20 articles from SUNDAY 5.6.2022

Promising rectal cancer study

A scientist comments on the evolving treatment of rectal cancer in light of findings from a study that found the immunotherapy drug dostarlimab was especially effective in a phase II clinical trial of a dozen patients with a subtype of rectal cancer.

Diabetes drug leads to notable weight loss in people with obesity – study

Experts say the apparent effects of a weekly dose of tirzepatide are potentially game changingA weekly dose of a diabetes drug appears to lead to significant weight loss in people with obesity, in a development experts have hailed as gamechanging.Obesity causes 1.2 million deaths in Europe each year, according to the World Health Organization, and the UK has one of the worst obesity rates....

Romans ventured deeper into Wales than thought, road discovery shows

Evidence uncovered in Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire extends known reach further west across BritainThe awe-inspiring beauty of the Preseli Hills and the surrounding wild moorlands have long drawn visitors to north Pembrokeshire in Wales. Now an archaeologist has found evidence that even the Romans were drawn to the area, with the discovery of an ancient road showing they travelled farther west...

How to make big decisions more easily

Most of us shy away from life’s hardest decisions. But there are ways to help usPsychology professor Laurence Alison is an expert in how to make decisions, but in the early days of his career, it was all theoretical. Then one day he took a call from “someone very senior”, who described a worrying trend: police chiefs were showing themselves unable, in critical situations, to make crucial...

The great Coronapause is over, but history tells us that complacency can be a killer | Mark Honigsbaum

Just as in the flu pandemic of the 19th century, waves of infections in the US and Portugal should remind us that Covid shows no signs of going awayShortly before the first British lockdown, the Italian novelist Francesca Melandri wrote an open letter to the UK describing our soon-to-be coronavirus future. At the time, Melandri had been under lockdown in Rome for three weeks and cemeteries in...

Severe Covid cases ‘more likely in highly polluted areas’

Air pollutant nitrogen dioxide may contribute to intensive care admissions, German study findsPeople who contract Covid-19 are more likely to suffer severe symptoms if they have been exposed to air pollution for long periods.A study found that people who live in places where there are high levels of the atmospheric pollutant nitrogen dioxide had higher chances of ending up in intensive care units...