A year ago, I wrote an article for The Conversation about a mysterious outbreak of pneumonia in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which transpired to be the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of writing, very little was known about the disease and the virus causing it, butContinue Reading
The pandemic is the UK’s worst ever health crisis and, tragically, its’s been getting worse and worse. A more infectious variant of the coronavirus together with insufficient restrictions in December 2020 have sent COVID-19 cases soaring. The National Health Service is teetering on the brink, with hospitals close to capacity,Continue Reading
Nurses have been putting themselves in harm’s way every day since the pandemic began. But as coronavirus spreads rapidly in the UK, it has become clear that those in intensive care units are now under more pressure than others. Hospitals are nearing capacity in many parts of the country, andContinue Reading
Jenner BloodProcessing The pandemic is only a year old, but we already have multiple vaccines available to fight COVID-19 – including the vaccine developed by the team we’re part of at the University of Oxford. With our partner AstraZeneca, we have submitted both interim efficacy data and safety data forContinue Reading
Sleep trackers use an algorithm to estimate how much time you spent asleep based on body movements. Andrey_Popov/ Shutterstock An estimated one in three people report regular sleep complaints. So it’s hardly surprising people are more concerned than ever about getting enough sleep. This blossoming interest has seen an explosionContinue Reading
Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem to the extent that there is a grave risk that common infections will soon become untreatable. Meanwhile, vaccines developed nearly a century ago still protect us from deadly diseases. What might explain this difference? Bacteria have evolved resistance to every antibiotic ever developed. SometimesContinue Reading
Millions of people across the world have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Countries are also now embarking on massive vaccination campaigns to control the virus and protect their most vulnerable citizens. One of the biggest questions remaining is whether vaccination and/or prior infection with SARS-CoV-2 offersContinue Reading
Bon appétit. alex74/ Shutterstock Fad diets certainly aren’t a 21st-century obsession. In fact, they were also a popular way for people throughout the 20th century to slim down and improve their health. Though much has changed since then – including what we know about dieting and weight loss – manyContinue Reading
It's thought that having a child specialise in a sport early will help them achieve elite levels of success. Master1305/ Shutterstock Given the profit top sportspeople can make from being successful, it’s no wonder significant time, research, and money continues to be invested in programmes that aim to identify andContinue Reading
SwitchedDesign/Shutterstock During the first peak of the coronavirus pandemic, it became apparent that the processing of the standard COVID-19 test using nasal swab samples, while considered a gold standard, was slow, taking over 24 hours to give results in most cases. As demand for quicker test results increased with suppliesContinue Reading
