News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 30-Oct-2026 09:17 ET (30-Oct-2026 13:17 GMT/UTC)

14-May-2009

 

Andes Mountains are older than previously believed

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Much is known about the rise of the central Andes mountains, but a new study of the eastern Andes in Colombia indicates that mountain building began much earlier there.

Journal

Geological Society of America Bulletin

Funder

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, German Academic Exchange Service, Instituto Colombiano de Petroleo, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Potsdam University

4-May-2009

 

First jaguar photo taken at Smithsonian Research Station in Panama

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Business Announcement

The first photo of a jaguar on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, home of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's premier tropical biology research station was taken on April 20, 2009.

20-Apr-2009

 

Live-in domestics: Mites as maids in tropical rainforest sweat bee nests

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Mites not only inhabit the dust bunnies under your bed, they also occupy the nests of tropical sweat bees where they keep fungi in check. Bees and their young are healthier when mites live-in, report researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and the University of Texas at Austin.

2-Apr-2009

   

Food security for leaf-cutting ants: Workers and their fungus garden reject endophyte invaders

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New diseases affect human survival and food security, especially as population density climbs. Leaf-cutting ants, one of a few groups of social insects to cultivate crops and live in dense colonies, harvest plant material to fertilize underground fungal gardens. New results from the Smithsonian show that both the ants and their fungal crop actively combat fungi coming into the nest inside leaves.

Funder

National Science Foundation, American Association of University Women, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, World Cacao Foundation

24-Mar-2009

 

Smithsonian scientist warns that palm oil development may threaten Amazon

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Oil palm cultivation drives forest destruction across Southeast Asia. Proposed change in Brazil's legislation, new infrastructure and the influence of foreign agro-industrial firms in the region, may create a similar situation in the Amazon.

Journal

Tropical Conservation Science

13-Mar-2009

First successful transvaginal nephrectomy performed using advanced surgical concepts' tri-port

Instituto Medico La Floresta
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Dr. Rene Sotelo performs the world's first successful live human transvaginal nephrectomy using Advanced Surgical Concepts' unique Tri-port access port.

19-Feb-2009

Cleaning the atmosphere of carbon: African forests out of balance

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Carbon held in African forests is on the rise, but there's no simple explanation. The two most likely explanations are that forests are responding to high atmospheric carbon dioxide or that they are recovering from a previous natural or human-induced disturbance.

Journal

Nature

Funder

HSBC Climate Partnership

13-Feb-2009

AAAS Symposium: Emerging threats to tropical, temperate and ocean ecosystems

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Three conservation scientists describe new threats and research needs for tropical, temperate and ocean ecosystems.

Meeting

2009 AAAS Annual Meeting

4-Feb-2009

World's largest snake discovered in fossilized rainforest

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New snake species described in the journal Nature based on vertebra from excavations in Colombia. Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the world's largest snake, was more than 42 feet long and weighed over a ton.

Journal

Nature

Funder

Cerrejon Coal Mine, Florida Museum of Natural History, National Science Foundation, Banco de Colombia, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Geological Society of America, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

30-Jan-2009

Smithsonian scientists receive coveted BBVA Ecology and Conservation Award

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Grant and Award Announcement

Leaders in tropical biology and conservation, William F. Laurance and Thomas E. Lovejoy, have won the 2008 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology, announced on Jan. 30, 2009, in Madrid, Spain.

Funder

BBVA Foundation