Black Death Mystery Solved? Medieval Plague Victims' DNA Reveals Secrets Of 660-Year-Old Pandemic

Scientists studying the remains of 25 skeletons from medieval London say they've helped fill in some of the gaps surrounding Europe's Black Death plague, one of the worst pandemics in human history. DNA evidence extracted from the 660-year-old skeletons suggests that the disease, commonly thought to have been spread by fleas on rats, was actually an airborne infection spread from person to person by coughs and sneezes, The Guardian reports.