Visitors to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky walk over disinfectant mats after their tour of the cavern on September 29, 2024, to mitigate the spread of the bat disease white-nose syndrome to caverns elsewhere. In one of the most significant losses of wildlife in modern history, the fungus, which causes a disease called white-nose syndrome, has killed millions of the flying mammals since arriving in the eastern United States from Europe nearly twenty years ago. Two decades on, no cure exits. But scientists are finally emerging with a small panoply of possible solutions. And their research comes just as the disease -- which sprouts white fuzzy growths on the bats' tiny noses, ears and wings -- is spreading to the American West. (Photo by Becca MILFELD / AFP)