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...
Experts aver they’ve failproof early warning mechanisms to detect imminent Russian nuclear attack in Ukraine
This Week, Nato is conducting its regular, long-planned nuclear strike exercise known as “Steadfast Noon” to practise deploying fighter jets used to carry nuclear weapons. And Russia is expected to conduct its own nuclear drills sometime this month – as it typically does – in reaction to Nato’s exercises. While...
Weaponisation of drones by Islamic militias, rebel groups in Africa sparks global sense of urgency to tame it
Drones have for some time been used by regular armed forces on Africa’s battlefields, such as in Ethiopia and Mali. But now they’re increasingly being deployed by terrorists – sparking a global sense of urgency. At the end of October, the United Nations (UN) Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee will host...
How UK accidentally met its R&D target, spent $18 billion annually above threshold over the past five years
The UK government has unexpectedly met its research and development spending target – an achievement revealed by changes in how industrial investment is calculated. The adjustments were announced on September 29 in a briefing note from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), a non-ministerial government body. They show that...
UN’s FAO places Peru at the top of countries in South America with acute food insecurity
Rising prices, government mismanagement, dietary habits and an over-reliance on imported food staples and fertiliser have left half of Peruvians struggling to feed themselves, the Food and Agriculture Organization has warned. A recent report by the UN agency put the Andean country in top position in South America in terms...
East Ukraine residents wary of ruthless attacks Russian during freezing winter temperatures
Much of the aid in east Ukraine is being provided to people who remain in recently liberated areas is distributed by a decentralised network of volunteers and ad hoc aid groups. The groups – such as Volonter68 – started by husband and wife Serhiy and Galina Kharlamova, aged 52 and...
