Eight years ago, Arafa Salim thought she was on the verge of death. “The doctors who were treating me didn’t know how to deal with it, my bone marrow couldn’t produce blood. I needed a lot of transfusions to save my life,” she said. Salim, who has sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder that can result in severe anaemia, had survived a real scare. Her story is not uncommon. More than 10,000 children with sickle cell disease die each year before they reach their fifth birthday, in Tanza

Down a quiet tree-lined street on the periphery of Abuja, one of the fastest growing cities in the world, a classroom brims with activity. A group of teenage girls huddle eagerly around a robotic trash collector they’ve just built, while others rummage through tool kits and test virtual reality headsets. Infectious laughter echoes through the hallway from outside. More young women are trialling their solar-powered phone chargers and solar ovens, in the shadows of the majestic Aso Rock, which ri

They come from very different worlds, yet have remarkably similar tales to tell. One hails from the outskirts of Barnsley, in the small south Yorkshire mining village of Darfield. The other was brought up under the shadows of the magnificent slopes of Africa’s second-highest mountain, Mount Kenya.

Tomorrow marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of revered children’s author and illustrator, Beatrix Potter, celebrated worldwide for such beloved literary characters as Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle-duck. In this celebration of her literary and artistic legacy, it is easy to forget she was a keen natural scientist. Influenced by family holidays in Scotland, Potter was fascinated by the natural world from a young age. Encouraged to follow her interests, she explored the outdoors with sketch

“I believe that science is the engine of prosperity,” renowned physicist and author Dr Michio Kaku once remarked. This certainly rings true in many countries worldwide, none more so than the UK, where scientific research has a huge role to play both in economic growth and job creation. The statistics don’t lie, either.