FIRST frogs, then bees, now bats. Across the north-eastern US, bats are dying, struck down by a mysterious disease called white nose syndrome (WNS). A million bats have died in four years and nobody really knows why.
A fungus called Geomyces destructans is clearly involved; it is often found as white powder covering the noses, muzzles and wings of infected bats, hence the disease’s name. But its exact role is unclear. It may be the direct cause of the disease, or just an opportunistic infection hitching on the back of a more deadly foe (see…
