Researchers from London's Kew Gardens said on Thursday that the cure to malaria could lie in plants South American tribes use to treat the disease, which kills tens of thousands of people a year.
Their findings were released on the day the gardens were honoured in Guinness World Records 2022 for housing the globe's largest plant collection.
The Kew scientists found indigenous populations in regions such as the Amazon had used more than 1,000 plant species to combat malaria.
Among these plants are the Aspidosperma excelsum Benth and the Cinchona officinalis bark, the latter of which is used by tribes in Colombia.
The antimalarial property of the plants was hitherto known only within South American tribes, and their discovery could make them a valuable factor in developing a vaccine to fight the disease which killed 400,000 people in 2019 alone.
Last month, a separate study found that a malaria vaccine significantly reduced serious illness for young people in Burkina Faso and Mali.
“[The plants] could assist with the development of healthcare strategies in the poorest countries in the world. However, this approach relies on continued access to traditional knowledge of how plants are used as medicines,” according to the study, led by Dr William Milliken.
It warned that this hereditary information is "disappearing rapidly as lifestyles change”.
"There is a growing need to document this traditional knowledge and support communities to maintain it, so that this invaluable knowhow, developed and refined over centuries, is available to future generations,” it said.
More optimistically, Kew researchers believe the methodology used in the study could be transferred to developing "healthcare strategies" for other lethal diseases.
“This technique could be applied to medicinal plants in other regions of the world, and for other diseases, to predict which plant species might also contain bioactive compounds that could provide potential medicines for the future. This approach may also help identify the most sustainable sources for them."
Kew Gardens recognised by Guinness World Records
Unesco World Heritage Site Kew Gardens had extra cause to celebrate on Thursday after its 16,900 species were named the world's largest collection in the 2022 edition of Guinness World Records.
They include the world's largest water lily and both the world's smelliest (Amorphophallus titanum) and oldest (Encephalartos altensteinii – pictured below) plants.
The rotten miasma of the former can be detected from nearly a kilometre away while the latter is a South African specimen that arrived in the country in 1775 and is often referred to as a living fossil.
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Director: Paul Weitz
Stars: Kevin Hart
3/5 stars
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Essentials
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Delhi from about Dh950 return including taxes.
The hotels
Double rooms at Tijara Fort-Palace cost from 6,670 rupees (Dh377), including breakfast.
Doubles at Fort Bishangarh cost from 29,030 rupees (Dh1,641), including breakfast. Doubles at Narendra Bhawan cost from 15,360 rupees (Dh869). Doubles at Chanoud Garh cost from 19,840 rupees (Dh1,122), full board. Doubles at Fort Begu cost from 10,000 rupees (Dh565), including breakfast.
The tours
Amar Grover travelled with Wild Frontiers. A tailor-made, nine-day itinerary via New Delhi, with one night in Tijara and two nights in each of the remaining properties, including car/driver, costs from £1,445 (Dh6,968) per person.
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Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
India team for Sri Lanka series
Test squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
T20 squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan
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