̽��ֱ��

As new estimates of death toll for health workers are published, experts say the deliberate and systematic attacks on the healthcare infrastructure in Syria – primarily by government forces – expose shortcomings in international responses to health needs in conflict.   

International Monetary Fund policies can have a real impact on people – and don’t always yield positive results. Writing for ̽��ֱ��Conversation, Thomas Stubbs ( ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge) and Alexander E. Kentikelenis, ( ̽��ֱ�� of Oxford) explore the impact its policies have made on health in West Africa.

Urgent requirement for channels of timely and reliable information to be developed targeting UK-born people living on the continent, say researchers – before life-changing decisions get made rashly in a milieu of rumour and speculation.

Research shows budget reduction targets and public sector caps, insisted on by the IMF as loan conditions, result in reduced health spending and medical ‘brain drain’ in developing West African nations.

Science is demanding as well as exciting. Dish Life, the final of four Cambridge Shorts films, compares the task of raising stem cells in the lab to the challenge of looking after a gang of unruly kids. In conversation with real-life children, scientists show how tricky it is to work with these ‘super cells’.

Smartphones and social media have made it easy for accidental witnesses “in the wrong place at the wrong time” to capture and share violations and crimes. But how can we tell what’s real and what’s fake?

̽��ֱ��e-book has made continued inroads into the publishing world but the printed book has defied predictions of its death. Research by Professor John Thompson focuses on the challenges facing the publishing industry as it embraces the opportunities afforded by the digital revolution.

̽��ֱ��digital revolution is one of the great social transformations of our time. How can we make the most of it, and also minimise and manage its risks? Jon Crowcroft and John Thompson discuss the challenges as we commence a month-long focus on ‘digital society’.

Questions of beauty and its politics will be discussed at a summer school and conference  next week (30 August to 3 September 2016). Participants will examine the ways in which perceptions and experiences of race, ethnicity, sexuality and colonialism converge to exert powerful influences on our lives.

What is our place in the natural world – and how do we feel about the scientific advances that are changing the way we live? In her book Making a Good Life, Dr Katharine Dow explores the ethics of assisted reproductive technology in conversations with members of a small Scottish community dedicated to protecting the environment.