The largest study to date of the animals’ genetics provides robust evidence that they are adapting to survive a highly lethal, contagious cancer scientists feared would cause their extinction.
Scientists from countries with fewer resources are pushing collaborators from higher-income countries to shed biases and behaviors that perpetuate social stratification in the research community.
Costly virus hunts are ineffective in protecting public health and have unfairly harmed the historically excellent safety record of bats as beneficial neighbors.
So far, six animal species are known to carry transmissible, “parasitic” forms of cancer, but researchers are still mystified as to how cancer can become infectious.
A. Marmaduke Kilpatrick | Dec 1, 2014 | 10+ min read
Bat populations ravaged; hundreds of amphibian species driven to extinction; diverse groups of birds threatened. Taking risks will be necessary to control deadly wildlife pathogens.