Category: news
-
Dust Bowl Unrivaled
Nature Atmospheric conditions and human actions combined to drive the 1930s megadrought Farms failed and livestock starved in the central United States during the Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s. The event was not just the region’s worst dry spell in modern memory — it was the worst in North America over the past millennium,…
-
Bird origin for 1918 flu pandemic
Nature Model also links avian influenza strains to deadly horse flu. The virus that caused the 1918 influenza pandemic probably sprang from North American domestic and wild birds, not from the mixing of human and swine viruses. A study published today in Nature reconstructs the origins of influenza A virus and
-
Caribou genetics reveal shadow of climate change
Nature Ancient ice ages that shaped modern caribou populations may foretell animals’ fate in a warmer world. When ice sheets marched across North America 20,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum, they devoured liveable areas for caribou and isolated them from their Eurasian relatives for thousands of years. Now researchers have evidence that such…
-
A brief history of what made biomedical news this year
Nature Medicine Biomedical research in 2013 saw some dramatic developments, with unprecedented government action in the US ranging from the budget sequester in the spring to a dramatic government shutdown in autumn. But throughout the year, bright spots in science around the globe continued to dazzle, including multimillion-dollar partnerships to advance drug discovery and the…
-
Lyme bacteria show that evolvability is evolvable
Nature Natural selection favours those with a greater capacity to generate genetic variation. Some gamblers succeed by spiriting cards up their sleeves, giving them a wider range of hands to play. So do some bacteria, whose great capacity for genetic variability helps them evolve and adapt to rapidly changing environments. Now research on Borrelia burgdorferi, the…