February 15
Southern Africa: Rhinos Can't Sweat, Making Them Vulnerable to Overheating - Global Warming Could Wipe Them Out in Southern Africa
Southern Africa is home to 22,137 of the world's 23,432 white and black African rhinos. But they're facing grave threats because of a warming planet. Now, the first study of how… Read more »
February 13
Africa: The World's Coral Reefs Are Bigger Than We Thought - but It Took Satellites, Snorkels and Machine Learning to See Them
The world's coral reefs are close to 25% larger than we thought. By using satellite images, machine learning and on-ground knowledge from a global network of people living and… Read more »
February 14
West Africa: West Africa Trade Will Take a Hit As Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso Leave Ecowas
The membership of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has been whittled down from 15 to 12 following the unilateral withdrawal of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso in… Read more »
February 08
Africa: Anger, Sadness, Boredom, Anxiety - Emotions That Feel Bad Can Be Useful
Remember the sadness that came with the last time you failed miserably at something? Or the last time you were so anxious about an upcoming event that you couldn't concentrate for… Read more »
February 13
Africa: Why Having Human Remains Land On the Moon Poses Difficult Questions for Members of Several Religions
Sending human remains to the Moon on the first commercial lunar lander, Peregrine 1, on Jan. 8, 2024, along with scientific instruments, caused a controversy. Read more »
February 14
Africa: Wagner Group Is Now Africa Corps. What This Means for Russia's Operations On the Continent
In August 2023, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died after his private jet crashed about an hour after taking off in Moscow. He had been Russia's pointman in Africa since the… Read more »
February 08
Africa: 'It Needs to Be Talked About Earlier' - Some Children Get Periods At 8, Years Before Menstruation Is Taught At School
Managing menstruation in public can be challenging at the best of times, but imagine being eight years old and having to deal with your period at school. You might need to change… Read more »
February 14
Africa: African Football Won the 34th Afcon, With Côte d'Ivoire a Close Second
The 34th Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) came to an end in Côte d'Ivoire with millions of viewers around the world shouting at TV screens, and an astonishing performance by… Read more »
February 12
Africa: Migrating Animals Face Collapsing Numbers - Major New UN Report
The world's travelling animals - marine turtles, whales, sharks, elephants, reptiles, wild cats, birds, and even insects - have entered a period of sharp decline, new research has… Read more »
February 09
Africa: It May Be Too Late to Stop the Great Election Disinformation Campaigns of 2024 but We Have to At Least Try
Global liberal democracy faces a near unprecedented list of digital threats in 2024 as the increasing exploitation of AI and the rampant spread of disinformation threaten the… Read more »
February 12
Africa: The SAN People of Southern Africa - Where Ethics Codes for Researching Indigenous People Could Fail Them
There is a long and often complicated history of researchers studying Indigenous people. In 1999, the education scholar Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, in her book Decolonizing Methodologies:… Read more »
Africa: 100 Years of Radio in Africa - From Propaganda to People's Power
Radio is thriving across Africa. Exact figures are difficult to come by because audience research differs across countries. But studies estimate radio listenership to be between… Read more »
February 08
Africa: Secrets of Soil-Enriching Pulses Could Transform Future of Sustainable Agriculture
From lentils to chickpeas, and even the humble baked bean, pulses are perhaps best known as an alternative, plant-based source of protein. These plants are environmental heroes:… Read more »
February 05
Africa: Why Do People and Animals Need to Breathe? a Biologist Explains Why You Need a Constant Source of Oxygen
Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you'd like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Read more »
Africa: How Bats 'Leapfrog' Their Way Home At Night - New Research
A silent ballet takes place above our heads at night as Britain's bat populations leave their roosts to forage for food. Although their initial movement away from roosts is fairly… Read more »
February 07
Africa: Using AI to Monitor the Internet for Terror Content Is Inescapable - but Also Fraught With Pitfalls
Every minute, millions of social media posts, photos and videos flood the internet. On average, Facebook users share 694,000 stories, X (formerly Twitter) users post 360,000 posts,… Read more »
February 08
Africa: The Rise of African Prophets
Over the last 20 years there's been an unprecedented increase in charismatic Pentecostal prophets - or men of God as they're called in Pentecostal parlance. Across Africa their… Read more »
February 07
Africa: Demography and Reproductive Rights Are Environmental Issues - Insights From Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa's population is growing three times faster than the rest of the world with an average of 4.6 births per woman in 2021. By comparison, the fertility rate in… Read more »
February 06
Africa: Microplastics Found in Nile River's Tilapia Fish - New Study
The Nile is one of the world's most famous rivers. It's also Africa's most important freshwater system. About 300 million people live in the 11 countries it flows through. Many… Read more »
Africa: Money Helps People Live Longer - Study
Nearly half of South Africa's 60 million people receive social grants, ranging from child support to pensions. The grants are designed to provide financial assistance to people… Read more »
February 05
Africa: A New Virus-Like Entity Has Just Been Discovered - 'Obelisks' Explained
Biological entities called obelisks have been hiding - in large numbers - inside the human mouth and gut. These microscopic entities, which were recently discovered by a team at… Read more »
February 02
Africa: Sexism Permeates Every Layer of the Music Industry - New Report Echoes What Research Has Been Saying for Years
The landmark Misogyny in Music report from British MPs on the women and equalities committee, published on January 30, shines an unsettling light upon the gender discrimination,… Read more »
February 04
Africa: Hage Geingob - Namibian President Who Played a Modernising Role
Hage Gottfried Geingob served as the third president of Namibia from 2015 until his death on February 4 2024. He was Namibia's first prime minister from 1990 to 2002, and served as… Read more »
Africa: South Africa's Military Is Expected to Do More Than Ever With Tighter Budgets - How the Force Has Declined Over 30 Years
The South African National Defence Force marks 30 years this year, having been established on 27 April 1994. It's as old as the country's constitutional democracy, the result of a… Read more »
January 29
Africa: That Sharp, Green Smell of Freshly Cut Grass? It's a Plant's Cry for Help - and It May Work As a Less Toxic Pesticide for Farmers
Have you ever wondered about that sharp, green note that hits your nose when you mow the lawn or cut flower stems? Those are green leaf volatiles, or GLVs: easily evaporated oils… Read more »
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