How can ancient DNA help us understand how diseases spread? This month, geneticist and pathogen genomics expert Pooja Swali explains how samples of DNA from the past can reveal how diseases have spread across the world over time. We explore the what, where, how, and why of ancient DNA research, and what doors these questions have opened for the future of the field. Pooja has worked extensively on Yersinia pestis, the bacteria responsible for plague, and uncovered the existence of plague thousands of years earlier than previously anticipated.

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Producer and presenter: Lia Hale

Music: Joseph Sandy

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What can ancient DNA reveal about the past? - with Pooja Swali