Want to be forever young? ‘Biohackers’ hunt for technology that can stop aging
Last year, two self-described “biohackers” in Russia had themselves hooked up to blood collection machines that replaced approximately half of the plasma coursing through their veins with salty water. Three days later, the men tested their blood for hormones, fats and other indicators of general well-being. The procedure, it seemed,...
Is HIV/Aids vaccine in sight? Covid success provides scientists with a ‘wisp of hope’
When virologist José Esparza began working with the World Health Organization to combat the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, he and many of his colleagues were convinced that a vaccine would be the solution – and that it would come quickly. Their optimism rested on solid science: Researchers knew that...
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...
Employees top list of fraudsters in business in sub-Saharan Africa, research firm finds
The greatest threat to business in Sub-Sahara today is the employees, research findings released by international research and data firm SNG Thornton, show. Employees, who are often underpaid, overworked and undervalued are the fault-lines through which businesses and companies make losses in the form of money, data or squandered man-hours....
Historic or ongoing injustices? Rich nations have bought up nearly all Covid vaccines
It’s already understood that rich countries have bought up and administered most of the extant vaccine supply. This means that, once vaccine passports become available, the citizens of rich countries will be the first to benefit from the travel privileges they will confer. “This reflects historic and ongoing injustices,” says...
Covid: Fraud in US sky high as glitchy computer systems cave in to criminals
Throughout the Covid crisis, unemployment programmes have served as a lifeline, channelling more than $650 billion over the past year to millions of struggling households. But the state-run agencies that distribute the funds have been overwhelmed, making their harried staff as well as their glitchy computer systems easy prey for...
Volume of ‘junk science’ wreaking havoc on credibility of Chinese research – editors
In 2013, Science reported on a market for authorships on research papers in China. In 2017, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology said it would crack down on misconduct after a scandal in which 107 papers were retracted at the journal Tumor Biology. The peer reviews of the papers had...
Research-integrity sleuths warn Chinese scientists buy papers to boost careers
When Laura Fisher noticed striking similarities between research papers submitted to RSC Advances, she grew suspicious. None of the papers had authors or institutions in common, but their charts and titles looked alarmingly similar, says Fisher, the executive editor at the journal. “I was determined to try to get to...
Internet users in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria hit by malware in their devices
There is a common misconception that the most dangerous threats to encounter on modern users’ digital journeys are likely to appear during Internet surfing. The reality, however, based on the most recent analysis of cyberattacks in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria in 2020 by Kaspersky experts demonstrates that users are...
Microsoft on verge of secure and decentralised ID systems
For years, tech companies have touted blockchain technology as a means to develop identity systems that are secure and decentralised. The goal is to build a platform that could store information about official data without holding the actual documents or details themselves. Instead of just storing a scan of your...
