Writing about his work earlier this year in Virology Journal, Rice shows how chickenpox is much less common in parts of the world with high levels of UV rays compared with places where the levels are low, and why in temperate zones, the disease peaks in winter and spring, when UV rays are at their lowest.
An article in the Journal of Geophysical Research, published by the American Geophysical Union, says the Arctic damage threatens to "allow the penetration of enhanced UV radiation at northern mid-high latitudes".
Stibich showed that a high-energy form of UV called UV-C could kill C. diff, in either its active state or as a dormant spore protected by a tough seedlike shell.