Weird & Interesting science

[robkelk]

Researchers Find Evidence of a Coronavirus Epidemic 20,000 Years Ago

In a paper published in Current Biology, researchers analyzed the genomes of more than 2,500 modern humans from 26 worldwide populations, to better understand how humans have adapted to historical coronavirus outbreaks. The team, co-led by researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of Adelaide, used computational methods to uncover genetic traces of adaptation to coronaviruses, the family of viruses responsible for three major outbreaks in the last 20 years, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.