News by Subject Social & Behavior

Antibiotic resistance is an increasing battle for scientists to overcome, as more antimicrobials are urgently needed to treat biofilm-associated infections. However scientists from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick say research into natural antimicrobials could provide candidates to fill the antibiotic discovery gap.

Through state-of-the-art mathematical modelling and historical documents, a new study points to community health programs and social distancing practices as the most likely explanations for the epidemic's sudden and mysterious collapse, which was hailed by survivors at the time as a miracle.

In a new paper published in Applied Economics Perspectives and Policies, University of Maryland researcher Jim MacDonald presents a detailed history of the consolidation of agriculture in the US based on 35 years of data, with implications for all sectors of agriculture moving forward. Data show a steady shift to fewer and larger farming operations across crops, dairy, and livestock.

An international research project coordinated by the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien), with participation from researchers of the University of Barcelona, shows for the first time that flood pattern over the last decades in Europe have changed compared to past centuries. The study, published in the journal Nature, concludes we are in one of the most flood-rich periods in Europe from the last five hundred years.

Scientists have discovered extinct strains of smallpox in the teeth of Viking skeletons - proving for the first time that the killer disease plagued humanity for at least 1400 years. Smallpox spread via infectious droplets, killed around a third of sufferers and left another third permanently scarred or blind. Around 300 million people died from it in the 20th century alone before it was officially eradicated in 1980 -- the first human disease to be wiped out.

In a paper appearing July 23 in the American Journal of Human Genetics, researchers have compiled genetic data from consenting 23andMe research participants to paint a more complete picture of African ancestry in the New World. By linking genetic data with slave trade historical records, the findings reinforce harsh truths about slavery in the Americas and uncover insights into its history, including the methods used to suppress and exploit Africans once they disembarked.