Africa: Four Things You Need to Know About Having a Caesarean Section

If you're pregnant or planning to have a baby soon, you've probably been given lots of advice and information about what you might experience during and after the birth. But less… Read more »

Africa: Working in an Office Can Harm Your Health - Depending On Where It Is and the Length of Your Commute

In the past year, a growing number of companies have asked employees to return to the office either full- or part-time after years of pandemic-induced remote working. While this is… Read more »

Africa: May 5, 2023, Lunar Eclipse Will Be a Subtle Show of Astronomical Wonder

On May 5, 2023, people around the world will witness a a lunar eclipse when the Earth gets between the Sun and the Moon and casts part of its shadow on the Moon. Read more »

Africa: Does Our Gut Microbiota Really Influence Our Health and Life Expectancy?

The intestinal microbiota is the set of bacteria and viruses that live inside your gut. Microbiota perform a variety of functions, including digesting food and protecting against… Read more »

Africa: Every Cancer Is Unique - Why Different Cancers Require Different Treatments, and How Evolution Drives Drug Resistance

Cancer is an evolutionary disease. The same forces that turned dinosaurs into birds turn normal cells into cancer: genetic mutations and traits that confer a survival advantage. Read more »

Africa: We Found Long-Banned Pollutants in the Very Deepest Part of the Ocean

I was part of a team that recently discovered human-made pollutants in one of the deepest and most remote places on Earth - the Atacama Trench, which goes down to a depth of 8,000… Read more »

Africa: Generative AI Is Forcing People to Rethink What It Means to Be Authentic

It turns out that pop stars Drake and The Weeknd didn't suddenly drop a new track that went viral on TikTok and YouTube in April 2023. The photograph that won an international… 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: Much Wow, Very Meme - What the Revival of the Ancient Doge Meme Tells Us About the Lifecycle of the Internet

In early April, when Elon Musk randomly and very briefly replaced the Twitter bird logo with the face of the "doge" meme, the value of the dogecoin both rose and fell by a matter… Read more »

Africa: Here's Why Your Freezer Smells So Bad - and What You Can Do About It

Most people would expect a freezer can keep perishable food fresh and safe from spoilage for many months. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Read more »

Africa: Could Farmers Slash Their Reliance on Mineral Fertilisers by Growing Legumes?

Ending hunger by 2030 is one of the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN. This is a huge challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, where one third of all households are still exposed… Read more »

Africa: From Enormous Elephants to Tiny Shrews - How Mammals Shape and Are Shaped By Africa's Landscapes

Africa is the world's most diverse continent for large mammals such as antelopes, zebras and elephants. The heaviest of these large mammals top the scales at over one ton, and are… Read more »

Africa: The Importance of Solitude - Why Time On Your Own Can Sometimes Be Good for You

Spending time alone can induce fear in a lot of people, which is understandable. At the same time, the difference between moments of solitude and loneliness is often misunderstood. Read more »

Africa: Why Menstrual Leave Could Be Bad for Women

Spain recently adopted a menstrual leave policy, which makes additional (paid or unpaid) days off work available to "only and all cisgender women". Read more »

Africa: Child Labour On Farms in Africa - It's Important to Make a Distinction Between What's Harmful, and What Isn't

Children across the vast expanse of rural Africa hoe, dig, plant, carry, tend livestock, cook, scrub, care for their siblings, and undertake many other farm and domestic tasks.… Read more »

Africa: Slavery's Historical Link to Marriage Is Still At Play in Some African Societies

Governments and religious institutions regulate marriage. Such regulations are heavily laden with specific moral ideas and cultural taboos. There are heated debates around what… Read more »

Africa: Africa's Oceans Are Being Protected to Serve the Interests of Big Foreign Corporates

Africa's valuable ocean resources have drawn the interest of foreign nations, particularly those in the West and Asia. Read more »

Africa: African Vaccines - Local Manufacturers Are Struggling to Access the Market - What Must Change

Two recent developments in South Africa have underscored the opportunities - and challenges - facing vaccine production on the continent. Read more »

Africa: The Dirty Truth About Your Phone - And Why You Need to Stop Scrolling in the Bathroom

We carry them everywhere, take them to bed, to the bathroom and for many people they're the first thing they see in the morning - more than 90% of the world owns or uses a mobile… Read more »

Africa: Generative AI - 5 Essential Reads About the New Era of Creativity, Job Anxiety, Misinformation, Bias and Plagiarism

The light and dark sides of AI have been in the public spotlight for many years. Think facial recognition, algorithms making loan and sentencing recommendations, and medical image… Read more »

Africa: Hope Is On the Horizon for a Malaria-Free Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is disproportionally affected by malaria. The region accounts for 95% of the world's malaria cases. The disease kills an African child every 60 seconds. Read more »

Africa: Illegal Logging in Africa Is a Threat to Security

African countries are estimated to lose US$17 billion each year to illegal logging. High-value timber species are in global demand. Read more »

Africa: Diseases Gave Us the Rise of Christianity, the End of the Aztecs and Public Sanitation. How Might Future Plagues Change Human History?

"Every once in a while a book lands on your desk that changes the way you perceive the world you live in, a book that fundamentally challenges your understanding of human history."… Read more »

Africa: Great Apes Like to Spin Themselves Dizzy, a Lot Like Children Do, Research Shows

Children love to spin. Whether it is by whirling around on their feet, whipping around on a tyre swing, or tumbling down a grassy hill, they revel in the drunken effects of… Read more »

Africa: We Make Thousands of Unconscious Decisions Every Day. Here's How Your Brain Copes With That

Do you remember learning to drive a car? You probably fumbled around for the controls, checked every mirror multiple times, made sure your foot was on the brake pedal, then… Read more »