September 19, 2022
Africa: Even Mild Covid Raises the Chance of Heart Attack and Stroke. What to Know About the Risks Ahead
A concerning report recently published in Nature Medicine suggests even a mild case of COVID can increase the long-term risks of serious cardiovascular diseases such as stroke,… Read more »
Africa: Supply Chain Management Needs a Rethink - Covid Changed Everything, or Did It?
COVID-19 has laid bare the vulnerability of the supply chain model that has dominated the way African firms have organised their production. In this model firms rely on multiple… Read more »
September 18, 2022
Africa: Did Covid Harm My Immune System? Am I Now At Risk of Other Infectious Diseases?
So you've had COVID and have now recovered. You don't have ongoing symptoms and luckily, you don't seem to have developed long COVID. Read more »
Africa: Memory Problems During the Pandemic? It's Just Your Brain Trying to Distinguish One Day From the Next
Without a doubt, we are living through a historically significant period. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted the global economy, imposed extreme strain on… Read more »
September 16, 2022
Africa: WHO Advised Against the Use of Two Antibody Therapies Against Covid - Here's What That Means
New guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) strongly advises against using the antibody therapies sotrovimab and casirivimab-imdevimab to treat patients with COVID-19. Read more »
September 13, 2022
Africa: Another New Covid Variant Is Spreading - Here's What We Know About Omicron Ba.4.6
BA.4.6, a subvariant of the omicron COVID variant which has been quickly gaining traction in the US, is now confirmed to be spreading in the UK. Read more »
September 15, 2022
Africa: Young People May Be More Likely to Believe in Conspiracy Theories That Deny Covid Facts - Here's How to Respond
The COVID pandemic has been a shock. Practically nobody alive today has previously encountered a virus so contagious that it spreads worldwide, infects at least half a billion… Read more »
Africa: Viruses May Be 'Watching' You - Some Microbes Lie in Wait Until Their Hosts Unknowingly Give Them the Signal to Start Multiplying and Kill Them
After more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, you might picture a virus as a nasty spiked ball - a mindless killer that gets into a cell and hijacks its machinery to create a… Read more »
September 14, 2022
Africa: Malaria Vaccine - The Road Has Been Long and Tortuous, but We're Getting There
A vaccine candidate, called R21, has been shown to be up to 80% effective at preventing malaria in young children, according to the latest trial results. Read more »
September 12, 2022
Africa: Uncovering the Genetic Basis of Mental Illness Requires Tools That Aren't Just Based On White People
Mental illness is a growing public health problem. In 2019, an estimated 1 in 8 people around the world were affected by mental disorders like depression, schizophrenia or bipolar… Read more »
September 14, 2022
Africa: 17.7 Million Covid-19 Deaths and Counting. Here Are 11 Ways to Stop History Repeating Itself
A global report released today highlights massive global failures in the response to COVID-19. Read more »
Africa: Climate Change Threatens Food but Microscopic Algae Offer Answers
In 2021 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued the first volume of its latest authoritative report on climate change. The United Nations secretary-general branded its… Read more »
September 12, 2022
Africa: How Fake Science Websites Hijack Our Trust in Experts to Misinform and Confuse
The scientific method is rigorous. Claims and premises are supported with evidence. The peer review system is designed to ensure that research is scrutinised by experts before… Read more »
September 13, 2022
Africa: UK-Africa Ties - Future Looks Gloomy Under Liz Truss As Political Myopia Reigns
Britain has a new prime minister in Liz Truss. For African leaders wondering what the new administration might mean for UK-Africa relationships, the view must be pretty gloomy. Read more »
September 08, 2022
Africa: How Massive Stars Steal Planets - New Research
Our Sun has a rather lonely existence in the Milky Way galaxy. It sits on its own, four light years away from the nearest star, with only its planetary system for company. But it… Read more »
September 12, 2022
Africa: Scientists Are Divining the Future of Earth's Ice-Covered Oceans At Their Harsh Fringes
One of the harshest and most dynamic regions on Earth is the marginal ice zone - the place where ocean waves meet sea ice, which is formed by freezing of the ocean's surface. Read more »
September 09, 2022
Africa: Monkeypox May Cause Neurological Damage, Including Inflammation of the Brain - New Study
Monkeypox's effect on the skin - the disfiguring rashes - and the flu-like symptoms have been well described, but few have investigated the neurological and psychiatric problems… Read more »
Africa: Queen Elizabeth - Monarch Who Had to Adjust to the Shift From Empire to Commonwealth
On her 21st birthday, 21 April 1947, when Britain's Princess Elizabeth was accompanying her parents and her sister on a tour of South Africa, she spoke "to all the peoples of the… Read more »
Africa: Africa's Dinosaur Discoveries - Five Essential Reads
Few prehistoric creatures generate as much excitement and awe as dinosaurs. Whether it's the "tyrant" T-Rex or a slim-necked Brachiosaurus, people are fascinated… Read more »
September 08, 2022
Africa: Queen Elizabeth II - A Moderniser Who Steered the British Monarchy Into the 21st Century
When the late historian Sir Ben Pimlott embarked on his 1996 biography, his colleagues expressed surprise that he should consider Queen Elizabeth II worthy of serious study at all.… Read more »
Africa: Queen's Death Marks The End of the 'New Elizabethan Age'
When Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952, Britain was just seven years out of the second world war. Rebuilding work was still ongoing, and rationing key products such as… Read more »
September 07, 2022
Africa: Why New British PM Liz Truss Needs to Pay More Attention to Africa
New British prime minister Liz Truss has never said much in public about Africa. Read more »
September 06, 2022
Africa: What Is Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease?
As a new parent, I've become acutely aware of every person in the vicinity of my daughter who has the slightest sniffle or looks vaguely unwell. Read more »
September 05, 2022
Africa: Antarctic Stations Are Plagued By Sexual Harassment - It's Time for Things to Change
In October 2017, Antarctic science had its own #MeToo moment. Science magazine published a piece on allegations of abuse of female geoscientists in Antarctica - the most remote… Read more »
September 04, 2022
Africa: The Webb Telescope Has Released Its Very First Exoplanet Image - Here's What We Can Learn From It
Did you ever want to see an alien world? A planet orbiting a distant star, light years from the Sun? Well, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has just returned its first-ever… Read more »