The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine aims to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice.
The School’s multidisciplinary expertise includes clinicians, epidemiologists, statisticians, social scientists, molecular biologists and immunologists. They work with partners worldwide to support the development of teaching and research capacity, and their alumni work in more than 180 countries.
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
For most people, a chocolate today is better than one tomorrow. Economists refer to this as “future discounting”, where we prefer to have nice things now rather than wait and unpleasant things later rather…
British sexual attitudes have come a long way from the prudish caricature but despite people losing their virginity earlier and the number of older people who are sexually active increasing, we’re having…
Kate Mandeville, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
When new health threats emerge, the media is often accused of hyping up the risk to the public. But we tend to believe that health experts provide rational, independent viewpoints on the real risks posed…
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
The rain is ricocheting off the roads here in Manila. Early on Friday, our car’s tyres dragged in the deep puddles. Basketball courts - remnants of bygone American rule, and a staple of every district…
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Newspapers recently reported that a mathematician has created an equation for the perfect pizza. It does not take much to spot that this was not exactly serious research. Not only was the study commissioned…
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
When people talk about ‘big data’, there is an oft-quoted example: a proposed public health tool called Google Flu Trends. It has become something of a pin-up for the big data movement, but it might not…
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
It’s autumn, and a new batch of students are starting university. Some are walking through the ancient gates of an Oxbridge college. Others are joining a redbrick university like Manchester or Bristol…
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Familiar everyday odours such as coffee and red wine are produced by a blend of different substances. Given that we know aroma is nothing but a mix of volatile chemicals, can we understand them enough…
Val Curtis, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
If you read about the record-breaking “fatberg” lurking under Kingston recently and reacted the same way as me - “Oh my God - a gob of fat in the London sewers as big as a bus - that’s disgusting!” - you’ll…
Lucy Tusting, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
As a young civil engineer in the 1950s, my grandfather was posted to Khartoum in the Sudan, tasked with helping to build a new water supply, drains and sewers for the city. Over the years, this system…
Debbie Nolder, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Parasites are fascinating. They are uniquely adapted to survive, in some cases through very complex life cycles. There’s also research to suggest that some may even change the behaviour of hosts to assist…
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
When we go to the cinema, we expect certain things of big-screen scientists. Most of us will get annoyed if a film gets its basic facts wrong, for example. Directors are aware of this, so generally try…
Several vaccines for malaria have been developed over the past few decades, but none offer complete protection. Now, for the first time, US researchers have developed a vaccine that protects 100% of those…
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
In a recently held poll, the Medical Research Council asked two questions. First, what medical advance from the past century has had the greatest impact? Responses ranged from MRI scanners and genome sequencing…
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
What do you get a mathematician for their birthday? Well, if it’s a big one – like a 100th – you could throw a conference in their honour. That’s what happened earlier this month, when mathematicians gathered…
The NHS is heading towards a £30 billion deficit within seven years if we’re to believe David Nicholson, Chief Executive of the NHS in England. We have had no figures or discussion about how this deficit…
Heidi Larson, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Recent rubella outbreaks in Japan and Poland are the clearest evidence possible that herd immunity matters. There are many reasons why people don’t get vaccinated for totally preventable diseases such…
Adam Kucharski, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Our population as a whole is getting older. The average human lifespan has doubled in the past one hundred years, prompting claims that 60 is the new 40 and 50 the new 20. But decade relabelling aside…
Jo Adetunji, The Conversation and Emily Lindsay Brown, The Conversation
A third of women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a partner, according to the first comprehensive research of its kind. The report, published today by the London School…
About half of the world’s population are at risk of contracting malaria. In 2011, there were 26m reported cases and more than 100,000 deaths. Children are especially vulnerable though the disease is both…
Associate Professor, Environment and Health (MRCG@LSHTM); Senior Lecturer (Ecological Health, Imperial College London), London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Professor of Climate Change, Food Systems and Health in the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine