Beyond the Headlines

What Mars missions mean for humanity

On April 19, Nasa’s Ingenuity helicopter lifted off from the surface of Mars in a history-making first flight.

The small, drone-like rotorcraft, which arrived on the Red Planet attached to the Perseverance rover, climbed three metres into the thin air, hovering for 30 seconds before touching back down in the Jezero crater.

It was the first controlled flight by a powered aircraft on another planet.

Another groundbreaking first for science followed a day after.

A gold device about the size of a car battery on Perseverance, called Moxie, created oxygen out of that same thin atmosphere.

Previous missions have focused mainly on answering long-held questions about our mysterious celestial neighbour. Has it ever supported life? Can we find liquid water there?

But this new generation of experimental technology has begun to pave the way for the eventual human exploration - and even colonisation - of Mars.

On this week's Beyond the Headlines host Arthur Scott-Geddes looks at the latest wave of pioneering science missions on Mars, which are helping to usher in a new era in the exploration of the solar system.

How Covid-19 mRNA research could cure HIV and cancer

Within months of the emergence of coronavirus in late 2019 drug companies around the world were racing for a vaccine. Within a year, shots were being delivered into people’s arms. The speed at which the world developed not one but several different Covid-19 vaccines in seemingly record time has thrown into sharp relief other vaccine programmes that have toiled for years with no final breakthrough.

HIV, the virus that causes Aids, kills nearly 700,000 every year, but has outwitted vaccine developers for more than three decades. Even regular influenzas can be deadly and our tools to stop it are very limited. But now, there is renewed hope that this could change – and that may be thanks to the work on Covid-19 vaccines.

On this week's Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young delves into how Covid-19 vaccines have already shaken up the drug industry and how what we are learning now could one day lead to tailor-made treatment for almost any ailment.

How did India's Covid crisis become so bad?

India hit what it thought was its peak of Covid-19 infections in September 2020 when the pandemic then started to ease. But the country now has the world’s second highest number of Covid-19 cases, surpassing Brazil, and is now only behind the United States. The new, deadly explosion has overwhelmed India’s hospitals, graveyards and crematoriums, particularly in its biggest cities of Delhi and Mumbai.

On this week's Beyond the Headlines host Suhail Akram speaks to those affected by the crisis to understand how India’s Covid-19 crisis got so out of hand.

Can desalination quench the world’s water worries?

Desalination used to be the preserve of money-rich but water-poor Middle Eastern countries. It was expensive and caused pollution but in the arid desert where rain is scarce, there was little choice. Without desalination, taps across the Gulf would run dry and farms would wither and die. Experts have issued warnings about the water wars of the future as one of the world’s most precious resources begins to dry up.

This week on Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young looks at how Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Israel and Gulf states led a water revolution and how desalination could quench the world’s water worries.

 

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How Abu Dhabi’s Hope Consortium is helping to vaccinate the world

On December 31, 2020, one year after coronavirus was first detected, the World Health Organisation gave the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine emergency validation, making it the first to be given such clearance. It was just seven months after the first trials began – a record breaking length of time. 

Other vaccines followed. AstraZeneca, Moderna, Sinopharm, Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson are now common names for a range of jabs that are being deployed in different regions of the world. 

Hundreds of millions of doses have been administered worldwide. But with over seven and a half billion people on Earth and with most types requiring two doses, we still have a long way to go. 

On this week's Beyond the Headlines, host Suhail Akram looks at how we vaccinate the world.

Is the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine safe?

The AstraZeneca vaccine was heralded as ‘the vaccine for the world’ when it was first approved for use in the UK on December 30. It is inexpensive and can be stored in normal fridges, unlike other vaccines. But its image has been marred by recent controversies.

 

This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Suhail Akram delves into the benefits and the risks of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

Stuck in the Suez Canal

For nearly a week, the ultra-large Ever Given container ship was wedged across the Suez Canal, stopping dead all trade through one of the world’s most vital shipping lanes. With no way through, hundreds of ships queued up in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean and waited. Within 48 hours of the Ever Given running aground on March 23, there was enough oil on tankers waiting at the entrance to the Suez to power the UK for a fortnight. Nearly $10 billion dollars worth of trade a day sat idle.

This week on Beyond the Headlines, James Haines-Young talks about the week when global trade stopped because of a tanker.

Is corruption in Iraq impossible to beat?

Iraq is listed as the 20th most corrupt country in the world in the latest ranking by anti-corruption organisation Transparency International. Venality is rampant in a country still emerging from the shadows of multiple wars, terrorism and long-time sanctions.

One aspect of this is the widespread practice of government jobs for bribes. Despite laws that criminalise both the briber and the bribe-taker, fresh graduates desperate for jobs say they have no other option. Since 2003, job creation has mainly been a government task.

In this week's Beyond the Headlines host Ahmed Maher asks: is corruption in Iraq impossible to beat?

Raqqa after ten years of war and revolution in Syria

March 2013, Raqqa. The Syrian revolution is in full swing. A crowd gathers around a statue of Hafez Al Assad in the centre of the city. The statue is of President Bashar Al Assad’s father, and much like the Assad regime has looked over this part of Syria for five decades. Though not for much longer. Activists and members of the Free Syrian Army chant Allahu Akbar, and fire at the statue as it is pulled down. The relic lies on its side, they climb on top of it - Raqqa is now the first provincial capital to fall to the revolution.

But this was only the beginning. Darker times lay ahead. This is the story of Raqqa’s revolution , why it failed, and what has become of the city after ten years of war and revolution in Syria. On this week's Beyond the headlines host Gareth Browne, just back from Raqqa, looks at 10 years of conflict in Syria.

The legacy of the Pope's Iraq visit

It's hard to overstate just how significant Pope Francis's visit to Iraq really was. Nor how remarkable it is that it actually went ahead. Iraq, despite the best efforts of the security forces, is not stable. Just days before the Pope arrived on March 5, a US civilian contractor was killed in a rocket attack, probably the work of an Iran-backed militia. Pope Francis’s predecessor Benedict said days before the pontiff left the Vatican that the trip was dangerous. And yet, it went ahead. And it did so in the middle of a global pandemic. 

On this week's Beyond the Headlines, host James Haines-Young looks at the highlights of the visit, hearing from The National’s own correspondents stationed across the country for the trip, and asks: what will be the legacy of these four historic days?