logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2019
29m 18s

New malaria target

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Molecular scale investigations have identified the mechanism which confers resistance to antimalarial drugs. Researchers hope work to turn off this mechanism could mean cheaper well known antimalarials can become effective once again.

We look at the threat to weather forecasting from 5G networks, discuss the origins of much of the technology in our mobile phones and ask what food we’ll be eating in the future and how the past can inform this.

Image: Mosquito. Science Photo Library

Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Julian Siddle

Up next
Oct 2025
How science got here, and where next
As anti-science leaves research reeling, does evidence-based policy in a scientific society have much of a future? Michael Mann, Naomi Oreskes, Angie Rasmussen and Deb Houry discuss some of the sources and motivations that perhaps belie the current state of scientific affairs. Pr ... Show More
31m 30s
Oct 2025
Coral extinctions and chalky unknowns
As two species of coral are killed off by the 2023 heatwave in the Florida reefs, the abilities of different plankton species to cope with rising CO2 remain crucially unknown. Also, retrospective research shows a strong suggestion that mRNA covid vaccination might serendipitously ... Show More
37m 58s
Oct 2025
Paris agreement impacts and drought realities
Ten years on from the Paris climate agreement, has it helped? Also, an international drought experiment, insights from 2D water, and social distancin in ants. Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Alex Mansfield Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth(Photo: Small bushfire. ... Show More
38m 45s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2021
A new step toward ending 'the wrath of malaria'
Scientists have been trying to figure out how to eradicate malaria for decades. Globally, a child under the age of five dies from the disease every two minutes, and even for kids who do survive there can be long term complications. A big breakthrough finally came in October when ... Show More
10m 52s
May 2025
These malaria drugs treat the mosquitos — not the people
00:45 Treating mosquitoes for malariaResearchers have developed two compounds that can kill malaria-causing parasites within mosquitoes, an approach they hope could help reduce transmission of the disease. The team showed that these compounds can be embedded into the plastics use ... Show More
31m 40s
Aug 2024
How to end malaria once and for all | Abdoulaye Diabaté
Malaria is a disease as old as humankind, yet we may be closer than ever to eliminating it, says medical entomologist Abdoulaye Diabaté. He explains the potential of "gene drive" technology — which aims to disrupt mosquito reproduction as a means of halting malaria transmission i ... Show More
13m 12s
Oct 2021
Drug resistant malaria found in East Africa
Since their discovery in the 1970s, artemisinin-based drugs have become the mainstay of treatment for malaria caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Researchers have identified artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites in Southeast Asia since the early 2000s, but now, there ... Show More
1h 1m
Feb 2022
The house that fights malaria
Malaria kills more than half a million people per year. We meet the innovators who are using buildings, lights, genes and vaccines to fight the mosquito-borne disease. In Ghana, a young woman has turned her school project into a business, selling lights that electrocute mosquitos ... Show More
24m 11s
May 2024
How can genetically engineered mosquitoes stop malaria?
The first batch of genetically modified mosquitoes is being released in Djibouti in a bid to stop the spread of malaria carrying vectors that bite during the day and thrive in urban areas. How does this work?Also, an overview of South Africa's 'historic' elections.   Who are the ... Show More
30m 11s
Oct 2015
Artemisinin Resistance
Artemisinins are very poweful tools in the treatment of malaria, and the emerging loss of their activity has the potential to create a major public health problem. MALARIA TREATMENT Dr Charlie Woodrow is based at MORU in Bangkok, Thailand, where he coordinates clinical and labora ... Show More
6m 25s
May 2021
Lifting the burden of malaria
A new vaccine could help eliminate the disease. What would that mean for African economies?Manuela Saragosa speaks to the man who led the team behind the new vaccine, which has demonstrated a startling 77% effectiveness in recent drug trials. Adrian Hill of Oxford University's Je ... Show More
18m 29s