Clothes moths: Why I admire these persistent, destructive, difficult-to-eradicate and dull-looking pests

An appreciation for the moths that chomp holes in your clothes. They eat the inedible, occupy the uninhabitable and overcome every evolutionary obstacle in their way.

Isabel Novick, Doctoral Candidate in Ecology, Behavior and Evolution, Boston University • conversation
May 8, 2023 • ~9 min

Charting changes in a pathogen's genome yields clues about its past and hints about its future

After a nose swab tests positive for a virus or bacteria, scientists can use the sample’s genetic sequence to figure out where and when the pathogen emerged and how fast it’s changing.

Sarah Nadeau, PhD Student in Computational Evolution, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich • conversation
Dec. 1, 2021 • ~10 min

How virus detectives trace the origins of an outbreak – and why it's so tricky

Bat hosts, lab leaks – tracing SARS-CoV-2 to its origins involves more than just tracking down patient zero.

Marilyn J. Roossinck, Professor of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, Penn State • conversation
June 7, 2021 • ~11 min

The world's newest monkey species was found in a lab, not on an expedition

How scientists discovered the 'Popa langur' was a separate species of just 200 monkeys.

Tracie McKinney, Senior Lecturer in Human Biology, University of South Wales • conversation
Nov. 24, 2020 • ~7 min

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