America’s drug regulator is in turmoil
1. A Storm at the Helm: Leadership Shakeups In early August 2025, Dr. Vinay Prasad—director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER)—resigned following fierce pressure from conservative activists and biotech critics. The controversy stemmed from his decision to halt delivery of Sarepta Therapeutics’ gene therapy Elevidys, meant to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, […]
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As the world focuses on Gaza, starvation also looms in Sudan
More than two years after it began in April 2023, the war in Sudan shows no sign of ending, with deadly consequences for the people of Africa’s third-largest country. On August 5th the World Food Programme (WFP), a UN agency, said that residents of el-Fasher, in the western region of Darfur, faced starvation. It was a grim sign […]
Shanxi province is struggling to diversify away from coal
ON A MUGGY July morning the museum of coal in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, is bursting with visitors. An exhibit boasts of the province’s reserves of 650bn tonnes of coal. “Mining could last for over 200 years,” it enthuses. Asked if coal would still be dug up in that distant future, a guide nods eagerly, […]
How climate change could spread malaria
Southern Africa is suffering a malaria surge. Countries including Botswana, Eswatini, Namibia and Zimbabwe are experiencing outbreaks of the disease, which causes fevers and chills and kills 600,000 people worldwide every year. Zimbabwe has been particularly badly affected. By July it had reported nearly four times as many cases and more than six times as many […]