Miracle Cure ? A Decade of the Human Genome – BBC Documentary
Miracle Cure? A Decade of the Human Genome Horizon, 2010-2011 Episode 5 of 15 A decade ago, scientists announced that they had produced the first draft of the human genome, […]
Should we wipe mosquitoes off the face of the Earth?
Source: The Guardian By Archie Bland Even before the Zika virus, mosquitoes were the deadliest creatures on the planet. But gene modification means these blood suckers’ days might be numbered. […]
Richard Dawkins – Enemies of Reason – Slaves to Superstition
The Enemies of Reason is a two-part television documentary, written and presented by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, in which he seeks to expose “those areas of belief that exist without […]
Loneliness grows from individual ache to public health hazard
The Washington Post: by Amy Ellis Nutt — It torments the young and terrorizes the old. It carved “caverns” in Emily Dickinson’s soul and left William Blake “bereaved of light.” Loneliness, long a bane of humanity, is increasingly seen today as a serious public health hazard. Scientists who have identified […]
Dogma Before Reason: Catholic Church, Zika Virus and Abortion
Epigraph: All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and […]
How Brazil Uncovered the Possible Connection Between Zika and Microcephaly
Source: Time The Zika outbreak almost certainly began in the Brazilian city of Recife, where doctors figured out what was happening to pregnant women It’s a Sunday in the Brazilian […]
Zika Virus Isn’t The First Disease To Spark A Debate About Abortion
Source: NPR There is a joke circulating in San Salvador these days: “Instead of using a condom, use a mosquito net! That should at least keep the mosquitoes from biting […]
WHO declares Zika virus a global emergency
Zika-linked condition: WHO declares global emergency Source: BBC A disease linked to the Zika virus in Latin America poses a global public health emergency requiring a united response, says the […]
The country that supplies eyes
Source: BBC To restore sight to damaged eyes, doctors often need to transplant the cornea – the transparent covering of the iris and the pupil – from a donor’s dead […]
UK scientists win permission to genetically modify human embryos for the first time
Scientists get ‘gene editing’ go-ahead Source: BBC By James Gallagher, Health editor UK scientists have been given the go-ahead by the fertility regulator to genetically modify human embryos. The research will […]
Tumours reveal novel genetic disruption in DNA
Source: Gulf News Scientists who scoured the DNA of brain tumours, searching gene by gene for bad actors, were puzzled. The cancers had none of the mutations in growth-causing genes […]
Report: Breast-feeding increase could save more than 800,000 lives annually
Epigraph: And We have enjoined on man concerning his parents — his mother bears him in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning takes two years — ‘Give thanks to Me […]
Zika virus ‘spreading explosively,’ WHO leader says
Source: CNN (CNN)The Zika virus is “is now spreading explosively” in the Americas, the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday, with another official estimating between 3 million to […]
Zika virus: Outbreak ‘likely to spread across Americas’ says WHO
Source: BBC The Zika virus is likely to spread across nearly all of the Americas, the World Health Organization has warned. The infection, which causes symptoms including mild fever, conjunctivitis […]
Cancer treatment for MS patients gives ‘remarkable’ results
Source: BBC UK doctors in Sheffield say patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are showing “remarkable” improvements after receiving a treatment usually used for cancer. About 20 patients have received bone […]
Diet debate: Are diet drinks a no-go?
Source: BBC It’s rare in life to have your cake and eat it. But are low-calorie sweeteners the guilt-free way to be naughty? Nobody is going to claim that regularly […]
The Tale of the Pakistani Taliban Father Whose Baby Had Polio
Source: Time Even though the Quetta attack showed the Taliban is still bent on disrupting Pakistan’s attempts to eradicate polio, a one-on-one encounter proves instructive There’s a special place in […]
Tea vs coffee which drink is better for you
Source: BBC George Orwell may have written that “tea is one of the mainstays of civilization in this country” – but even we British have to acknowledge that our national […]
How to Get Rid of Your Sweet Tooth
Source: Time We all like sweet things, but we should be eating less sugar. Now a study hints that it may be possible to tone down our taste for sugar […]
Why economists put health first
Jan 12,2016 – JORDAN TIMES – Project Syndicate In an ideal world, everyone, everywhere, would access the health services they need without having to pay more than they could afford. But is “health for all” — also known as universal health coverage — really possible, not just in rich countries, but […]