Early Childhood Research in Nicaragua: NYU professor Florencia Lopez Boo won the Khalifa International Award for Early Education, citing a home-visiting program (birth to age 3) that reached 33,190 children across Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru, using tools to monitor and improve care quality. Public Health & Work-Related Kidney Risk: A cross-border investigation links Mesoamerican nephropathy to Central American farm and heat-stress labor, with suspected roles for agrochemicals and dehydration, highlighting how kidney failure affects families both at home and among migrants abroad. Cocoa Quality Science: German researchers identified “overfermentation” as a new source of smoky off-flavors in cocoa, including samples from Nicaragua and Costa Rica, pointing to better fermentation control to reduce defective batches. Power Grid Supply Rules: A new U.S. presidential order restricts bulk-power equipment imports from “covered entities” (including Nicaragua), pushing the Department of Energy to write regulations—relevant for grid reliability and tech supply chains. Fintech for Remittances: Félix Pago raised $200M to scale WhatsApp-based cross-border transfers to Latin America (including Nicaragua) and expand into lending, savings, and AI-driven guidance.