Category: Health

Could blowing a conch shell help treat sleep apnoea? As a doctor working in sleep medicine, this unexpected news story certainly grabbed my attention. My first reaction was scepticism – sleep specialists don’t typically prescribe natural objects found on beaches as medical therapy. But perhaps I was too hasty to dismiss the idea. For those […]

Alzheimer’s disease steals memories and devastates lives. Yet despite an abundance of research, the earliest brain changes that trigger this disease still remain unclear, making it challenging to find effective treatments. But could lithium – a metal most of us know better for its use in batteries or as a treatment for mood disorders – […]

Around 25% of hay fever sufferers in the UK are allergic to birch tree pollen. This means that for a good chunk of the population, the arrival of spring and summer means sneezing, itchy eyes, blocked sinuses and days spent indoors avoiding pollen. But the recent approval of a new drug could mean relief from […]

Khartoum/Juba — Cholera, a potentially deadly intestinal infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, is surging across Sudan and South Sudan, driven by ongoing conflict, displacement, and the collapse of essential public health infrastructure. Health experts warn that the outbreak, while preventable and treatable, is escalating rapidly due to limited access to clean water, sanitation, […]

New research from NIH reveals the brain keeps a strong memory of lost limbs, challenging long-held beliefs about how it rewires itself. In a groundbreaking study, scientists from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and University College London discovered that even after someone loses an arm, the brain still acts as if the limb is […]

Corporal punishment refers most frequently to hitting children but can refer to any punishments inflicted by parents, caregivers or teachers which are intended to cause some degree of discomfort. It can happen in the home or in more public settings like the school classroom.   But wherever it happens, this sort of punishment has wide-ranging […]

Botox is the most common non-surgical procedure performed globally – with nearly 9 million procedures estimated to take place each year. In the UK alone, around 900,000 Botox injections are carried out each year. But with a the growing popularity of this procedure comes an increase in risks and unwanted outcomes. The UK Health Security […]

Cambridge, MA — August 20, 2025Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed two promising new antibiotics using generative artificial intelligence (AI), offering fresh hope in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance. The compounds—designed to combat drug-resistant strains of gonorrhoea and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)—represent a breakthrough in AI-driven drug discovery. 🔍 A […]

Plastic is one of the most remarkable materials ever created. It’s cheap, lightweight and endlessly versatile. It can be shaped into anything from shopping bags to lifesaving tools in hospitals, and it’s clean, safe and can be sterilised. Depending on its purpose, it can be used just once – for example, in medical settings where […]

19 August 2025 World Humanitarian Day (WHD), established after the 2003 Canal Hotel bombing in Iraq, honours the courage of humanitarian workers who risk their lives to save others. This year, in the region where WHD began, the Eastern Mediterranean faces some of its darkest humanitarian crises. Humanitarian needs have never been greater, yet funding […]