The 25th anniversary meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in the Kyrgyz capital may offer a glimmer of hope that international relations do not need to be defined by endless confrontation, writes KENNY COYLE
LAST MONTH, a man in the US named Tyson Bottenus made worldwide news due to an extraordinary illness. What he initially thought was a brain tumour turned out to be a rare fungus that had travelled through his blood, crossed through the blood-brain barrier and took up residence deep inside his skull, where it grew and eventually caused a stroke.
Thanks to medical treatment he is recovering well, but unfortunately has sustained brain damage that, for the moment at least, has significantly changed his life.
This isn’t the first case of fungi infecting living bodies. Cordyceps is a fungus that infects some insects, takes control of their bodies’ extended nervous system and forces them to find a place to die where the fungus’s spores will travel best.
Innovation in biotechnology is changing how we conceive of meat, say ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT of SCIENCE AND SOCIETY
Rising temperatures and human activity are making life far harder for these vital pollinators. ALEX DITTRICH explains
New research into mutations in sperm helps us better understand why they occur, while debunking a few myths in the process, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT



