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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 [...]

A novel biomaterial developed at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil can help solve two problems at once. As a bioparticle, it can act as a drug carrier, delivering medication directly to the gastrointestinal tract of fish in order to circumvent resistance to conventional antibiotics, for example. In addition, it is administered orally in powder form and is highly palatable to fish, increasing the probability of effective treatment while at the same time reducing the [...]

Brazilian researchers have developed a comprehensive index called SEVI (Socio-Environmental Vulnerability) that measures a region’s vulnerability by combining environmental, physical, social, and economic indicators. The researchers applied this index to analyze the basins of the Parnaíba River and São Francisco River in the Northeast of Brazil. The Parnaíba and São Francisco basins are vital for agricultural expansion and biodiversity conservation, as they [...]

A protein found in cells of the hard tick Amblyomma sculptum, the main vector of the bacterium that causes Brazilian spotted fever (also known as Rocky Mountain spotted fever), is essential to the tick’s survival while feeding, making it a promising target for development of a vaccine, according to an article published in the journal Parasites Vectors. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil. Brazilian spotted fever is caused by the [...]

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 [...]

The sun’s rotation produces changes in its magnetic field, which flips completely every 11 years or so, triggering a phase of intense activity. Solar flares—huge eruptions from the surface of the sun lasting minutes or hours—emit intense bursts of particles and high levels of electromagnetic radiation. The release of energy during solar flares heats the chromosphere, causing almost full ionization of the atomic hydrogen present in the region. The chromosphere is a thin [...]

Resistance to antibiotics is a problem that alarms the medical and scientific community. Bacteria resistant to three different classes of antibiotics, known as multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria, are far from rare. Some are even resistant to all currently available treatments and are known as pan-drug resistant (PDR). They are associated with dangerous infections and listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as priority pathogens for drug development with maximum urgency. An article [...]

Quantum theory, which was formulated in the first three decades of the twentieth century, describes a wide array of phenomena at the molecular, atomic and subatomic scales. Among its many technological applications, three have become ubiquitous in daily life: laser barcode scanners, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the global positioning system (GPS). Nevertheless, quantum physics is still not entirely understood, and some of the phenomena concerned appear to fly in the face of common sense [...]