I am attending a meeting in the , Oslo, November 19th and 20th, 2014 entitled The past plague pandemics (Justinian, Black Death, Third) in light of modern Molecular Life Science insights.
Summary: “Our current understanding of the three plague pandemics has rapidly expanded in the last decade, largely due to ancient DNA analysis of medieval remains, and the sequencing of a large number of current-day plague strains. There is a great need to convey these newly gained modern insights to a broad spectrum of scientists, and provide them with access to these new MLS methods. In addition, though much progress has been made during the last few decades, much remains to be understood regarding the past plague pandemics: where did they originate from, what processes determined the timing of these pandemics, how did the disease spread? By inviting speakers from a broad spectrum of disciplines we seek new ways of further progress by taking advantage of the new tools of molecular biology which are available today.” Read more…