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News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 9-Nov-2025 01:11 ET (9-Nov-2025 06:11 GMT/UTC)

Horse hyperimmune antibody may help the fight against COVID-19, Brazilian study finds

Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Biologia Estrutural e Bioimagem (INBEB)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A Brazilian study has demonstrated that a hyperimmune antibody produced in horses may be an efficient approach to combat covid-19. Tests conducted in hamsters showed the ability of the treatment to reduce viral load in the pulmonary tissues, and to improve the animal clinical conditions. The neutralizing activity of the equine antibody cocktail has been proved to be high against the P.1 (Gamma) and P.2 variants.

Journal: iScience
Funder: Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation for Virus Network, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support in the State of Rio de Janeiro (Faperj), Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes), National Institute of Science and Technology for Structural Biology and Bioimaging (INBEB)

Opportunistic bacterium increases its virulence by ‘poaching’ zinc and iron from hosts

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

Researchers at the University of São Paulo have unraveled the strategy used by Chromobacterium violaceum, a pathogen found in water and soil in tropical and subtropical regions, to increase its capacity to replicate and infect host organisms. The discovery offers a route for the development of novel therapies.

Journal: Infection and Immunity
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences joins ASU’s Global Futures Lab

Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences
Business Announcement

In a major development in the bid to deepen the understanding of the role that the ocean plays in climate science, Arizona State University (ASU) President Michael Crow announced today that ASU, a leading research university, has established a partnership with the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), one of the longest-serving research institutes dedicated to studying ocean processes in the Western Hemisphere.

Aquatic fungus has already wiped amphibians off the map and now threatens survival of terrestrial frogs

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

A study detected unprecedented mortality in the Atlantic Rainforest among tiny frogs that live on land, with signs of infection by chytrid fungus. The episode coincided with an atypical period of drought, which may have forced the animals to seek water in streams where the pathogen is abundant.

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

Unique dinosaur-era fossil bridges a gap in the evolution of crabs

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The oldest and most complete fossil crab ever discovered suggests that these animals ventured onto land at least 25 to 50 million years earlier than previously thought

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, U.S. National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Geographic Society, 111 project (China), Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities (China), Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies

Citizen scientists help assure quality of coastal biodiversity monitoring

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

A study conducted in the port city of Santos (Brazil) by researchers at the Federal University of São Paulo shows collaboration between civil society and academia achieving progress toward the goals of the UN Ocean Decade.

Journal: Frontiers in Marine Science
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

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

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

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

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