Malaria outbreaks in Africa linked to arrival in East Africa of Indian species of insecticide-resistant mosquito
Compelling evidence has emerged that a malaria outbreak in Ethiopia this year was caused by the arrival in eastern Africa of an insecticide-resistant species of mosquito (Anopheles stephensi). The finding complicates disease-elimination efforts in Africa – where 95 per cent of the world’s malaria infections occur – and has worried...
US court set to dump affirmative action, which may radically affect Blacks student admission to university
The US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week in two cases that could change the landscape of higher education in the country. The eventual outcomes will determine whether Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill are allowed to use race...
Medical research findings raise hope of ‘love hormone’ being used to repair memory loss in humans
A new study by medical researchers at the Tokyo University of Science has found that a cell-penetrating oxytocin derivative administered in the nasal passages of memory-impaired mice reversed the rodent’s cognitive impairment. Consequently, the results have raised hope that oxytocin, also known as ‘love hormone’, can be used to restore...
Forever war: US pledge of $15 billion to Ukraine, $8 trillion spent in Iraq keeps war industry on the roll
Ukraine is obviously a powder keg. With each passing day, in fact, the war there poses new threats to the world order. Only recently, Vladimir Putin’s Russia intensified its attacks on civilian targets in that beleaguered land, while threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons and adding Ukraine’s neighbour Belarus to...
How Middle East uses earnings from oil exports to buyers choking in carbon emissions to invest in clean energy
The world’s green spotlight is tilting towards the Middle East as Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) prepare to host the next two major world summits on climate change. Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh resort will be the site of the next United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27),...
Reprogramming age: Soon, it’ll be normal to get prescription for medicine that reverses your age by 10 years
A little over 15 years ago, scientists at Kyoto University in Japan made a remarkable discovery. When they added just four proteins to a skin cell and waited about two weeks, some of the cells underwent an unexpected and astounding transformation: they became young again. They turned into stem cells...
Why are Black women not on the upper deck of the tech industry in the United Kingdom?
Up to 20,000 black women are “missing” from the tech industry in the UK, according to a joint report by campaigners and a representative body. The report says the proportion of black women in IT is two-and-a-half times smaller than that of the UK workforce as a whole. Campaigning group...
Nigerian youths look for a political messiah to end police crimes, but presidential candidates won’t discuss reforms
Two years ago, Nigerian youths were taking to the streets in huge demonstrations against police brutality, triggered by the repeated deaths of young men at the hands of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) – a notoriously brutal and lawless unit. What became known as #EndSARS was groundbreaking, reverberating throughout southern...
Food situation in South Sudan’s worsened by topography and government’s weak capacity to respond
Seasonal flooding is normal in South Sudan as its topography funnels in water from neighbouring countries, but the scale of the issue since 2019 has no recent precedent. Experts say it is linked to climate change and the government’s weak capacity to respond. The flooding has disrupted household production and...
8 million South Sudanese at extreme risk of dying of hunger as half the country of 12 million is fighting itself
It is just over four years since South Sudan’s main warring parties signed a peace agreement that was supposed to end a five-year civil war that killed at least 400,000 people and plunged parts of the country into famine. Yet some humanitarian indicators are now worse than they were even...
