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News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 8-Nov-2025 07:11 ET (8-Nov-2025 12:11 GMT/UTC)

Zapped survivors: Some tropical trees won’t be defeated by lightning

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A multi-year study in the tropical forests of the Panama Canal found that the species most frequently damaged by lightning tended to be the most capable of surviving it.

Journal: Nature Plants
Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society

Researchers use AI to define priority areas for action to combat deforestation in the Amazon

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

A study using satellite imagery and machine learning techniques shows that many deforestation hotspots lie outside the 11 municipalities currently monitored by the Brazilian federal government under its Amazon Plan 2021/2022.

Journal: Conservation Letters
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Home gardens are “living genebanks” that sustain livelihoods in Central Asia

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

Central Asia is the point of origin for a wide diversity of fruit and nut trees; including many local and wild varieties that have not been scientifically documented. A new study has analyzed the ongoing role of home gardens in conserving this agrobiodiversity, which has provided a food safety net in times of food insecurity.

Journal: PLOS One

Study finds link between post-COVID loss of smell or taste and memory problems

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

Researchers at the University of São Paulo in Brazil followed up hundreds of COVID patients after discharge from hospital in São Paulo City. Tests conducted six months later showed that those with the most severe sensory disorders also performed worse in tests of cognitive functions, especially memorization.

Journal: European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Researchers map incidence of malaria in pregnancy in Brazil

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

A study published in Lancet Regional Health – Americas will help improve actions to combat this public health problem in the North of Brazil.

Journal: The Lancet Regional Health - Americas
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Experiment shows how different smells can influence the visual perception of emotions

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

Study showed the significant interaction between olfactory and visual stimuli, so that smells influence the identification of facial expressions and facial expressions influence the emotional response to smells.

Journal: PLOS One
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Study obtains superconductivity at higher temperature than usual

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

Discovery by Brazilian researchers featured on cover of the journal Nanoscale is noteworthy because of possible applications in next-generation electronic devices.

Journal: Nanoscale
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Protein that detects light may play a role in the origin and progression of melanoma, study suggests

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

Researchers at the University of São Paulo showed, through experiments on animals and genetically modified cells, that this type of cancer advances more slowly when the light-sensitive molecule known as melanopsin is deactivated. The discovery could point to novel therapeutic strategies.

Journal: Communications Biology
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Brazilian scientists reveal method of converting methane gas into liquid methanol

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

The strategy was tested at the Federal University of São Carlos. The conversion took place under ambient temperature and pressure conditions, which could enable methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to be used to produce fuel.

Journal: Chemical Communications
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Technique based on artificial intelligence detects Chagas disease using images taken with smartphone

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

Brazilian researchers have developed an algorithm to identify the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi in photographs of blood samples taken with a mobile phone camera. The low-cost method is described in the journal PeerJ and can be reproduced

Journal: PeerJ
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

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