We’re not out of the woods yet, Covid vaccine makers warn as world braces for variants worse than Delta
Companies are updating vaccines and testing them on people to prepare for whatever comes next in the pandemic. Pfizer’s chief executive, Albert Bourla, made a bold promise in June. Standing next to US President Joe Biden at a press conference in St Ives, UK, just before the G7 summit meeting,...
Surgeons successfully transplant pig kidney to human as pig-to-human organ switch come a step closer
Scientists temporarily attached a pig’s kidney to a human body and watched it begin to work, a small step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants. Pigs have been the most recent research focus to address the organ shortage, but among the hurdles: A...
Super food: Offer a sick bee different variety of honey, it’ll choose one that best fights off its infection
It should come as no surprise that bees know a lot about honey. They aren’t only honey producers, they are also consumers, and pretty sophisticated ones at that. Offer a sick bee different variety of honey, for example, and it will choose the one that best fights off its infection....
Ruthless South African ‘construction mafia’ kill for 30 per cent commission on tenders
With elections a week away, attacks on ward councillors are bad for democracy and reflect the country’s organised crime problem. A growing extortion ‘mafia’ is sweeping across South Africa, crippling construction and small businesses with threats and bribes, and more recently killing political ward councillors if demands aren’t met. These...
Myanmar’s hidden hunger: We’re just eating whatever is available
Khin, a 59-year-old rice farmer, faced a distressing choice at the height of Myanmar’s monsoon season three months ago: sell a cow, a prized asset for agricultural households, or go hungry. She sold the animal for half its value. The proceeds went to buy food for her family and inputs...
Studies confirm mix-and-match Covid vaccines generate more potent body immunity responses
Combining two different Covid-19 vaccines provides protection on par with that of mRNA vaccines – including protection against the Delta variant. Study after study has shown that people who receive two different Covid-19 vaccines generate potent immune responses, with side effects no worse than those caused by standard regimens. But...
Refugees: How Ukrainian war has destroyed our plans, our future; living a quiet life on pension is pointless
For children Ukraine know just one thing: war. Not a day goes without the rumbling of bombs, gunfire and the inevitable outcome: bloodshed and death. Love and peace are remote to the point of sounding unreal. Earlier this year, Veronika and half a dozen other children spoke to photojournalist Jakub...
Children in Ukraine’s conflict regions live with wounds and need support to address emotional trauma’
On the frontline of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, nearly half a million children are living childhoods defined by war. “I see that war made people here negative, abusive, and violent,” says 12-year-old Veronika. “That used to be just an adult thing, but children are now like that too here.”...
Facebook brand crisis: New name might give the company a facelift, but that doesn’t book a rebrand
When Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, in 2004, it was a mere directory of students at Harvard: The Face Book. Two decades, 90 acquisitions and billions of dollars later, Facebook has become a household name. Now it wants a new one. Zuckerberg is expected to announce a new name for the...
How ivory trading to finance civil wars led to evolution of tuskless herds of elephants in Africa
African elephants have evolved towards tusklessness in an area where they were intensively hunted for ivory, finds a study of elephants’ traits and genetics in Mozambique. The results, published on October 21, in Science, could have implications for the recovery of elephant populations in the country. Ivory trading was used...
