(Press-News.org) STARKVILLE, Miss.—An article by Mississippi State Professor of Anthropology Molly Zuckerman and her graduate student Lydia Bailey has been published in Science, one of the foremost scientific journals in the world.
Zuckerman and Bailey’s piece examines new evidence from ancient DNA that pushes the origins of diseases closely related to syphilis back more than 5,000 years and strongly supports an American rather than European origin for a close relative of the disease. Drawing on recent paleogenomic discoveries from Colombia and Mexico, the article demonstrates how advances in ancient DNA research are transforming long-standing debates about human disease, evolution and global health. The article is available at www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.aee7963.
Zuckerman said the research is important because it “moves us further into understanding the origins and adaptability of a disease that is harmfully resurging in human populations, especially in the U.S., and thus its potential for future change.”
Zuckerman said her career was profoundly shaped by her graduate mentor who intentionally included her in research on the origins of syphilis. She said now her inclusion of Bailey in current research is “a meaningful way to pay that mentorship forward” by providing the same kind of hands-on, scholarly opportunity that once helped launch her own research path.
An applied anthropology master’s student from Lafayette, New Jersey, Bailey said her inclusion in the project highlights how examining infectious diseases “in deep time can inform how we think about the roles of human mobility, environment and behavior in shaping infectious disease spread today.” As she pursues a research career focused on children’s health and public policy, she said publishing in “Science” is especially significant because it allows the team to share these insights “beyond anthropology and into public conversations that can help destigmatize infectious disease,” ultimately supporting more informed and equitable public health efforts.
For more information about MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences and its Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures, visit www.cas.msstate.edu and www.amec.msstate.edu.
Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at www.msstate.edu.
END
Researchers publish landmark infectious disease study in ‘Science’
2026-02-20
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
New NSF award supports innovative role-playing game approach to strengthening research security in academia
2026-02-20
A new National Science Foundation (NSF) award will support an innovative effort in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois to strengthen research security by using structured role-playing games (RPG) to model the threats facing academic research environments.
The project, titled "REDTEAM: Research Environment Defense Through Expert Attack Modeling," addresses a growing challenge: balancing the open, collaborative nature of academic research with increasing national security risks and sophisticated adversarial ...
Kumar named to ACMA Emerging Leaders Program for 2026
2026-02-20
Vipin Kumar, a composites manufacturing researcher at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been named one of 21 rising professionals nationwide for the 2026 Emerging Leaders Program of the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA).
The competitive, year-long program develops future leaders in the composites industry through professional development, industry engagement and advocacy training, preparing participants to help shape the future of advanced manufacturing in the ...
AI language models could transform aquatic environmental risk assessment
2026-02-20
A new scientific perspective suggests that large language models, the artificial intelligence systems behind tools such as modern chatbots, could revolutionize how scientists evaluate environmental risks in aquatic ecosystems.
Aquatic environments are essential for ecological stability and human health, yet assessing pollution risks in rivers, lakes, and coastal waters remains challenging. Critical information about pollutant exposure, toxicity, and ecological effects often exists in scattered forms across scientific papers, ...
New isotope tools reveal hidden pathways reshaping the global nitrogen cycle
2026-02-20
Human activities have dramatically altered the Earth’s nitrogen cycle since the Industrial Revolution, driving pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate feedbacks. A new scientific review highlights how advances in isotope science are transforming our ability to trace nitrogen through the atmosphere, soils, forests, and plants, offering powerful tools for managing environmental change.
The study synthesizes recent progress in nitrogen isotope research and proposes a new framework for integrating multiple isotopes with monitoring networks and modeling approaches. Together, these ...
Study reveals how antibiotic structure controls removal from water using biochar
2026-02-20
Antibiotic pollution in water is a growing global concern, as residues from human medicine, livestock production, and aquaculture can persist in the environment and contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance. A new study shows that the molecular structure of antibiotics plays a decisive role in how effectively they can be removed from water using biochar, a carbon-rich material produced from agricultural waste.
Researchers investigated five widely used tetracycline antibiotics and examined how their structural differences ...
Why chronic pain lasts longer in women: Immune cells offer clues
2026-02-20
Chronic pain lasts longer for women than men, and new research suggests differences in hormone-regulated immune cells, called monocytes, may help explain why.
In a new paper in Science Immunology, researchers at Michigan State University found a subset of monocytes release a molecule to switch off pain. These cells are more active in males due to higher levels of sex hormones such as testosterone, the team found.
Females, however, experienced longer-lasting pain and delayed recovery, because their monocytes were ...
Toxic exposure creates epigenetic disease risk over 20 generations
2026-02-20
PULLMAN, Wash. — A single exposure to a toxic fungicide during pregnancy can increase the risk of disease for 20 subsequent generations — with inherited health problems worsening many generations after exposure.
Those are the findings of a new Washington State University study of rats that expands the understanding of how long the intergenerational effects of toxic exposure may last, as they are passed down through alterations in reproductive cells. The study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was co-authored by WSU biologist Michael Skinner, who has been studying ...
More time spent on social media linked to steroid use intentions among boys and men
2026-02-20
Toronto, ON — A new study of more than 1,500 boys and men in Canada and the United States suggests that social media may play a meaningful role in shaping intentions to use anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), particularly when users are exposed to muscularity-focused content and engage in body comparisons online.
The study, based on data from The Study of Boys and Men (N = 1,515), examined how different forms of screen time and social media engagement were associated with intentions to use AAS among participants who had never used it before. While participants reported spending ...
New study suggests a “kick it while it’s down” approach to cancer treatment could improve cure rates
2026-02-20
A new study provides hope that smarter timing of cancer treatments could improve cure rates.
The study’s Principal Investigator, Dr Robert Noble, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Mathematics, City, St George’s, University of London, sought to tackle a major problem in cancer care.
“Although tumours may at first shrink under therapy,” he explains, “in many cases they eventually regrow. These relapses stem from a small number of cancer cells that have gained mutations making the cells resistant to the treatment.”
The standard clinical approach is to wait and see if a tumour regrows before trying a different treatment. By ...
Milken Institute, Ann Theodore Foundation launch new grant to support clinical trial for potential sarcoidosis treatment
2026-02-20
February 20, 2026 (Washington, DC)—The Milken Institute Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC), in partnership with the Ann Theodore Foundation (ATF), has launched a new funding program to support a future clinical trial in cutaneous sarcoidosis. The program, ATF Sarcoidosis Inhibitor of mTOR (SIM), will award one two-year grant of up to US$575,000 to one or more independent biomedical researchers. ...