Why do some koalas die from chlamydia and an AIDS-like retrovirus whereas others manage to avoid contracting the sexually transmitted diseases? The answer, it seems, may be in the genes. Scientists in Australia announced last week that they have sequenced the koala interferon gamma (IFN-g) gene, a discovery that they call the “holy grail” for [...]

The last wolves in Africa face a difficult road if they are going to survive. Just 500 Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis) remain in the mountains of the country for which they are named. The animals now live in six fragmented populations located hundreds of kilometers apart from one another; three of these populations have fewer [...]

What does a two-month-old bison calf in the Bronx have to do with the future of its species? Quite a lot, it turns out. After being slaughtered to near extinction in the 19th century, the American plains bison (Bison bison bison) has become a bit of a conservation success story, albeit with a few important [...]

When a wild animal is rescued from poachers or wildlife smugglers, conservationists usually make an effort to rehabilitate it and return it to life in its native habitat. But what if the animal contracted a disease from humans during captivity that could then be transmitted back to the rest of its species? Should that animal [...]

When a polar bear suddenly takes ill and dies, the natural inclination is not to suspect zebras as the cause. But according to research published August 16 in Current Biology, that’s what happened at Wuppertal Zoo in Germany in 2010. The strange saga started on June 8, 2010, when Jerka, a 20-year-old female polar bear, [...]

When an otherwise nocturnal wombat shows up in the daylight, acting lethargic and having trouble walking, you know that animal is in trouble. When thousands of wombats turn up sick, emaciated, balding and dying, you know you have a crisis. That’s what’s happening in Murraylands, South Australia, where up to 85 percent of the region’s [...]

You see that drawing to the left there? It appears to be the world’s only public domain image of the tamaraw, or Mindoro dwarf buffalo (Bubalus mindorensis), a species endemic to a single island in the Philippines that is down to its last 300 or so wild individuals. Oh sure, I could show you plenty [...]

Endangered Hawaiian monk seals (Monachus schauinslandi) have a bad reputation among some local fishermen, who accuse the 200-kilogram mammals of eating the fish that the humans catch for their livelihoods. A new project aims to find out if that notoriety is deserved and the public—in particular, teens—has a chance to participate. The National Marine Fisheries [...]

This is getting a bit weird. In May 2010 at least 12,000 critically endangered saiga antelopes (Saiga tatarica) were found dead in Kazakhstan. Exactly one year later a second mass die-off occurred, killing 450 of the rare animals. Now, once again almost exactly a year later, yet another round of deaths has struck Kazakhstan’s saiga [...]

The frog-killing fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), which causes the disease chytridiomycosis, has been blamed for about 100 amphibian extinctions around the globe since it was first observed in 1998, but clear information on exactly how it spreads has remained a mystery. Now a team of scientists working in Belgium have come up with one potential [...]

A few weeks ago, I was graced with an honorary doctorate in social media from Social Media University, Global. My dissertation has been wonderfully received; I have been given high accolades and several once closed opportunities have opened. I have been humbled by the response and am sincerely grateful that people have been touched by [...]

Helmets protect your head—but they can’t fully protect your brain. This helps to explain why football players continue to incur brain trauma that may lead to debilitating brain disease. Recently, a team of researchers presented more evidence of the devastating progression of a brain disease caused by repeated brain trauma. On December 2, researchers from [...]

The mammograms most women receive are decidedly two-dimensional. An x-ray machine takes images of the breast from the sides, and radiologists examine the resulting image to see if it offers up any hits of potentially cancerous irregularities. These tests, however, are far from perfect. Normal calcium deposits and fibrous tissue can align to create a [...]

The emergence of international air travel in the 20th century enabled an unprecedented spread of ideas, cultures and communication. Unfortunately, modern aviation has also proved an effective means of spreading diseases. Air travel didn’t introduce worldwide pandemics, of course, but with tens of millions of scheduled international flights annually and hundreds of millions of passengers [...]

Americans have been on an antibacterial kick for the past several years. Our hand soap, dish soap, and body wash have morphed into an arsenal of bug-killing napalm, eliminating all but the heartiest of bacteria. And there are, indeed, some scary microbes crawling around out there—Staph and C. Diff, just to name a couple. But [...]

The tropics are a warm, wet and wonderful place for plant, animal and other life to flourish. In all of that diversity are some bizarre and fascinating parasites that make their living on—or at least find a temporary home in—us. A session called “Adventures in Tropical Dermatology” last week at the American Society of Tropical [...]

In 2009, researchers from the biotechnology company Oxitec released over 18,000 genetically modified mosquitoes in a bid to reduce the wild mosquito population. The mosquitoes were designed so that in theory, when these modified male mosquitoes mate with wild females, the offspring would be infertile. Release enough mosquitoes and you could crash the native population. [...]

The market for at least one class of vital drug seems to have gone haywire. Certain types of generic cancer drugs are really hard to find. In August, of the 34 generic cancer drugs available to patients, there were 14 that could only be found with great difficulty. “If you are a pediatric oncologist, you [...]