Scientific cooperation is strategic for Brazil to strengthen relations with Europe

The state of São Paulo has three major partners in scientific collaboration here in Europe, which are Germany, the United Kingdom and France

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

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From left to right: Dietrich Halm (DFG), Roberto Jaguaribe (Brazilian Ambassador to Germany) and Marco Antonio Zago (FAPESP)

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Credit: Elton Alisson (Agência FAPESP

Relations between Europe and South America – and especially with Brazil - are at a favorable moment, due to factors such as the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, signed in December 2024 and currently being approved. However, in order to take advantage of this window of opportunity and be competitive, Brazil must continue to expand scientific and technological cooperation with European partners.  

This assessment was made by the Brazilian Ambassador to Germany, Roberto Jaguaribe, during the reception for the participants of FAPESP Week Germany, an event held from March 25 to 26 at the Free University of Berlin.

“We’re now experiencing a positive climate in relation to our economic and, more importantly, regional relations, which is related to various factors, such as climate change and the energy transition, as well as others linked to geopolitical movements. This new framework is making it clear that we need to come together in different ways, especially because we have very important convergences,” said Jaguaribe. 

“We’re also hopefully in the final phase of a long-negotiated agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, with Germany being the driving force behind its approval. All of this will open new doors, but if we want to be competitive, we need to continue working to develop scientific and technological cooperation, as FAPESP has been doing and which will continue to be fundamental,” he observed.

According to the ambassador, scientific cooperation between Brazil and Germany has played a very important role in the relationship between the two countries, and collaboration with the state of São Paulo in this area has been very strong and deepened in recent years.

“FAPESP is the oldest Brazilian research funding institution and one of the most successful over the years. For this reason, it has developed a very important relationship abroad, including with Germany. We need to encourage the continuation of this valuable effort,” he noted.

According to Marco Antonio Zago, President of FAPESP, Germany is the fourth largest scientific partner of the state of São Paulo, in terms of articles co-authored by researchers associated with universities and research institutions in both regions. The aim of FAPESP Week Germany is to expand and strengthen this scientific and technological cooperation with the European country, he stressed. 

“The state of São Paulo has three major partners in scientific collaboration here in Europe, which are Germany, the United Kingdom and France. And, in our opinion, the planning and implementation of cooperation requires face-to-face conversations. Researchers need to get to know their partners and talk to them in order to build relationships of trust and work together,” he said.

“I’m sure that science and technology can bring progress and a peaceful future, and we can do this together. That’s why we’re here,” Zago emphasized.

According to Dietrich Halm, Director of International Cooperation with Latin America at the German Research Foundation (DFG), both the institution and FAPESP, which are partners in organizing the event, are convinced that excellent research is only possible when international cooperation is made possible.

“In view of the new and risky geopolitical movements that are currently taking place, often accompanied by unplanned measures, it’s even more valuable that we have scientific and fact-based exchanges with our partners from Brazil during this event, in order to further strengthen cooperation between São Paulo, Brazil and Germany,” he concluded.

 

New study reveals 'all or nothing' business strategies can backfire

Research shows businesses how to use history as a motivator

Binghamton University

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BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- When a company launches a new initiative, framing it as an “all or nothing” pathway to success is tempting, especially when the goal is restoring the status quo of years before, perhaps when business was more profitable.

But is it the best approach?

Not always, according to a new study co-authored by Matthew Lyle, assistant professor at Binghamton University, State University of New York's School of Management. Researchers found that “all or nothing” strategies are more likely to weaken employees’ support for future initiatives if those plans fail to completely meet the objective. Instead, managers should frame new initiatives as chances to improve upon what they have done wrong while building on what they have done right.

“We know that history can be very motivating — returning to a proud period and using it as an inspiration to break away from an awful period — but we found in this study that you can motivate people more effectively by telling them that even their attempt to enact the initiative is valiant,” Lyle said. “That’s enough to get people on board so you can get the support you need to make a change happen.”

Lyle and his co-researchers believe a good way to start is by encouraging the more experienced employees to share their memories of previous initiatives — successes and failures — openly and honestly. This can create strong bonds that outlast a single strategic initiative, Lyle said.

Their study involved examining two union organizations within major South Korean broadcasters. Both displayed distinct generations of cohorts shaped by experiences and memories of South Korea’s media democratization struggles from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.

Between 2009 and 2012, new CEOs were appointed to each organization, and during that time, journalists perceived internal pressure to provide biased coverage alongside stories involving public criticism. Unions at both broadcasters went on strike in 2012 to remove their CEOs and advocate for their journalistic values, but both strikes ended without achieving their goals.

Lyle and fellow researchers analyzed data collected through direct interviews, analysis of online message boards used by senior and junior members of both unions to share news and opinions, and 30 YouTube videos produced by the unions. A co-author of the study also spent significant time alongside strike participants attending rallies, protests and informal gatherings.

Based on the information gathered, researchers determined that when organizations talk about learning from an entirely positive past to prevent a disastrous future, failure leads people to avoid collective discussions about what happened and, therefore, miss opportunities to learn from it.

As a result, Lyle said, they develop a feeling of “learned helplessness,” and people tend to ask themselves or others, “What’s the point in trying again?”

When another chance at organizing a strike arose in 2014, one of the unions avoided it. Junior employees felt they had betrayed an organization that had “always succeeded,” describing it now as being in a “vegetative state,” unable to try again when the previous failure effectively paralyzed them.

By contrast, the study noted, the union exposed to “a largely shameful past” in 2012 jumped at the opportunity to strike again, viewing this as an opportunity to finish what they had started when their shameful history ended — and their proud one began — two years prior. This union viewed the simple act of striking in 2012 as a historic turn and endured through the failure. Their success in forcing the CEO’s resignation in 2014 appeared rooted in how they motivated participants in 2012, according to the researchers.

“There’s a good use for this research in any organization wondering if it can stay afloat. I would encourage them to be more honest about what needs to get done and acknowledge that, while they likely haven’t always succeeded, everyone’s going to do their best now to draw upon those positive elements of the past to make a better future,” Lyle said. “Some might view that concept as ‘loser talk,’ but we’ve found that it’s much more sustainable as a strategy in the long run.”

The study, “Generation Gap? The Branching Influence of Historical Myths,” was published in the journal Organizational Science.

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Journal

Organization Science

DOI

10.1287/orsc.2022.16982 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Generation Gap? The Branching Influence of Historical Myths

Lessons from Venezuela’s democratic collapse: How opposition movements can defy autocratic leaders

By Renée LaReau

 News Release 25-Mar-2025
University of Notre Dame

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Laura Gamboa, an assistant professor of democracy and global affairs at the University of Notre Dame.

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Credit: University of Notre Dame

Until the 1990s, Venezuela was home to one of the most established democracies in Latin America. Today, however, it stands as one of the region’s most firmly entrenched authoritarian regimes.

How did this shift occur, and what can other countries learn from Venezuela’s transformation?

A new paper from political scientist Laura Gamboa at the University of Notre Dame chronicles the country’s 25-year evolution, during which Hugo Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro, destroyed a system of checks and balances, ended competitive elections, terminated political rights and civil liberties, and harmed or killed scores of political opponents along the way.

“The Venezuelan case provides several lessons for countries whose democracies are just beginning to erode,” Gamboa said. “It shows that you should use all of the institutional spaces you have while you have them. Not leveraging those spaces is a mistake.”

How Hugo Chávez seized power

Venezuela’s democracy began to erode in 1999, when newly elected President Hugo Chávez convened a constitutional assembly to draft a new constitution for the country — a power grab that was carried out without the approval of the National Congress.

Yet even after this power grab, the anti-Chavista coalition still controlled media outlets, exerted influence over the armed forces and the state-owned oil company, held seats in the legislature, received support from courts and oversight agencies, and had the ability to mobilize Venezuelans into the streets. Despite a significant presence within democratic institutions, the opposition chose instead to resist the erosion of democracy through radical strategies: a 2002 coup and the 2003 oil strike to push Chávez to resign.

These strategies cost the opposition important bureaucratic and state resources because they gave Chávez the reason he needed to purge the military, fire oil company managers, and use oil revenues to buy domestic and international support, Gamboa said.

“Using tactics like coups, boycotts or strikes can be effective ways to protest a government, but they can backfire when you leverage them against a popular and democratically elected president.”

By 2006, the anti-Chavista coalition had lost most of the institutional resources that had previously been available, such as an independent media, and Chávez had asserted more power by appointing loyalists to oversight agencies and the country’s courts. And yet, the opposition won back some elected offices in 2008 and 2015 and was able to use those elected offices to highlight some government abuses.

“We see from these successes that when you use institutions, there can be a good payoff,” Gamboa said.

Opposing Nicolás Maduro

Gamboa’s analysis showed that in recent years, even operating amid tight constraints, the opposition movement created opportunities to push against autocratization — for example, through Venezuela’s 2024 presidential elections. Though incumbent Nicolás Maduro declared victory amid widespread accusations of fraud, and despite several countries — including the U.S. — denouncing official results, opposition leader María Corina Machado announced that tallies from more than 70 percent of the country’s voting stations showed that Maduro’s opponent, Edmundo González, had received 3.5 million more votes than the president.

“No one expected Venezuela to have elections,” Gamboa said. “The opposition competed even though their ability to compete was diminished, and they won even though the odds of winning were very small. Yes, the regime clamped down, but it’s significant that the opposition was able to express itself in an electoral space.”

While the 2024 election results suggest that winning an electoral contest is possible in a highly authoritarian environment, Gamboa said, an election win is not enough to guarantee a transition to democracy.

“If the opposition chose to leverage both institutional and non-institutional strategies and use them together, that would probably be more powerful,” she said.

The author of “Resisting Backsliding: Opposition Strategies Against the Erosion of Democracy,” Gamboa has studied Venezuela since 2013. Her new study, published in a special issue of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science on democratic erosion, was informed by extensive fieldwork that included interviews and archival research.

Overall, Gamboa said, the case of Venezuela shows that democratic backsliding is a highly uncertain process, and more research on newer forms of autocratization and opposition strategies is needed. She is currently working on a book related to these issues, focusing on how regime type affects opposition strategies and their effectiveness.

“In the past two decades, we have seen a significant decline in democracy across the world,” she said. “Democracies have eroded into authoritarian regimes, and formerly weak autocracies have become more entrenched. For opposition movements in both of these cases, Venezuela offers lessons and hope.”

al

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

DOI

10.1177/00027162241309 

Method of Research

Case study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Plebiscitary Override in Venezuela: Erosion of Democracy and Deepening Authoritarianism

 

USU ecologists document Utah's bee species and say beehive state is rich in bee diversity

Joseph Wilson, Anthony Hunsaker publish findings about Utah's Pollinators in the journal 'Diversity'

Utah State University

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Near Moab, Utah, bees of the Genus Diadasia, also known as chimney bees, mallow bees or digger bees, build their characteristic cylindrical nests in the middle of a dirt road. Utah State University ecologists compiled a comprehensive list of Utah's bee species and published their findings in the March 14, 2025 issue of the journal Diversity.

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Credit: Joseph S. Wilson, USU

TOOELE, UTAH, USA -- Wildlife conservation is critical to sustaining the planet’s biodiversity and health. But putting together a conservation plan is a tall order. First of all, you need to determine what species you’re conserving, along with their numbers, habitat needs, threats and how they fit into a complex ecosystem.

As pollinators for native plants and food crops, bees play a pivotal role in our ecosystem, according to Utah State University ecologist Joseph Wilson. He and undergraduate researcher Anthony Hunsaker took on the herculean task of documenting Utah’s bee species using online occurrence records from the Symbiota Collection of Arthropods Network, along with specimen records housed at the USDA-ARS Pollinating Insect Research Unit located at USU’s Logan campus.

They discovered the nickname “Beehive State” aptly describes the western state’s bee diversity, and published “A Checklist of the Bees of Utah,” with colleagues Terry Griswold of the USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects Research Unit and USU alum Olivia Messinger Carril (Biology ’00, MS’06) of the Native Pollinator Project, in the March 14, 2025 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Diversity.

“In total, we documented 1,167 bee species in the state of Utah,” says Wilson, evolutionary ecologist and associate professor in the Department of Biology and the USU Ecology Center at USU Tooele.

Hunsaker, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in natural resources from USU Tooele in May 2024, says documenting as many bees as possible is important for accuracy.

“We want our research to represent the truth and inform conservationists,” says the Magna, Utah native, who graduated from Cyprus High School in 2018. “This is important for conservation efforts, because our list shows evidence for high species richness in Utah.”

Hunsaker, who teaches, among other courses, a wildlife studies class at a public middle school, says the checklist will aid conservationists in identifying bee specimens, serve as a baseline to determine if any new bees are identified in Utah and serve as an alert if a species is disappearing from the state.

“Our checklist helps scientists and managers understand bee distributions, which are essential to protecting these vital pollinators,” he says. “The information can help managers limit adverse impacts, if a new invasive species is introduced.”

Wilson says a state-level checklist is useful, as conservation efforts and policies are often made at the state level.

“While several North American state and province-level bee species have been published, few exist for the arid western states where bee diversity tends to be higher,” he says. “Our findings highlight Utah as one of the most bee-rich regions. We estimate there could be as many as 1,500 bee species in our state.”

A first-generation college graduate, Hunsaker says he got involved in undergraduate research, because he would like to pursue graduate studies in the future.

“Dr. Wilson introduced me to the possibilities of research and graduate school and, when we were brainstorming ideas for projects I could work on, the ideas of a bee species list for Utah really stood out for me,” he says. “I knew a list could be very helpful and valuable to people working in conservation, and I was excited to be involved in an effort to protect wildlife.”

Hunsaker says the project taught him research can be mundane and repetitive at times, but completing the task and getting published was “very rewarding.”

“Being involved in undergraduate research is extremely beneficial, as it opens your mind to what this process is and what it can look like,” he says. “Even if you aren’t planning to go to graduate school, I learned and practiced patience, problem-solving, critical thinking and analytical skills — all qualities that can be applied in future studies or in the workforce.”

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Journal

Diversity

DOI

10.3390/d17030212 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

A Checklist of the Bees of Utah

Article Publication Date

24-Mar-2025

 

Milk as Medicine: New Study Shows Breast Milk Transforms Challenges into Triumphs

University of Oklahoma

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Researcher David Fields, Ph.D., is an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine.

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Credit: University of Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY – In 2010, University of Oklahoma researcher David Fields, Ph.D., was pouring over research data when he discovered something he thought was odd: His data showed that at 6 months of age, formula-fed babies born of mothers who were categorized as medically obese weighed about 5% units less fat than breastfed babies in the same dataset. That discovery struck him as unusual and led him on a research journey to better understand breast milk. Now, he’s studying the connections between maternal gestational diabetes, breastfeeding and infant health.

Fields is part of the research team behind a recent study in The Journal of the American Medical Association that examines the effects of breast milk on the children of mothers with gestational diabetes.

“Gestational diabetes is a big deal,” said Fields, an associate professor of pediatrics in the OU College of Medicine. “It’s bad for the mother because, while it goes away after giving birth, it usually portends that later in life, the mother will get diabetes.”

Fields and his colleagues began studying mother-infant pairs with gestational diabetes in 2019, when the National Institutes for Health renewed funding for his 2015 project with University of Minnesota researcher Ellen Demerath, Ph.D., called the Mothers and Infants LinKed for Health Growth (MILK) study, one of the largest and longest-running studies on breastfeeding in the country.

At that time, Fields suspected the breast milk composition of mothers with gestational diabetes would be different from mothers without the disease. When they began digging into the compositional differences between breast milk for mothers with and without gestational diabetes, the results told an unexpected story. While nine differences existed between the breast milk of mothers with gestational diabetes and those without, three were significantly associated with growth and body composition. Those differences benefitted the children of mothers with gestational diabetes.

Babies of mothers with gestational diabetes had faster linear growth: They were longer and growing faster. They also had a lower fat percentage in one month to three months.

“They weren’t putting on fat as much, which is totally opposite of what we would think. We thought that these babies would be gaining more fat, but they’re not,” Fields said.

When the MILK study began, very little was known about the composition of breast milk. “We didn’t know much beyond macronutrients, simply how much fat and how much protein is in the milk,” he said.

And while there is still more to learn about the differences between formula and breast milk, and their effects on children, Fields and his team are at the forefront of making those discoveries.   

“Our ultimate take-home message is milk is medicine. Milk is the interface between the baby and the mother. What a mother eats and how they live, either good or bad, is being signaled and transferred to the infant,” Fields said.

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About the research

“Gestational Diabetes, the Human Milk Metabolome, and Infant Growth and Adiposity” is published in The Journal of the American Medical Association at https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2827802. Field’s current study, “Maternal Obesity, Breast Milk Composition, and Infant Growth,” in collaboration with Ellen Demerath, Ph.D., at the University of Minnesota, is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

About the University of Oklahoma

Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university with campuses in Norman, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. In Oklahoma City, OU Health Sciences is one of the nation’s few academic health centers with seven health profession colleges located on the same campus. OU Health Sciences serves approximately 4,000 students in more than 70 undergraduate and graduate degree programs spanning Oklahoma City and Tulsa and is the leading research institution in Oklahoma. For more information about OU Health Sciences, visit www.ouhsc.edu.

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Journal

Journal of the American Medical Association

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.50467 

Method of Research

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Gestational Diabetes, the Human Milk Metabolome, and Infant Growth and Adiposity