The Mysterious Sleeping Sickness of a Kazakh Village

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An outbreak of a mysterious sleeping sickness in the remote village of Kalachi, in the north of the country, is proving something of a puzzle for doctors. The first case was back in March 2013, but in the last few weeks there have been 40 new cases, some requiring hospitalisation. BBC reporter Abdujalil Abdurasulov updates Health Check on the latest situation. Intelligence Rise New research tracking intelligence scores in 48 countries across 64 years has found that average scores are rising, particularly in low and middle income countries. China and India have seen the biggest increases, with scores from African countries improving the least. The team, including Robin Morris, professor of Neuropsychology at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, examined scores on one particular IQ test called the Raven’s Progressive Matrices. Professor Robin Morris and Ken Richardson, retired psychologist and author of the book The Making of Intelligence, join Claudia to discuss the results. They have just been published in the journal Intelligence. China Birth Pain We all know how difficult childbirth is, but many of us, particularly men, do not realise how painful it is. Now a hospital in eastern China is giving prospective fathers a chance to get some idea of what it feels like for women going through labour. The BBC’s Anbarasan Ethirajan reports. (Photo: Kazakh children sleeping. Credit: Getty Images)