25 May 2022
Plague may seem like an ancient disease, but the bacterium that causes it persists in rodents and fleas around the world. Researchers are warning that it could resurface in a form that our antibiotics can't treat and cause another pandemic
25 May 2022
The history books say the infamous plague pandemic of the 14th century killed at least half of the population of Europe. But recent scientific investigations have called that figure into question
16 February 2022
Bacteria and viruses can survive for millions of years frozen in glaciers, ice sheets and permafrost and as global warming increases they are emerging. Here's what we know about the threat
3 March 2021
From habitat degradation to squalid animal treatment, our part in allowing “zoonotic” diseases like covid-19 to leap into humans is becoming ever clearer
25 November 2020
The coronavirus pandemic is still raging, but the clock is ticking towards the next big virus threat – can we track it down before it makes the leap from animals to humans?
21 October 2020
Baffling statistics and their impact on our emotions can make it hard to evaluate risk in this pandemic. But there are simple steps you can take to put risk in context and feel more confident in your decisions
29 April 2020
Four coronaviruses cause around a quarter of all common colds, but each was probably deadly when it first made the leap to humans. We can learn a lot from what happened next
2 January 2018
100 years ago, a global flu pandemic claimed the lives of up to 5 per cent of humanity. It’s not the only time the virus has taken on a new, far deadlier form
2 January 2018
At least two flu strains are only a few mutations away from developing deadly human-to-human transmission. So how do we minimise the impact?
2 January 2018
This year’s flu jab is working, but not working well – throwing a spotlight on the commercial and other factors that prevent us developing something better
