World’s oldest music tool: How early artistes modified conch shell into a ‘flute
Some 18,000 years ago, in a cave in what we now call France, a human being left behind something precious: a conch shell. It was not just any conch shell. Its tip had been lopped off – unlikely by accident, given that this is the strongest part of the shell...
Testing psychedelics and translating clinical research into actual therapy is tricky
The idea behind psychedelic therapy is that the receptive state that the drug confers opens the door to fresh ideas about how to think about the past and future, which the therapist can reinforce. “There is a growing evidence base to the principle that this is very much about a...
Regulators grapple with how to administer powerful psychedelics for depression
On a sunny day in London in 2015, Kirk Rutter rode the Tube to Hammersmith Hospital in hopes of finally putting an end to his depression. Rutter had lived with the condition off and on for years, but the burden had grown since the death of his mother in 2011,...
WHO mission revisits theory that coronavirus is spread through frozen meat
Momentum is growing for the suggestion that the coronavirus can spread from infected frozen wildlife. A World Health Organization (WHO) fact-finding mission in China did not rule out the idea that this mode of transmission contributed to early outbreaks of Covid-19 – although investigators say it is unlikely to have...
Covid control dilemma: Should we send the less-effective vaccine to Africa?
Yusuff Adebayo Adebisi knows that a vaccine that offers 70 per cent protection against Coovid-19 could be a valuable tool against the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria – especially if that vaccine is cheap and doesn’t have to be stored at extremely cold temperatures. But what if another vaccine — one...
World to wait longer to know if Pfizer vaccine is effective against Covid variants
An unpublished study by the Israel’s health ministry and Pfizer says the latter’s vaccine is around 93 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic covid-19. Pfizer and its partner, the German biotechnology firm BioNTech, had found 95 per cent effectiveness in their clinical trials carried out in 2020. Researchers are, in...
Leaked report shows Pfizer’s vaccine is conquering Covid in its largest real-world test
A leaked scientific report jointly prepared by Israel’s health ministry and Pfizer claims that the company’s covid-19 vaccine is stopping nine out of 10 infections and the country could approach herd immunity by next month. The study, based on the health records of hundreds of thousands of Israelis, finds that...
Kagame regime in eye of a storm as human rights body questions death of activist
Often cited as a paragon for countries emerging from bloody past of human rights violations, the killing of gospel singer and human rights activist Kizito Mihigo has restored the searchlight on President Paul Kagame government’s willingness and ability to break with the era of repression. Human Rights Watch, an international...
Nigeria still in the crosshairs of Boko Haram terror group – HRW
Armed militiamen in Nigeria have persist with terror campaign after they unleashed horror on civilians during which they abducted hundreds of schoolboys in the country’s north-western Niger State. Human Rights Watch, an international rights civil society, reports that the attackers, suspected to be related to the dreaded Al Qaeda-leaning Boko...
Helpless African frontline health workers die as rich countries stock up vaccines
On January 6, gastroenterologist Leolin Katsidzira received a troubling message from his colleague James Gita Hakim, a heart specialist and noted HIV/Aids researcher. Hakim, chair of the department of medicine at the University of Zimbabwe, had fallen sick and had tested positive for Covid-19. He was admitted to a hospital...
