A UNal research project identified malformations in 70% of the analyzed crustaceans of the Bay of Cispatá (Province of Sucre), caused by increased levels of mercury in the water of the Sinú River. The research project developed jointly with the Universidad de Córdoba, discovered that this issue has produced crustacean malformations due to the pollutants in the Bay, particularly from mercury used in gold mining of the region. The Bay of Cispatá is located south of the Gulf of Morrosquillo, in the Province of Córdoba.

Researchers from Campinas are working to develop a viral vector capable of modifying the functions of certain defense cells, thereby stimulating the immune system to more effectively fight cancer.

For Darwin, the species that survive are neither the strongest nor the fastest, but the most adaptable to changes. In line with this idea, in lakes and oceans there are various microscopic organisms that managed to restructure their dietary habits to survive and the zooplankton is not an exception.

Ancient, acidic and nutrient-depleted dunes in Western Australia are not an obvious place to answer a question that has vexed tropical biologists for decades. But the Jurien Bay dunes proved to be the perfect site to unravel why plant diversity varies from place to place. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute scientist Benjamin Turner and colleagues from the University of Western Australia published findings in the Sept. 26 edition of Science showing that environmental filtering—not a host of other theories—determines local plant diversity in one of Earth’s biodiversity hotspots.