US scientists say users of sildenafil – the generic name for Viagra – are 69% less likely to develop the form of dementia than non-usersViagra could be a useful treatment against Alzheimer’s disease, according to a US study.Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of age-related dementia, affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Despite mounting numbers of cases, however, there...

Engineer and entrepreneur who founded Oxford Instruments and made the UK’s first MRI body scannerIn 1959 Martin Wood asked his boss at the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford University, if he could to start a company making specialist magnets for research. At that time the concept of a spinout was unheard of in that university, but the easy-going Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti offered every...

I’m stuck in a hotel for 10 days, under a system that is disorganised and shockingly expensiveI am writing this on day zero, having arrived at my government-designated quarantine hotel after 24 hours of travel. I need to isolate in my room for 10 days and 11 nights. It is, to put it mildly, a bit of a dump: a tired, chipped Formica table, sagging curtains, freezing cold. For this, I paid...

Omicron’s emergence is no surprise, as richer countries’ broken promises lead to low vaccination rates – and virus mutationThe world is hostage to what’s been called “a cycle of panic and neglect”. The Omicron variant, while we wait for clarification on its many unknowns, has sparked the latest bout of that panic. But it is a panic born directly of selfish insularity: as wealthy...

We must curb the power of Silicon Valley and protect those who speak up about the harms of AIA year ago I found out, from one of my direct reports, that I had apparently resigned. I had just been fired from Google in one of the most disrespectful ways I could imagine.Thanks to organizing done by former and current Google employees and many others, Google did not succeed in smearing my work or...

From ventilation to lateral flow testing, let’s try to minimise the risk of catching CovidFor months in the UK we have had 30,000-50,000 new Covid cases of the Delta variant a day and about 1,000 dying from the disease every week, and NHS leaders are saying the hospital and ambulance services are at breaking point. Now, to make matters worse, the Omicron variant has arrived. This new variant...

Nigerian high commissioner hits out as arrivals into UK face quarantine in effort to contain Omicron variantCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNigeria’s inclusion on England’s red list after cases of the Omicron Covid variant were linked to travel from the country has been condemned as “travel apartheid”.People arriving in the UK from Nigeria have to spend 10...

Genetic data will soon be accessible like never before. The implications for our health are hugeWhile at the till in a clothes shop, Ruby received a call. She recognised the woman’s voice as the genetic counsellor she had recently seen, and asked if she could try again in five minutes. Ruby paid for her clothes, went to her car, and waited alone. Something about the counsellor’s voice gave...

Jupiter and Saturn will showcase the moon’s phases with Venus providing additional markers along the wayThis week we can again take advantage of Jupiter and Saturn’s placement in the evening sky to chart the movement of the moon and the development of its phases. What makes it special is that Venus has joined the party to provide even more reference points along the way.The chart shows the...