Some 7,000 years ago, the Dominican Republic's Lake Enriquillo basin was a sheltered bay lined by 100km of fringing coral reef. After a river delta blocked the entrance to the bay, the sea evaporated leaving a salty lake 42 meters below sea level. Eventually, storm channels carved through the exposed fossil reefs. Exploring the towering walls of solid fossil coral reef is as close as scientists can get to going back in time.

This is a Chemistry master’s project of Jenny Paola Ortega, which results is a biological component which attacks and kills Culex quinquefasciatus larvae, the causing agent of elephantiasis. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) there are more than 1,100 million people in 55 countries threatened by lymphatic filariasis and although it is not very common in Colombia, there is still evidence of this insect in some areas of the Province of Cundinamarca.

Little was known about this tree of the Proteaceae family (Panopsis suaveolens), identified commonly as the yolombó tree until the 90’s when a Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNal) research project showed the lack of botanical records in the herbariums of the country.