Category Archives: Medicine

Environment, History, Journalism, Medicine

Time for some home truths about deforestation

TO prevent future pandemics, we must stop deforestation and end the illegal wildlife trade. Do you agree? Of course you do, because what’s not to like? The buck stops with the evil other. The question is, will doing those things solve the problem? And the answer is, probably not. They will help, but there’s another, potentially bigger problem closer to home: the global north’s use of natural resources, especially its reliance on livestock…

This article was first published in The Guardian on 21 December 2020. To continue reading, click here.

 

Journalism, Medicine

On the under-explored promise of the immune response in your nose

WHILE everyone celebrated this month’s news that not one but two experimental vaccines against Covid-19 have proved at least 90% effective at preventing disease in late-stage clinical trials, research into understanding how the Sars-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19, interacts with the human immune system never paused…

This story first appeared in The Observer on 22 October 2020. To continue reading, click here.

 

Evolution, Genetics, Journalism, Medicine

Arms and the virus

LETTING the virus that causes Covid-19 circulate more-or-less freely is dangerous not only because it risks overwhelming hospitals and so endangering lives unnecessarily, but also because it could delay the evolution of the virus to a more benign form and potentially even make it more lethal…

This article first appeared in The Guardian on 19 November 2020. To continue reading, click here.