What is motor neuron disease and why is it so deadly?
By Paul Panckhurst New Zealand has one of the world’s worst rates of a fatal brain disease. Now, scientists hunting rogue genes hope to unravel the 150-year-old mystery of what triggers the disease and how to find a cure. Motor neuron disease is absurdly cruel and...
How can syndemics help us understand disease better?
By Judith Littleton, Heather Battles & Evelyn Marsters How is it that an infection can be worse or different depending on whether someone has another disease? Why does it matter where someone lives? Why does history make disease progression different in different...
Why are COVID-19 infection rates so different across countries?
By Philip Hill One of the interesting features of the COVID-19 pandemic is the different incidence rates of the disease and the different mortality percentages, across countries. There are several possible reasons for this. Firstly, the capacity and policies around...
What is a virus? How do they spread? How do they make us sick?
By Lotti Tajouri Viruses are the most common biological entities on Earth. Experts estimate there are around 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 of them, and if they were all lined up they would stretch from one side of the galaxy to the other. You can think of...
How did coronavirus spread across the world?
By Beth Linas The virus apparently emerged in Wuhan, China. How does a virus that starts in one place spread around the world? The short answer is that we live in a global economy that includes frequent domestic and international travel, and viruses often hitch rides...
Should we be alarmed about the spread of COVID-19? 🔊
Global alarm is increasing around the growing spread of COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus. How did it begin? How dangerous is it? What needs to be done now to protect public health? Maria Armoudian speaks with Paul R. Hunter. Paul R. Hunter is a Professor of...
Misinfodemic: How serious is the new coronavirus pandemic?
By Helen Petousis-Harris How serious is the new coronavirus pandemic? Are we set for a global pandemic? Helen Petousis-Harris investigates. Just over a month ago the emergence of a previously unseen disease-causing virus was announced. It is officially called 2019...
What is coronavirus and how can we stop it spreading? 🔊
China is experiencing an outbreak of coronavirus which has so far killed seventeen people and infected a further four hundred and forty. The outbreak began in the city of Wuhan, with most of those infected having visited a fish market. Despite authorities initially...
Q+A: Does food advertising push up obesity rates?
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of obesity in the world – but how much does advertising have to do with it? Jim Mann is calling for greater government regulations around how food is advertised, especially to children. Lachlan Balfour spoke with Mann...Subscribe by Email
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