institution, the National Science Foundation DDIG #1210655

21-Oct-2020

 

Word graph analysis confirms that dream report structure varies according to sleep stage

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

Study by Brazilian and South African researchers is the first to prove, using a graph analysis tool, that REM dream narratives tend to be more complex and connected than reports of non-REM dreams.

Journal

PLOS One

Funder

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