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An international team of scientists led by Carlos David de Santana, an associate researcher at the US National Museum of Natural History, has found that the electric eel comes in three distinct species rather than one, and that one of these is a real shocker. Native to South America, the newly identified Electrophorus voltai can generate a record 860 volts – the highest voltage discharge of any known animal. Found in the Amazon and Orinoco rivers in South America, the electric eel is [...]

Call it a shock discovery: DNA research has revealed two entirely new species of electric eel in the Amazon basin, including one capable of delivering a record-breaking jolt. The findings are evidence, researchers say, of the incredible diversity in the Amazon rainforest — much of it still unknown to science — and illustrate why it is so important to protect a habitat at risk from deforestation, logging and fires. “In spite of all human impact on the Amazon rainforest in the [...]

Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that transmits diseases such as dengue, zika, and yellow fever, is typically controlled utilizing insecticides that harm the environment. Now, however, scientists have created eco-friendly mozzie-killing microcapsules, made from cheap natural thyme oil and corn starch. Developed by a team at Brazil's University of Campinas, the capsules' active ingredient is a biodegradable phenol known as thymol, which is found in the essential oil of the thyme plant. That [...]

In remote communities, a family doctor may or may not be present, but an ophthalmologist likely isn't. That's why Brazilian startup Phelcom Technologies created the Eyer, a smartphone-connected device that allows patients' retinal-scan images to be analyzed by ophthalmologists via the internet. Designed to be used by general practitioners or other healthcare professionals, the device ships with a compatible "high-quality" smartphone. That phone's camera lines up with [...]

t goes without saying that the greater the number of organs available for transplant, the better for patients in need of them. A newly-developed technique could help, as it uses light to kill viruses and bacteria that might otherwise make donated organs unsuitable for use. The process begins with a perfusion procedure developed by thoracic surgeon Marcelo Cypel, at the University of Toronto. That procedure involves replacing the blood in donated lungs with a non-toxic liquid preservative, and [...]

One of the world's most commonly farmed fish, tilapia are typically raised in square pens and get fed by hand a few times a day. New Brazilian technology that does away with those factors, however, is claimed to reduce both expenses and fish mortality rates. Developed by the Fisher Piscicultura aquaculture company, the system consists of wire mesh circular pens that are 4.5 m deep and 12 m in diameter (14.7 by 39.3 ft), each of which is housed within an aluminum frame. These pens/frames float [...]

As far as most laypeople know, all amoebas are soft-bodied creatures – sort of like microscopic versions of The Blob. In fact, though, amoebas of the Thecamoeba genus have a hard outer carapace. In the case of a recently-described new species of Thecamoeba, that shell resembles the wizard's hat worn by Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. It's only fitting, therefore, that the microorganism has been named Arcella gandalfi. Over the past several years, there had been reports of [...]