Protection against winter vomiting bug spread with arrival of agriculture

Karolinska Institutet

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Hugo Zeberg

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Credit: Photo: Alexander Donka

Winter vomiting disease is caused by the Norovirus, which is most virulent during the colder half of the year. The infection clears up after a couple of days, but the protection it provides is short-lived, meaning that the same person can fall repeatedly sick in a short space of time. But some people cannot succumb to the virus, thanks to a particular gene variant.

“We wanted to trace the historical spread of the gene variant,” says Hugo Zeberg, senior lecturer in genetics at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, and researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.  

Defective gene protects against virus

The FUT2 gene is the target of an enzyme found in the intestinal mucosa. One of its role is to place sugar molecules on the surface of the intestinal cells, and it is through these molecules that the Norovirus infects the gut. The protective gene variant is defective so that the enzyme fails to work – and without the sugar molecules, the virus is unable to enter the cells. 

To trace the spread of the variant, the researchers analysed the DNA of 4,343 prehistorical individuals from the past 10,000 years. The defective gene was brought to Europe in around 6,000 BCE by early farmers from what is now Turkey and then propagated throughout the population some 8,500 to 5,000 years ago. In the early societies of the first farmers, the vomiting sickness virus spread much more quickly than when humans lived in small groups. 

“Our results suggest that this type of disease environment drove up the frequency of the gene variant as it protects against winter vomiting disease and confers on the bearer the advantage of not falling sick,” says Dr Zeberg. 

Finding confirmed with “mini guts”

By studying questionnaires and genetic material from biobanks with 700,000 modern humans, the researchers observed that people with the gene variant rarely had vomiting sickness, especially if they had double copies – one from each parent.

To confirm their findings, the researchers cultivated human gut organoids (or miniature guts) from gut biopsies. In so doing, they found that individuals with two copies of the gene variant were fully protected against Norovirus infection.

The study is published in Molecular Biology and Evolution and was conducted with researchers at Linköping University.

“Ascertaining why certain mutations arise and get selected allows us to better understand how they affect our health today,” says the study’s lead author Johan Nordgren, docent of medical microbiology at the Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University.

The downside – gallstones and stomach ulcers 

But there is a price to this protection: modern biobanks show an elevated risk of stomach ulcers and gallstones in the gene variant bearers.

“These are usually linked to stress and a high intake of fat, which was probably less common during the neolithic period,” says Hugo Zeberg.

As regards the clinical relevance of the study, Dr Zeberg says that knowledge that the gene variant provides full protection can be of use in risk assessment. An estimated twenty per cent of the Swedish population have double copies.

“But my chief interest is in evolutionary science,” he says. “Prehistoric DNA is a time machine that allows us to replay evolution and see how genetic mutations can be tied to events in the human environment.”

The study was financed by grants from several bodies, primarily the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Brain Foundation, the Max Planck Society, the NOMIS Foundation and the Groschinsky Memorial Foundation.

Publication: “Natural selection of a virus-protective FUT2 variant following the transition to agriculture”. Johan Nordgren, Richard Ågren, David Hu Ziliang, Magdalena Neijd, Ainash Childebayeva, Kay Prüfer, Marie Hagbom, Lennart Svensson and Hugo Zeberg. Molecular Biology and Evolution, online October 24, 2025, doi: 10.1093/molbev/msaf243

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Journal

Molecular Biology and Evolution

DOI

10.1093/molbev/msaf243 

Article Title

Natural selection of a virus-protective FUT2 variant following the transition to agriculture

Article Publication Date

24-Oct-2025

 

Deep emission cuts before mid-century decisive to reduce long-term sea-level rise legacy

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

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Rising seas are irreversible on human time scales and among the most severe consequences of climate change. Emissions released in the coming decades will determine how much coastlines are reshaped for centuries to come. New research shows that near-term mitigation could spare future generations around 0.6 meters of sea-level rise that would be caused by emissions between 2020 and 2090 following current policies, making today’s decisions critical not only for limiting warming but also for coastal impacts.

Led by IIASA researchers in collaboration with colleagues from institutions in the UK, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Germany, the study published in Nature Climate Change goes beyond the usual sea level projections by quantifying how much sea-level rise in 2300 will be “locked in” by emissions this century. By isolating the effect of near- and mid-term emissions, the study provides a direct link between today’s policy choices and sea levels hundreds of years from now – an aspect that has not been quantified in this way before.

“It is common for sea-level rise research to deliver projections to 2100 based on a standard set of scenarios, which doesn’t allow to isolate the longer-term sea-level impacts of today’s greenhouse gas emissions. But we have to explore these impacts on timescales beyond 2100 because oceans and ice sheets keep responding for centuries,” explains lead author Alexander Nauels, a senior research scholar in the Integrated Climate Impacts Research Group of the IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program. “Our study shows clearly that mitigation decisions in the next few decades will have multi-century consequences for coastlines worldwide.”

The researchers found that under current policies, emissions from 2020 until 2050 would already commit the world to about 0.3 meters of additional sea-level rise by 2300. What may seem like a modest increase would have major implications for long-term adaptation planning. Extending emissions on this trajectory until 2090 would lock in a global rise of about 0.8 meters, of which roughly 0.6 meters could still be avoided if the world started emissions reductions consistent with the Paris Agreement now. These differences can determine whether some low-lying coastal areas and islands remain habitable or not.

“Our work highlights the long-lasting legacy of today’s emissions and that adaptation planning must consider centuries ahead,” notes Matthew Palmer from the UK Met Office, a coauthor of the study. “We also illustrate that some regions like the vulnerable Pacific islands will experience even higher sea-level rise than the global average. These regional and local changes have to be understood and resolved in much greater detail to better inform decision makers.”

The authors set out to determine how much future sea-level rise is already committed by past and near-term emissions, and they show how strongly choices in the coming decades influence outcomes centuries from now.

“These choices will determine when more adaptation limits will be reached and how many adaptation options remain for coastal communities in vulnerable regions,” notes coauthor Aimée Slangen from the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research.

“The difference between decisive climate action today and continued high emissions is not just measured in degrees of warming but also in meters of sea-level rise that will reshape coasts worldwide for centuries. Importantly, we show that we still have the opportunity to limit the sea-level rise commitment we pass on to future generations,” Nauels concludes.

Reference
Nauels, A., Nicholls, Z., Möller, T., Hermans, T.H.J., Mengel, M., Klönne, U., Smith, C., Slangen, A.B.A., Palmer, M.D. (2025). Multi-century global and regional sea-level rise commitments from cumulative greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades. Nature Climate Change DOI: 10.1038/s41558-025-02452-5

 

About IIASA:

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. www.iiasa.ac.at

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Journal

Nature Climate Change

DOI

10.1038/s41558-025-02452-5 

Article Title

Multi-century global and regional sea-level rise commitments from cumulative greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades

Article Publication Date

24-Oct-2025

Scientists develop floral-scented fungus that lures mosquitoes to their doom

This new strain of fungus mimics flowers to attract and kill mosquitoes, offering a new weapon in the fight against disease-carrying insects.

University of Maryland

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Mosquitoes placed in a container. 

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Credit: Credit: Mark Sherwood and Raymond St. Leger.

In the battle against mosquito-borne diseases that kill hundreds of thousands of people each year, scientists turned to an unlikely ally: a fungus that smells like flowers.

Taking advantage of the mosquito’s natural attraction to flowers, an international team of researchers engineered a new strain of Metarhizium fungus that imitates a flower’s sweet scent and lures the bloodsucking bugs to their deaths. 

Inspired by certain fungi that the team found emit a sweet-smelling chemical called longifolene to draw insect prey, they created what’s essentially a deadly perfume for mosquitoes—offering new hope against malaria, dengue and other fatal diseases that traditional methods, like chemical pesticides, can no longer control. The researchers documented their invention and its ability to control mosquitoes in a new paper published in the journal Nature Microbiology on October 24, 2025. 

“Mosquitoes need flowers because they provide nectar, a crucial source of food for them, and they are drawn to flowers through their scents,” explained paper co-author Raymond St. Leger, a Distinguished University Professor of Entomology at the University of Maryland. “After observing that some types of fungi could trick mosquitoes into thinking they were flowers, we realized we could turbo-charge the attraction by engineering fungi to produce more longifolene, a sweet-smelling compound that’s already very common in nature. Before this study, longifolene wasn’t known to attract mosquitoes. We’re letting nature give us a hint to tell us what works against mosquitoes.” 

St. Leger noted that the floral-scented fungus is an easy-to-use control method against mosquitoes, requiring little to no training or specialized knowledge. As soon as the fungus spores are placed in a container, either indoors or outdoors, longifolene is instantly and gradually released, maintaining effectiveness for months. Once mosquitoes encounter the fungus, they become infected and die within days. In lab tests, the fungus killed 90 to 100% of mosquitoes—even when placed in a large room with competing scents from humans and real flowers. Although the fragrant fungus is deadly to mosquitoes, it is harmless to humans.

“The fungus is completely harmless to humans as longifolene is already commonly used in perfumes and has a long safety record,” St. Leger said. “This makes it much safer than many chemical pesticides. We’ve also designed the fungus and its containers to target mosquitoes specifically rather than any other insects and longifolene breaks down naturally in the environment.” 

In addition, unlike chemical alternatives that mosquitoes have gradually become resistant to, this biological approach may be nearly impossible for mosquitoes to outsmart or avoid. 

“If mosquitoes evolve to avoid longifolene, that could mean they’ll stop responding to flowers,” St. Leger explained. “But they need flowers as a food source to survive, so it would be very interesting to see how they could possibly avoid the fungus yet still be attracted to the flowers they need. It’ll be very difficult for them to overcome that hurdle, and we have the option of engineering the fungus to produce additional floral odors if they evolve to specifically avoid longifolene.”

What also makes this new fungal technology particularly promising is how practical and affordable it is to produce. Other forms of Metarhizium are already commonly cultivated around the world on cheap materials like chicken droppings, rice husks and wheat scraps that are readily available after harvest. The affordability and simplicity of the fungus could be key to reducing mosquito disease-related deaths in many parts of the world, especially in poorer countries in the global south. 

Finding effective new weapons against mosquitoes could be more important than ever. St. Leger warns that in the future, mosquito-borne diseases currently limited to tropical regions could threaten new targets, including the United States. With rising global temperatures and the growing unpredictability of weather, disease-carrying mosquitoes have begun to spread to new areas beyond their usual habitats.

“Mosquitoes love many of the ways we are changing our world,” St. Leger said. “Right now, we’re hoping to use these approaches in Africa, Asia and South America. But one day, we may need them for ourselves.”

St. Leger and his collaborators are currently working on larger-scale outdoor trials of their mosquito control method to submit for regulatory approval. 

“It’s not as if you’re going to necessarily find a silver bullet to control mosquitoes everywhere, but we’re trying to develop a very diverse and flexible set of tools that people in different parts of the world can use and choose from,” St. Leger said. “Different people will find different approaches work best for their particular situation and the particular mosquitoes they’re dealing with. In the end, our goal is to give people as many options as possible to save lives.”

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The paper, Engineered Metarhizium fungi produce longifolene to attract and kill mosquitoes,” was published in Nature Microbiology on October 24, 2025.

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Journal

Nature Microbiology

DOI

10.1038/s41564-025-02155-9 

Article Title

Engineered Metarhizium fungi produce longifolene to attract and kill mosquitoes

Article Publication Date

24-Oct-2025

Coaches can boost athletes’ mental toughness with this leadership style

COACHING IS ABUSE

New study co-authored by Binghamton University School of Management's Chou-Yu (Joey) Tsai shows how coaches can become better leaders, improve athletic performance

Binghamton University

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Osterhout Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship Chou-Yu (Joey) Tsai from the Binghamton University School of Management. 

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Credit: Jonathan Cohen

The competition is fierce. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles is pushing herself to perform stronger and more consistently. Then, her coach calls her “fat.” It’s meant as a motivation, but this time, it has the opposite effect.

While some coaches might believe such comments could spur an athlete to train harder, new research involving the Binghamton University School of Management found a better way to boost an athlete’s mental toughness: transformational leadership techniques focusing on self-determination. These techniques have already proven effective in the workplace and, applied on the athletic front, could strengthen player-coach relationships.

In the study, researchers used Biles’ example to highlight the pivotal role coaches play in fostering an athlete’s mindset, for better or worse.

“The most important psychological characteristics can be cultivated through coaching. This study tells you how important coaching is in generating resources that enhance athletes’ resilience and mental toughness, to help them overcome all difficulties,” said Osterhout Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship Chou-Yu (Joey) Tsai, who co-authored the study.

“We found two ways a coach can enhance mental toughness: by focusing on how they can accomplish their goal by working as a group and by recognizing that each athlete has his or her own personal issues that need to be addressed in a customized way.”

Researchers tested their theory by surveying 301 players (169 male and 132 female) from Taiwan’s University Volleyball League.

At the beginning of the season, the athletes completed a questionnaire about transformational leadership — a leadership style that aims to empower individuals through a shared vision and fostering personal growth.

After the season, researchers gathered survey data in three categories:

--Task-involving climate perception

-- Coach-athlete exchange

-- Mental toughness

The findings showed that coaches practicing transformational leadership create an inspirational vision and motivate players to achieve excellence. This meant players aligned more closely with the coach’s values and interests, promoting mental toughness.

How can this be put into practice? The study recommended that coaches prioritize individualized feedback, personalized goals and recognizing growth based on an athlete’s personal benchmarks rather than player comparisons.

Tsai said transformational leadership approaches like these are usually associated with the business world, but they’re easily adaptable in sports. Since the measure of success for athletes is even more performance-driven, Tsai said, coaches are vital in deploying the right player into the right positions to generate value for the team.

“Every sport or business setting has leaders, and nowadays, you have many disruptions to achieving your goal, whether scoring points or making a profit. Businesses have to adapt to the market, and sports teams have to adjust their strategies each season,” Tsai said.

“Sometimes you need that kind of mental toughness to deal with those challenges,” he added. “That’s why good leadership is so important, but creating a relationship dynamic rooted in mutual respect is probably the most significant takeaway from this research.”

The study, “Effects of transformational coaches on athlete mental toughness: Dual mediating roles of task-involving climate perception and coach-athlete relationship,” was published in the International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching.

It was co-authored by the following researchers based in Taiwan: San-Fu Kao from National Tsing Hua University, Sheng-Bin Wang from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Ming-Hui Hsieh from National Chengchi University and Chien-Ming Hsu from National Tsing Hua University.

About Binghamton University

Binghamton University, State University of New York, is the #1 public university in New York and a top-100 institution nationally. Founded in 1946, Binghamton combines a liberal arts foundation with professional and graduate programs, offering more than 130 academic undergraduate majors, minors, certificates, concentrations, emphases, tracks and specializations, plus more than 90 master's, 40 doctoral and 50 graduate certificate programs. The University is home to nearly 18,000 students and more than 150,000 alumni worldwide. Binghamton's commitment to academic excellence, innovative research, and student success has earned it recognition as a Public Ivy and one of the best values in American higher education.

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Journal

International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching

DOI

10.1177/17479541251380718 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Effects of transformational coaches on athlete mental toughness: Dual mediating roles of task-involving climate perception and coach-athlete relationship

Article Publication Date

23-Oct-2025