News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 19-Jun-2025 13:10 ET (19-Jun-2025 17:10 GMT/UTC)

20-Oct-2021

Crop diversity is needed today for tomorrow’s food security and nutrition

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

Although scientists have been ringing bells for more than 100 years about the decline of crop diversity in agriculture, questions about the magnitude, causes, and significance of this loss remain unanswered.

Journal

New Phytologist

19-Oct-2021

Climate change caused the devastating floods in part of Brazilian´s Southeast region, study says

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

Torrential rain made over 90,000 people homeless in Minas Gerais state, where the probability of far higher volumes of rain than expected has increased 70% owing to industrialization and global warming.

Journal

Climate Resilience and Sustainability

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

15-Oct-2021

Only one in four Western Roman emperors died of natural causes

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

In a study of the underlying mathematical pattern associated with the reign of the Caesars, researchers at a FAPESP-supported center concluded that the chances of survival obeyed the 80/20 rule seen in many phenomena, from earthquake magnitudes to numbers of followers on social media.

Journal

Royal Society Open Science

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

14-Oct-2021

Climate change will alter functioning of marine microbial communities, study shows

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

Computer simulations suggested that plankton communities at the poles will be particularly badly damaged by the rise in temperature, while in temperate zones they will suffer from a reduced flow of nutrients and in the tropics from increased salinity.

Journal

Science Advances

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

13-Oct-2021

Children repeatedly exposed to malaria from birth are more likely to be anemic by the age of two

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

The conclusion was published by Brazilian researchers in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. They followed 1,539 children in a part of Amazonia that accounts for 18% of infections by Plasmodium vivax in Brazil.

Journal

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

12-Oct-2021

Engineering drought-resistant plants may be more difficult than it seems

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The adaptation of certain plants to drought and high temperatures involves a fundamental reprogramming of their metabolism, not just a simple adjustment that can be made by regular plants.

Journal

New Phytologist

Funder

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Oxford Martin School, Oxford University

8-Oct-2021

COVID-19 leads to African agricultural innovation

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

COVID-19's disruption on harvests, planting and the availability of externally sourced fertilizers and other inputs in sub-Saharan Africa spurred farmers to adopt new ways of doing business.

Journal

Advances in Food Security and Sustainability

5-Oct-2021

Study: COVID-19 affects transplant recipients differently, possible therapeutic approach suggested

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

Liver recipients who contracted SARS-CoV-2 recovered faster and with less inflammation than heart or kidney recipients, according to researchers at the University of São Paulo. The reason may have to do with differing amounts and types of immunosuppressants, the drugs used to prevent organ rejection

Journal

Transplantology

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

1-Oct-2021

Protein that helps zika virus invade cells could be target for novel antivirals

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

A study by Brazilian researchers evidenced a correlation between post-zika neurological complications and high levels of Gas6, a protein that facilitates viral replication.

Journal

Brain Behavior and Immunity

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

1-Oct-2021

In Brazilian Amazon, savannization and climate change will expose 12 million to lethal heat stress

Fiocruz Piauí
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A landmark study examining extreme impacts of forest loss on human health finds a threshold for human survival. By 2100, roughly 12 million Brazilians may be exposed to extreme risk of heat stress and vulnerable populations could be most severely impacted.

Journal

Communications Earth & Environment