The indigenous people of the Amazon rain forest know what plant medicines work for them but not why, but now Cornell University undergraduate students are travelling to Amazonia to try and find out.
The students are using ethno-botany techniques to query Indian informants about the plants they and the rain forest animals use and then test them for their hidden active ingredients using field laboratory facilities.
They have begun assembling their findings in a journal entitled Emanations from the Rainforest. "The ongoing studies may lead to the discovery of important new drugs for a variety of epidemics," according to editor-in-chief of the new journal's first edition, Mr Gustavo Azenha.
"More importantly, the research efforts have implications for bio-diversity conservation and indigenous rights in the region," he said.