Europe launches its rockets from South America for the speed
France picked Kourou in French Guiana in 1964 from 14 sites. Near the equator, rockets gain 460 metres a second from Earth's spin, and the sea is downrange.
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Chile's building code: crack, tilt, but never fall
Chile's code lets a building crack or tilt in a magnitude 9.0 quake, but never collapse. That and regular drills kept an 8.3 quake's toll low in 2015.
Migrant workers built Brasília, Brazil's capital, in three years
A capital promised by Brazil's new republic in 1889 waited 67 years. Then Kubitschek, Costa, Niemeyer and 30,000 workers built Brasília in three.
Brazil's Pix instant payments undercut card fees
Brazil's central bank launched Pix in 2020, free for individuals and far cheaper than cards, and it now leads the country's payments.
Ecuador gave nature legal rights, and its courts enforce them
Since 2008, Ecuador's constitution has given nature the right to exist. Judges have used it to block mines in the Los Cedros cloud forest and a frog's valley.
Chile fought a war and gained a third of its territory
The Spanish colony met fierce Mapuche resistance in the south. Victory over Peru and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific then grew its territory by a third.
Bolivia's Law of Mother Earth gives nature legal rights
Bolivia's Law of Mother Earth grants nature 11 rights, including the right to exist and to remain free of pollution and genetic change.
Chile's flat school voucher sorted pupils by family income
Under Pinochet, Chile paid every school one flat voucher per pupil. Researchers found it rewarded schools for enrolling wealthier families.
Argentine adults can change legal gender with no doctor or judge
Argentina's 2012 Gender Identity Law lets adults change the gender and name on official papers by their own declaration, and puts treatment on health plans.