News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 17-Aug-2025 02:11 ET (17-Aug-2025 06:11 GMT/UTC)

27-Jun-2019

The world needs a global system to detect and halt the spread of emerging crop diseases

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

Climate change and global trade drive the spread, emergence, and re-emergence of crop disease, and containment action is often inefficient, especially in low-income countries. A Global Surveillance System (GSS) to strengthen and interconnect crop biosecurity systems could go a long way to improving global food security, argues a team of experts in the June 28, 2019 issue of Science.

Journal

Science

Funder

BBSRC, Gatsby Charitable Foundation, BASF Plant Science GmbH, GIZ, Rockefeller Foundation

27-Jun-2019

Experiment reverses the direction of heat flow

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

A study led by Brazilian scientists used quantum correlations to make heat flow from a colder to a hotter medium without adding external energy, affording a deeper understanding of the second law of thermodynamics.

Journal

Nature Communications

26-Jun-2019

Genetically modified virus combats prostate cancer

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

In a study with mice, a gene therapy developed in Brazil kills cancer cells and avoids adverse side effects when combined with chemotherapy.

Journal

Gene Therapy

Funder

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

25-Jun-2019

Portable device can be used to diagnose eye disease remotely

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Business Announcement

An app operating the optical device sends images of the retina over the internet to Eyer Cloud, which stores and manages patient files.

Funder

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

24-Jun-2019

Researchers identify genes linked to sex differentiation in giant Amazon fish

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

Discoveries by Brazilian and German researchers may facilitate early sexing of pirarucu (arapaima) and its reproduction in captivity while also paving the way for genetic improvement.

Journal

Scientific Reports

Funder

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

19-Jun-2019

Climate change could affect symbiotic relationships between microorganisms and trees

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

An international research consortium mapped the global distribution of tree-root symbioses with fungi and bacteria that are vital to forest ecosystems. The study was featured on the cover of Nature.

Journal

Nature

Funder

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

18-Jun-2019

Scientists identify plant that flowers in Brazilian savanna one day after fire

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

Rapid resprouting and flowering of Bulbostylis paradoxa is proof of the Cerrado biome's superb resilience and its capacity to evolve through fire.

Journal

Ecology

Funder

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

17-Jun-2019

3D reconstruction of craniums elucidates the evolution of New World monkeys

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

Computed tomography scans of fossils from two extinct species point to evolutionary adaptations and kinship with extant howler, spider and woolly monkeys.

Journal

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Funder

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

14-Jun-2019

Flickering sky islands generate Andean biodiversity

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As the climate changed over the past million years, areas of paramo around Andean peaks in Colombia grew and contracted, giving rise to species unique to this habitat. Today paramos continue to shrink, putting these species at risk.

Journal

Journal of Biogeography

Funder

Panama's Sistema Nacional de Investigadores de SENACYT, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Hugo de Vries Foundation, German Centre for integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig funded by the German Research Foundation

14-Jun-2019

Modified enzyme can increase second-generation ethanol production

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

Using a protein produced by a fungus that lives in the Amazon, Brazilian researchers developed a molecule capable of increasing glucose release from biomass for fermentation.

Journal

Scientific Reports

Funder

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