Flu virus mutates so quickly that one year’s vaccine won’t work on the next year’s common strains. But a new way to create vaccines, called ‘rational design,’ might pave the way for more lasting solutions.
We propose a different way to look at the factors behind chronic disease, like obesity and diabetes.
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After almost four-and-a half decades and from modest beginnings, the Dunedin study has evolved into one of the most significant long-term tracking studies in the world.
A pickup truck from the Department of Health fumigates in San Juan, Jan. 27, 2016.
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Women are catching up to men in rates of alcohol consumption and this has important implications for how we think about our community response to harmful alcohol use.
Most cases of Zika are asymptomatic.
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A computer model suggests that while more cases of Zika can be expected in the continental U.S. outbreaks will probably be small and are not projected to spread.
The randomised controlled trial is touted as the gold standard in medical research. But its controlled laboratory conditions are far removed from the messy realities of life.
Elementary school students about 13 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant walk past a geiger counter in 2012.
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Remediation will never get radiation to zero in the area affected by the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant. Rather than safety, the conversation should focus on acceptable risk.
Even talking to a colleague at an academic conference overseas could have harsh ramifications.
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Satellite imaging can locate mosquito-friendly environments, allowing us to predict the advance of diseases they carry.
Polio vaccinators carry boxes of polio vaccine drops as they head to the areas they have been appointed to administer the vaccine, in Karachi October 21 2014.
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Researchers are piloting a smartphone app to collect better information about who is getting vaccinated and to design better incentives for health workers on vaccination drives.
The effects of alcohol vary considerably between different people.
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The relationship between alcohol and violence is complex, and dramatic changes to criminal laws to punish intoxicated offenders are often ineffective, unfair or both.
Don’t stay up too late.
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How does one prove that shift work causes breast cancer, as the authors of the new study claim? A cancer epidemiologist explains how scientists weigh evidence to figure out what causes cancer.
Try to predict the outcome of a single coin toss and you’ll have only a 50-50 chance of being correct.
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Predicting infectious disease outbreaks is a tricky task to begin with. And it’s made harder still by the fact that any individual outcome is subject to unpredictable – or stochastic – effects.
The new fingerprint test can detect Ebola in minutes.
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The nail salon industry is booming. But along with polished nails come toxic health effects for the workers, due to the chemical compounds in nail care products.
Can Twitter fill in the gaps for social research?
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Understanding public opinion can help officials target messages during a health crisis. But current survey methods aren’t good at generating representative samples. Can Twitter fill in the gaps?
Professor of Epidemiology, Population Interventions Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne