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News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 13-Dec-2025 18:11 ET (13-Dec-2025 23:11 GMT/UTC)

Are tiny grazers the new hope for Caribbean reefs?

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Thirty years ago a mysterious disease wiped out long-spined black sea urchins across the Caribbean, leading to massive algal overgrowth that smothered already overfished coral reefs. Now, marine biologists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute report that smaller sea urchins and parrotfish may be taking the place of the large sea urchins, restoring the balance on degraded reefs.

Journal: Scientific Reports
Funder: Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Studies lead to use of melanin as material for bioelectronic devices

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

Researchers at São Paulo State University's School of Sciences (FC-UNESP) in Brazil have succeeded in developing a novel route to more rapidly synthesize and to enable the use of melanin, a polymeric compound that pigments the skin, eyes and hair of mammals and is considered one of the most promising materials for use in miniaturized implantable devices such as biosensors.

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

Genetic variants are associated with susceptibility to mouth and throat cancer

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

A number of genetic variants associated with susceptibility to oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer have been described in an international study published in Nature Genetics and coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and involved 40 research groups in Europe, the United States, and South America.

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

Predator invasion had devastating, long-term effects on native fish

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In 1969, 60 to 100 peacock bass imported from Colombia, were introduced into a pond in Panama for sport fishing. Several individuals escaped. By the early 1970s, they colonized the reservoir forming the main channel of the Panama Canal. Forty-five years later, native fish populations in the lake still have not recovered, Smithsonian reports.

Journal: Ecology
Funder: Panama's SNI, Panama's SENACYT, Fonds de Recherche Nature et Technologies -- Quebec, National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Distant phenomena influence climate in South America

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

Study suggests that anthropogenic factors will lead to a decrease in the number and duration of periods in which the tropical oceans collectively influence rainfall over southeastern South America.

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

Study finds capuchin monkeys produce sharp stone flakes similar to tools

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

In a study published in Nature, researchers describe that rock fragments produced unintentionally today by primates in Serra da Capivara National Park in Brazil resemble tools made deliberately 2.6 million years ago by ancestors of humans.

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

Study proposes new protocol for treatment of thalassemia

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

Brazilian scientists, in an article in the journal Blood, shows that administering the anti-hypertensive drug amlodipine in conjunction with conventional chelation therapy helps combat health problems caused by the buildup of iron in organs

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

Substance present in ayahuasca brew stimulates generation of human neural cells

D'Or Institute for Research and Education
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Human neural progenitors exposed to harmine, an alkaloid presented at the psychotropic plant decoction ayahuasca, led to a 70 percent increase in proliferation of these cells. The effect of generating new human neural cells involves the inhibition of DYRK1A, a gene that is over activated in patients with Down syndrome and Alzheimer's Disease. Thus harmine could have a potential neurogenesis role and possibly a therapeutic one over cognitive deficits.

Journal: PeerJ
Funder: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, and others, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Test created in Brazil can diagnose 416 viruses from tropical regions

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

Researchers from the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil have developed a platform that analyzes clinical samples from patients to diagnose infection by 416 viruses found in the world's tropical regions. The tool can be used to assist epidemiological surveillance by detecting pathogens with the potential to cause epidemics in humans.

Journal: PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Funder: São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

Untangling fibril formation and dissociation in Parkinson's disease

Publicase International
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study reveals the pathway into amyloid species formation and neurotoxic seeding mechanism leading to Parkinson's disease.

Journal: Scientific Reports
Funder: Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support, Ministry Of Health, National Institute of Science and Technology for Structural Biology and Bioimaging, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development