Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. I'm your host, Jason Paulman.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Southeast Asia has long had a methamphetamine problem, both in terms of producers and consumers.

Governments are taking a harder and harder line with users, but their compulsory treatment

centers seem only to be making matters worse.

And research into human diseases involves studying animals with similar biology, and

scientists could do with more of these model organisms. We visit an effort to add another

to the list by trapping them in the wilds of Madagascar.

But first, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a stark warning to the nation last night.

But I need to speak to you this evening, because I'm afraid we're now facing an emergency

in our battle with the new variant Omicron. It's a message being passed on in lots of countries.

Omicron is spreading with worrying speed. No one should be in any doubt. There is a

tidal wave of Omicron coming, and I'm afraid it is now clear that two doses of vaccine

are simply not enough to give the level of protection we all need.

That is one of the few things that's clear about the variant. As Omicron makes its mark

around the world, scientists are feverishly working to understand it, its effects, and

what can be done to stop it.

The first few days to a week of this was characterized by everybody just asking a lot of questions,

which they didn't have any answers. And the wiser heads were saying the only thing we

can really do here is wait for the data to come in.

How hot sun writes about science for the economist?

Now about two and a bit weeks on, a lot of the data has come in and we do start to see

...