News from Latin America

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 27-Oct-2026 19:16 ET (27-Oct-2026 23:16 GMT/UTC)

25-Sep-2017

 

Geophysical investigation aims revealing how vegetation responds to climate change

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Grant and Award Announcement

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.

Funder

Sao Paulo Research Foundation -- FAPESP

22-Sep-2017

Chronic migraine cases are amplified by jawbone disorder, according to research

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

A study conducted by researchers in Brazil shows patients with chronic migraine are three times as likely to suffer from severe temporomandibular disorder. Though not a primary cause, the disorder is thought to accentuate and perpetuate sensitivity to pain; therefore, researchers recommend in chronic migraine clinical practice the assessement of the disorder's symptoms.

Journal

Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

20-Sep-2017

 

Winter restricts innovation

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

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

Journal

Nature

19-Sep-2017

 

A study switches from genetic to metabolic analysis to reconstitute evolutionary process

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

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.

Journal

Scientific Reports

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

18-Sep-2017

 

Scientists edit butterfly wing spots and stripes

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

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.

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Funder

Pew Charitable Trust, Oxford Brookes University, Smithsonian Institution, National Science Foundation, Leverhulme Trust, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

15-Sep-2017

 

Kit will identify genetic variations without need for lab analysis

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

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.

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

14-Sep-2017

 

Cost of not adapting to climate change would be at least five times higher

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

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.

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

13-Sep-2017

 

Startup develops animal detection system to prevent roadkill

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

Through means of sensors e transmitters, an animal detection system aims to feed message boards for drivers hundreds of meters before wild specimen can cross the road.

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

12-Sep-2017

 

Queens control worker reproduction without castration in stingless bee species

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

Study contradicts the view that worker bees are forcibly castrated by the queen among the 600-odd species of stingless bees widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

Journal

Nature Ecology & Evolution

Funder

São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Brazil). Geochronologic research at the MIT Isotope Lab

11-Sep-2017

 

Coffee and bees: New model of climate change effects

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Areas in Latin America suitable for growing coffee face predicted declines of 73-88 percent by 2050. But bee species diversity may save the day, even if many species in cool highland regions are lost as the climate warms.

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Funder

German Federal Ministry for the Environment/International Climate Protection Initiative, Agriculture and Food Security, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, International Climate Initiative