ARGENTINA
More and more Argentine scientists are following the lead of researchers that have used DNA to store texts, audios and pictures in sequences that were then inserted into bacteria. Scientists at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa were able to store the first verses of the Argentine national anthem in a bacterium.
A transgenic orange plant was developed at the UBA that is resistant to citrus canker caused by the Xanthomonas bacteria. This plant bears a frog gene that confers antimicrobial properties.
CHILE
The 750 DECam megapixel camera, part of the Dark Energy Survey (DES ) and installed in the Victor M. Blanco telescope in Cerro Tololo, Chile will map one eighth of the sky to find out why there is accelerated expansion of our universe. The DES officially started August 31.
A Chilean-German diving project is forming with the aim of exploring Antarctic waters to document wildlife.
COLOMBIA
A Colombian physicist is part of
an international team that created the chemical element 115, tentatively called ununpentium (Uup). The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry is evaluating its incorporation in the Periodic Table of the Elements.
LATIN AMERICA
The journal Science has published a paper in which it mentions the Andes, Central America and the Caribbean islands as the most biodiverse places on the planet that must be preserved.
MEXICO
Alberto Sanchez Hernandez has been awarded the 2013 Scopus Award for his scientific work in physics, most recently with the Large Hadron Collider .
German researchers have found evidence that the Maya butchered their enemies. Archaeologists working in the ruins of Uxul found in a burial pit skulls that were not attached to the body. They also noted that most of the jaws had been separated from the skull, leading to the conclusion that the bodies were beheaded and quartered.