Expert

Hundreds of cases reported in the DRC after USAID has been dismantled and key scientific research canceledA previously undetected outbreak of Ebola is coursing through parts of central Africa, and the US appears to be doing little to help stop it, after massive cuts to global and domestic public health efforts.There is no cure and no vaccine for the rare Bundibugyo variant of Ebola, which has caused two outbreaks in recent decades. Health leaders and scientists are now racing to understand where the virus is spreading and attempting to stop it – but the US is notably absent in these efforts. Continue reading...

Pandemic report warns of growing global threat as health teams in Africa move to contain Ebola outbreak The world is becoming less resilient to outbreaks of infectious diseases, experts have warned, as health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda scramble to contain an outbreak of Ebola.The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) said in a report published on Monday that “as infectious disease outbreaks become more frequent they are also becoming more damaging”, warning that pandemic risk is outpacing investments in preparedness and “the world is not yet meaningfully safer”. Continue reading...

Spokesperson for Indian Ocean island nation says they will try and recover explorers in next couple of daysRescuers have located the bodies of four Italian divers deep inside an underwater cave in an atoll in the Maldives, four days after they were reported missing.Searches had resumed after being suspended following the death of a local military diver during a perilous mission to try to reach them. Continue reading...

Use of AI is a valuable tool for weather prediction but only when it’s trained with ample data, experts sayAs the US prepares for hurricane season and a summer of record-breaking heat, experts fear the Trump administration’s cuts to climate and weather data programming could make the federal government’s weather forecasts less reliable when they are needed most.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) late last year launched a suite of artificial intelligence-powered global weather forecast models which it said would improve “speed, efficiency, and accuracy”. In March, an agency official said those models are being trained with centuries of weather data. Continue reading...

Cigarettes kill 66 Australians every day, coalition says, criticising MPs who heard evidence from Philip Morris in secretGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBig tobacco is exploiting fears of the illicit market to unwind longstanding health policies, leading health campaigners have warned, amid a parliamentary inquiry which took secret evidence from the cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris.A coalition of 15 health organisations including the Cancer Council and the Heart Foundation, as well as health experts and researchers, have accused the industry of trying to reshape public debate to push for major cuts to government excise. Continue reading...

After record losses last year, beekeepers report a warm winter has led to bees ‘waking up earlier’ this yearAfter a series of record-breaking US heatwaves, the 2026 bee swarm season in North America has started 17 days earlier than last year, pushing beekeepers to adapt to a rapidly shifting season while raising new questions about how honeybees are responding to the climate crisis.According to a new report published by Swarmed, a tracking network of more than 10,000 beekeepers, focused on safe and ethical honeybee relocation, this year’s unusually early swarm season follows several years of record colony declines worldwide. Continue reading...

Experts say slashed funding and growing misinformation are some of the greatest challenges facing public healthThe hantavirus outbreak, while unlikely to spark the next big pandemic, is shining a spotlight on the ways public health has deteriorated in the US: its ability to test for rare diseases, its expertise on outbreak prevention and response, its ability to battle misinformation and restore trust.“Assuming everything goes well in containing this outbreak, which I hope it does, the takeaway from that should not be ‘we’re fine,’” said Stephanie Psaki, former White House global health security coordinator. “We’re not ready for this type of threat.” Continue reading...