Lightspring/Shutterstock The World Health Organization (WHO) has added another coronavirus variant to its list to monitor. It’s called the mu variant and has been designated a variant of interest (VOI). What this means is that mu has genetic differences to the other known variants and is causing infections in multipleContinue Reading
Nightclubs in Scotland will require vaccine certification for entry soon. Piotr Piatrouski/Shutterstock The benefits of a certification scheme, in terms of a public health intervention, in terms of incentivising vaccination, those benefits outweigh the concerns that still remain. Humza Yousaf MSP September 2 2021 Those were the words of theContinue Reading
COVID-19 in the classroom: how to go back to school safely. Halfpoint/Shutterstock As many children head back to school, we look at what really works to help stop COVID-19 transmission in the classroom in this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast. And we hear about new research into what’s happeningContinue Reading
estherpoon/Shutterstock As soon as the UK’s vaccination strategy started proving successful earlier this year, arguments in favour of sharing excess COVID-19 vaccines with other countries began to appear. Yet over six months later, barely any vaccines have been sent overseas from Britain, despite it having ordered over half a billionContinue Reading
During the pandemic, the pejorative term “snake-oil salesman” has been bandied about a lot. It’s been used, perhaps with a tinge of 1980s nostalgia, to describe convicted fraudster and serial opportunist Jim Bakker, whose colloidal Silver Solution required only some deft rebranding to become a specific curative for COVID-19. ForContinue Reading
'I can't hear what anyone is saying.' Christian Langballe/Unsplash, CC BY-SA The number of people living with dementia is projected to treble from 50 to 150 million worldwide by 2050. Although there’s currently no cure for the condition, researchers are continuing to learn about how people can reduce their riskContinue Reading
SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, has turned the world upside down. Experts have predicted that it will claim the lives of between 9-18 million worldwide. This is in addition to destroying the livelihoods, mental health and education of countless others. The pandemic will probably wreak havoc for many yearsContinue Reading
As vaccine uptake starts to wane, stories have began to emerge of people who refused the jab ending up in intensive care, ruing not having had the vaccine, and subsequently dying. These cautionary tales are certainly attention-grabbing, but is it right to publish or broadcast them? If human morality dependedContinue Reading
Golden years. tetiana_u/ Shutterstock As anyone who has ever lived with a dog will know, it often feels like we don’t get enough time with our furry friends. Most dogs only live around ten to 14 years on average – though some may naturally live longer, while others may beContinue Reading
How well do vaccines protect against the new variants of the coronavirus? This is a question we – a group of scientists and doctors in Nottingham – set about answering earlier this year, having collected blood samples from a number of nurses and doctors throughout the pandemic. We started takingContinue Reading
