News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 17-Dec-2025 18:12 ET (17-Dec-2025 23:12 GMT/UTC)

16-Feb-2023

Rural population in Brazil is underestimated and lacks political representation, scientists warn

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

A book chapter by researchers at the Federal University of the ABC shows that scant progress has been achieved in addressing the concentration of land tenure in Brazil since the return to civilian rule in 1985. For the authors, extreme inequality and a lack of public policies to combat it are the main causes of rural conflict and violence.

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

15-Feb-2023

Novel technique distinguishes between types of oral bone lesion based on MRI scan image texture

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

First study to identify pixel and voxel organizational parameters in MRI scans of two different (albeit similar) benign tumors may contribute to development of more accurate, less invasive diagnosis.

Journal

Scientific Reports

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

14-Feb-2023

Number of fires in Brazilian Amazon in August-September 2022 was highest since 2010

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

A Brazilian study identified more than 74,000 active fires in the period. They were not mainly due to extreme drought, the foremost cause of the spate of forest fires seen in 2010. Half of the Amazon is typically vulnerable to fire in the two-month period analyzed. Human action was the main cause of the recent destruction.

Journal

Nature Ecology & Evolution

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

13-Feb-2023

Snakes are distributed in the Chaco in accordance with adaptations to environment, study shows

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

The Banded pampas snake, Phimophis vittatus, lives in the dry part of the Paraguayan Chaco. It has fossorial habits, as evidenced by its reduced eyes and modified rostral scale (snout), which is shaped like an upturned spade and adapted for burrowing.

Journal

Ecology and Evolution

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

9-Feb-2023

São Paulo to host Advanced School on Multi-Messenger Astrophysics

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

The event will bring together world-renowned researchers to expand on this emerging new area of astrophysics related to hidden aspects of extreme phenomena. Registrations are due on March 17.

9-Feb-2023

Biogas produced with waste from apple juice making can minimize use of fossil fuels in industry

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

A study by Brazilian researchers shows that the use of bioenergy avoids greenhouse gas emissions. Another benefit of their bioreactor is conversion of apple pomace into organic fertilizer.

Journal

Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

7-Feb-2023

Sugar consumption and early interruption of breastfeeding are risk factors for dental caries in infancy

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

In a Brazilian study involving 800 children, researchers found that extended breastfeeding protects the baby’s teeth as long as it is not given sugary food.

Journal

Community Dentistry And Oral Epidemiology

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

6-Feb-2023

Children of overprotective parents tend to live less, study suggests

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

Based on an analysis of data for nearly 1,000 participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing born in the 1950s and 1960s, researchers concluded that children’s relationships with parents influence longevity, although the impact is different for men and women.

Journal

Scientific Reports

6-Feb-2023

São Paulo to host advanced school in Cryogenic Electron Microscopy

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

Topics that will be covered include processing of high-resolution image data, single particle analysis, and in-cell structural biology by cryo electron tomography (Cryo-TM). Applications are due on March 01, 2023.

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

5-Feb-2023

Probably not for sex

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Why do matador bugs wave bright flags on their hind legs? The usual explanation for showoffs in nature is sexual selection, but that’s not it.

Journal

Journal of Insect Behavior

Funder

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute