The oceans help buffer the Earth from climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide and heat at the surface and transporting it to the deep ocean. Using data from two open-ocean research programs at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, new research published in Nature Climate Change indicates the North Atlantic Subtropical Mode Water, an upper ocean water mass, is shrinking in a changing climate and becoming a less efficient sink for heat and carbon dioxide.

Study by researchers at Brazil's National Disaster Surveillance and Early Warning Center (CEMADEN) also shows a rise in the number of consecutive dry days, suggesting that extreme rainfall events are concentrated in shorter, more widely spaced periods.

As rural masses migrate to urban areas, populations grow, and people work toward better living standards, global food system sustainability pays a high price, according to a new scientific analysis spanning low- to high-income countries. The study shows that only one major global driver --international trade -- appears to have a net positive effect on global food systems sustainability. Other major drivers (population growth, urbanization, lifestyle change, changes in land use) seem to have negative effects.

Developed by researchers at the Butantan Institute (Brazil) and Boston Children's Hospital, part of the Harvard Medical School (USA), the innovation is capable of providing protection against all serotypes of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae.

The study was conducted in Brazil and mapped the genes that are activated when mice resistant to Leishmania are infected. Molecules involved in the signaling pathway responsible for combating the parasite can serve as biomarkers for the evaluation of prognosis.

A group of scientists and students working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's Barro Colorado Island studied the circadian rhythm of a bee gynandromorph: a rare condition that results in the expression of both male and female characteristics.

Analysis of Atlantic Rainforest fragments shows how extinction of animal species, habitat loss and forest fragmentation affect networks of ecological interactions.

Between 2015 and 2016, Brazil suffered from an epidemic outbreak of the Zika virus, whose infections occurred throughout the country states. Despite the concentration of cases in other regions of Brazil, it was the Northeast that registered the highest incidence of microcephaly associated with the Zika virus. The concentration of this clinical outcome drew the attention of scientists, who raised the hypothesis that this aggravation could result from the association between the epidemic and some preventable environmental factors in the region.

The viral therapy was tested in three elderly animals with spontaneous brain tumors by a group affiliated with the FAPESP-funded Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center.