https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Brazil is the world's largest producer of soybeans and one of the reasons is the incorporation of bio-inputs, microorganisms that promote biological nitrogen fixation. Without this practice, this essential nutrient would have to be supplemented with fertilizer. By managing fertilizer use, Brazilian growers can save an estimated USD 15 billion per year. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-bacterial-strain-options-sustainable-soybean.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 17 Apr 2025 16:44:02 EDT news664127041 Researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo state, Brazil, have developed a sourdough bread formulation enriched with jabuticaba peel that could be an alternative for people with diabetes and others who need to control blood sugar. An article describing their research and test results is published in the journal Foods. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-jabuticaba-nutritional-characteristics-bread-reveals.html Plants & Animals Mon, 09 Dec 2024 15:08:04 EST news652979281 An article published in the Journal of Controlled Release details the results of a cross-border scientific collaboration that has developed an alternative for the treatment of solid tumors based on inhibition of the inflammatory tumor microenvironment (TME). https://phys.org/news/2024-06-chimeric-nanomicelles-alternative-treatment-solid.html Bio & Medicine Thu, 06 Jun 2024 13:57:04 EDT news636901022 An article published in the journal Insects determines with precision the dispersal range of a type of wasp that neutralizes the brown stink bug, Euschistus heros, a major soybean pest in Brazil and one that is highly resistant to chemical insecticides. The solution discussed by the authors is Telenomus podisi, a parasitoid microwasp first described by American entomologist William Harris Ashmead in 1893. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-optimizes-biological-pest-severely-soybean.html Plants & Animals Mon, 03 Jun 2024 17:21:02 EDT news636654061 Molasses, a broad term used to describe concentrated sugarcane or sugarbeet juice solutions after removal of sucrose crystals, are an industrial byproduct of the raw sugar production process. Natural molasses have variable compositions that are not entirely known. This knowledge gap is a hindrance to both scientific research and industry, where molasses are used in several processes, including production of fuel ethanol from molasses by fermentation with brewer's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). https://phys.org/news/2023-09-formula-synthetic-sugarcane-molasses-fully.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 27 Sep 2023 12:28:04 EDT news615036481 An article published in the journal Phycology shows that there is room to transform 100% of the raw material from marine macroalgae (seaweed) into ingredients for cosmetics using industrially available green technology. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-green-technology-total-seaweed-cosmetics.html Biotechnology Wed, 21 Jun 2023 09:19:03 EDT news606557942 A scientific collaboration between the University of São Paulo (USP) in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, and Clemente Estable Institute of Biological Research (IIBCE) in Montevideo, Uruguay, is experimenting with two new bacteria discovered in the Antarctic ten years ago, in order to verify the possibility of applications in health care, food processing and environmental rehabilitation. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-medical-nutritional-environmental-applications-antarctic.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 30 May 2023 12:13:03 EDT news604667581 Resistance to antibiotics is a problem that alarms the medical and scientific community. Bacteria resistant to three different classes of antibiotics, known as multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria, are far from rare. Some are even resistant to all currently available treatments and are known as pan-drug resistant (PDR). They are associated with dangerous infections and listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as priority pathogens for drug development with maximum urgency. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-compound-combats-multidrug-resistant-bacteria-hour.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 15 May 2023 12:40:58 EDT news603373255 A group of researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil have grown microalgae under controlled conditions in a laboratory in order to use their metabolites, especially lipids, with the prime purpose of producing biofuel. The study is reported in an article published in the journal Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-cultivate-microalgae-biofuel-production.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 19 Apr 2023 11:49:09 EDT news601123747 An article published in the journal Cosmetics reports an investigation of the effects of including rosmarinic acid, an active antioxidant, in a sunscreen along with two conventional ultraviolet light filters, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (against UVB) and avobenzone (against UVA). https://phys.org/news/2023-04-natural-molecule-sunscreen-efficacy-conventional.html Biochemistry Wed, 05 Apr 2023 11:06:12 EDT news599911569 A Brazilian study paves the way to increased efficiency of second-generation (2G) ethanol production based on the discovery of novel targets for metabolic engineering in a more robust strain of industrial yeast. An article on the study is published in the journal Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-paves-efficient-production-2g-ethanol.html Biotechnology Mon, 27 Mar 2023 15:30:04 EDT news599149802 A novel process described in an article published in the journal Electrochemistry Communications converts nitrogen and hydrogen to ammonia (NH3) at ambient temperature and pressure with high energy efficiency. Ammonia, a gas composed of nitrogen and hydrogen, is the world's most synthesized molecule and is used in agriculture as well as many production processes. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-method-optimize-scale-production-fuel.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 22 Mar 2023 11:46:09 EDT news598704366 The human intestine is an environment inhabited by many bacteria and other microorganisms collectively known as the gut microbiome, gut microbiota or intestinal flora. In most people, it contributes to wellness. A healthy gut indicates a stronger immune system, improved metabolism, and a healthy brain and heart, among other functions. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-diversity-coli-bacteria-hospitalized-patients.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 13 Mar 2023 10:48:55 EDT news597923331 Glioblastoma is a malignant tumor of the central nervous system (brain or spinal cord) and one of the deadliest types of cancer. Few drugs have proved effective at combating this uncontrolled growth of glial cells, which anyway constitute a large proportion of the brain tissue in mammals. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-compounds-capable-inhibiting-growth-brain.html Biochemistry Mon, 06 Mar 2023 12:02:04 EST news597326521 The number of active fires recorded in the Brazilian Amazon in August-September 2022 was the highest since 2010, according to an article published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. Besides the record number of fires (74,398), the researchers found they were due not to extreme drought, as in 2010, but to recent deforestation by humans. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-brazilian-amazon-august-september-highest.html Ecology Tue, 14 Feb 2023 10:34:10 EST news595593237 A study published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces describes a novel method of producing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) without emitting carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the main greenhouse gases and one of the world's most widely produced chemicals. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-technique-hydrogen-peroxide-emitting-carbon.html Materials Science Fri, 27 Jan 2023 11:23:29 EST news594041003 An article published in the journal Cities & Health points to important changes to the built environment that encourage physical activity in São Paulo, Brazil's largest city and the center of the largest metropolitan area in the southern hemisphere. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-leisure-facilities-brazil-largest-city.html Social Sciences Tue, 24 Jan 2023 16:10:06 EST news593799001 A new study has analyzed the potential of a bacterium for biological control of the fungus Hemileia vastatrix, which causes coffee rust, a major challenge for Brazilian coffee growers. An article on the study is published in the journal BMC Microbiology. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-bacterium-combating-coffee-rust.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 20 Dec 2022 17:04:03 EST news590778241 Researchers at the University of São Paulo's Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture (CENA-USP) in Brazil, collaborating with colleagues in Canada, France, Italy and Spain, reviewed 1,154 original scientific articles published between 2009 and 2022 on the effects of nanomaterials in 1,374 plants belonging to 253 species. The metadata review assembled and organized quantitative information on the experimental parameters used in the scientific literature of the past decade. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-articles-nanomaterials-affect.html Plants & Animals Wed, 16 Nov 2022 15:25:35 EST news587834733 A Brazilian study published in Scientific Reports shows that artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to create efficient models for genomic selection of sugarcane and forage grass varieties and predict their performance in the field on the basis of their DNA. https://phys.org/news/2022-10-artificial-intelligence-sugarcane-field.html Agriculture Wed, 19 Oct 2022 16:14:04 EDT news585414841 The banana borer Cosmopolites sordidus and the disease Fusarium wilt, caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum, are among the most harmful pests that threaten the livelihoods of banana growers, who face major challenges in attempting to control them. The former is a species of weevil that bores into the plant's rhizome (the underground stem that produces roots and shoots), weakening its root system, reducing nutrient absorption and significantly lowering yield. The adult insect also spreads and increases infection by other pathogens. Fusarium wilt, popularly known as Panama disease, is a fungal disease that blocks the flow of water and nutrients, spreading rapidly and eventually killing the plant. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-team-fungus-simultaneously-combats-worst.html Plants & Animals Wed, 28 Sep 2022 16:16:03 EDT news583600561 A study conducted at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil has identified orphan genes in wild sugarcane (Saccharum spontaneum), a species with exceptional resistance to biotic stresses such as nematodes, fungi, bacteria and other pests and diseases, and abiotic stresses such as cold, drought, salinity and nutritionally deficient soil. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-genes-potentially-responsible-sugarcane-resistance.html Plants & Animals Tue, 27 Sep 2022 14:33:04 EDT news583507982 The countless benefits of native forests include the capacity of tree biomass to store large amounts of carbon, which can counterbalance greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. A paper published in the journal Science Advances reports on an innovative analysis of a large dataset designed to clarify the concept of carbon sequestration, a strategic issue in the discussion of global climate change. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-quantifies-impact-human-atlantic-rainforest.html Environment Tue, 13 Sep 2022 16:01:48 EDT news582303705