A new study, led by CABI scientist Dr. Elizabeth Finch, is the first to investigate the impacts of swidden agriculture on ant communities across the full degradation gradient, highlighting the utmost importance of the conservation of existing closed canopy forests.

Swidden agriculture, known more commonly as slash and burn agriculture, is a widespread subsistence farming method in the tropics which is being intensified and expanded to meet the demands of a growing human population. In Madagascar, for example, fallow times have decreased from 8–15 years to 3–5 years over three decades, resulting in faster land degradation.

The research, conducted while Dr. Finch was completing her Ph.D. at the School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast and now published in the journal Biological Conservation, reveals that degradation due to swidden agriculture leads to a reduction in native ant species diversity and an increase in introduced ant species diversity. There were also correlated community compositional changes in both native and introduced species. READ MORE

University of Wisconsin-Madison Summary: Small, unique antibody-like proteins known as VNARs — derived from the immune systems of sharks — can prevent the virus that causes COVID-19, its variants, and related coronaviruses from infecting human cells, according to a new study.

Small, unique antibody-like proteins known as VNARs — derived from the immune systems of sharks — can prevent the virus that causes COVID-19, its variants, and related coronaviruses from infecting human cells, according to a new study published Dec. 16. The new VNARs will not be immediately available as a treatment in people, but they can help prepare for future coronavirus outbreaks. The shark VNARs were able to neutralize WIV1-CoV, a coronavirus that is capable of infecting human cells but currently circulates only in bats, where SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, likely originated. Developing treatments for such animal-borne viruses ahead of time can prove useful if those viruses make the jump to people. “The big issue is there are a number of coronaviruses that are poised for emergence in humans,” says Aaron LeBeau, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of pathology who helped lead the study. “What we’re doing is preparing an arsenal of shark VNAR therapeutics that could be used down the road for future SARS outbreaks. It’s a kind of insurance against the future.” READ MORE

Published Jan. 18 in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. By examining tiny vessels inside a person’s eyes, doctors  might one day be able to predict that person’s risk of early death, according to a new study.

Though the risk of illness and early death generally increases with chronological age, that risk can vary quite a bit  among individuals of the same age, according to a statement. That difference can be explained by a person’s “biological age,” which unlike chronological age ticks at an individual rate for each person, depending on several health factors. 

Previous studies have explored various biomarkers in the body that might be able to determine a person’s biological age, including specific genes, cognitive abilities, blood pressure and immune system function, Live Science previously reported. READ MORE