Every day, hospitals rely on platelet transfusions to stop bleeding, support cancer treatment and help patients recover from surgery and serious illness. Yet one of medicine’s most essential blood products is also among its most fragile. Unlike red blood cells, which can be stored for several weeks, platelets last just a few days.
Ph. Damiano Buffo/Shutterstock John William Devine, Swansea University Padel has captured the British sporting imagination. Combining aspects of tennis and squash, and played across a net but within a walled court, padel was invented in Mexico in 1969. In the intervening half century, it cultivated a significant following in Latin America and Spain.
Andrew B. Watkins, Monash University Sweltering temperatures are shattering records across Europe, as the continent battles a deadly heatwave. On Tuesday and Wednesday, France endured its hottest days in history, with western regions reaching highs of between 39°C and 43°C. Wednesday was the United Kingdom’s warmest June day on record, with the mercury
Gemma Ware, The Conversation https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/561/4fbbd099d631750693d02bac632430b71b37cd5f/site/index.html A new youth protest movement in India that started as online satire is now staging an ongoing sit-in in New Delhi calling for the resignation of India’s education minister. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) was launched in late May by Abhijeet Dipke, a graduate of Boston University, in
Ph. Stanley Dullea/Shutterstock Alexis Cloquell Lozano, Universidad Católica de Valencia; Beatriz Felipe Pérez, Universitat Rovira i Virgili; Joan Lacomba Vazquez, Universitat de València, and María Isolda Perelló Carrascosa, Universitat de València Images of families displaced by floods, prolonged droughts or extreme storms have become a distressingly regular feature of the daily news. As
Marcos Rodrigues Mimbrero, Universidad de Zaragoza; AXA Research Fund and Jorge Félez Bernal, Université de Concepcion Fire-smart risk assessment is needed to tackle the scale of wildfire destruction, which is a growing reality across the globe. Hazardous fires are more intense and more frequent, fuelled both by climate change and by the no
Justin Visagie, University of the Witwatersrand and Ruth Castel-Branco, University of the Witwatersrand South Africa is in the midst of its most significant anti-immigrant mobilisation in years. The emergence of the March and March movement, calls for the mass deportation of undocumented migrants by 30 June 2026, growing anti-immigrant violence, and the repatriation
Ph. The city of Johannesburg’s power infrastructure and billing systems need urgent attention. pexels blaque x, CC BY Glen Robbins, University of the Witwatersrand Just over a third (38%) of the residents of South Africa’s commercial capital, Johannesburg, reported being satisfied with their electricity services in a survey conducted in 2023/2024. This was
Ph. Rescue workers carry a person on a stretcher in Caracas following an earthquake in Venezuela on June 24, 2026. Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images Dulce Suarez, Florida International University For a country already facing serious humanitarian needs, the two powerful earthquakes that shook Venezuela on June 24, 2026, have made life even
Ph. Israeli soldiers patrol near the border with Lebanon on June 9, 2026. Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images Amy McAuliffe, University of Notre Dame A lot hangs on whether the United States can compel Israel to cease operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon. After all, an end to the Israeli military offensive was a