SOLOMON HUGHES recommends Sunjeev Sahota’s recent novel set in a trade union election campaign for its fresh approach to what unites and divides workers, but wishes the union backdrop was truer to life
DISEASES come in many guises. Before late 2019, there had never been a single case of Covid-19 and SARS-CoV-2 was an unknown virus. Now, less than a year and a half later, there have been millions of cases. In contrast, a disease like malaria has been with humans ever since we emerged as a species.
An early species of Plasmodium, the parasite which causes malaria, was found in mosquitoes that had been preserved in amber for nearly 30 million years. Yet this is no guide to a disease’s impact. During 2020, more people on the continent of Africa died of malaria than Covid-19.
While it took less than a year to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, a vaccine for malaria has proven near-impossible. However, that may be about to change.
New research into mutations in sperm helps us better understand why they occur, while debunking a few myths in the process, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
ALEX DITTRICH hitches a ride on a jaw-dropping tour of the parasite world
A maverick’s self-inflicted snake bites could unlock breakthrough treatments – but they also reveal deeper tensions between noble scientific curiosity and cold corporate callousness, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT



