South America

March 10th 2026

In Ancient Peru, Feather Traders Transported Live Parrots Across Treacherous Mountains

New findings challenge an “Inca-centric” view of South American history, the researchers say.

Human History Gayoung Lee

September 26th 2024

Surprising Footage Shows Mysterious Orca Group Hunting Dolphins

The mysterious group of orcas, living off the coast of Chile, employs particularly grisly hunting methods.

Biology Adam Kovac

August 19th 2024

Rock art found in Colombia's Amazon rainforest

Prehistoric Paintings Found in the Amazon Depict Supernatural Figures

The rock art is in a region of Colombia that was off-limits to researchers for decades due to political instability.

Human History Adam Kovac

November 30th 2023

Columbia’s New Star Wars Winter Collection Is Hoth as Hell

The Skywalker Pilot Collection drops December 1 online and at select retail locations.

Movies Sabina Graves

October 13th 2022

Illustration: DESY, Science Communication Lab

Black Hole Pukes Up Star Years After Eating It

The black hole ejected stellar material in 2021, three years after pulling a star into its orbit.

Space & Spaceflight Isaac Schultz

April 12th 2022

Look at This Stretch of Amazon Rainforest Cleared in a Year

Vast areas of rainforest are being lost each year, and new satellite images show how that looks in just one area of Brazil.

Conservation Angely Mercado

February 14th 2022

A Staggering Amount of Amazon Rainforest Disappeared Last Month

Deforestation has increased rapidly under Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, as new satellite data reveals.

Conservation Angely Mercado

February 8th 2022

Ecuador’s Indigenous Groups Have New Power to Protect Their Lands from Destruction

The country's highest court ruled in favor of groups having more control in the Amazon.

Environmental Justice Angely Mercado

April 8th 2021

Bolsonaro Oversaw a Connecticut-Sized Chunk of Deforestation in the Amazon Last Year

Last year was a bad one around the world—but especially, it seems, in the Amazon rainforest. Deforestation in the Amazon rocketed up 17% last year, due in large part to increased logging, agriculture, mining, and wildfires, new data published Wednesday shows. The data, put together by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project, or MAAP,…

Climate Change Molly Taft

April 8th 2020

Evidence of 10,000-Year-Old Crops Points to the Amazon as an Early Agricultural Hotspot

Archaeologists have pinpointed four independent regions where humans first began cultivating crops: China, the Middle East, Mesoamerica, and the Andes. We can now add southwestern Amazonia to this exclusive list, owing to new evidence of plant domestication in the region. Foods made from squash and cassava, a carbohydrate-rich root vegetable, were being consumed in the…

Human History George Dvorsky

March 10th 2019

Maduro Says “Multiple Cyberattacks” Backed by U.S. to Blame for Four Days of Widespread Blackouts

Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—whose administration has been faced with a massive economic crisis, allegations of election-rigging, and a growing power struggle with U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó—is blaming the country’s fourth consecutive day of widespread power outages on U.S.-backed cyberattacks. Per Reuters, Maduro tweeted on Sunday that “The national electrical system has been subject…

Privacy & Security Tom McKay

January 26th 2019

Brazilian Mining Disaster Leaves Dozens Dead, Hundreds Missing After Waste Dam Collapses

Authorities said this weekend that the death toll from an industrial disaster in Brumadinho, Brazil in Minas Gerais state has climbed to at least 34, with some officials saying that the true toll could reach the hundreds, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. That’s a sharp increase from a prior count of 11 deaths…

Tech News Tom McKay

October 29th 2018

Chocolate Has a New Origin Story

New archaeological evidence suggests humans were cultivating and consuming cacao—the crop from which chocolate is produced—as long as 5,300 years ago, which is 1,500 years earlier than previously thought. What’s more, cacao was initially domesticated in the equatorial regions of South America, and not Central America. Humans, as a new paper published today in Nature Ecology…

Human History George Dvorsky

February 1st 2018

Stupid Truck Driver Drove Right Over the Nazca Lines

There’s a 2,000-year-old archaeological mystery preserved in Southern Peru: enormous images carved into the desert by unknown ancient artists. The beautiful Nazca Lines depict birds, monkeys, and humans, and some of the creations span up to 1,200 feet. And a man just drove over them with his truck. CNN reports: Jainer Jesus Flores Vigo, 40,…

Tech News Ryan F. Mandelbaum

January 14th 2018

Magnitude 7.1 Earthquake Strikes Peru

A “strong magnitude 7.1 earthquake” struck the southern coast of Peru on Sunday morning, leaving at least one dead, several missing, and dozens injured, CNBC reported. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake struck roughly 22.4 miles (36 kilometers) offshore centered about 25 miles (40 km) into the Pacific Ocean from the town of…

Tech News Tom McKay

January 18th 2017

Walking on the Roads of Argentina Looks Awesome

Argentina has so many wonderfully different backdrops and views that it’s a pretty perfect place to travel through. Guillaume Juin walked on the roads of the beautiful country and captured gorgeous imagery in this video. You can really see how diverse the landscape is. In the northern parts of Argentina it’s a total desert. In…

Sploid Casey Chan

August 18th 2016

How Two Plants Combine To Form The Powerful Drug Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca has been used in shaman and healing rituals for centuries, specifically in areas near the Amazon river basin, but it’s seeing a surge in popularity among “tourists” that travel to South America to seek its hallucinatory effects. But how the drug actually works is more interesting than the booming industry that surrounds it. An…

Tech News Carli Velocci

May 19th 2015

China Wants to Build a 3000-Mile Railway Through the Amazon

Not content with building massive new dams, railroads, and cities inside its own borders, China is backing hugely ambitious infrastructure projects all over the world. Its latest is a 3,000-mile long railway that will cut through vast swathes of the Amazon rainforest. The Guardian reports that Chinese premier Li Keqiang will advocate for the railway…

Commerce Sarah Zhang

May 5th 2015

This Little Guy Proves That Australia Was Always A Penal Colony

This is a monito de monte, a little faux-monkey that hops around South America. He’s a very special kind of marsupial, one that proves that Australia was always the where all the oddballs were abandoned, only to thrive. The monito de monte’s name gives you a hint as to where it comes from. Spanish? Mountains?…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

April 27th 2015

Ghost Monkeys Foretell Rainforest Destruction (Yes, Really)

For the first time, two albino spider monkeys have appeared in the wild. Danny Schmidt captured the first photos and videos of them; we asked him to explain why the ghost monkeys spell doom for their eco system. IndefinitelyWild: How’d you hear about the ghost monkeys? Danny Schmidt: I first heard about the albino brown…

Biology Wes Siler

South America

In Ancient Peru, Feather Traders Transported Live Parrots Across Treacherous Mountains

Surprising Footage Shows Mysterious Orca Group Hunting Dolphins

Prehistoric Paintings Found in the Amazon Depict Supernatural Figures

Columbia’s New Star Wars Winter Collection Is Hoth as Hell

Black Hole Pukes Up Star Years After Eating It

Look at This Stretch of Amazon Rainforest Cleared in a Year

A Staggering Amount of Amazon Rainforest Disappeared Last Month

Ecuador’s Indigenous Groups Have New Power to Protect Their Lands from Destruction

Bolsonaro Oversaw a Connecticut-Sized Chunk of Deforestation in the Amazon Last Year

Evidence of 10,000-Year-Old Crops Points to the Amazon as an Early Agricultural Hotspot

Maduro Says “Multiple Cyberattacks” Backed by U.S. to Blame for Four Days of Widespread Blackouts

Brazilian Mining Disaster Leaves Dozens Dead, Hundreds Missing After Waste Dam Collapses

Chocolate Has a New Origin Story

Stupid Truck Driver Drove Right Over the Nazca Lines

Magnitude 7.1 Earthquake Strikes Peru

Walking on the Roads of Argentina Looks Awesome

How Two Plants Combine To Form The Powerful Drug Ayahuasca

China Wants to Build a 3000-Mile Railway Through the Amazon

This Little Guy Proves That Australia Was Always A Penal Colony

Ghost Monkeys Foretell Rainforest Destruction (Yes, Really)

Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 Holds a Record Low Price as Bone Conduction Headphones Stock Quietly Clears Out on Amazon

Avast Premium Isn’t Flashy — But It Might Be the Smartest Cheap Antivirus Right Now

Data Centers Create Heat Islands Stretching 6 Miles, Study Finds

Garmin epix Pro (Gen 2) Sapphire Edition Smartwatch at 41% Off Is Flying Off the Shelves on Amazon

Aragorn Is Officially Being Recast For ‘The Hunt for Gollum’

DJI Slashes $500 Off the Mini 5 Pro Fly More Drone After Avata 360 Launch, Bundled With RC 2, Batteries, and More

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