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Hope for a PCOS breakthrough A drug that is already used to treat malaria has been found to be effective against polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a painful condition that is a leading cause of infertility, and which affects an estimated 10% of women worldwide. Sufferers of PCOS experience hormone imbalances, including the over-production of testosterone, which leads to symptoms such as irregular periods, acne and an excess of body hair. They are also prone to insulin resistance, which puts them at higher risk of diabetes and heart disease. Existing treatments only ease the symptoms, and do not work for everyone. But when, for a small clinical trial, 19 women took the anti-malarial drug dihydroartemisinin for three months, all of them experienced a drop in their testosterone levels and 12 saw their…

FROM THE BOOK EDISON’S GHOSTS It’s possible that some people are just too smart for their own good. Or that some of history’s best-known ‘brainiacs’ lacked some good old-fashioned common sense. Consider these scenes from the past Einstein Put The ‘Nauti’ In Nautical Einstein is most famous today as, well, Einstein. His name is synonymous with what he was. But among the accolades is something that stands out as truly impressive: his uncanny ability to make dozens of complete strangers save his life, over and over again, and never once did it look like he might learn from it. The year was 1939, and Einstein had rented a cottage in the sleepy coastal hamlet of Cutchogue, Long Island. He had just one thing on his mind: sailing. Einstein loved sailing. Relaxing on a boat,…

THE widespread claim that the ancient people of Easter Island underwent a societal collapse due to overexploitation of natural resources has been thrown into fresh doubt. Instead, a small and stable population lived sustainably for centuries before the arrival of Europeans, a new analysis of historical farming practices suggests. Famous for its towering stone statues, Easter Island – also known as Rapa Nui – lies in the Pacific Ocean and is thought to have been inhabited by Polynesians since around AD 1200. At that time, its 164 square kilometres were covered in palm forests, but these were destroyed quickly, probably by a combination of overharvesting and rats eating fruit and blooms. According to a popular narrative, the unsustainable use of resources led to runaway population growth and a subsequent collapse before Europeans…