In January of 2025, at the ICTP ICTS winter school at NCBS, Priyanga Amarasekare offered to take me and a few other students out for my birthday. She didn't have to do that.

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 26 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02311-9Urban-adapted mammals host a wide spectrum of zoonotic viruses, some posing high risks of human infection. These species may act as unmonitored reservoirs for viruses of public health concern.

The immune system is the primary defense against parasites. With the ever-increasing rate of disease, epidemiologic models considering geographic variation in immune responses could prove useful. Des...

Heredity - Parasite-mediated inbreeding depression in wild red deer

Population density drives increased parasitism via greater exposure and reduced resource availability in wild red deer

Population density drives increased parasitism via greater exposure and reduced resource availability in wild red deer

Parasites and their hosts can have complex ecological interactions and evolutionary histories. This Perspective argues that parasites are a major driver of host speciation and outlines an empirical fr...

ALT: a man with a mustache is looking at a washing machine with a small , medium , and large button .

Premise Showy mistletoes are obligate hemiparasites of woody plants. Host specificity is therefore a fundamental determinant of mistletoe diversity, persistence, geographic distribution, and abundan...