August 24, 2016

Monkeys in the Amazon rain forest likely entered their own Stone Age more than 700 years ago, according to scientists investigating a fascinating site at Serra da Capivara National Park in northeastern Brazil. At the site, scientists from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and from Brazil’s University of São Paulo observed bearded capuchin monkeys (Sapajus libidinosus) using rocks as hammers to crush hard-shelled nuts atop flat stone anvils. The scientists discovered dozens of discarded stone hammers and anvils once they began shallow excavations at a site regularly visited by the monkeys. The scientists determined that monkeys have been using simple stone tools at that site for more than 700 years. The findings were described in the July 2016 issue of the journal Current Biology.

A capuchin monkey uses stones to crack a cashew nut in Serra da Capivara National Park in northeast Brazil. Credit: © Michael Haslam, Primate Archaeology Project/University of Oxford

Stone Age is a term used to designate the period when prehistoric people used stone, rather than metal, tools. For humans, the Stone Age began about 3.3 million years ago, when small stones were first made into crude chopping tools by prehuman ancestors called Australopithecines. It ended in the Near East about 3000 B.C., when bronze replaced stone as the chief material from which tools were made.

In dry northeastern Brazil, hard-shelled fruits and seeds are more common than the fruit and succulent leaves that capuchins prefer. Centuries ago, a clever capuchin figured out how to pound open a nut using a heavy stone as a hammer on a heavier flat stone anvil, thereby opening up an entirely new and abundant source of food. The scientists observed that the monkeys will carefully select hammer stones and bring them to trees bearing nuts and fruits. The monkeys then stash the stones in hidden spots around the trees for later use. The research site in Brazil is littered with such stones that have accumulated over centuries.

For many years, scientists considered humans to be the only species that made extensive use of tools. In the 1960’s, however, naturalist Jane Goodall discovered that wild chimpanzees in Africa make and use simple tools. Goodall observed them stripping tree twigs and using the twigs as tools for catching termites. She also observed chimpanzees using rocks to break open hard-shelled palm nuts in the forest.

Earlier in 2016, some of the scientists involved in the Brazil research published observations of monkeys called macaques using stones to break open shellfish and nuts in Thailand. Now, with the Brazilian study, there seems little doubt that some species of nonhuman primates have long since entered their own Stone Age. The site in Brazil provides scientists with a unique opportunity to study the ecological, social, and cognitive (mental) factors that likely played a role in the development of technology and culture millions of years ago at the dawn of humankind.

August 5, 2016

Tonight, the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Millions of people around the world will tune in to watch the pomp and circumstance of the parade of the national teams as they enter Rio’s famous Maracanã Stadium. More than 11,000 athletes from 206 nations will carry flags, sport the latest fashions, and wave to the cameras and the roughly 80,000 people watching from the stands. (If you’re counting, there are 196 independent countries in the world, but some dependencies such as Bermuda and Puerto Rico have their own teams.) To the rhythms of bossa nova (a Brazilian mix of samba and jazz), people will dance and fireworks will boom, but there will be one presence quite literally above all others: Christ the Redeemer. The famous statue, which portrays Jesus Christ with arms outstretched, stands atop Mount Corcovado, 2,330 feet (710 meters) above the city and the sparkling blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Guanabara Bay. Pay attention, and you’ll probably see the statue, oh, 30 or 40 times. And that will be in just the first few minutes.

Christ the Redeemer surveys the teeming city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the blue waters of Guanabara Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
Credit: © Marchello74, Shutterstock

Christ the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor in Portuguese) deserves attention. It stands 100 feet (30 meters) tall atop a 25-foot (7.5-meter) base. The distance between the figure’s fingertips is about 92 feet (28 meters). The sculpture is made of reinforced concrete with an exterior made of soapstone. Christ the Redeemer is one of the major tourist attractions in Rio de Janeiro. Views from the statue (you can take escalators, elevators, or 222 stairs to the top of the base) are nothing short of magnificent.

The idea of erecting a statue on Mount Corcovado dates back to 1859. In 1921, the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro began a campaign to build the monument. French sculptor Paul Landowski designed the statue. Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa supervised the project. Work on the statue began in 1927, and the monument was officially inaugurated on Oct. 12, 1931.

Christ the Redeemer may be the most famous statue of Jesus Christ in the world, but it is not the largest. Christ of Peace (Cristo de la Concordia) atop San Pedro Hill near Cochabamba, Bolivia, is taller at 112 feet (34 meters) with a 20-foot (6-meter) pedestal. Christ the King (Pomnik Chrystusa Król) in Świebodzin, Poland, reaches higher than the rest, however, if you count the 108-foot (33-meter) tall figure, its 10-foot (3-meter) crown, and a mound that stands some 60 feet (18 meters) high.

Dilma Rousseff became president of Brazil in 2011. She was the first woman to hold that office. Credit: AP Photo

May 12, 2016

Brazil’s political landscape became yet more complex today, as the nation’s Senate began impeachment proceedings against President, Dilma Rousseff (JEEL mah ROO sehf). (The act of impeachment is a formal vote taken by a legislative body accusing a high-ranking government official of serious wrongdoing and sometimes includes the trial that follows.) Roussef is accused of financial irregularities; her critics claim that she delayed making debt payments to state-owned banks to hide budget deficits.

This accusation comes at a time when Brazil’s government is enmeshed in a serious corruption scandal. The state-owned oil firm Petrobras (Petróleo Brasileiro), one of the largest corporations in Latin America, was formed in the 1950′s and privatized (sold to private investors) in the 1990′s. Then, the Worker’s Party (known as PT, for Party Partido dos Trabalhadores in Portuguese), led by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (loo EESH ee NAHS yoo LOO luh duh SIHL vuh), restored Petrobras to state control. Brazil now owns the largest share of the company. Worker’s Party politicians are accused of putting their own candidates in top executive positions at Petrobras. Around 3 percent of the money paid to the company was then siphoned off to the PT, which used the proceeds for bribes and campaign funding. Directors at Petrobras and construction companies, the latter accused of overcharging for oil-refinery construction, also stole millions of dollars for themselves. More than one-third of the members of Brazil’s Congress are caught up in Petrobras investigations. President Rousseff is not directly accused of taking money in the Petrobras scandal but, before she became president of the nation in 2011, she was director of Petrobras from 2003-2010. Critics claim her campaign funds were partly financed with Petrobras money. 

In addition to this scandal, Brazil’s economy, once one of the strongest in the emerging market nations, is in a deep recession, in part because of the downturn in oil prices, but also because of failed government economic policies, Brazil’s GDP (gross domestic product, the market value of all final goods and services produced in a country during a year) has decreased to 2009 levels. The economy shrank 3.8 percent last year and is forecast to decrease more than 3 percent this year. In addition, consumer spending is down, inflation is at 7 percent, and unemployment is on the rise. There are 3 million more unemployed people in Brazil than there were one year ago. This has led to massive demonstrations and street protests.

Rousseff must step aside while her case is tried by the Brazilian Senate. Vice President Michel Temer will step in for Rousseff during this interim. He has a very big job ahead of him. In addition to political and economic problems, Brazil is caught in a health emergency. In fewer than 100 days, the Summer Olympics are scheduled to begin in Rio de Janiero. Meanwhile, the outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil has led to serious birth defects in more than 1,000 infants and to calls for the games to be moved or postponed.

Other Behind the headline

Brazil Challenged From All Sides (March 15, 2016)

March 15, 2016

Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 13, 2016. Brazilians take to the streets to demand the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff and the arrest of former President Lula, who is accused of corruption. Credit: © Will Rodrigues, Shutterstock

Brazil has had a difficult year. On Sunday, March 13, more than a million Brazilians protested in the streets nationwide. Those Brazilians—most wearing the yellow color associated with the national flag and soccer team—were protesting against the nation’s president, Dilma Rousseff. Brazilians are angry with the government for a number of reasons. For two years, the nation has watched a corruption scandal unfold. The state-run oil company, Petrobras, has been caught handling bribes. In early March, a Brazilian judge sentenced Marcelo Odebrecht, the one-time head of Brazil’s largest construction company, to 19 years in prison for bribing senior executives at Petrobras. This money was then funneled through Petrobras to Brazilian politicians for campaign funds. Charges of corruption have not reached President Rousseff, but prosecutors are seeking the arrest of her predecessor and ally, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, concerning bribes that benefited his party.

Brazil has also been in an economic recession since the end of 2014. Last year, its economy contracted by almost 4 percent. Currently, Brazil’s inflation rate is over 10 percent and its unemployment rate is 9 percent. Working class Brazilians are struggling—Brazil’s economy has not been this weak since the 1930′s.

The Zika virus has also hit Brazil hard, both financially and emotionally. The outbreak of this mosquito-borne virus began in Brazil in April 2015. It had been endemic to Africa and Asia for decades, and it was thought to cause a relatively mild illness. Only when the outbreak began in Brazil did researchers begin to notice a possible correlation between Zika and microcephaly—unusually small head size in infants, which can hinder brain development. Brazil, which had reported some 200 cases of microcephaly in 2014, reported more than 4,000 cases over the last 12 months. Researchers are working to find the link between the virus and microcephaly. Doctors at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were concerned enough about the link to advise pregnant women not to travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2016 summer Olympics.

All of these problems have hit Brazil hard financially, and that has hindered Brazil’s preparations for the Olympic Games, which will be held in August. For example, Brazil had promised International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials that they would clean up Guanabara Bay, a large bay connected to the Atlantic Ocean that is heavily polluted with sewage and garbage. Canoeing, rowing, sailing, and swimming events will all take place in this bay or adjoining rivers. Brazil is too strapped for cash to make any real headway on an environmental cleanup of this size in the amount of time remaining before the Olympic Games.

A discarded sofa litters the shore of Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As part of its Olympic bid, Brazil promised to build eight treatment facilities to filter out much of the sewage and prevent tons of household trash from flowing into the Guanabara Bay. Only one treatment facility has been built. Tons of household trash line the coastline and form islands of refuse. Credit: © Silvia Izquierdo, AP Photo

Other Behind the headline articles

• Travelers Warned of Zika Virus (January 19, 2016)
• WHO Declares Global Zika Virus Emergency (February 3, 2016I 

(January 19, 2016)

February 25, 2016

On February 6, a large fireball fell toward Earth and exploded in the atmosphere. Fortunately, it exploded over the Atlantic Ocean, some 600 miles (970 kilometers) off the coast of Brazil. Had it disintegrated over a populated area, it could have caused many injuries and deaths.

This photograph shows the Chelyabinsk meteor streaking through the sky above Chelyabinsk, Russia, on Feb. 15, 2013. The small asteroid was about 56 to 66 feet (17 to 20 meters) wide. Credit: M. Ahmetvaleev/NASA/JPL-Caltech

A meteor is a streak of light that appears in the sky. The brightest meteors are known as fireballs or bolides. A meteor appears when a piece of matter enters Earth’s atmosphere from space at high speed. Such a piece of matter is called a meteoroid. Most meteoroids that cause visible meteors are smaller than a pebble. As the meteoroid collides with the air, it is heated so that it glows, creating a shining trail of hot gases. Most meteoroids break apart in a second or less. Some fireballs explode as they descend through the atmosphere, sending powerful shockwaves toward Earth.

The February 6 fireball was the largest to reach Earth since the Chelyabinsk meteor exploded over southeastern Russia almost exactly three years earlier. That fireball passed over the city of Chelyabinsk and was recorded on video by dozens of people, giving scientists and the public alike a detailed view of the strike. The shockwave from the explosion damaged thousands of buildings and injured over 1,500 people, mostly with flying glass from broken windows. Scientists think the meteoroid was about 65 feet (20 meters) across and weighed more than 11,000 tons (10,000 metric tons).

An even larger bolide fell in the Tunguska River region of central Russia in 1908. Exploding over a forested area, the blast flattened thousands of trees and damaged the few structures in the area. Because it struck in such a sparsely populated region, only a few injuries and no deaths were reported.

Scientists are studying these strikes to improve their ability to detect potential meteoroids that could threaten major population centers on Earth. Researchers are also investigating ways to destroy would-be meteors or alter their paths.

Other World Book articles

• Astronomy (1983) – A Back in Time article
• Astronomy (1984) – A Back in Time article
• Astronomy (2013) – A Back in Time article
• The Perils of Earth-Buzzing Meteors – A Special Report
• When Worlds and Comets Collide – A Special Report

Mosquitoes transmit many viruses to humans, including the Zika virus. Credit: © Dmitry Knorre, Dreamstime

January 19, 2016

An outbreak of a virus has led health officials at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a travel alert for people, especially pregnant women or women of child-bearing years who might get pregnant, to avoid travel to Puerto Rico and 13 countries in Latin America. The CDC recommended that pregnant women not travel to Puerto Rico and Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, and Venezuela out of fear of birth defects associated with infection by mosquito-borne Zika virus. An outbreak of the Zika virus is linked to a rash of devastating birth defects in Brazil.

Since November 2015, Brazilian health authorities have observed a dramatic increase in babies born with microcephaly, a congenital condition (a problem caused by faulty development, infection, or injury before birth). With this condition, a child is born with a smaller-than-normal sized head, often with severely impaired brain development. In Brazil, more than 3,500 births of babies with microcephaly were reported in 2015, with many deaths. This is a significant increase compared to the 147 cases of microcephaly recorded in Brazil in all of 2014. Brazilian officials believe that the frightening increase in this serious rare condition is related to a recent outbreak of Zika virus in the country. On January 15, the CDC reported that an infant born with microcephaly and her mother had both tested positive for a prior Zika infection. The mother had been in Brazil during her pregnancy. It was the first U.S. case of a birth defect linked to the virus.

Zika virus is spread to people through the bite of a mosquito, Aedes aegypti, common throughout tropical regions of the world. This mosquito is responsible for transmitting other serious diseases, including yellow fever, dengue, and chikungunya. Symptoms of Zika virus disease include fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (eye inflammation). For adults and children already born, the illness is usually mild, with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe Zika virus infections, requiring hospitalization or causing death, are uncommon.

In the past, outbreaks of Zika virus infection have occurred in areas of Africa, where the virus is endemic (naturally occurring), Southeast Asia, and some Pacific Islands. However, none of these outbreaks has ever been associated with birth defects. In early 2015, the Zika virus was first found in an outbreak of illness in Brazil. The virus was later found in patients in several other countries in South America. By November, Brazilian health officials were alarmed by the dramatic increase in births of babies with microcephaly with no apparent cause. Several of the mother and babies tested positive for exposure to the Zika virus, indicating a possible link. Doctors do not yet understand how the Zika virus may cause microcephaly and why this serious condition has not been associated with the virus in previous outbreaks in other countries.

There is currently no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika. The CDC says that pregnant women should consider postponing travel to these countries. Any pregnant women who must travel to one of these areas should talk to their healthcare provider first and strictly follow steps to avoid mosquito bites. People can limit the risk of Zika infection through basic mosquito-control measures. For example, people in affected areas should limit skin exposure by wearing long sleeves and pants, and wear mosquito repellant as necessary during the day, when the mosquitoes that transmit Zika virus are known to bite.

Other links

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—Zika virus
• World Health Organization

September 26, 2014

In an odd twist, Brazilian scientists from the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) Foundation and Brazil’s Ministry of Health are releasing thousands of specially modified mosquitoes in a region around Rio de Janeiro in an effort to reduce and perhaps even eliminate the spread of mosquito-borne dengue fever. For the program to work, the special mosquitoes must breed and eventually become the majority population in the region. By reducing the incidence of this debilitating mosquito-borne disease through natural methods, it may allow nations to reduce their widespread use of pesticides against mosquito populations. The release is the first of its kind to take place in a country in the Americas. Similar releases of specially-modified mosquitoes have been conducted in Australia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Mosquites transmit a number of illnesses to humans, including dengue fever, malaria, and West Nile virus. (© Dmitry Knorre, Dreamstime)

Dengue fever, also called breakbone fever, causes headaches, eye aches, and severe pain in the muscles and joints, in addition to a high fever. It is caused by a virus transmitted only by mosquitoes of the species Aedes aegypti. Dengue is endemic (exists permanently) in Brazil and many other regions of the tropics and subtropics. Global health officials estimate that about 390 million people get dengue each year. Although it is seldom fatal, the debilitating illness is an enormous burden on the economy and health care systems of many developing countries. There is no known cure for the disease.

In a Brazilian laboratory, scientists from Oxitec, a British biotechnology corporation, infected Aedes mosquitoes with a parasitic microbe called Wolbachia. This common bacteria infects the cells of a mosquito, where it prevents the dengue virus from multiplying. The microbe acts like a vaccine against the dengue virus in the mosquitoes and, once infected with Wolbachia, the insects cannot transmit the disease to humans when they bite. Wolbachia also affects mosquito reproduction. Female mosquitoes usually mate only once in their lifetime. If a male mosquito infected with Wolbachia mates with an uninfected female, the eggs do not develop, reducing the entire mosquito population. When an infected female mates, her offspring will carry Wolbachia, ensuring future mosquito generations of her line will be immune to Dengue.

While it is impossible to eliminate all of the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, scientists hope that surviving populations will be incapable of transmitting dengue to people. They believe it will take as long as 2 years to see if the program is effective. If successful, the mosquito program may also be used to help control other diseases transmitted through the bite of Aedes aegypti, including yellow fever or malaria.

Additional World Book articles:

• Blood Feeders: Real Life Vampires (a Special report)

• Overpopulation and the Threat of Disease (a Special report)

July 14, 2014

Mario Götze scored in the 113th minute of the World Cup final yesterday to give Germany a 1-0 victory over Argentina in the championship game at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The title is Germany’s fourth, compared with host Brazil’s record five championships. Germany’s victory marked the first time that a European team won the cup in a tournament held in the Americas.

The 22-year old Götze entered the game in the 88^th minute; 25 minutes later, he instantly became one of Germany’s all-time sports heroes.  Ironically, Götze had replaced Miroslav Klose, who had broken the all-time career record for goals scored in World Cup competition.

Germany’s victory stole the spotlight from Lionel Messi, the Argentine star generally considered the best player in the world. Messi received the Golden Ball award as the tournament’s best player, but it was Götze and his teammates who carried off the big prize.

Soccer is the world’s most popular sport. The World Cup Finals, the biggest single-event sports competition in the world, involved 32 countries whose teams played 64 games in 12 cities over 32 days. A description of the World Cup as “the planet’s single greatest collective human experience” by sports writer Roger Bennett captured the fervor aroused by the 2014 tournament.

Additional World Book articles:

• Tim Cahill
• Neymar
• Cristiano Ronaldo
• Football, Association
• Soccer 1994 (a Back in Time article)
• Soccer 2010 (a Back in Time article)

June 12, 2014

The World Cup Finals, the biggest single-event sports competition in the world, kicked off today in Brazil. The tournament will involve 32 countries whose teams will play 64 games in 12 cities over 32 days. The final match is scheduled for July 13 in Rio de Janeiro. Television viewership of the soccer championship is expected to be the highest in history, surpassing the 3.2 billion people who watched the 2010 games, according to the FIFA, the international governing body of association football. A description of the World Cup as “the planet’s single greatest collective human experience” by sports writer Roger Bennett captures the fervor aroused by the tournament.

The World Cup is the most important international competition in soccer. Every four years national all-star teams from 32 countries compete for the trophy. (© Alfredo Lopez, Jam Media/LatinContent/Getty Images)

Football, or soccer, is known as "the beautiful game." (© Jose Jordan, AFP/Getty Images)

The United States is one of four countries from North and Central America to reach the final round of play in the 2014 tournament. The other qualifying teams are from Costa Rica, Honduras, and Mexico. The United States has qualified for every World Cup since 1990. The U.S. team plays it first match on Monday, June 16, against Ghana.

The 2014 World Cup, the most expensive ever staged, has been highly controversial. Surveys found that more than half of Brazilians–perhaps as many as two out of every three residents–opposed the tournament. Across Brazil, demonstrators have protested the enormous cost of hosting the event–$11 billion–which they claim would have been better spent on hospitals, public housing, and schools. In 2013, an estimated 1 million people joined demonstrations across Brazil, protesting an event that offers no economic advantage to the vast majority of Brazil’s population. Today in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, police used tear gas to break up a demonstration. Protesters were attempting to block a road leading to the stadium where the opening ceremony took place. Near the stadium, some 3,000 families are camping in a squatter settlement known as the “People’s Cup,” hoping to use the global event as a platform to pressure the government to provide better public services. Elsewhere in the city, riot police used tear gas and rubber truncheons to disperse protesters outside a subway station on the route to the same arena.

Additional World Book articles:

• Tim Cahill
• Lionel Messi
• Neymar
• Cristiano Ronaldo

January 10, 2014

While areas of North America have endured record polar temperatures this week, the Southern Hemisphere, where it is summer, is experiencing the opposite extreme–record high temperatures. Temperatures in some parts of the sparsely populated Pilbara region along Australia’s rugged northwest coast hit 122 °F (50 °C) yesterday. The Australian newspaper The Blaze reports that the heat is so severe that an estimated 100,000 bats have died, “littering the ground and alarming authorities who warn locals not to touch the animals for fear of infection.” Large numbers of parrots, kangaroos, and emus have been found dead in the parched terrain around Winton, Queensland, the chief executive of the Winton Shire Council told media outlets.

Southern South America is sizzling as well. In Brazil, zookeepers in Rio de Janeiro are giving their charges ice pops to keep them cool in the 120 °F (49 °C) heat. An extended heat wave in Argentina recently overloaded the electric grid, resulting in blackouts that have left thousands of households without electric power. In the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, record high temperatures have left hundreds of fish dead in city park lakes.

Australians often flock to Bondi Beach in Sydney to celebrate the Christmas holiday, which falls during the summer in the Southern Hemisphere. (© Mike Stone, Alamy Images)

Australia’s most recent heat wave follows its hottest year on record. The country’s  Bureau of Meteorology reported that in 2013, temperatures were 2.16 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Celsius) above the long-term average, making 2013 the warmest year since record keeping began in Australia in 1910. The world’s driest continent also had its hottest day, hottest month, hottest winter’s day, and hottest summer in 2013. The hotter-than-normal temperatures, which began late in 2012, were so extreme that the Bureau of Meteorology was forced to change its official weather forecasting map to include two new colors—deep purple and pink—to show areas with temperatures above 122 °F (50 °C).

Additional World Book articles:

• Bushfires in Australia
• Australia 2009 (a Back in Time article)
• Global warming 2012 (a Back in Time article)
• The Great Meltdown (a special report)
• Meltdown: Climate Change in the Arctic (a special report)