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Brazil Declares Acai a National Fruit to Ward off 'Biopiracy'

A bird eats an acai berry from a basket on the boat of merchant Evandro Santos, 38, resident of the riverside community of Sao Jose, in Melgaco, southwest of Marajo Island, state of Para, Brazil, on June 11, 2020. (AFP)
A bird eats an acai berry from a basket on the boat of merchant Evandro Santos, 38, resident of the riverside community of Sao Jose, in Melgaco, southwest of Marajo Island, state of Para, Brazil, on June 11, 2020. (AFP)
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Brazil Declares Acai a National Fruit to Ward off 'Biopiracy'

A bird eats an acai berry from a basket on the boat of merchant Evandro Santos, 38, resident of the riverside community of Sao Jose, in Melgaco, southwest of Marajo Island, state of Para, Brazil, on June 11, 2020. (AFP)
A bird eats an acai berry from a basket on the boat of merchant Evandro Santos, 38, resident of the riverside community of Sao Jose, in Melgaco, southwest of Marajo Island, state of Para, Brazil, on June 11, 2020. (AFP)

Brazil has declared the acai berry a national fruit, a move to stamp its ownership on the popular "superfood" as concerns grow about foreign companies staking claims to the Amazon's biological riches.

Acai has been a savory staple in the Amazon for centuries, eaten as a thick paste alongside fish and manioc flour.

The dark purple berry went global in the early 2000s after it was reinvented as a sweet sorbet, often topped with granola and fruit, and marketed for its antioxidant-rich properties.

Acai's active ingredients piqued the interest of food and cosmetic companies worldwide.

In one case cited in parliamentary debates, a Japanese company trademarked the use of the name acai in 2003. It took Brazil four years to cancel the registration.

Cases like these drove the law declaring acai a national fruit, first introduced in 2011 and signed earlier this month.

Brazil's agriculture ministry told AFP the measure helps showcase acai as a "genuinely Brazilian product" that generates income for thousands of Amazonian families.

However, experts say the law is largely symbolic and aimed at highlighting the challenge of growing international interest in a wide range of fruits native to the Amazon.

Brazil is one of several countries increasingly concerned about so-called "biopiracy," the use of genetic resources without permission or benefit-sharing.

The law "helps prioritize the issue on the public agenda," said Bruno Kato, founder of Horta da Terra, a company that develops and markets Amazonian ingredients.

- 'Enormous' risk -

Sheila de Souza Correa de Melo, an intellectual property analyst at Brazil's Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa, who works in the Amazon, told AFP the law was "primarily symbolic and culturally affirming."

Brazil is one of the most biodiverse nations in the world, and a wide range of fruits with unique properties are at "enormous" risk of being used in new products developed and patented abroad, said de Melo.

Kato cited the "emblematic" case of the creamy fruit, cupuacu, which is related to cocoa and used in desserts and cosmetics.

Cupuacu was registered as a trademark by another Japanese company in the late 1990s, which demanded the payment of $10,000 in royalties for any product mentioning "cupuacu" on the label.

It took two decades to overturn the trademark.

Several patents have been filed abroad for specifically developed uses of acai's active ingredients in food and cosmetics, said de Melo.

- 'Clear rules' -

Ana Costa, vice president of sustainability at Brazilian eco-conscious cosmetics giant Natura -- known for its use of Amazonian ingredients such as acai -- told AFP that the law showed the need for "clear rules that guarantee the fair sharing of benefits."

Brazil is a signatory to the 2014 Nagoya Protocol, an international treaty on sharing benefits from genetic resources.

The treaty has run into a major loophole as genetic data has become digitized, and researchers can now merely download a DNA sequence and use it to develop medicine or cosmetics, without physically collecting plants or seeds.

De Melo said the main challenge for Brazil was that raw materials such as acai pulp were often exported to countries which then carry out the research needed to create high-value products.

She said Brazil should focus on investing in research and technological development in the Amazon to generate wealth locally.

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Varieties

Being a Night Owl May Not Be Great for Your Heart, but You Can Do Something About It

A person looks out of a window in an apartment building in Kansas City, Mo., May 3, 2020. (AP)
A person looks out of a window in an apartment building in Kansas City, Mo., May 3, 2020. (AP)
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Being a Night Owl May Not Be Great for Your Heart, but You Can Do Something About It

A person looks out of a window in an apartment building in Kansas City, Mo., May 3, 2020. (AP)
A person looks out of a window in an apartment building in Kansas City, Mo., May 3, 2020. (AP)

Being a night owl can be bad for your heart.

That may sound surprising but a large study found people who are more active late at night — when most of the population is winding down or already asleep — have poorer overall heart health than the average person.

“It is not like, that, night owls are doomed,” said research fellow Sina Kianersi of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who led the study. “The challenge is the mismatch between your internal clock and typical daily schedules ” that makes it harder to follow heart-healthy behaviors.

And that’s fixable, added Kianersi, who describes himself as “sort of a night owl” who feels a boost in “my analytical thinking” after about 7 or 8 at night.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US. The American Heart Association has a list of eight key factors that everyone should heed for better heart health: being more physically active; avoiding tobacco; getting enough sleep and a healthy diet; and controlling blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and weight.

Where does being a night owl come in? That has to do with the body's circadian rhythm, our master biological clock. It follows a roughly 24-hour schedule that regulates not just when we become sleepy and when we’re more awake, but also keeps organ systems in sync, influencing things like heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormones and metabolism.

Everybody’s circadian rhythm is a little different. Prior research had suggested night owls might have more health problems, as well as risk factors, like higher rates of smoking and less physical activity, than people with more typical bedtimes, Kianersi said.

To learn more, Kianersi’s team tracked more than 300,000 middle-age and older adults in the UK Biobank, a huge health database that includes information about people’s sleep-wake preferences. About 8% of those people classified themselves as night owls, more active physically and mentally in the late afternoon or evening and up past most people’s bedtime. About a quarter were early-birds, most productive in the daylight hours and likewise early to bed. The rest were average, somewhere in the middle.

Over 14 years, the night owls had a 16% higher risk of a first heart attack or stroke compared to the average population, the researchers found.

The night owls, especially women, also had overall worse cardiovascular health based on meeting the heart association’s eight key factors, the researchers reported Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Unhealthy behaviors — smoking, insufficient sleep and poor diet — appear to be the main reasons.

“It comes down to the problem of a night owl trying to live in a morning person’s world. They’re getting up early for work because that’s when their job starts, but it may not align with their internal rhythm,” said Kristen Knutson of Northwestern University, who led recent heart association guidance on circadian rhythms but wasn’t involved in the new study.

That affects more than sleep. For example, metabolism fluctuates throughout the day as the body produces insulin to turn food into energy. That means it might be harder for a night owl to handle a high-calorie breakfast eaten very early in the day, during what normally would still be their biological night, Knutson said. And if they're out late at night, it can be harder to find healthy food choices.

As for sleep, even if you can't meet the ideal of at least seven hours, sticking to a regular bedtime and wake time also may help, she and Kianersi said.

The study couldn't examine what night owls do when the rest of the world is asleep. But Kianersi said one of the best steps to protect heart health — for night owls and anyone — is to quit smoking.

“Focus on the basics, not perfection,” he said, again, advice that’s good for everyone.

Varieties

What to Know About America’s Colossal Winter Storm

Residents dig out their cars in the South Boston neighborhood following a winter storm that dump more than a foot of snow across the region, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP)
Residents dig out their cars in the South Boston neighborhood following a winter storm that dump more than a foot of snow across the region, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP)
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What to Know About America’s Colossal Winter Storm

Residents dig out their cars in the South Boston neighborhood following a winter storm that dump more than a foot of snow across the region, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP)
Residents dig out their cars in the South Boston neighborhood following a winter storm that dump more than a foot of snow across the region, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in Boston. (AP)

A life-threatening freeze is gripping large swaths of the United States after a monster storm caused at least 38 deaths from the Deep South to the Northeast, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands and sent air travel into chaos.

Another Arctic blast expected this weekend could deliver fresh misery for more than 100 million Americans, with record low temperatures and another major storm threatening -- even as municipalities are digging out from deep piles of snow and ice.

Here's what to know.

- Dozens dead -

The storm was linked to more than three dozen deaths, according to a compilation of state government and local media reports, with causes including hypothermia, as well as accidents related to traffic, sledding, all-terrain vehicles and snowplows.

Three Texas siblings age six to nine died Monday after falling through ice on a pond north of Dallas, authorities said.

The storm toll is expected to climb after New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday at least 10 New Yorkers who died had been found outdoors in extreme cold, though whether all the deaths were from hypothermia has yet to be determined.

In Bangor, Maine, seven people were killed when a small plane crashed while attempting to take off during a snowstorm, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Tennessee, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana were badly impacted by power outages, with nearly half a million homes and businesses still without electricity as of Tuesday night, according to tracking site Poweroutage.com.

Air travel was also severely disrupted. More than 24,500 US flights, a staggering number, were canceled between Saturday and Tuesday as the storm paralyzed transportation across the country, according to website FlightAware.

- Heavy snowfall -

The heaviest snowfall of 31 inches (79 centimeters) occurred in Bonito Falls, New Mexico on the western edge of the colossal storm -- followed by East Napanoch in upstate New York, where 30 inches fell, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

In Boston, residents were digging out Tuesday after the Massachusetts metropolis got walloped by more than 23 inches of snow.

Many of the hardest-hit areas were in the South, where authorities are less accustomed -- and often less equipped -- to deal with severe winter weather.

In the Gulf Coast state of Mississippi, for example, several towns were covered in thick and treacherous ice which downed power lines and trees, and made roads impassable.

- More to come -

The NWS warns that much of the northern half of the country will remain continuously below freezing through February 1, with another blast of Arctic air expected to bring "the coldest temperature seen in several years for some places and the longest duration of cold in decades."

It said regions as far south as Florida should prepare for "hard freezes."

At the same time, a potentially significant winter storm could spill out of Canada along the East Coast, spreading widespread precipitation as a low-pressure system collides with frigid air. Forecasters say it is still too early to determine the storm's exact track, or whether it will fall as rain or snow.

- Climate change -

It may sound counterintuitive, but a growing body of research suggests climate change could be playing a role in disruptions to the polar vortex -- a vast region of cold, low-pressure air that normally circulates high above the Arctic.

Scientists advancing this theory argue that uneven Arctic warming across Europe and Asia can amplify large atmospheric waves, making it more likely for the polar vortex to wobble and spill south over North America.

The science, however, remains contested, and researchers caution that natural climate variability also plays a role.

Varieties

Record-Breaking Australia Heatwave Fuels Bushfires, Cuts Power to Thousands

A view of a burnt forest outside Gellibrand, Australia, 28 January 2026. (EPA)
A view of a burnt forest outside Gellibrand, Australia, 28 January 2026. (EPA)
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Record-Breaking Australia Heatwave Fuels Bushfires, Cuts Power to Thousands

A view of a burnt forest outside Gellibrand, Australia, 28 January 2026. (EPA)
A view of a burnt forest outside Gellibrand, Australia, 28 January 2026. (EPA)

A record-breaking heatwave baked Australia's southeast for a fifth straight day on Wednesday, fanning bushfires and straining ​the power grid, leaving thousands of properties without electricity.

The heatwave is the worst seen in Victoria, Australia's second-most populous state, since the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires that killed 173 people and is not expected to ease until the weekend, authorities said.

"We are now into day five of the severe to intense heatwave here in Victoria and we are starting to see some of those impacts," said Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner ‌Tim Wiebusch.

"An extreme ‌heat warning is still in place, and ‌we ⁠are expecting ​to ‌see eight consecutive days of severe to extreme intensity heatwave."

David Crock, a forecaster from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, said the heat was being driven by climate change and called the temperatures "very unusual".

"The severity of this heatwave is comparable to the heatwave in January 2009, and also the heatwave in January 1939," Crock said.

"The data shows a long-term increase in heatwave frequency and intensity, ⁠particularly since the year 2000 due to climate change."

Crock said a host of temperature records ‌had been broken in Victoria on Tuesday. "About 20 ‍stations, mostly across western Victoria saw either ‍all-time records or January records fall," he said.

Towns in the Mallee ‍region reached a high of 48.9 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit), the hottest temperature ever recorded in the state.

The conditions in Victoria had eased slightly on Wednesday, while the upper western region of the state of New South Wales and south-western ​Queensland state recorded temperatures above 48 C (118 F) by the late afternoon.

Around 11,000 properties were without power in Victoria, down from ⁠105,000 a day earlier. Firefighters were also battling six major fires, with three out of control.

A blaze at Carlisle River in the Otways region has burnt more than 11,000 hectares (27,181 acres) and destroyed at least 16 buildings.

"This fire at Carlisle River is a long way from over," said Chris Hardman, the chief fire officer of Forest Fire Management Victoria.

"We are early in the summer. We'll see the heating of the environment and winds come again well before that fire is fully contained."

Many communities in the state are still recovering from large bushfires at the start of the month, ‌also triggered by a severe heatwave. More than 400 homes and 400,000 hectares of land have been lost so far.