As thousands of soldiers and government employees struggle to restore normalcy to Puerto Rico, a small group of scientists work against the clock to save more than 1,000 monkeys that could hold clues to some of the biggest mysteries about the human mind.

One of the first places hit by Hurricane Maria was Cayo Santiago, known as Isla de los Monos (Island of Monkeys), in Humacao, an outcropping of 40 acres off the east coast of Puerto Rico which is one of the  most important places in the world for research on how monkeys think, socialize and evolve.

San Juan, PR - Ciencia Puerto Rico (CienciaPR), an online network designed in 2006 to connect people interested in science and Puerto Rico, has been profiled in the prestigious scientific journal PLoS Biology as a model to link scientists from groups traditionally underrepresented in science and increase their visibility and ability to reach out to their communities.

Scientists from Puerto Rico's biomedical science research institutions offered demonstrations and interacted with 150 students from public and private schools around Puerto Rico during the 13th International RCMI Symposium.  The main goal of the activities was to develop the students' interest in health-related careers, particularly those focusing on decreasing health disparities in local communities.

For more information, see the Spanish version.