ARGENTINA
Scientists from Rosario, Argentina are using scanning electron microscopy to detect gunpowder residue to help police fight crime. Rosario is one of Argentina’s major scientific and technological centers.
The Argentine geologist Victor Ramos won the 2013 Mexican Science and Technology Prize for his studies on the formation of the Andes.
The physicist Juan Martin Maldacena has been recognized as one of Argentina’s most important scientists of the decade and was named by Pope Francisco as a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Argentina’s INTA is studying the genome of a virus causing a corn disease known as “mal de Rio Cuarto” using breeding strategies. The best result so far has been from a technique known as post-transcriptional silencing.
Sixth grade students from Salta won a national competition in science and technology to invent an ”aspiraborra,” a device to vacuum chalk dust from blackboards.
Scientists at the University of Buenos Aires developed a new cloning technique that in the future may allow changing the sex of the animal.
BRAZIL
Spanish and Brazilian scientists are creating the most complete computer simulation of the vascular system to study leishmaniasis.
ECUADOR
The University of Cuenca is using in vitro culture for growing up orchids and retain high-value species that are threatened. The company Neoforests uses this technique to grow up the best teak trees and produce high quality wood.
MEXICO
UNAM scientists have developed antidotes against the venom of certain spiders and snakes using genetic engineering techniques.
Viral infections in the first trimester of pregnancy may be causing schizophrenia, say a team of Swiss and Mexican scientists working on rodent models. They also believe that these could also be the cause of autism and Asperger’s syndrome.
VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s health care system is collapsing, say doctors. The AP reports.