Pests and Parasites News

June 10, 2024

Top Headlines

Tiny Roundworms Carve out Unique Parasitic Niche Inside Pseudoscorpion's Protective Covering

June 6, 2024 — In a parasitic first, a Baltic amber specimen has revealed that millions of years ago tiny worms known as nematodes were living inside of and feeding on the outer protective layer of ...

Researchers Discover 'Trojan Horse' Virus Hiding in Human Parasite

May 31, 2024 — An international team has found a new RNA virus that they believe is hitching a ride with a common human parasite. The virus is associated with severe inflammation in humans infected with the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, leading the team to ...

Tracing the Evolution of Ferns' Surprisingly Sweet Defense Strategy

May 30, 2024 — Plants and the animals that eat them have evolved together in fascinating ways, creating a dynamic interplay of survival strategies. Many plants have developed physical and chemical defenses to fend off herbivores. A well-known strategy in flowering ...

New Approach to Epstein-Barr Virus and Resulting Diseases

May 23, 2024 — The Epstein-Barr virus can cause a spectrum of diseases, including a range of cancers. Emerging data now show that inhibition of a specific metabolic pathway in infected cells can diminish latent infection and therefore the risk of downstream ...

Latest Headlines

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The World's Most Powerful Anti-Fungal Chemistries Cause Fungal Pathogens to Self-Destruct

May 31, 2024 — Scientists have discovered that the most widely-used class of antifungals in the world cause pathogens to self-destruct. The research could help ...

Harnessing Green Energy from Plants Depends on Their Circadian Rhythms

May 28, 2024 — Plant hydraulics drive the biological process that moves fluids from roots to plant stems and leaves, creating streaming electric potential, or voltage, in the process. A study closely examined the ...

Entomologist Sheds Light on 250-Year-Old Mystery of the German Cockroach

May 24, 2024 — Entomologists have solved the 250-year-old origin puzzle of the most prevalent indoor urban pest insect on the planet: the German cockroach. The team's research findings, representing the genomic ...

Regional Differences in Bird Diversity in Agroforestry Systems

May 21, 2024 — The diversity and ecological functionality of bird communities in tropical agroforestry systems are shaped by the surrounding landscape, in particular the extent and composition of the ...

Hope for a Cure for Visceral Leishmaniasis, an Often Fatal Infectious Disease

May 21, 2024 — Leishmaniasis is a tropical disease affecting a growing number of people worldwide. Each year, between 700,000 and 1 million new cases are reported. ...

Rabies Outbreaks in Costa Rica Cattle Linked to Deforestation

May 21, 2024 — Deforestation in Costa Rica raises the risk of cattle becoming infected with rabies by vampire bats, finds a new ...

Fruit Fly Testes Offer Potential Tool Against Harmful Insects

May 13, 2024 — A way to curb nagging insects has been flying under our radar -- an enzyme from fruit fly testes. The compound could control bugs that carry disease and harm crops by stunting their ability to ...

Parasitic Worm Likely Playing Role in Decline of Moose Populations

May 15, 2024 — A parasitic worm that can infest the brains of moose appears to be playing a role in the decline of the iconic animal in some regions of North America. Moose populations have been dwindling for years ...

Plant Virus Treatment Shows Promise in Fighting Metastatic Cancers in Mice

May 13, 2024 — An experimental treatment made from a plant virus is effective at protecting against a broad range of metastatic cancers in mice, shows a new study. The treatment, composed of nanoparticles fashioned ...

How Climate Change Will Affect Malaria Transmission

May 9, 2024 — A new model for predicting the effects of climate change on malaria transmission in Africa could lead to more targeted interventions to control the disease according to a new study. Previous methods ...

An Adjuvant Made in Yeast Could Lower Vaccine Cost and Boost Availability

May 8, 2024 — Adjuvants make vaccines more effective, though one of the best is an expensive extract from the soap bark tree. To lower the cost and avoid the laborious extraction process from bark, synthetic ...

Scientists Find Ancient, Endangered Lamprey Fish in Queensland, 1400 Km North of Its Previous Known Range

May 8, 2024 — Scientists have confirmed the identity of an unusual, ancient and Endangered species of fish that is living in the coastal rivers of Queensland, about 1400 km north of where it was previously known ...

Natural Compounds That Selectively Kill Parasites

May 8, 2024 — An international team has found a family of natural compounds with potential as new and more effective treatments for parasitic worms. The compounds stall the unique metabolic process that worms use ...

Bee Body Mass, Pathogens and Local Climate Influence Heat Tolerance

May 7, 2024 — How well bees tolerate temperature extremes could determine their ability to persist in a changing climate. But heat tolerance varies between and within populations, so entomologists examined bee ...

Plants Utilize Drought Stress Hormone to Block Snacking Spider Mites

May 3, 2024 — Recent findings that plants employ a drought-survival mechanism to also defend against nutrient-sucking pests could inform future crop breeding programs aimed at achieving better broadscale pest ...

Source of Pregnancy Complications from Infections Revealed by Placenta Map

May 3, 2024 — The placenta's response to infections from malaria, toxoplasmosis and listeria has been mapped in high resolution, possibly paving the way for new treatment ...

Deeper Understanding of Malaria Parasite Development Unlocks Opportunities to Block Disease Spread

May 2, 2024 — Natural malaria infections have been genetically analysed at a higher resolution than ever before, giving insights that could help understand and block ...

Malaria May Shorten Leukocyte Telomeres Among Sub-Saharan Africans

May 2, 2024 — The length of telomeres in white blood cells, known as leukocytes, varies significantly among sub-Saharan African populations, researchers report. Moreover, leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is ...

Wild Orangutan Treats Wound With Pain-Relieving Plant

May 2, 2024 — A wild orangutan was observed applying a plant with known medicinal properties to a wound, a first for a wild ...

Archaea Can Be Picky Parasites

May 1, 2024 — A parasite that not only feeds of its host, but also makes the host change its own metabolism and thus biology. Microbiologists have shown this for the very first time in a specific group of ...

Identifying Risks of Human Flea Infestations in Plague-Endemic Areas of Madagascar

May 1, 2024 — Researchers uncover why some homes in rural Madagascar where bubonic plague is endemic are infested with fleas. Based on their findings, they recommend ways to reduce the flea populations and their ...

Calcium Can Protect Potato Plants from Bacterial Wilt

May 1, 2024 — Scientists have discovered that calcium plays a significant role in enhancing the resistance of potato plants to bacterial ...

Can Climate Change Accelerate Transmission of Malaria? Pioneering Research Sheds Light on Impacts of Temperature

Apr. 24, 2024 — A groundbreaking study combined novel experimental data within an innovative modeling framework to examine how temperature might affect transmission risk of malaria in different environments in ...

How Parasites Shape Complex Food Webs

Apr. 24, 2024 — A new study sheds light on how parasites, often overlooked, can dramatically affect the balance between predator and prey populations. Researchers developed a groundbreaking mathematical framework ...

AI Tool Recognizes Serious Ocular Disease in Horses

Apr. 24, 2024 — Researchers have developed a deep learning tool that is capable of reliably diagnosing moon blindness in horses based on ...

World's Chocolate Supply Threatened by Devastating Virus

Apr. 23, 2024 — A rapidly spreading virus threatens the health of the cacao tree and the dried seeds from which chocolate is made, jeopardizing the global supply of the world's most popular treat. Researchers ...

The Spiciness of Mustard May Depend on Soil Microbes

Apr. 22, 2024 — New study finds microbes may influence the taste of mustard ...

Tropical Coral-Infecting Parasites Discovered in Cold Marine Ecosystems

Apr. 11, 2024 — Parasites thought only to infect tropical coral reefs have been discovered in a large variety of creatures in cold marine ecosystems along the Northeast Pacific, according to new ...

Scientists Discover New Phage Resistance Mechanism in Phage-Bacterial Arms Race

Apr. 9, 2024 — Scientists describe a new mechanism impacting the phage-bacterial arms race, a nanosized epibiotic parasite, TM7x, which helps its host bacterium (a Schaalia odontolytica strain called XH001) achieve ...

How Mosquito Larva Guts Could Help Create Highly Specific Insecticides

Apr. 8, 2024 — Did you know that the world's deadliest animal is the mosquito? And Aedes aegypti is one of the most dangerous. This bug spreads viruses that cause dengue fever, which was recently declared as ...