Mice vaccinated against malaria can give the parasite an environment to acquire immunity and become more virulent.

If the battle to eradicate polio were an action movie, this week would be the part where the good guys have racked up spectacular victories – but look like they may lose anyway. On the spectacular side, polio may be gone in India. Of the four countries where polio remained entrenched, the giant country was expected to be the last to fall. Yet its most recent case was in January this year, whereas by this time last year, it had had 40 cases.

While those experiencing drought hope for rain, it could bring a worse problem with it: an aggressive strain of the fungal crop disease yellow rust.

After years of frustration, polio is on the ropes. But we could still miss the historic opportunity to wipe it out for good.

The emotive row over universal flu vaccination misses a crucial fact – vaccines have a downside.

Poverty, disease, women's rights

If any crop needs an evolutionary boost, it's rice. Nearly half of humanity relies on the stuff, and yields must increase more than 50 per cent by 2050 to feed growing demand, so the discovery of a gene mutation that can bump up yields by a full 10 per cent is exciting news.

Call it the great ape escape. UN peacekeepers have flown four young gorillas from a conflict zone where they were at risk of being poached. The gorillas were taken to a rehabilitation centre 200 kilometres north of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and will eventually be released into a nature reserve.

SCHOOLS in three US states - Louisiana, Texas and South Dakota - have been told to teach alternatives to the scientific consensus on global warming. The moves appear to be allied to efforts to teach creationism in public schools.

By 2025 there will be 9 billion people on Earth, all needing food. A look at the best ways to stave off starvation.