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In 2020, the Pantanal, the largest tropical freshwater wetland in the world and a biodiversity hotspot, was swept by high-intensity fires that destroyed native vegetation in an area totaling 44,998 square kilometers, or about 30% of the Brazilian portion of the biome, which spans some 150,000 km 2. The estimate is presented in an article published in Fire. The area destroyed by that year’s disastrous fires was far larger than had been thought, according to the article. Previous [...]

Many parts of the Brazilian Amazon are neglected in ecological research, for several reasons, according to an article published in the journal Current Biology. Authored by Joice Ferreira of the Federal University of Pará (UFP) and colleagues from many countries who also belong to the Synergize Consortium, the article identifies the areas missing from ecological research and the factors that have determined these gaps, pinpointing opportunities for the planning of new investments in [...]

About a third of the restaurants listed on iFood, the food delivery app most used by Brazilians, are “dark kitchens,” according to the first study of the topic conducted in Brazil, and one of only a few worldwide. An article on the study is published in the journal Food Research International. It has eight authors; the first three and the last are researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo state. Defined in the article as delivery-only [...]

Contributing to the pursuit of sustainable farming, especially sugarcane growing, Brazilian researchers have shown that water bodies such as ponds and even puddles can maintain ecosystem services, provided there are tolerant animals in the vicinity to replace those most sensitive to agricultural practices. In an innovative study involving manipulation of large areas of cropland, the group tested the effects of intensifying land use by converting extensive pasture to intensive pasture and [...]

In an article published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil show how protozoans of the genus Leishmania that cause leishmaniasis manipulate a protein that plays an essential role in the organism’s defense in order to continue to replicate, preventing the body from vanquishing the disease. The findings of the study reported in the article offer hope for the development of novel treatments for the disease. Some 30,000 [...]

Illustrations of scientific experiments play a fundamental role in both science education and the dissemination of scientific knowledge to the general public. Confirming the adage that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” these depictions of famous experiments remain in the minds of those who study them and become definitive versions of the scientific process. Archimedes in the bath discovering the law of buoyancy; Newton refracting sunlight with a prism and defining the [...]

Bioactive compounds present mostly in fruit and vegetables perform different bodily functions relating to health and well-being. Their effects are considered antioxidant, antidiabetic, antiaging and anticancer, among others. Many studies are looking for ways to optimize absorption of bioactive compounds by the organism and increase their bioavailability—the proportion that enters the bloodstream after absorption. One way is to coat the compounds with another material and package them [...]

A Brazilian study paves the way to increased efficiency of second-generation (2G) ethanol production based on the discovery of novel targets for metabolic engineering in a more robust strain of industrial yeast. An article on the study is published in the journal Scientific Reports. The databases compiled by the authors are at the disposal of the scientific community in the repository of the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), which is a member of the Dataverse Project, an international [...]

Dinosaurs as big as buses or five-story buildings would not be possible if their bones were dense and heavy like ours. Like present-day birds, dinosaurs had hollow bones with inner structures known as air sacs, which made their skeletons lighter and less dense. These structures were apparently so advantageous that they emerged at least three times during the evolution of dinosaurs and pterosaurs (flying reptiles), according to a study described in Scientific Reports. “Less dense bones [...]