THE STIGMA OF ANGELS
Infertility affects thousands of women across Senegal, yet the subject is deeply taboo. Jane Labous meets those fighting societal pressures in this West African country, where the infertile are said to be affected by les anges, and where a new generation of career women is leaving it later to have children
THE ABALONE UNDERWORLD
The illegal trade of a highly valuable sea snail has turned local people to crime in fishing villages across South Africa
A STING IN THE TALE
A tightening of restrictions on the insecticides known as neonicotinoids has brought hope that the decline in honey bees and wild pollinators can be reversed. Yet concerns are growing as to how new technology could radically change the landscape. Are we heading towards a world of ‘frankenbees’, in which gene-edited bees are resistant to pesticides and where only the rich can afford to pay for pollinated crops?
BORDERLANDS - WAKHAN VALLEY
The Pamiris of Tajikistan live autonomously within the soaring Pamir mountains. Separated from Afghanistan by just a river, their lives are inevitably bound up with those of the people across the border
POLAR EXPOSURE
The Arabian Desert may not be everyone’s first choice when training for a ski expedition to the North Pole, but Felicity Aston explains why it was the perfect location for her international team of novices
