24 articles from SATURDAY 9.10.2021

‘Lies and trauma’: donor-conceived adults are still haunted by their origins

Australia’s fertility industry has undergone seismic shifts in practice, but for those born before these changes, past mistakes feel firmly in the presentGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingBrendan Ritter, 22, recently discovered he was donor conceived.When he was told, his first feelings were for his mother: “I felt the weight of her emotion from her body language,” he...

‘Waiting for a ghost’: the search for dark matter 1km under an Australian town

To study the stuff of the universe, you have to block it out, and that is exactly what a bold project in regional Victoria is trying to doGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingDark matter is flowing through you, right now.This mysterious, invisible stuff makes up more than 80% of the universe, an elusive web of particles that pass freely through matter. To observe it, you have to...

How biodiversity loss is jeopardising the drugs of the future

From willow bark to mosquitoes, nature has been a source of vital medications for centuries. But species die-off caused by human activity is putting this at risk What will biodiversity loss mean for drug discovery?Traditionally used as a painkiller for headaches, snowdrops are now known to slow the onset of dementia. In the 1950s, a natural alkaloid called galantamine was extracted from the bulbs....

Can migraines be untangled by new medical thinking?

Dr Peter Goadsby’s pioneering work has changed our understanding of migraines. Eva Wiseman, who has endured them since she was a child, hears how he found his way to the source of the pain – and what can be done about itI started yawning, and that was it. That was the sign a migraine was beginning, that I was rolling slowly down that padded cliff. It was inevitable that this would happen half...

Italian sailors knew of America 150 years before Christopher Columbus, new analysis of ancient documents suggests

New analysis of ancient writings suggests that sailors from the Italian hometown of Christopher Columbus knew of America 150 years before its renowned 'discovery'. Transcribing and detailing a, circa, 1345 document by a Milanese friar, Galvaneus Flamma, a Medieval Latin literature expert has made an 'astonishing' discovery of an 'exceptional' passage referring to an area we know today as North...

UK unions call for tighter Covid safety measures in schools as cases surge

Government urged to take action as one in 14 secondary school children in England infected last weekCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageUnions have called on the government to stop “standing by” and reinstate safety measures at schools to prevent further disruption to education this winter as the rate of Covid surges among teenagers.The spread of the virus appears to...

Anti-vaccine chiropractors capitalizing on Covid and sowing misinformation

A vocal minority tout their supplements as alternatives, donate large sums of money to anti-vaccine organizations and sell anti-vaccine ads on Facebook and Instagram, the AP discoveredThe flashy postcard, covered with images of syringes, beckoned people to attend Vax-Con ’21 to learn “the uncensored truth” about Covid-19 vaccines.Participants traveled from around the country to a Wisconsin...

NSW Covid vaccination verification app update still weeks away despite Monday reopening

Service NSW says pilot still has weeks to run in order to test connectivity and security between the app and the Australian Immunisation RegisterFollow the Australia Covid liveblogLess than 0.1% of NSW health staff have quit due to Covid vaccination mandatesNSW and Vic restrictions; Vic hotspotsVaccine rollout and rates tracker; Cases and data trackerGet our free news app; get our morning email...

Study finds Covid-19 pandemic worsened mental health around the world

Estimated 76m extra cases of anxiety and 53m extra cases of depression during pandemic, say researchersCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageCases of anxiety and depression around the world increased dramatically in 2020, researchers have found, with an estimated 76m extra cases of anxiety and 53m extra cases of major depressive disorder than would have been expected had...