James Brunton Badenoch, Queen Mary University of London Monkeypox’s effect on the skin – the disfiguring rashes – and the flu-like symptoms have been well described, but few have investigated the neurological and psychiatric problems the virus might cause. There are historic reports of neurological complications in people infected with the related smallpox virus and in people vaccinated against smallpox, …

Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham An old dispute over a decision by the government of Kosovo in September 2021 to enforce the use of Kosovo-issued licence plates for Serbs in the northern municipalities – rather than allowing them to continue to use plates issued by the Serbian government in Belgrade – has flared up again and threatens to escalate into …

DNA testing is becoming more popular. Shutterstock Turi King, University of Leicester A law passed on April 1 2005 will have life-changing consequences for families across the UK from next year. Anyone conceived from a donated sperm, egg or embryo from that day onward can find out the identity of their donor parents once they reach adulthood. This means that …

Photo Oz/Shutterstock Matthew Ryan, King’s College London Every year, 60,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with heart failure, and many are treated with stents. In a large new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, my colleagues and I discovered that these procedures are unnecessary. Heart failure is where the heart muscle becomes weakened, leading to symptoms …

Unsplash/CDC Paul Griffin, The University of Queensland Regulators in Australia and the United States last week approved Omicron-specific boosters, following approval in the United Kingdom in mid-August. In Australia, a Moderna Omicron booster has been provisionally approved for use in adults aged 18 and over. Supplies are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, however the Australian Technical Advisory Group …

As the most water-scarce region on the planet, the Middle East is particularly reliant on desalination technology. Maxim Petrichuk/Shutterstock Kiran Tota-Maharaj, Aston University Clean freshwater is critical for sustaining human life. However, 1.1 billion people lack access to it worldwide. Desalination represents an increasingly popular way of addressing this. Desalination is the process of extracting salt from saline water to …

«لانجيا» فيروس مرتبط بفيروسَي «نيباه» و«هيندرا»، ولكنه لا ينتشر بسهولةٍ بين البشر. بقلم: سمريتي مالاباتي                                                      يشير العلماء إلى أنّ بعض أنواع «الزبابات» قد تكون حاملةً لفيروس لانجيا               …

One of thousands of young boys forced to work Ghana’s fishing industry, often given to fishermen by their impoverished families. Tugela Ridley/ EPA Stephen Collins, University of the West of Scotland An estimated 40.3 million people around the world are trapped in slavery. One in four victims are children, with women and girls affected most. Modern slavery occurs when people …

Ben Clarke, University of Oxford; Friederike Otto, Imperial College London, and Luke Harrington, University of Waikato Pakistan is experiencing the most devastating and widespread floods in its history, with the country’s climate minister saying waters have reached across a third of the nation. The growing tally of impacts is dire. More than 1,100 people have been killed, a million homes …