Researchers have found that central-east Mexico gave birth to the domesticated chili pepper, which is now the world’s most widely grown spice crop.
In the Southwest, the chili pepper is practically a dietary staple. It gives salsa a spicy crunch, it brings depth to Mexican sauces, and it provides an extra kick to Sonoran hot dogs.
Plenty of other world cuisines rely on it too, from China to India to Thailand. But Latin America, researchers have confirmed, is where it started. (more…)
ANN ARBOR — Culling vampire bat colonies to stem the transmission of rabies in Latin America does little to slow the spread of the virus and could even have the reverse effect, according to University of Michigan researchers and their colleagues.(more…)
ANN ARBOR — The remains of the earliest European fort in the interior of what is now the United States have been discovered by a team of archaeologists, providing new insight into the start of the U.S. colonial era and the all-too-human reasons spoiling Spanish dreams of gold and glory.
Spanish Captain Juan Pardo and his men built Fort San Juan in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in 1567, nearly 20 years before Sir Walter Raleigh’s “lost colony” at Roanoke and 40 years before the Jamestown settlement established England’s presence in the region. (more…)
Global survey across 32 countries shows worker appetite for social tools is increasing, even if it means spending their own money and defying organizational policy to use the technology.
REDMOND, Wash. — May 27, 2013 — Nearly half of employees report that social tools at work help increase their productivity, but more than 30 percent of companies underestimate the value of these tools and often restrict their use, according to new Microsoft research released today.
The survey, conducted for Microsoft Corp. by research firm Ipsos among 9,908 information workers in 32 countries, also found that 39 percent of employees feel there isn’t enough collaboration in their workplaces, and 40 percent believe social tools help foster better teamwork. More surprisingly, 31 percent said they are willing to spend their own money to buy social tools. (more…)
Former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan predicted during a campus visit that the civil war in Syria will become even more tragic before the international community takes action to help resolve the conflict, but said he is optimistic about the political and economic prospects for Africa in the years ahead. (more…)
Analysis of Online Video in Brazil Shows Facebook as the Fastest Growing Top 10 Online Video Destination in Past Year
Sao Paulo, Brazil, February 6, 2013 – comScore , a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an analysis on online video activities in Brazil based on insights from its comScore Video Metrix service. The study found that Google Sites is the largest online video destination in Brazil, while Facebook is the fastest growing among the top ten. The study also showed that Brazil is the seventh largest online video market worldwide with a viewing audience of 43 million people in December.
“Online video is an important part of the internet landscape in Brazil, reaching a large number of people in an engaging context that is attractive to marketers and advertisers,” said Alejandro Fosk, comScore senior vice president for Latin America. “comScore Video Metrix supports this growing market in Latin America by providing accurate and objective insights on online video viewing behavior that publishers, advertisers and agencies can rely on to make smarter digital investments.” (more…)
Analysis of Social Networking in Latin America Shows LinkedIn Grabbing #2 Position with35 Million Monthly Visitors
Santiago, Chile, December 20, 2012 – comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an analysis of social networking activity in Latin America, which found that Argentina and Brazil led as the most engaged social networking markets worldwide with visitors spending an average of near 10 hours on social networking sites in November 2012. The study also found that LinkedIn, which has grown strongly in the past year due to both organic growth and the acquisition of Slideshare.net, is now the second most visited social network in Latin America. (more…)
Some 140 participants and 30 visiting faculty from more than 45 countries arrived at Brown to take part in the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI). The two-week program began June 11, 2012.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Some 140 participants and 30 visiting faculty from more than 45 countries arrived at Brown to take part in the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI). Participants, who were chosen from a pool of more than 850 applicants, come from several countries, including Brazil, China, Nigeria, India, and Ethiopia.
The two-week program began Monday, June 11, 2012. Now in its fourth year, BIARI is centered around four two-week intensive institutes, convened concurrently by Brown faculty, in which participants and leading scholars in their fields share their research and develop new collaborative projects through sustained, high-level dialogue spanning disciplines and continents. This year’s institutes touched on global health and HIV/AIDS; theater and civil society; population and development; and climate change. (more…)
