Measles isn’t just dangerous – it may erase your immune system: INSAGO/Shutterstock Blindness, pneumonia, severe diarrhoea and even death – measles virus infections, especially in children, can have devastating consequences. Fortunately, we have a safe and effective defence. Measles vaccines are estimated to have averted more than 60 million deaths between 2000 and 2023. Yet …
Why flattering Donald Trump could be dangerous: This article was first published in The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email newsletter. Sign up to receive weekly analysis of the latest developments in international relations, direct to your inbox. Once again Donald Trump and his senior team are unhappy with their press coverage. Here’s the US …
Why are India and Pakistan on the brink of war and how dangerous is the situation? An expert explains: India has launched military strikes against a number of sites in Pakistan and Pakistan’s side of the disputed region of Kashmir, reportedly killing at least 31 people and injuring dozens more. India claimed the attacks were …
African women at higher risk of pre-eclampsia – a dangerous pregnancy complication: Pre-eclampsia is a danger to pregnant women. It’s a complication characterised by high blood pressure and organ damage, arising during the second half of pregnancy, in labour or in the first week after delivery. It plays a major role in about 16% of …
‘There has never been a more dangerous time to take drugs’: the rising global threat of nitazenes and synthetic opioids: US Drug Enforcement Administration images accompanying a warning about the emergence of nitazenes in Washington DC, June 2022 USDEA In the early hours of September 14 2021, three men parked in a quiet car park …
Giorgia Meloni’s government is watering down Italy’s anti-mafia laws – four dangerous examples: Author Alison Jamieson once described the fight against organised crime in Italy as the “mafia-antimafia seesaw”. There have been plenty of ups and downs in this long history. And yet, at the moment, it looks as though the seesaw is weighted on …
Aluminium foil that can clean water: we’ve developed a coating which attracts and traps dangerous microbes: John Fredricks/NurPhoto More than 2 billion people around the world do not have access to safe, uncontaminated drinking water. Around 418 million of them live in African countries. The problem is most acute in rural communities, where people’s primary …
Russia-Ukraine war spills into west Africa: Mali attacks signal dangerous times ahead: Russia suffered significant blows to its reputation in mid-2024. An attack on its territory by Ukraine came as a surprise. In west Africa, the Wagner mercenary group, supported by Russia, suffered one of its heaviest fatalities in Mali. An alliance of Tuareg rebel …
Sex and alcohol in Nigeria: marketing tactics send dangerous messages to young drinkers: Nigeria has a high rate of heavy drinking among young people. One study found that 55.8% of teenagers between 15 and 19 years old had engaged in binge drinking in the past month. The World Health Organization has shown that strictly limiting …
Why wildfires are getting more dangerous: After more than a year of record-breaking heat, the peak of fire season is approaching across vast swathes of our green planet. Lots of ecosystems have evolved to withstand regular fires and some are even nourished by it – there are, for example, plants that need flames to help …
Chad hepatitis E outbreak: how the dangerous liver disease spreads and how it can be treated: The World Health Organization recently announced an outbreak of hepatitis E in the eastern Ouaddai province of Chad. Between January and April 2024, 2,093 suspected hepatitis E cases were reported from two health districts. The Conversation Africa asked Kolawole …
Storm Babet caused dangerous floods as the ‘dry side’ of Scotland isn’t used to such torrential rain: Storm Babet has caused havoc across the UK, with strong winds and rough seas along the east coast, record breaking rainfall and river levels in Scotland, overtopped flood defences, closed roads and railways and sadly at least two …
The Exorcist Believer: a real priest on why the film is ‘potentially dangerous’: Warning: this review contains some spoilers for The Exorcist: Believer. Nobody who watches The Exorcist: Believer could claim that they didn’t get what they expected when they bought their ticket. Two children experiment with the occult and inadvertently open the door to …
Russian and North Korea artillery deal paves the way for dangerous cyberwar alliance: Russia is currently firing some 14 million shells a year in Ukraine. They are only manufacturing 2 million. The Ukrainians, on the other hand, are firing around 2.5 million shells a year, but are also struggling to source them. A deal between …
Greece’s record rainfall and flash floods are part of a trend – across the Mediterranean, the weather is becoming more dangerous: Recent images of the devastating flash floods caused by Storm Daniel in Greece hit close to home literally and figuratively. As a Greek who has completed a PhD and worked for the past eight …
Ethiopia’s Amhara people are being portrayed as the enemy: the dangerous history of ethnic politics: The Ethiopian government declared a state of emergency on 4 August 2023 and sent the military into the Amhara region to engage the Fano, a local armed militia. Some suggested that Ethiopia risked slipping into another civil war. It is …
The personal details of Northern Ireland’s main police force have been leaked – three reasons why that’s incredibly dangerous: Shutterstock/Damien Storan Data breaches are not a good look for any institution or organisation. But depending on the nature of the data leaked and the organisation, some breaches can be more serious and have greater consequences …
The oil industry has succumbed to a dangerous new climate denialism: Opec predicts oil demand will be 10% higher by the 2040s. Iurii If we have not been warned of the dangers of climate change this summer, we never will be. Extreme heat, forest fires and floods have been all over news reports. Yet the …