Human evolution and arsenic detoxification

Carina Schlebusch and colleagues just published an article in Molecular Biology and Evolution demonstrating human adaptation to the locally high arsenic levels in groundwater in the Argentine Andes. This work is the first to show a genetic adaptation that allows the...

Gut microbes increase blood sugar after saccharin feeding

For decades food manufacturers have marketed saccharin, along with other non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS), as healthy alternatives to sugar. Artificial sugar substitutes cannot be digested by humans and have been recommended for patients with diabetes  and for...

A comeback for antibiotic cycling?

Christiane Goulart and Miriam Barlow and colleagues have published an important study in this month’s PLOS One entitled “Designing Antibiotic Cycling Strategies by Determining and Understanding Local Adaptive Landscapes.” Because of the growing...