News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 29-Oct-2026 17:16 ET (29-Oct-2026 21:16 GMT/UTC)

28-Apr-2020

 

Startups develop system that detects fever remotely in people near hospital front desks

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

AI-based technology developed by a startup supported by FAPESP is in use at Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital, in São Paulo, to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission.

Funder

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

28-Apr-2020

 

White-faced capuchin monkeys come down from the trees on Panama's Coiba Island

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An arboreal lifestyle is thought to be central to primate origins, and most extant primate species still live in the trees. Nonetheless, terrestrial locomotion is a widespread adaptation that has arisen repeatedly within the primate lineage. The absence of terrestriality among the New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) is thus notable and raises questions about the ecological pressures that constrain the expansion of platyrrhines into terrestrial niches.

Journal

Journal of Human Evolution

24-Apr-2020

Highly concentrated aqueous electrolytes could replace solvents used in batteries

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

The review article by researchers at the University of São Paulo shows the advantages of this technological alternative, which is nontoxic and much cheaper than other methods.

Journal

Current Opinion in Electrochemistry

Funder

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

24-Apr-2020

 

Startup supported by FAPESP will supply mechanical ventilators to Brazil's Health Ministry

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

Based in São Paulo, Magnamed will produce 6,500 ventilators by August for use in treating COVID-19 patients, working in partnership with a pool of leading Brazilian and multinational corporations.

Funder

About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

23-Apr-2020

 

Sensor detects biomarker of early-stage multiple sclerosis

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

Diagnostic strategy developed by Brazilian researchers can also be used to distinguish MS from neuromyelitis optica, another demyelinating disorder. The two diseases have similar symptoms but must be treated differently.

Journal

Ultramicroscopy

Funder

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

17-Apr-2020

Two novel viruses identified in Brazilian patients with suspected dengue

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

Species never before found in humans described in PLOS ONE belong to the genera Ambidensovirus and Chapparvovirus. Researchers do not yet know if they can cause disease.

Journal

PLOS One

Funder

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

16-Apr-2020

 

How did an ancient plant from Latin America become Asia's second-most-important cash crop?

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

In recent decades, cassava yields in Asia have increased dramatically and industry is growing bitter varieties for starch, biofuels and a variety of other ingredients. In Southeast Asia, only sugarcane and rice surpass cassava in total tonnage produced. Some 8 million farmers from India to China depend on the crop for food and income.

Journal

Breeding Science

7-Apr-2020

 

54.8% of COVID-19 cases imported to Brazil by March 5 came from Italy

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

In contrast with China and other countries where the disease spread slowly, in Brazil more than 300 people started the epidemic. Most were passengers flying in from Italy.

Journal

Journal of Travel Medicine

Funder

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

6-Apr-2020

One-third of younger age groups in northwestern São Paulo lack antibodies against measles

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

A population study conducted at a regional center of the state of São Paulo (Brazil) showed that 32.9% of subjects under 40 had no immunity against the disease, compared with only 1% in those over 50.

Journal

Scientific Reports

Funder

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

6-Apr-2020

 

The ocean responds to a warming planet

Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The oceans help buffer the Earth from climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide and heat at the surface and transporting it to the deep ocean. Using data from two open-ocean research programs at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, new research published in Nature Climate Change indicates the North Atlantic Subtropical Mode Water, an upper ocean water mass, is shrinking in a changing climate and becoming a less efficient sink for heat and carbon dioxide.

Journal

Nature Climate Change