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News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 28-Oct-2026 19:16 ET (28-Oct-2026 23:16 GMT/UTC)

Research project analyzes medical, nutritional and environmental applications of new Antarctic bacteria

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

Discovered by Uruguayan scientists in 2013, two psychrophilic (cold-adapted) species have been experimented with since 2018 by a partnership between IIBCE in Montevideo and the University of São Paulo in Brazil.

Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Toxins are detected in samples of curd cheese and artisan mozzarella in Brazil

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

An analysis conducted at the University of São Paulo showed that no sample exceeded the recommended limit for aflatoxin M1, a contaminant of fungal origin considered carcinogenic. Nevertheless, the researchers warn of the need to demand best practices in dairy production.

Journal: Toxins
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

In resistance training, focusing on load or number of repetitions leads to same muscle growth

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

A study by researchers at the State University of Campinas showed that although the two types of training produce similar metabolic stress, muscle activation is different.

Journal: Metabolites
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Scientists from the Global South innovate to track ongoing amphibian pandemic

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists from India, Panama and Australia collaborated in the development and validation of an assay that could be used to diagnose Indian strains of the amphibian chytrid fungus that were not detected by previous tests. The novel assay also works for other better-known strains from other parts of the world, such as the one present in Panama.

Journal: Transboundary and Emerging Diseases
Funder: University Grants Commission, Central Zoo Authority, Australian Academy of Science, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, India, Peter Schweinsberg, Rutgers University

Leishmania parasite manipulates organism’s defense system to continue replicating, study shows

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

The findings of the study reported in the article offer hope for the development of novel treatments for the disease. Some 30,000 new cases of leishmaniasis are notified annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), many of them in Brazil, and there are no specific medications or vaccines to combat the disease.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Study points out errors in illustrations of one of the most famous scientific experiments

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

Described by Benjamin Franklin in the mid-eighteenth century, the kite experiment was an important step toward our modern understanding of electricity, but the pictures that popularized this episode are full of inaccuracies.

Journal: Science & Education
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

How good is the data for tracking countries' agricultural greenhouse gas emissions?

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

Limited accuracy and transparency of national greenhouse gas emission inventories are curbing climate action, especially in the agriculture and land use sector.

Journal: Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

Study reveals novel action mechanism of corticosteroids in combating inflammation caused by COVID-19

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

Brazilian researchers observed an increase in production of endocannabinoid, a natural anti-inflammatory neurotransmitter, in COVID-19 patients given glucocorticoids. The discovery points to possibilities of novel treatments for various inflammatory and neurological diseases.

Journal: Viruses
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Sustainable agriculture is building peace in Colombia

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

In areas of Colombia once controlled by guerillas, conflicts over land continue and deforestation has risen considerably. But it’s in these same areas that researchers have found that farmers implementing sustainable land use systems, like agroforestry driven by cocoa (one of the key ingredients of chocolate), has contributed to reducing conflicts.

Journal: PLOS Climate

Brazilian researchers test technique that can make analysis of male fertility potential more accurate

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

Scientists at São Paulo State University repurposed a device already used to analyze bovine reproductive cells to observe different characteristics of human sperm simultaneously.

Journal: Reproductive Toxicology
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo