By Adam Taylor, Professor of Anatomy, Lancaster University
Former tennis star Monica Seles has revealed she has been diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a rare autoimmune condition that affects how the muscles work. The multiple Grand Slam champion says she was actually diagnosed three years ago after experiencing trouble with her vision and weakness in her arms and legs.
It is estimated that myasthenia gravis…
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By Jonathan Livingstone-Banks, Lecturer & Senior Researcher in Evidence-Based Healthcare, University of Oxford
Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, Assistant Professor of Health Promotion and Policy, UMass Amherst
Cigarette filters were widely introduced in the 1950s, ostensibly to make smoking less harmful. With growing public concern about lung cancer and other smoking-related diseases, the tobacco industry responded not by making cigarettes safer, but by making them seem safer. Filters were the perfect innovation – not for health, but for public relations.
Over 70 years later, we know that filters don’t reduce harm. In fact, they may exacerbate some risks. By softening smoke and making it easier to inhale deeply, filters may actually raise the risk…
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By Will de Freitas, Environment + Energy Editor, The Conversation
I recently returned from visiting family in America and was struck by how hot I felt back home in London, despite the temperatures being lower. Partly, this was down to humidity: London is sticky in summer, while Utah, where my uncle lives, is very dry.
But it’s also down to the buildings. My brick house absorbs and retains heat while every building I went to in America was either well ventilated or had air conditioning blasting away.
That contrast got me thinking: as the UK warms, can it keep its homes and workplaces comfortable without relying solely on air-con?
…
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By Chris Smith, Course Director, History, Coventry University
The US vice-president recently said that all major wars end in negotiations. It’s a clue to how the US might approach ending the war in Ukraine.
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By Vhothusa Edward Matahela, Associate Professor: Health Sciences Education, University of South Africa
Azwihangwisi Helen Mavhandu-Mudzusi, Professor, University of South Africa
Young people in rural Limpopo, the South African province bordering Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, face high risks of HIV, unplanned pregnancy, and other societal challenges.
One reason is that they aren’t always getting sexuality education that connects with their lived realities. Schools provide lessons on reproduction,…
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By John Aerni-Flessner, Associate Professor of African History, Michigan State University
Few Basotho remain who witnessed colonial life. Even fewer went on to build institutions that shaped independent governance and education.
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By Jack Swab, Assistant Professor Department of Geography & Sustainability, University of Tennessee
Derek H. Alderman, Chancellor's Professor of Geography, University of Tennessee
The African Union has endorsed the #CorrectTheMap Campaign, a call for the United Nations and the wider global community to use a different kind of world map. The campaign currently has over 4,500 signatures.
The map most commonly used is called the Mercator projection. Map projections are how cartographers (map makers) “flatten” the three-dimensional…
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By Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Assistant Professor, Harvard University
When it comes to African literature, translation has mostly meant translating work from European languages into African ones. Translation from African languages into English has been long overdue.
Now it appears that a shift in the movement of stories across languages is underway. Works first written and published in African languages are increasingly…
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By Xin Li, Professor, Botany, University of British Columbia
Edan Jackson, PhD Student, Botany, University of British Columbia
Josh Li, Masters Student, Medicine, University of British Columbia
Challenging the long-standing assumption that a cell’s nucleus contains a complete set of chromosomes, recent research reveals that some fungi nuclei only contain half.
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By Avidan Kent, Professor of Law, University of East Anglia
Zana Syla, PhD Candidate in the School of Law, University of East Anglia
Small island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Maldives and Marshall Islands are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Rising seas, stronger storms, freshwater shortages and damaged infrastructure all threaten their ability to support life.
Some islands even face the grim possibility of being abandoned or sinking beneath the ocean. This raises…
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