Mark D. Bertness, an ecologist at Brown University, began studying the salt marshes of New England in 1981. Twenty-six years later, in 2007, he started to watch them die. In one marsh after another, lush stretches of cordgrass disappeared, replaced by bare ground. The die-offs were wiping out salt marshes in just a few years.

“It’s unbelievable how quickly it’s moved in,” Dr. Bertness said.

Scientists have been witnessing a similar transformation in a number of plant species along coastlines in the United States and in other countries. And in many cases, it’s been hard to pinpoint the cause of the die-off, with fungal outbreaks, pollution, choking sediments stirred up by boats, and rising sea levels proposed as killers.

Continue reading “When Predators Vanish, So Does the Ecosystem” →

The Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico is a network of chambers stretching 1,600 feet underground. The bacteria that grow on the walls of its most remote recesses have been living in complete isolation for more than four million years.

In 2010, Gerry Wright, a microbiologist at McMaster University in Ontario, ran an experiment on those long-lost bacteria. He and his colleagues doused them with antibiotics, the drugs that doctors have used for the past 70 years to wipe out bacterial infections.

But many of the Lechuguilla bacteria would not die.

Continue reading “Antibiotic-Resistant Germs, Lying in Wait Everywhere” →

Two teams of scientists published studies on Sunday showing that blood from young mice reverses aging in old mice, rejuvenating their muscles and brains. As ghoulish as the research may sound, experts said that it could lead to treatments for disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease.

“I am extremely excited,” said Rudolph Tanzi, a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the research. “These findings could be a game changer.”

The research builds on centuries of speculation that the blood of young people contains substances that might rejuvenate older adults.

Continue reading “Young Blood May Hold Key to Reversing Aging” →

Sometimes a virus can cause more devastation than all the world’s armies. In 1918, at the end of World War I, influenza spread around the planet, reaching even Pacific islands and Arctic villages. The virus infected a third of all people on earth, and caused an estimated 50 million deaths — more than three times  the number of people killed in World War I.

Since 1918, four new global flu pandemics have struck. None have come anywhere close to 1918’s toll, leaving scientists to puzzle about why 1918 was so deadly.

Adding to the mystery was that people in their late 20s were at greatest risk of dying in 1918. Typically, children and old people are more likely to die in flu outbreaks.

Continue reading “In 1918 Flu Pandemic, Timing Was a Killer” →