Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization on Wednesday hailed “unprecedented progress” in the fight against 18 neglected tropical diseases — including dengue fever and sleeping sickness — which kill 170,000 people and disable millions each year. The UN’s health agency, pharmaceutical companies and civil society groups led …
Read More »RESEARCH: Study shows African ants rescue their wounded soldiers
Washington, United States | AFP | Africa’s Matabele ants, fierce predators of termites, rescue their wounded soldiers and bring them back to the nest where they are “treated,” a new study showed Wednesday. This helping behavior for the injured is the first to be detected in the insect world, according to …
Read More »Elephants are insomniacs, sleeping just 2 hours a night
Miami, United States | AFP | Elephants hardly ever sleep in the wild, getting around two hours of shut-eye per night and only in the wee hours of the morning, researchers said Wednesday. The findings in the journal PLOS ONE are based on two female wild African elephants — living …
Read More »First drug-resistant malaria parasite detected in Africa
Miami, United States | AFP | For the first time in Africa, researchers said Wednesday they have detected a malaria parasite that is partially resistant to the top anti-malaria drug, artemisinin, raising concern about efforts to fight a disease that sickens hundreds of millions of people each year. The discovery …
Read More »US blacks experience far more deaths in the family
Miami, United States | AFP | African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to lose two or more family members by age 30 — often their mother, father or a sibling — a factor that may contribute to poorer health over a lifetime, researchers said Monday. The study in the …
Read More »Baboons make vowel-like sounds, similar to humans
Paris, France | AFP | Baboons make sounds that are similar to the vowels a,e,i,o and u, researchers said Wednesday, suggesting that some monkeys have had the physical capacity for language for millions of years. The findings in the journal PLOS ONE add a new dimension to the long-running debate …
Read More »Study warns of world’s groundwater depletion by 2050
Washington, United States | AFP | Groundwater resources could be depleted in the next few decades in dry areas of the world where people use lots of water for drinking and irrigating crops, researchers said Thursday. The research was presented at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in …
Read More »Progress toward long-acting malaria pill
Miami, United States | AFP | Scientists have made progress toward a pill that lingers in the stomach and releases its contents over a span of two weeks, an advance that could boost the fight against malaria and other diseases, a study said Wednesday. The research, funded by the Bill …
Read More »West Nile virus can kill years after infection
Miami, United States | AFP | West Nile virus may be three times more deadly than previously thought, because many deaths associated with the mosquito-borne virus occur years after the initial infection, researchers said Monday. The findings were based on a study of 4,144 people in Texas, and were presented …
Read More »Heading the ball ‘affects memory’ – study
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Heading a football can significantly affect a player’s brain function and memory up to a day, a study by researchers at Scotland’s Stirling University has said. Memory performance was reduced by between 41 percent to 67 percent following heading practice, according to the research, …
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