A team led by Smithsonian scientists in Panama exposed a key to understanding tropical tree diversity by studying how fungi interact with seeds that linger in the ground. Despite a smorgasbord of species available to choose from, tropical fungi and seeds are picky about associating with one another. Early pairings with a particular fungus may influence whether a seed survives and also may help explain how tropical forests remain so diverse.

In experiments with mice, a Brazilian research group showed that, well before the profile of intestinal bacteria gets altered, a diet rich in saturated fats damages the hypothalamus -- region of the brain responsible for optimizing the organism's absorption of nutrients -- because its cells react to the excess of fat in the bloodstream as if they were fighting pathogens. According to the research, the ensuing process of inflammation and methabolic disbalance can recede through a diet with low levels of saturated fat and simple carbohydrates.

Researchers from five countries analyze remnants trapped in rainforest sediment to reconstruct 1 million years of Atlantic Rainforest history. Traces held by items such as microbes, pollen, isotopes, greenhouse gases and algae give clues on the variations of sunlight that caused the many glacial-interglacial cycles in the history of the planet, as well as for the impacts of the wet and dry periods on the Atlantic rainforest.

Why are there so many more species in the tropics? The 'storage effect' is stronger there than in temperate forests.

A new method for analyzing a living being chemical compositions is tested in Andean plants and attest the genesis of species by means of geographic isolation. Scientific article published August 2017 by Brazilian researchers is based on the analysis of chemical compounds which express specific biogeographic trends at the evolutionary process, validating a Smithsonian hypothesis on the evolution of the genus Espeletia in the process.

An international research team working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama knocked-out a single control gene in the DNA of seven different butterfly species. In the Sept. 18 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences early online edition, they reveal the surprising results of rewiring the WntA gene: a single gene influences the exuberant diversity of butterfly wing patterns in nature.

Tests will identify genetic alterations that can be used to measure meat quality, characteristics of seedlings and plants, or pesticide resistance of disease-transmitting mosquitoes. In developing a simple and portable kit, Brazilian startup Scheme Lab is making companies from multiple market areas less reliable on clinical laboratories and their rather expensive brand of expertise.

A study on damage to coastal considered only real estate loss. If nothing is done, researchers say, losses might be up to ten times higher if the predicament includes the spreading of flood- and global warming -related diseases.