Customized Atlases of the Amazon

In the Amazon, scientists have teamed up with indigenous communities to create atlases that show how hunting and other activities affect the forest.

Google Begins ‘Street View’ Project of the Amazon

Google is capturing the panoramic Amazon views by mounting cameras on a boat that is running up and down rivers.

Tech Week in Review: May 20, 2011

Amazon has announced that e-books are outselling paper books on its website for the first time ever. But does that mean you can get rid of your bookshelves? That’s just one of the stories in Clark Boyd’s roundup of great global tech stories you might have missed this week.

A place called ‘Hell’

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For today’s Geo Quiz, we’re looking for ‘Hell’ on earth. Actually, it’s the Spanish word for hell, Infierno. It’s a community in South America. Some say it got that name because of the swarms of mosquitoes that descended on early rubber traders passing by on the Tambopata River. We want you to name the country this place called ‘Hell’ is in. Download MP3

Conservation and the Spirit World

The most intriguing session I attended at this year’s AAAS meeting was led by Stanford ecologist José Fragoso. In it, Fragoso described how he and his colleagues are working with indigenous groups in Guyana and Brazil to find out how cultural change affects the diversity of species in the surrounding forests and savannas.

Cautious optimism in the Amazon

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Fewer trees were cut down in the Amazon rainforest this past year. Climate scientists say Brazil has done well, but deforestation is more than one nation’s problem. Marco Werman talks with Dr William Laurance of the Smithsonian Institution who has studied the Amazon for 15 years. (photo: Alex Gallafent) Download MP3

• The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution (STRI)
• Alex Gallafent’s Amazon stories (2008)

Avatar in the Amazon

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If there were ever a place that came close to the magical world of Pandora in James Cameron’s new film Avatar, it would probably be the Amazon. There may not be butterflies that look like flying squid, but in the Amazon can you eat giant worms and lemon flavored ants for dinner in a forest that is home to both the jaguar and the pink dolphin. Reporter Melaina Spitzer joined a group of indigenous leaders from the Amazon in Ecuador’s capital Quito, to see Avatar on the big screen in 3D. Download MP3

• Watch a video of the indigenous leaders going to see Avatar
• Official Avatar website

Swine flu endangers Amazonian tribe

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Swine flu has hit one of the largest isolated indigenous groups in the Amazon. The government in Venezuela has sealed off part of the country to stop swine flu devastating the Yanomami tribe of Indians. Seven members of the tribe have been killed and a thousand are believed to have caught the flu. Survival International is London-based indigenous rights group. We speak with Fiona Watson, research and field director for Survival International, about the situation. Download MP3

• BBC coverage
• Survival International – The movement for tribal peoples