Biotech & Health: ILiAD Biotechnologies published Phase 2b results in The Lancet Infectious Diseases for its live intranasal pertussis vaccine candidate BPZE1, showing strong nasal immune responses in children (including Costa Rica trial sites) and no interference with co-administered Tdap. Agriculture & Climate Impacts: Heavy rains in Costa Rica’s Caribbean are damaging cacao before pods form, with some farms reporting 50%–60% flower losses and knock-on disease and drying problems that could hit harvests for months. Research & Lab Tech: UCR chemical engineering student Eddie Alvarado Elizondo developed a compact, eco-friendly tablet disinfectant that dissolves in under nine minutes and claims 99.99% pathogen reduction, aiming to cut packaging and logistics waste. Local Industry Software: Peptides Costa Rica launched an all-in-one mobile app for research buyers, consolidating browsing, ordering, batch documentation, and order tracking—built to avoid customs delays for in-country inventory. Conservation Science: A Fritz Pölking Prize-winning photography project highlights how Baird’s tapirs disperse seeds of the rare Jícaro Danto tree in Costa Rica’s rainforest. Waste-to-Forest Lesson: A Princeton-led study revisits how orange peel waste dumped on degraded pasture in 1998 helped regrow forest over the following decades.