It is universally acknowledged that the New York subway is grubby. What may come as a shock is that it contains DNA fragments linked to anthrax and bubonic plague.
Cell & Microbiology
Feb 6, 2015
8
1074
Researchers using statistical tools to map social connections in prairie dogs have uncovered relationships that escaped traditional observational techniques, shedding light on prairie dog communities that may help limit the ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 28, 2014
1
0
You can learn a lot from a tooth. Molars taken from skeletons unearthed by work on a new London railway line are revealing secrets of the medieval Black Death—and of its victims.
Archaeology
Mar 30, 2014
3
2
As long as humans have been around, there have been pathogens to make us sick. Some have achieved infamy in human history—the bubonic plague, for example, or smallpox—and with modern technologies, scientists can time-travel ...
Evolution
Oct 17, 2022
0
15
Why did people think cannibalism was good for their health? The answer offers a glimpse into the zaniest crannies of European history, at a time when Europeans were obsessed with Egyptian mummies.
Archaeology
Jun 7, 2022
0
213
It's only February and already 2022 is shaping up badly. A huge volcanic eruption off the coast of Tonga, the prospect of war with Russia, the ongoing pandemic (and its economic disruptions). And that's even before we touch ...
Environment
Feb 2, 2022
0
1864
Restaurants, hair salons and retail businesses are reopening throughout the country—many under safety guidelines that call for outdoor seating at restaurants, social distancing, partitions between customers or between customers ...
Social Sciences
Jun 18, 2020
0
5
The previous pandemics to which people often compare COVID-19—the influenza pandemic of 1918, the Black Death bubonic plague (1342-1353), the Justinian plague (541-542) – don't seem that long ago to archaeologists. We're ...
Archaeology
Jun 15, 2020
0
12
From 1347 to 1351, Europe was in the grip of a pandemic, later known as the "Black Death," that killed millions, leaving doctors struggling to understand its origins and cities struggling to bury the dead and isolate the ...
Social Sciences
Jun 11, 2020
0
42
As a professor of medieval Europe, I've taught the bubonic plague, and how it contributed to the English Peasant Revolt of 1381. Now that America is experiencing widespread unrest in the midst of its own pandemic, I see some ...
Social Sciences
Jun 5, 2020
1
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