News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 18-Aug-2025 08:11 ET (18-Aug-2025 12:11 GMT/UTC)

13-Dec-2019

The wild relatives of major vegetables, needed for climate resilience, are in danger

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

The genes that make crop wild relatives robust have the potential to make their cultivated cousins -- our food plants -- better prepared for a harsh climate future. But a series of new research papers show these critical plants are imperiled.

Journal

Plants People Planet

12-Dec-2019

Beyond 'shovelomics': Growing cassava in the air helps study the plant's mysterious roots

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

Scientists at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture grew cassava in the air -- using a technique called aeroponics -- to better understand the root growth of one of the world's hardiest staple crops.

Journal

Plant Methods

11-Dec-2019

Study to help manage shark populations in Pacific Panama

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study in Pacific Panama identifies 11 potential nursery areas of locally common and migratory sharks, which could support shark conservation efforts in the region.

Funder

Tecnología e Innovación de Panamá (SENACYT), Panalang-Union Group, Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Sistema Nacional de Investigación de Panamá

10-Dec-2019

Researchers show how opportunistic bacterium defeats competitors

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

The researchers discovered that Stenotrophomonas maltophilia uses a secretion system that produces a cocktail of toxins and injects them into other microorganisms with which it competes for space and food.

Journal

PLOS Pathogens

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

4-Dec-2019

Contamination by metals can increase metabolic stress in mussels

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

The researchers propose that this evidence should be used as input to public policy with the aim of mitigating the impacts of human activities on coastal and marine ecosystems.

Journal

Marine Pollution Bulletin

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

2-Dec-2019

New clues about the origins of familial forms of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

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

A Brazilian study made important progress in understanding the accumulation of one of the proteins involved in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Scientists were able to gain insight into the interaction between normal and mutant forms of a protein known as superoxide dismutase 1 (Sod1). The process alters protein accumulation in the cell, but also impairs the function of Sod1 protein, thus contributing to the development of the disease.

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

2-Dec-2019

Mechanism that triggers the inflammatory process by Mayaro virus is discovered

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

A Brazilian team at FAPESP-supported Center for Research on Inflammatory Diseases identified the strategy used by immune cells to combat the pathogen Mayaro virus, which causes symptoms similar to those of chikungunya fever.

Journal

PLOS Pathogens

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

2-Dec-2019

Most complete commercial sugarcane genome sequence has been assembled

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

Based on the information obtained from this latest whole-genome sequencing effort, researchers at the USP are developing tools for the genetic improvement of sugarcane and testing several candidate genes in Genetically Modified (GM) plants.

Journal

GigaScience

28-Nov-2019

Unexpected pattern of fish species richness found in the Amazon Basin

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

International collaboration results in largest-ever inventory of Amazon fish fauna. Data will help estimate the risk of impacts related to the construction of dams and waterways as well as deforestation, mining and climate change.

Journal

Science Advances

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

27-Nov-2019

New fossil shrimp species from Colombia helps fill 160 million-year gap

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new fossil species of comma shrimp, exceptionally preserved in mid-Cretaceous rocks of the Colombian Andes, allowed scientists to fill a 160 million-year gap in the evolution of these crustaceans.

Funder

Fondo Corrigan-ACGGP-ARES, NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, Andrew Stewart Memorial Graduate Prize, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council/Canada Graduate Scholarships, University of Alberta President's, Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship