West Africa: Coups in West Africa Have Five Things in Common - Knowing What They Are Is Key to Defending Democracy

August 2025 makes it five years since Malian soldiers ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta in a coup d'état. While the event reshaped Mali's domestic politics, it… Read more »

Africa: Humans and Animals Can Both Think Logically - but Testing What Kind of Logic They're Using Is Tricky

Can a monkey, a pigeon or a fish reason like a person? It's a question scientists have been testing in increasingly creative ways - and what we've found so far paints a more… Read more »

Africa: Men and Family Planning - Studies From 23 African Countries Reveal Gaps in What We Know

When people think about family planning in Africa, they often picture women visiting clinics, women making decisions, and women bearing the responsibility. Yet family planning… Read more »

Africa: The Pandemic Is Still Disrupting Young People's Careers

Unlike previous economic downturns, the COVID pandemic created a crisis that disrupted both education and employment, abruptly halting young people's emerging careers and clouding… Read more »

Africa: How Far Is Your Closest Hospital or Clinic? Public Health Researchers Explain Why Africa Needs Up-to-Date Health Facility Databases

The lack of reliable information about health facilities across sub-Saharan Africa became very clear during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid a surge in emergency care needs, information… Read more »

Africa: Climate Change Has Doubled the World's Heatwaves - How Africa Is Affected

A global review of extreme heat has found that between May 2024 and May 2025, nearly half the world's people (49% or 4 billion) suffered through an extra 30 days of temperatures… Read more »

Africa: Autonomous AI Systems Can Help Tackle Global Food Insecurity

There is a growing and urgent need to address global food insecurity. This urgency is underscored by reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which… Read more »

Africa: African Women Are Key to Fighting Climate Change - These Are the Green Skills They Will Need

Women are an important and often underutilised human resource in Africa. They've faced many problems historically. Limited access to land, finance, education and decision-making… Read more »

Africa: Bats Get Fat to Survive Hard Times. but Climate Change Is Threatening Their Survival Strategy

Bats are often cast as the unseen night-time stewards of nature, flitting through the dark to control pest insects, pollinate plants and disperse seeds. But behind their silent… Read more »

Africa: Why Evolution Can Explain Human Testicle Size but Not Our Unique Chins

The human body is a machine whose many parts - from the microscopic details of our cells to our limbs, eyes, liver and brain - have been assembled in fits and starts over the 4… Read more »

Africa: Africa's Development Banks Are Being Undermined - the Continent Will Pay the Price

Ghana and Zambia's official creditors are pressing them to default on loans to two African multilateral financial institutions: the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the… Read more »

Africa: Can Academics Use AI to Write Journal Papers? What the Guidelines Say

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to "intelligent machines and algorithms that can reason and adapt based on sets of rules and environments which mimic human intelligence". This… Read more »

Africa: Netflix Gives African Film a Platform - but the Cultural Price Is High

Netflix began its Africa operations in South Africa in 2016. When the US streaming giant announced it was setting up shop in Nigeria in 2020, many west African film-makers,… Read more »

Africa: Our Oceans Are in Trouble - How to Move Beyond the Outrage and Start Taking Real Action

Our oceans are in trouble. Catches from many of the world's fisheries are declining, with some fishing practices destroying enormous areas of the sea bed. Habitat loss through… Read more »

Africa: What Ancient Ice Sheets Can Tell Us About Future Sea Level Rise

When visiting Godrevy beach on the north Cornish coast, most people look out to sea at the lighthouse, surfers and seals rather than the cliffs behind. But these cliffs hold a… Read more »

West Africa: Discovery of 5,000-Year-Old Farming Society in Morocco Fills a Major Gap in History - North-West Africa Was a Central Player in Trade and Culture

A new discovery of an ancient farming society at Oued Beht in Morocco fills a centuries-old gap in history. It reveals that, 5,000 years ago, the Maghreb (north-west Africa) was… Read more »

Africa: Long Covid Puzzle Pieces Are Falling Into Place - the Picture Is Unsettling

Since 2020, the condition known as long COVID-19 has become a widespread disability affecting the health and quality of life of millions of people across the globe and costing… Read more »

Africa: Harry Belafonte Leveraged Stardom for Social Change, His Powerful Voice Always Singing a Song for Justice

In May 1963, as civil rights demonstrations rocked the city of Birmingham, Alabama, Harry Belafonte was at a cocktail party in Manhattan, scolding the then-attorney general of the… Read more »

Africa: Jimmy Carter's African Legacy - Peacemaker, Negotiator and Defender of Rights

When historians and pundits praise Jimmy Carter's achievements as the US President and extoll his exemplary post-presidential years they mention the recognition of China, the… Read more »

Africa: 58 Percent of Human Infectious Diseases Can Be Worsened By Climate Change

Climate change can exacerbate a full 58% of the infectious diseases that humans come in contact with worldwide, from common waterborne viruses to deadly diseases like plague, our… Read more »

Africa: Banning African Films Like Rafiki and Inxeba Doesn't Diminish Their Influence

Social media and internet forums function as an important space of contestation for issues relating to queer identities. This is evident in reactions to two fairly recent… Read more »

Africa: Africa's Elephant Species Are Both Endangered, Due to Poaching and Habitat Loss

Humans have been over-exploiting African elephants for centuries. More than 2,000 years ago, the Roman Empire's demand for ivory led to the extinction of genetically distinct… Read more »

Africa: Invasive Mosquito Species Could Bring More Malaria to Africa's Urban Areas

A species of mosquito that can carry malaria - known as Anopheles stephensi - has invaded eastern Africa and is quickly moving across the region. Moina Spooner, from The… Read more »

Africa: These World Heritage Sites Are Under Threat From Climate Change

Very few academics or policy makers are talking about the impact of climate change on heritage. Yet heritage is essential for social wellbeing, for identity creation, for… Read more »

Africa: Explainer - What Is Quantum Machine Learning and How Can It Help Us?

Artificial intelligence refers, among other things, to machines' capacity to demonstrate some degree of what humans consider "intelligence". This process is being driven by the… Read more »