May 15
South Africa: Leopard DNA Study in South Africa Traces Ancestry to Ice Age - and Will Guide Conservation
An ice age almost one million years ago led to a meeting between leopards from central and southern Africa that were searching for grassland. New research into the leopards'… Read more »
May 14
Ghana: Ghana's Forests Are Being Wiped Out - What's Behind This and Why Attempts to Stop It Aren't Working
Ghana has around 7.9 million hectares of forested land (35% of the total land area), according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Around 7.6 million hectares are primary or… Read more »
May 13
Africa: Wildlife Traffickers Carried On Their Illegal Trade During Covid Lockdown
The world literally stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic. But while countries locked down to keep coronavirus at bay, wildlife traffickers carried on their illegal activities.… Read more »
May 12
Madagascar: Madagascar's Ancient Baobab Forests Are Being Restored By Communities - With a Little Help From Ai
Six of the world's eight baobab species are indigenous to Madagascar, where the distinctive trees with giant trunks have historically grown in huge forests. But these forests are… Read more »
May 08
Africa: Playing With the Kids Is Important Work for Chimpanzee Mothers
Wild chimpanzees have been studied for more than 60 years, but they continue to delight and surprise observers, as we found during the summer of 2017 in Kibale National Park in… Read more »
May 10
Africa: Cement Is a Big Carbon Emitter and Quality Is Costly - a Civil Engineer Explains
Every year the world uses 4 billion tonnes of cement to make the concrete that goes into buildings and other infrastructure. It leaves a huge carbon footprint, and comes with other… Read more »
May 09
Kenya: Kenya Floods - As the Costs Add Up Pressure Mounts On a Country in Economic Crisis
There were early warnings that Kenya's long rain season - between March and May - was going to bring above-normal rainfall. The extreme intensity of the rain has resulted in… Read more »
May 08
Africa: South Africa's Plan to Move Away From Coal - 8 Steps to Make It Succeed
The South African government's Just Energy Transition Implementation Plan was launched in November 2023. It is a roadmap guiding the country away from reliance on coal-fired power… Read more »
Africa: Fossilised Circles in the Sand On South Africa's Coast May Be Artwork By Our Early Ancestors
If you have walked on a dune surface after windy conditions have settled, you may have been privileged to recognise one of Nature's wonders: scratch circles. These are structures… Read more »
May 03
Africa: Hadeda Ibises' 'Sixth Sense' Works Best in Wet Soil
Hadeda ibises (Bostrychia hagedash) are one of the most familiar species of birds across sub-Saharan Africa. They are large, long-legged birds with long, thin beaks for probing… Read more »
May 02
South Africa: Great White Sharks Off South Africa's Coast Are Protected By Law, but Not in Practice. Why This Needs to Change
In less than eight years, white sharks in South Africa have all but disappeared from their historical hotspots in False Bay and Gansbaai, on the Western Cape coast. These areas… Read more »
May 01
Africa: The Covid-19 Pandemic Changed Our Patterns and Behaviours, Which in Turn Affected Wildlife
The Earth now supports over eight billion people who collectively have transformed three-quarters of the planet's land surface for food, energy, shelter and other aspects of the… Read more »
Kenya: Kenya's Devastating Floods Expose Decades of Poor Urban Planning and Bad Land Management
Floods in Kenya killed at least 169 people between March and April 2024. The most catastrophic of these deaths occurred after a flash flood swept through a rural village killing 42… Read more »
April 30
Uganda: Business and Management Graduates Can Become Climate Change and Sustainability Champions - Lessons From Uganda and Tanzania On How Universities Can Support This
There is no doubt about it: the world is in the grips of a climate crisis. The headlines are full of reports about extreme weather events and the negative effects of the fossil… Read more »
April 24
Africa: Our Laser Technique Can Tell Apart Elephant and Mammoth Ivory
In recent years, the global trade in elephant ivory has faced significant restrictions in an effort to protect dwindling elephant populations. Many countries have stringent… Read more »
April 26
South Africa: Waste Pickers Play a Key Role in the Fight Against Plastic Pollution
Our addiction to plastics is trashing the planet, exacerbating global heating and threatening our very survival. Since 2022, the UN has been convening negotiations on a Plastics… Read more »
April 23
Africa: Africa's Megacities Threatened By Heat, Floods and Disease
Cities cover just 3% of the planet. But they emit 78% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, absorb 80% of final global energy (what consumers use) and consume 60% of clean… Read more »
April 22
Africa: Planting Trees in Grasslands Won't Save the Planet - Rather Protect and Restore Forests
Tree planting is one of the nature-based solutions being used to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Trees absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. Many of these tree planting projects… Read more »
April 21
Seychelles: Blue Whales - First Discovery Near Seychelles in Decades - What Our Study Found
Blue whales are fascinating animals. At 24-30 metres in length (longer than a basketball court) they are the largest creatures on Earth. They are also among the rarest. Estimates… Read more »
April 09
Africa: Flowers May Be More Ancient Than Dinosaurs - but Scientists Can't Agree On When They Evolved
Flowers may look delicate - but flowering plants, what scientists call angiosperms, are one of the most successful evolutionary organisms on the planet. Including more than 350,000… Read more »
April 18
South Africa: Climate Change Makes Life Harder - in South Africa It's Likely to Bring Heatwaves, Water Stress and Gender-Based Violence
South Africa is feeling the impacts of global warming. Heat is frequent and more intense. Human-induced climate change made the severe 2015-2017 drought three to six times more… Read more »
April 17
Africa: How to End Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa - Fight Inequality, Gender Imbalances and Climate Change
A greater part of Africa's population can't afford a healthy diet than any other regional population. Food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa is caused by climate change, high levels… Read more »
April 15
South Africa: Climate Change Is Causing Marine 'Coldwaves' Too, Killing Wildlife
The effects of ocean warming are profound and well-documented. But sometimes changes in the patterns of winds and ocean currents cause seawater to suddenly cool, instead. Read more »
April 09
Africa: Fossilized Dinosaur Eggshells Can Preserve Amino Acids, the Building Blocks of Proteins, Over Millions of Years
As a scientist, lab work can sometimes get monotonous. But in 2017, while a Ph.D. student of paleobiology at the University of Bristol in the U.K., I heard a gleeful exclamation… Read more »
April 14
Africa: Rogue Waves in the Ocean Are Much More Common Than Anyone Suspected, Says New Study
We used three-dimensional imaging of ocean waves to capture freakish seas that produce a notorious phenomenon known as rogue waves. Our results are now published in Physical Review… Read more »