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Brazilian snake and spider venoms continue to be a source of new discoveries with biotechnological potential. Two recently published studies show how this is possible even in relatively well-studied species such as the lancehead pit viper Cotiara (Bothrops cotiara) and the South American bushmaster (Lachesis muta). "Venoms never cease to surprise us. Even with so much accumulated knowledge, fresh discoveries are possible, such as unpredictable fragments that are parts of known proteins. [...]

Entanglement is a property of quantum physics that is manifested when two or more systems interact in such a way that their quantum states cannot be described independently. In the terminology of quantum physics, they are said to be entangled, i.e. strongly correlated. Entanglement is of paramount importance to quantum computing. The greater the entanglement, the more optimized and efficient the quantum computer. A study conducted by researchers affiliated with the Department of Physics at [...]

Publication of a new map showing all the above-ground biomass in the Brazilian Amazon is good news in the context of the severe crisis afflicting the world's largest contiguous tropical rainforest. Using airborne laser scanning and satellite imagery calibrated by field forest inventories and integrated by heavy-duty computer processing and machine learning, the map reflects the world's largest survey of tropical forest biomass ever conducted. Results of the study are reported in an [...]

The development of antibiotics to combat multidrug-resistant bacteria, especially those that infect the airways, has been increasingly tricky, and some scientists have opted to try to weaken the bacteria so that the available therapeutic substances are made more effective. This approach is promising, as shown by an article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PNAS ), which concludes that photodynamic inactivation (PDI) showed a novel capacity to modify [...]

The ability to transmit information coherently in the band of the electromagnetic spectrum from microwave to infrared is vitally important to the development of the advanced quantum networks used in computing and communications. A study conducted by researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil, in collaboration with colleagues at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and TU Delft in the Netherlands, focused on the use of nanometric optomechanical cavities for this purpose. These [...]

ome wasps and bees are able to recognize sick nestmates by smell and can prevent their entry into the nest to avert infection of the entire colony, assuring its survival and that of the species in the long run. A study described in an article published in the journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research shows that this recognition does not happen in paper wasps of the species Mischocyttarus metathoracicus infected by a biopesticide based on the fungus Beauveria [...]

n article by researchers at the Center for Development of Functional Materials (CDMF) in Brazil describes a successful strategy to mitigate charge capacity loss in vanadium redox flow batteries, which are used by electric power utilities among other industries and can accumulate large amounts of energy. The article is published in the Chemical Engineering Journal. The study involved computer simulations designed to find out how ion leakage between the anolyte and [...]

Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, partnering with colleagues in Australia, have identified a novel bacterial protein that can keep human cells healthy even when the cells have a heavy bacterial burden. The discovery could lead to new treatments for a wide array of diseases relating to mitochondrial dysfunction, such as cancer and auto-immune disorders. Mitochondria are organelles that supply most of the chemical energy needed to power cells’ biochemical [...]

In an article published in the journal Flora, researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil examine some of the strategies developed over eons of evolution by plants in the Cerrado, Brazil’s savanna-like biome, to protect themselves and resprout quickly after fire. The article is commended by the journal as Highlighted Student Research. Its first author is Marco Antonio Chiminazzo, a Ph.D. candidate at UNESP in Rio Claro. The co-authors are [...]