Invasive species and diseases pose a major threat to agriculture – particularly in the countries that can least afford it.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Disease – Analysis and Comment
It took a computer to discover the potential threat of a drug-resistant strain of swine flu that was about to spread from New South Wales. So how close did we come to a global pandemic?
Millions of people die or suffer from infectious diseases each year. Computer modelling can now help simulate the impact of any spreading disease.
The rhetoric of racial purity is full of suggestive terms like illness, weakening and dilution. These imply the medicalisation of the nation.
The world looks to the WHO for all health-related matters – but it is only part of the picture.
Bats can carry some of the deadliest diseases known to affect humans and yet they don’t seem to get sick. So what can we learn from a bat’s immune system?
The collapse of Syria’s health system is helping spread leishmaniasis but not in the way some media outlets have reported.
The word “virus” strikes terror into the hearts of most people. But most viruses are actually vital to our very existence.
Research has shown that culling koalas could help stop the spread of deadly chlamydia. But how open will Australians be to killing one our favourite animals?
A Scottish nurse who was “cured” from Ebola is now back in serious condition after the virus appeared to have re-emerged.
What if you could take a simple test to reveal your individual risk of developing a range of cancers and hundreds of other diseases?
More than 1.5 million people die of tuberculosis across the world every year. Although testing and screening has improved and more drugs are available, it is not enough to conquer the scourge.
People living in close proximity to animals infected with Bovine TB are at a risk of contracting the disease through drinking their milk and eating their meat.
Awareness efforts can focus public attention and help scientists raise funds for research. But the impact on eradicating the disease itself and helping patients today is much less clear.
Tony Abbott is spending this week in North-East Arnhem Land, part of his long-held hope “to be not just the Prime Minister but the Prime Minister for Aboriginal Affairs”. We asked our experts: what stories…
Trillions of microbes live in and on our body. We don’t yet fully understand how these microbial ecosystems develop or the full extent to which they influence our health. Some provide essential nutrients…
Ashwellthorpe Lower Wood in Norfolk, England has been managed by coppicing, an ancient form of forestry, for more than a thousand years. It was recorded as coppiced woodland in the Domesday Book published…
A recent MIT study claims that total combustion emissions in the US account for about 200,000 premature deaths per year. This enormous figure is not unique. In the UK, roughly 29,000 premature deaths are…
Bodily waste can be an embarrassing subject, but one that most of us can avoid thanks to efficient toilets and sewers. Nevertheless, this embarrassment may be holding back improvements in sanitation where…
Several individuals have required medical attention after a mystery disease appeared to spread to humans from fish in waters near Gladstone, Queensland. Fishing bans are currently in place and local residents…