A genetic analysis of two 9,000-year-old human skeletons found off the coast of Israel reveal that the Neolithic people were infected with tuberculosis, making them the earliest known TB cases to be confirmed with genetic testing. The bone discovery contradicts the long-held theory that human TB evolved from cattle strains around the time of animal domestication, says [study coauthor] Helen Donoghue…. Rather, high population densities could have made it easier for the disease to spread [New Scientist].
The skeletons of a mother and child were found amidst other artifacts of a Neolithic village, called Atlit-Yam, which is now covered by the Mediterranean Sea. A roughly 25-year–old mother had apparently passed on the bacterial infection to her 1-year–old child, after which they both died and were buried together…. Salt water, sand and clay had covered the bodies, providing excellent conditions for bone preservation. Atlit-Yam was located within a coastal marshland before its immersion by the rising ocean [Science News].
A new study has found that countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union that accepted International Monetary Fund loans in the 1990s had an immediate increase in 
