Is British supermodel Naomi Campbell preparing to resettle in Kenya?
Away from the madding bigotry in what should be their native countries, Black people in diaspora are gradually but determinedly retracing their ancestors’ footsteps back to Africa. In the words of African-America film actress Mia Speight, there is a growing desire to live among people who look like them. Is...
Ukrainian women and children detained in Syria need consular support
Regional authorities in northeast Syria are unlawfully detaining an estimated 40 Ukrainian women and children in inhuman and degrading conditions in camps. Investigations by Human Rights Watch revealed that the women and children are among more than 43,000 foreigners that have been linked to the extremist armed group Islamic State...
Drink, drugs and disease: From sniffing to breathalysers to fix substance abuse
Until very recently, most of us hardly gave a second thought to breathing. As essential as it is for life and survival, we took it for granted, an act as natural as…well, breathing. Since the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world, however, we have all become more aware of our own...
Scientists grow monkey-human embryos, reignite ethical questions
Scientists have successfully grown monkey embryos containing human cells for the first time – the latest milestone in a rapidly advancing field that has drawn ethical questions. In the work, published on April 15 in Cell, the team injected monkey embryos with human stem cells and watched them develop. They...
India’s coronavirus explosion puts vaccine supplies at risk
India, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of vaccines, is facing a Covid-19 vaccine crunch, partly due to an explosion of cases linked to new variants. This spells trouble for many countries relying on Indian-made vaccines supplied through the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative for equitable access to vaccines. On...
Why US paused Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine use after blood clotting cases
Federal authorities on Tuesday recommended that states stop using Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine while an investigation is conducted into six serious cases of clotting problems – one of which was fatal – that were reported among women who received the vaccine. The blood clots are similar to those reported...
Needed: Global drive to set agenda for 2b people for ‘minimally adequate toilets’
Since the sixth century BC, when the Romans began building their Cloaca Maxima (Greatest Sewer), a safe sewage system has epitomised civilisation. More than two millennia later, one Victorian novelist called a good sewer “nobler” and “holier” than the most admired Madonna ever painted. For sound reasons: the construction of...
Science espionage: China in a corner as US ‘varsities tighten rules on research
The US government is converging on a long-awaited set of rules designed to protect American science from theft by foreign spies. A series of announcements this year describe steps that US universities and researchers must take when reporting foreign financing and collaborations to US science funders. But university groups say...
English is big and baggy, a good language of science, but precision is tough
English is the international language of science, for better or for worse, but most of the world’s scientists speak it as a second language. We shoulder an extra career challenge: not only must we gain command of our science, but we must also be able to write to professional standards...
Kenyan filmmakers, artistes pile pressure on president to relax rigid Covid protocols
Rendered helpless and idle by the recent rigid Covid-19 containment measures, stakeholders in Kenya’s entertainment and hospitality industries want the government through the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth to bail out artistes and film-makers who depend on them for a living. In a statement, Kisima Music and Film Awards,...
