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Categories: Anthropology: Early Humans, Biology: Microbiology

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A new study links an amphibian die-off in Costa Rica and Panama with a spike in malaria cases. The study demonstrates the importance of biodiversity to human health.

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Fungal pathogens have a major global impact upon human health -- they are often difficult to diagnose and treat, and there is an urgent need for better diagnostics and more effective antifungal treatments. Using newly developed imaging technologies, researchers have now revealed how Candida albicans, a common fungus, evades immune responses. According to the researchers this involves an 'alien-like' shape shifting that allows the fungus to break out of immune cells.

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Researchers have identified a new reason to protect mangrove forests: they've been quietly keeping carbon out of Earth's atmosphere for the past 5,000 years.

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Insects that are adapted to perennially wet environments, like tropical rainforests, don't tend to do well when their surroundings dry out. New research indicates they may be equally averse to heavy rainfall. The results of an extensive five-year study conducted in Peru revealed a 50% decline in arthropod biomass following short periods of both drought and increased precipitation. One of only a few studies of this scope conducted in the tropics, the findings suggest terrestrial arthropods, a group that includes insects and spiders, will be more susceptible to climate change than previously suspected.

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A team of scientists has discovered the earliest gibbon fossil, a find that helps fill a long-elusive evolutionary gap in the history of apes.

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A fungus that is a common cause of fungal meningitis undergoes a remarkable transformation once it enters the body, allowing it to infect the brain, according to new research. The discovery could lead to new strategies for blocking Cryptococcus neoformans infection and preventing detrimental effects on the host. C. neoformans is the leading cause of a rare but deadly swelling of the brain that occurs in people with weakened immune systems.

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In a new study, researchers have identified the structure of protein fibrils linked to a hereditary form of human prion disease. This insight, they say, reveals the mechanism for how prions can jump between some animal species, while retaining a transmissibility barrier between other species.

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The skulls of tetrapods had fewer bones than extinct and living fish, limiting their evolution for millions of years, according to a latest study.

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The question of what makes modern humans unique has long been a driving force for researchers. Comparisons with our closest relatives, the Neanderthals, therefore provide fascinating insights. The increase in brain size, and in neuron production during brain development, are considered to be major factors for the increased cognitive abilities that occurred during human evolution. However, while both Neanderthals and modern humans develop brains of similar size, very little is known about whether modern human and Neanderthal brains may have differed in terms of their neuron production during development. Researchers now show that the modern human variant of the protein TKTL1, which differs by only a single amino acid from the Neanderthal variant, increases one type of brain progenitor cells, called basal radial glia, in the modern human brain.

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A hallmark of a truly luxurious meal is a sprinkling of truffle shavings -- the fungal kind, not the chocolate. Nicknamed 'diamonds' of the culinary world, these fanciful fungi are prized for their unique flavor and scent. But newer truffle species are fighting to achieve that same gourmet status. Now, researchers have performed the first full aroma characterization of the Appalachian truffle, unlocking the potential for a new North American 'black diamond.'

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New research has mapped the DNA from more than 150 species of native rodents from across Australia, New Guinea and Melanesian islands, painting a clearer picture of how they're related and how they ended up spreading across the Pacific.

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Scientists use genomic data to resolve the phylogeny of zygnematophyte algae and pinpoint several emergences of multicellularity in the closest known relatives of terrestrial plants.

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Researchers have found a naturally occurring compound, known as hydroquinine, has bacterial killing activity against several microorganisms.

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The modalities and date of emergence of bipedalism remain bitterly debated, in particular because of a small number of very old human fossils. Sahelanthropus tchadensis, discovered in 2001 in Chad, is considered to be the oldest representative of the humankind. The shape of its cranium suggests a bipedal station. The description of three limb bones of Sahelanthropus confirms habitual bipedalism, but not exclusively.

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Research has established that there are traces of Neandertal DNA in the genome of modern humans. Now an exploratory study that assessed the facial structure of prehistoric skulls is offering new insights, and supports the hypothesis that much of this interbreeding took place in the Near East -- the region ranging from North Africa to Iraq.

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Scientists have discovered that the vast anatomical variety of fungi stems from evolutionary increases in multicellular complexity.

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The fungus Ustilago maydis attacks corn and can cause significant damage to its host. To do this, it first ensures that the plant offers little resistance to the infection. The surgical precision it applies is shown by a new study.

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Dust from all over the world is landing in the Sierra Nevada mountains carrying microbes that are toxic to both plants and humans. New research shows higher concentrations of the dust are landing at lower elevations, where people are more likely to be hiking.

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Did the 12th century B.C.E. -- a time when humans were forging great empires and developing new forms of written text -- coincide with an evolutionary reduction in brain size? Think again, says a team of researchers whose new paper refutes a hypothesis that's growing increasingly popular among the science community.

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The worldwide distribution of one of the most important cereal pathogens is the result of human activity. Researchers have traced the history and spread of wheat powdery mildew along wheat trade routes and found that mixing of genetic ancestries of related powdery mildew species played a central role in the evolution and adaptation of the pathogen.