Ugandans and Kenyans in poor urban households are willing to pay a premium for more nutritious flour, new research shows. The study, led by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), addresses huge knowledge gaps on consumers in urban slums and their interest in buying motivated nutritionally enriched foods.

Research presents the detection of energy transfer from excited electrons to the crystal lattice on the femtosecond timescale. Knowledge could contribute to the development of materials that prolong the coherence time.

To better deal with climate stress, farmers in Colombia's maize-growing region of Córdoba needed information services that would help them decide what varieties to plant, when they should sow and how they should manage their crops. A consortium formed with the government, Colombia's National Cereals and Legumes Federation (FENALCE), and big-data scientists at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). The researchers used big-data tools, based on the data farmers helped collect. Yields increased substantially.

Two new symbiotic porcelain crab species have been described. One of them, from the South China Sea of Vietnam, inhabits the compact tube-like shelters built by the polychaete worm with other organisms. The other inhabits the intertidal vermetid snail formations in the Colombian Caribbean.

Researchers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the University of Virginia School of Medicine, USA, identified for the first time the initial steps of alpha-synuclein protein aggregates related to early onsets of hereditary Parkinson cases. The results may help the understanding of the early stages of the disease and how it develops over time.

Many farmers across sub-Saharan Africa try to coax crops out of sandy soils that are not ideal for holding water and nutrients. Traditional approaches would have them apply more fertilizers and use irrigation, but both require access to resources and infrastructure that many do not have. A relatively new technology modeled for eight African countries, and currently being tested in Zimbabwe, shows potential for improving harvests through increased water retention and accumulation of organic material.

Compound inhibits key enzymes, interrupting the parasite's lifecycle in human organisms and preventing transmission to vector insects. This discovery published in Science involved researchers funded by FAPESP.

Oxide plays a key role in cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases as well as cancer. Experiments reveal a hitherto unknown mechanism underlying the formation of nitroso thiols.