Rethinking authenticity through complexity paradigm

This paper proposes an epistemological transition based on Edgar Morin's complexity paradigm to analyse authenticity in a complex tourism environment, avoiding fragmentation, and integrating relevant actors and relationships. The results show that storytelling is an important element of these tourism experiences, legitimising and unifying the authenticity of the experience and relating objects, social environment and individual experiences. The size of the tour groups and the rigidity of the itinerary were important elements for constructing authenticity. Tourists, service providers and government bodies all directly or indirectly participate as co-creators, making the perception of authenticity a constant negotiation between the elements of the experience and the actors involved in it

Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 3663 population-based studies with 222 million participants that measured height and weight in representative samples of the general population. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in the prevalence of different BMI categories, separately for adults (age ≥20 years) and school-aged children and adolescents (age 5–19 years), from 1990 to 2022 for 200 countries and territories. For adults, we report the individual and combined prevalence of underweight (BMI <18·5 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). For schoolaged children and adolescents, we report thinness (BMI <2 SD below the median of the WHO growth reference) and obesity (BMI >2 SD above the median). Findings From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity in adults decreased in 11 countries (6%) for women and 17 (9%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 that the observed changes were true decreases. The combined prevalence increased in 162 countries (81%) for women and 140 countries (70%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. In 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity was highest in island nations in the Caribbean and Polynesia and Micronesia, and countries in the Middle East and north Africa. Obesity prevalence was higher than underweight with posterior probability of at least 0·80 in 177 countries (89%) for women and 145 (73%) for men in 2022, whereas the converse was true in 16 countries (8%) for women, and 39 (20%) for men. From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of thinness and obesity decreased among girls in five countries (3%) and among boys in 15 countries (8%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80, and increased among girls in 140 countries (70%) and boys in 137 countries (69%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. The countries with highest combined prevalence of thinness and obesity in school-aged children and adolescents in 2022 were in Polynesia and Micronesia and the Caribbean for both sexes, and Chile and Qatar for boys. Combined prevalence was also high in some countries in south Asia, such as India and Pakistan, where thinness remained prevalent despite having declined. In 2022, obesity in school-aged children and adolescents was more prevalent than thinness with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 among girls in 133 countries (67%) and boys in 125 countries (63%), whereas the converse was true in 35 countries (18%) and 42 countries (21%), respectively. In almost all countries for both adults and school-aged children and adolescents, the increases in double burden were driven by increases in obesity, and decreases in double burden by declining underweight or thinness. Interpretation The combined burden of underweight and obesity has increased in most countries, driven by an increase in obesity, while underweight and thinness remain prevalent in south Asia and parts of Africa. A healthy nutrition transition that enhances access to nutritious foods is needed to address the remaining burden of underweight while curbing and reversing the increase in obesit

Uma etnologia dos "índios misturados"? Situação colonial, territorialização e fluxos culturais

Até recentemente os estudos sobre os povos e culturas indígenas do Nordeste brasileiro não constituíram um objeto mais sistemático de investigações, parecendo apenas propiciar uma etnologia secundária e menor. Na visão do autor, isso decorreu da dificuldade de aplicação àquelas culturas dos pressupostos da antropologia americanista, a qual opera com modelos societários que enfatizam a descontinuidade cultural, bem como a objetividade e a exterioridade do observado em face do pesquisador e de sua sociedade. Dialogando com diferentes perspectivas teóricas, o autor delineia ou reelabora algumas noções como, respectivamente, as de "territorialização", "situação colonial", "diáspora" e "viagem da volta" que lhe permitem realizar uma análise compreensiva do processo histórico que veio a transformar tais populações nos grupos étnicos atuais. Sugere, ao final, que os estudos que vêm sendo realizados no Brasil e em diferentes partes do mundo sobre "índios misturados" (isto é, relações interétnicas em áreas de colonização muito antiga) podem contribuir para a construção de uma antropologia mais articulada com a história.<br>Until quite recently, indigenous peoples in the Brazilian Northeast were not the object of systematic investigation, rather appearing to inspire a kind of secondary, lesser ethnology. According to the author, this oversight resulted from a difficulty in applying the premises of Americanist anthropology to such cultures, since the latter operates with societal models emphasizing both cultural discontinuity and the objectivity and externality of the observed vis-à-vis the researcher and his/her society. By establishing a dialogue with different theoretical perspectives, the author delineates or reworks several notions, such as "territorialization", "colonial situation", "diaspora", and "return journey", allowing him to produce a comprehensive analysis of the historical process which turned such populations into the current ethnic groups. Finally, he suggests that studies on "mixed Indians" (i.e., relations between ethnic groups in areas of very old colonization) in Brazil and elsewhere can help construct an anthropology that is better articulated with history

Museu de Ciências Morfológicas: um lugar diferente na Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais The Museum of Morphological Sciences: a different place at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Este trabalho mostra um novo museu de ciências, cujo trabalho junto ao público é um convite enfático ao conhecimento da estrutura e funcionamento do organismo humano, como forma de entender a vida, para preservá-la com qualidade.<br>The article introduces a new science museum, one that works actively to engage its audience in learning about the structure and functioning of the human organism, so that it can understand life and thus protect its quality