Perhaps because we all need sleep, we have an enduring interest in sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, which causes a constant irrepressible need for sleep.
What would you do if a zombie apocalypse occurred? I recommend going to the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) zombie website for information. It is incredible (see it here). While the zombie website…
Australia’s in the middle of the annual flu season and once again, it’s claimed to the worst on record. But why is it that every season seems to outdo previous ones and how bad is this year, really?
More than 8,000 people have died from Ebola in West Africa since February 2014 and it has spread beyond the three countries initially affected. So, it’s an epidemic, right? Or is it an outbreak? What about…
The Conversation organised a public question-and-answer session on Reddit in which Anders Sandberg and Andrew Snyder-Beattie, researchers at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, explored…
Last October, scientists in California sequenced the DNA for the “type H” botulinum toxin. One gram of this toxin would be sufficient to kill half a billion people, making it the deadliest substance yet…
It’s ten years since SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) upset our complacency about infectious diseases and now we are faced by another “new” disease. H7N9 bird flu is currently spreading through…
Aeron Hurt, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza
The United Nations Food and Agricultute Organisation is warning authorities to be on high alert after a mutant strain of bird flu was found to be spreading across Asia. While bird flu hasn’t traditionally…