Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock Close to 40 million people in the UK have had two COVID vaccine doses. This gives Britain one of the highest rates of coverage in the world, with nearly 60% of the population fully vaccinated. And with vaccines soon to be rolled out to 16- and 17-year-olds,Continue Reading
Prostock-studio/Shutterstock Earlier in the pandemic, it appeared that the majority of people infected with the coronavirus experienced mild-to-moderate symptoms and generally recovered within two to three weeks, depending on the severity of their illness. However, as time has passed, it’s become clear that some people, regardless of the severity ofContinue Reading
Yuganov Konstantin/Shutterstock In many cases, vulnerability to COVID-19 exists because a person’s immune system is unable to mount a good response against the coronavirus. Such people are said to be immunocompromised. It’s possible that these people won’t respond as well to COVID-19 vaccines either. At the moment, though, we’re stillContinue Reading
Neil Lockhart/Shutterstock In 1895, on turning 50, Elie Metchnikoff became increasingly anxious about ageing. As a result, the Russian Nobel prize-winning scientist, and one of the founders of immunology, turned his attention away from immunology and towards gerontology – a term that he coined. He was fascinated by the roleContinue Reading
The UK government has announced that all 16 to 17-year-olds will be offered a first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks. Many countries are already vaccinating children over 12, so this decision is not out of step with what is going on elsewhere. Despite this, theContinue Reading
Real Moment/Shutterstock The recent suggestion that ministers may have to consider culling or vaccinating animals to prevent the coronavirus from picking up another dangerous mutation and jumping back to humans may sound like sudden panic, but it’s just part of a long debate among scientists. Evidence that cats could beContinue Reading
To be the best of the best, Olympians and Paralympians sometimes resort to using peculiar methods to achieve even the most minute gains in their fitness and performance. For example, things like ice baths and cupping are popular with elite athletes. More recently, many Olympians have been spotted wearing blackContinue Reading
Two badger incidents were reported within half an hour of each other in Crewkerne. One had fallen from a wall on to the roof of a garage and the other was out in the sun having tried to dig under a house but stopped by the foundations. Volunteer Graeme ThompsonContinue Reading
Exercise is important for maintaining muscle mass. Tom Wang/ Shutterstock We naturally lose muscle mass as we get older. This process starts around the age of 36, and by the time we are 80 we’ve lost about 50% of our muscle mass. Long periods of inactivity can also cause usContinue Reading
Hygiene was a significant part of the health measures to control the coronavirus at the start of the pandemic. But as evidence began to emerge of airborne spread, the focus switched to masks and, more recently, ventilation. Indeed, for some the focus has switched so sharply from surface transmission toContinue Reading
