Plague and climate change triggered a severe economic downturn on the fringe of the Byzantine Empire 1,500 years ago, a study of ancient grape pips has revealed. Researchers from Israel examined thousands of grape pips and cereal grains, as well as ceramic sherds from waste heaps in the Negev left behind in the mid-6th Century. … Read more
MILLIONS of wailing cicadas to plague parts of the US this summer as the insects emerge after being underground for 17 years Brood IX cicadas are set to emerge from the earth in parts of the US this summer Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia will be invaded by the cicadas They have laid underground for … Read more
Police have identified a plague doctor prankster who terrified children by walking the streets of Norwich dressed as a 17th century medic as a teenager boy. The teenager had been spotted strolling past homes in Hellesdon dressed in a long, black overcoat with a wide-brimmed hat and a pointed mask with eye openings and a … Read more
The worldwide coronavirus death toll has risen to 160,000 today – with more than two million cases declared across the globe. Some 2,334,130 cases of the deadly virus have been registered across 193 countries since the pandemic first emerged in China in December. Of these patients, at least 518,900 are considered to have recovered and … Read more
Panic buyers have cleared the shelves of supermarkets bare as they rushed to stock up while Britain goes through a coronavirus crisis. Shoppers formed queues outside supermarkets up and down the country from 6am this morning and stripped shelves bare by 9am, as retailers enforced strict rationing measures to deal with a surge in panic-buying. … Read more
When Boris Johnson last week warned that ‘many more families are going to lose loved ones’, it was a clear, chilling statement of the reality of the coronavirus pandemic. But most of us were reassured by the measured words of the two eminent scientists who stood either side of him, about the actions being taken … Read more
A Welsh couple stranded on a coronavirus-hit cruise ship off the coast of California were only on the stricken vessel because their holiday to Asia was cancelled due to the killer bug. Patrick and Kim Maguire were meant to visit Cambodia, Singapore and Thailand to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary but the killer bug – that originated … Read more
Record-breaking bat plague causes damage to 10,000 churches with at least two already abandoned Church of England estimates that 60 per cent of its 16,000 churches have bats The bats leave floors and walls caked with corrosive droppings and urine There are 3,000 more than in the last study which was done in the late 1990s … Read more
Pakistan’s farmers are struggling to combat the worst locust plague in nearly three decades as insect swarms decimate entire harvests in the country’s agricultural heartlands and send food prices soaring. Heavy rains and cyclones sparked ‘unprecedented’ breeding and the explosive growth of locust populations on the Arabian peninsula early last year, according to the United … Read more
The signs of COVID-19, the infection caused by the coronavirus, are often mild and are very similar to a cold, flu or chest infection. Typical symptoms of infection include a fever, a cough, and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. These are common complaints at this time of year, so where someone has travelled or … Read more