5 h. ago ‘When the forests burn, the sickness comes’: how protecting trees shields millions from disease

Preserving the Amazonian rainforest keeps communities safe from the health risks of wildfires and deforestation, research has foundFor Bolivian park ranger Marcos Uzquiano, the fallout from wildfires in the Amazon goes far beyond the damage they do to wildlife and biodiversity. “It’s devastating – it undermines all the functions and benefits that forests provide to Indigenous communities. They affect the air we breathe and cause respiratory infections, eye irritation and throat inflammation,” he says.Uzquiano’s experience at Beni Biosphere Reserve is reflected in new research which suggests that preserving Amazonian forests helps to protect millions from disease. Analysing 20 years of data on 27 diseases – including malaria, Chagas disease and hantavirus – researchers found that municipalities in the Amazon biome near healthy forests on Indigenous lands across eight countries faced a lower risk of disease. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago A simple blood test could make early Alzheimer’s detection faster and cheaper, researchers say

Millions of Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease. The number of cases is expected to nearly double in the next 25 years

Events

5 d. ago Almost half of those with diabetes don’t know they have it. Are you one of them?

Diabetes affects 38.4 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Politics

6 d. ago Need I list all the reasons why Trump shouldn’t get a Nobel peace prize? | Sidney Blumenthal

Trump has been an enabler of war, famine, disease and deathDonald Trump’s thuggish campaign to bully his way to the Nobel peace prize should not be the cause for the committee to reject him. There are many more substantial grounds that render him patently unqualified to receive the award.Among the numerous reasons that make him one of the least deserving people in the world who should be honored, he has single-handedly destroyed the United States Agency for International Development, which has saved hundreds of millions of people from hunger and disease, and promoted democracy and the rule of law around the world. In an executive order issued on his inauguration day, 20 January, Trump slandered USAID as “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and claimed that its workers “serve to destabilize world peace”.Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume p...

Politics

8 d. ago Cancer warning as NHS says 14 million women at risk of 'hard to diagnose' disease

Women, especially those over the age of 50, should look out for the signs of this cancer.

Events

2 w. ago It's the symptomless 'silent killer' condition that affects more than 7.2million Britons and leads to more deaths than breast and prostate cancer combined

It has been described by experts as a slow-moving tidal wave threatening to engulf the NHS. At least one million are thought to be living with the disease without knowing it.

Events

2 w. ago Someone will be diagnosed with cancer every two minutes in the UK by 2040, report shows

Around 6.3 million new cases of the disease are predicted to be diagnosed over the next 15 years

Science

3 w. ago Man cured of deadly disease suffered by millions of Americans in first

A 42-year-old man living in Sweden was diagnosed with a potentially deadly condition at just five years old. But a pioneering, first-of-its-kind procedure has cured him after just three months.

Events

4 w. ago Charity rowers MP mistook for migrants complete first leg of journey

Row4MND is aiming to raise £57 million for research into motor neurone disease with a series of four epic rows over four years.

Events