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Our daily lives involve periods fluctuating between physical activity and sedentary behaviour, but few studies have researched what motivates us to take on these states from one moment to another. Dr Matthew Stults-Kolehmainen at Yale-New Haven Hospital and Columbia University in the USA, has analysed research from a range of scientific fields to assess the role of urges, cravings, wants and desires on our motivation for physical activity, exercise and sedentarism. He has developed a model to explain how these factors interact, as well as a tool to measure the subjective feeling of these states.

Worldwide, an estimated 38 million people are living with HIV. Many are still unaware of their status and so are not linked to care and treatment which can prevent them from passing HIV onto their partners and infants and keep them healthy. Dr Richard Hayes from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK has led the HIV Prevention Trials Network’s 071 (PopART) trial over the past ten years. This dedicated international collaboration of experts has successfully demonstrated how universal testing and treatment can reduce new HIV infections in Zambia, South Africa and beyond.

This is a recounting of a scientific investigation into a mysterious but potentially deadly disease that first came to light principally in the Balkan states, and then several Asian countries. It manifests itself first as a nephropathy resulting in the destruction of kidney tissue often followed by a cancer of the upper urothelial tract. Professors Arthur Grollman and Francis Johnson at Stony Brook University have achieved a revolutionary understanding of the molecular biology, epidemiology and root cause of both diseases. Their findings have critical implications for medical and scientific communities, as well as the general public.