Tag: PLoS Biology

  • Science & Tech

    New details about mumps outbreaks of 2016‒17

    Studying the mumps virus genomes in 2016 and 2017 filled in gaps about how the disease was spreading in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the U.S.

    Graphic of spread of viruses.
  • Health

    Seeing double

    By comparing the DNA of modern elephants from Africa and Asia to DNA extracted from two extinct species, the woolly mammoth and the mastodon, researchers have concluded that Africa has two — not one — species of elephant. Now that we know the forest and savanna elephants are two very different animals, the forest elephant…

  • Health

    In praise of unwanted termites

    The star of Africa’s savanna ecosystems may be the lowly insect. Its regularly spaced mounds prove a key to maintaining ecological function in the area.