The last two hundred years have seen seven cholera pandemics and multiple regional outbreaks. Now, a new study from researchers at Vidyasagar University, West Bengal, explores how Vibrio cholerae, the comma-shaped bacterium which causes cholera, uses flagella and quorum sensing mechanisms to survive and form biofilms, which increase disease spread and enhance the potential for epidemics.

The quality of sleep a mother gets during pregnancy may be linked intimately with the health and development of the child, even after birth. In a new study using rats as model systems, researchers show that disturbances in sleep during the final trimester of pregnancy results in altered sleep profiles and delayed brain maturation in the offspring.

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), an aquatic fungus, has been implicated in the decline or extinction of nearly 200 frog species worldwide. Now for the first time, researchers have mapped and assessed the spread of this deadly pathogen in Indian frog populations, performing extensive field studies in locations ranging from the Himalayas to the Western Ghats to the Anadaman and Nicobar islands.