News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 27-Oct-2026 09:16 ET (27-Oct-2026 13:16 GMT/UTC)

24-Jan-2018

Novel material cuts cost of substance purification for industry

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

Technology developed by a Brazilian startup consists of a porous silica magnetic microparticle which has affinity with different molecules, a feature that enables its application on various industries; this solution aims at simplifying established industrial processes, thus reducing costs.

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP

18-Jan-2018

Scientists identify potential target genes to halt progression of thyroid cancer

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

Research shows that expression of 52 microRNAs falls as the disease becomes more aggressive. Restoring levels of these molecules in the tumor could be a novel therapeutic strategy.

Journal

OncoTargets and Therapy

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

16-Jan-2018

International study identify the process of rock formed by meteors or nuclear blasts

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

Scientists from Brazil, China and Italy have reached a model to map out the phases in which silica (SiO2) transforms into coesite rock, by analyzing how the inelastic scattering of light among molecules changes according to pressure variation. Computer simulation was required in the study of coesite, found on a crater produced by a comet or asteroid that hit Mexico and led to extinction of the dinosaurs.

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

11-Jan-2018

Researchers engineer ultra-sensitive temperature sensor

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

Material developed in Brazil measures temperatures in the range of 80-750 kelvin (-193 °C to 476 °C) and, as described in Scientific Reports, could be used in manufacturing and biological processes. Besides being an optical device, which makes unnecessary to have contact with the object, the sensor is equipped with a detector that can gauge how temperature affects the wavelength of light.

Journal

Scientific Reports

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP

9-Jan-2018

Metabolic pathway involved in immune response to Zika also participates in neurogenesis

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

Markers of infection found in blood of patients enabled Brazilian researchers to elucidate cellular signaling pathway involved in both defenses against this virus and formation of new neurons. Also found in these samples were much larger doses of peptides known for controlling blood pressure, which may be involved in the autophagy of infected cells.

Journal

Frontiers in Microbiology

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP

5-Jan-2018

Pioneering startup at Brazilian IoT industry sold in 2017 more than 20,000 devices

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

Technology fully designed in Brazil connects non-automated machines to the internet, enabling an online performance monitoring by storing and controlling sensor data which is then transmitted to the web. The startup DEV Tecnologia strives for a business model based no longer on selling machines but on selling product-service systems (PSS).

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

3-Jan-2018

Novel methodology increases resolution in oligodendrocyte proteomics

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

Brazilian researchers combine mass spectrometry, 2D liquid chromatography and ion mobility to identify over 10,000 proteins in brain cells possibly involved in schizophrenia. The innovation even enabled the identification, in samples, of proteins some 10 million times smaller in quantity than those of the most highly expressed molecules.

Journal

PROTEOMICS

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP

28-Dec-2017

 

Jaguar conservation depends on neighbors' attitudes

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A survey of residents near two major national parks in Panama indicates that jaguars deserve increased protection. But because most residents still support road-building in the parks, the survey team recommends further education to emphasize the connection between healthy ecosystems and jaguar survival.

Journal

Oryx

28-Dec-2017

 

The Caribbean is stressed out

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Forty percent of the world's 7.6 billion people live in coastal cities and towns. A team including Smithsonian marine biologists just released 25 years of data about the health of Caribbean coasts from the Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity Program (CARICOMP).

Journal

PLOS One

21-Dec-2017

 

Boat traffic threatens the survival of Panama's Bocas Del Toro dolphins

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Bottlenose dolphins in Panama's Bocas Del Toro Archipelago should be designated as endangered say the authors of a new study. Biologists working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute discovered that the roughly 80 dolphins in the archipelago do not interbreed with other Caribbean bottlenose dolphins. Their low numbers jeopardize their long-term survival, which is threatened by increasing local boat traffic that killed at least seven dolphins in 2012.

Journal

PLOS One