Kat Lay

NEW:🚨 We finally know how the pandemic began! (No, not that one) The extremely surprising role of volcanoes in causing the Black Death to spread to medieval Europe and wipe out half the continent's population 🌋🦠 thetimes.com/uk/science/art…

‘Utter hypocrisy’: tobacco firm lobbied against rules in Africa that are law in UK theguardian.com/global-develop…

When I last spoke to Mohamed Douda, he said RSF fighters were searching for him and threatening him online. When they seized El Fasher last week, where he was hiding, they killed him. These are some of our conversations during his final months alive. theguardian.com/global-develop…

🚨 Imposter alert 🚨 Studies into everything from cancer and HIV being plagued by "fraudulent" participants Includes people pretending to have the diseases It's undermining the reliability of trials and potentially harming patients Stark warning here: thetimes.com/uk/science/art…

US ‘undermining global health’ by threatening to strip funding from aid projects that do not fit its political agenda theguardian.com/global-develop…

‘Most people are just toughing it out’: shortage of drugs leaves Gaza’s wounded without pain relief theguardian.com/global-develop…

Proud to work with @katlay on this piece. I saw myself how aid cuts in Yemen leave mothers without care and families without answers. Grateful to those who shared their stories. Please read. theguardian.com/global-develop…

Who'd want to be Archbishop of Canterbury?! We'll soon find out who's got the job But how are they chosen? Who's in the frame? And what happens next? Is there any conclave-style ceremony to it? Peer behind the cloak of confidentiality, as I explain all: thetimes.com/uk/religion/ar…

More children and teens worldwide are obese than underweight for the first time, according to a UN report that blames increasing levels of junk food in their diets theguardian.com/global-develop…

Sudan’s children face growing threat of deadly infectious diseases as vaccination rates halve theguardian.com/global-develop…

NEW: How a plague of 'mirror bacteria' could wipe out all life on Earth 🦠💀🌍 Creating microbes in the lab with ‘backwards’ molecules could lead to wonder drugs — or kill all living things on the planet. Is it worth the risk? Click here to read⬇️ thetimes.com/uk/science/art…

Perfect combo of my two roles as Science and Religious Affairs Correspondent at @TheTimes ⚛️✝️ Pope Leo hails "remarkable" James Webb Space Telescope Says it has revealed wonders that the "authors of ancient scriptures" could only dream of Read here: thetimes.com/uk/religion/ar…

World (finally) agrees pandemic accord for tackling future outbreaks theguardian.com/global-develop…

The deadly riddle of blackwater fever: the search for answers over illness killing Uganda’s children theguardian.com/global-develop…

‘It’s back to drug rationing’: the end of HIV was in sight. Then came the cuts theguardian.com/global-develop…

US aid cuts could create untreatable TB bug ‘resistant to everything we have’ theguardian.com/society/2025/m…

Grow a 'baby in a bag' ? 🚼🎒 Most Brits are strongly opposed to use of artificial wombs outside the mother for developing foetuses. Apart from Gen Z, who back it. Public *does* support concept when mother or baby's life is at risk, however 👇⬇️ thetimes.com/uk/science/art…

US shutdown of HIV/Aids funding ‘could lead to 500,000 deaths in South Africa’ theguardian.com/global-develop…

African countries' health systems risks ‘collapse in next few years’, according to Dr Githinji Gitahi, who said a focus on infectious diseases had left conditions like heart disease and diabetes to soar theguardian.com/global-develop…