News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 7-May-2025 14:10 ET (7-May-2025 18:10 GMT/UTC)

17-Feb-2022

Scientists use “green” solvent and natural pigment to produce bioplastic

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

The process is sustainable and is described by researchers at universities in Brazil and Portugal in the journal Green Chemistry. The article is one of those highlighted as “hot” by the journal’s editors and referees.

Journal

Green Chemistry

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

16-Feb-2022

Researchers locate novel targets for development of male contraceptive

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

A group at São Paulo State University (UNESP) is working on pharmacological strategies to block sperm motility.

Journal

Molecular Human Reproduction

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

15-Feb-2022

Study shows high prevalence of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder after COVID-19

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

Brazilian researchers tracked 425 patients for six to nine months after hospital discharge. Over half reported memory decline, and tests showed significant cognitive impairments in the group.

Journal

General Hospital Psychiatry

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

10-Feb-2022

Study describes challenges and opportunities for detection of high-frequency gravitational waves

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

Detection of high-frequency gravitational waves would offer knowledge of phases of the early Universe not accessible to investigation based on electromagnetic waves, potentially paving the way to a new physics beyond the Standard Model.

Journal

Living Reviews in Relativity

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

9-Feb-2022

Study shows link between child poverty and mental health disorders in adulthood

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

Children and young adults with externalizing disorders are more likely to fall behind in learning, social development and the job market.

Journal

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

9-Feb-2022

Equations might help make better agriculture funding decisions

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

An agricultural researcher at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT has developed a mathematical method that might help better allocate resources across different policies and projects in agricultural research.

Journal

PLOS One

8-Feb-2022

Omicron has mutations detected in previous variants, which explains vaccine effectiveness, scientists say

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

An article in the Journal of Medical Virology by researchers affiliated with the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil argues that this is the reason for the relatively small proportion of severe cases and deaths among vaccinated patients despite omicron’s greatly increased transmissibility.

Journal

Journal of Medical Virology

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

7-Feb-2022

Drones help solve tropical tree mortality mysteries

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Understanding when and where trees die in vast tropical forests is a challenging first step toward understanding carbon dynamics and climate change. Researchers explained variations in tree mortality over a five-year period by analyzing drone images of one of the most-studied tropical forests in the world, Barro Colorado Island in Panama.

Journal

Ecology Letters

Funder

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

4-Feb-2022

Even the smallest pollution particles change the rainfall regime in the Amazon

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

Researchers have found that nanoparticles resulting from human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels rapidly grow in the atmosphere and influence cloud formation. The discovery will help make meteorological models and climate change simulations more accurate.

Journal

Science Advances

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

3-Feb-2022

Immunotherapy with house dust mite extract reduces symptoms of atopic dermatitis

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

Researchers at the University of São Paulo’s Ribeirão Preto Medical School (FMRP-USP) in Brazil studied the effects of sublingual immunotherapy with extract of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, a ubiquitous dust mite, administered to patients in drops for 18 months.

Journal

Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice

Funder

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo