South Africa: Genetic Tests for Cancer Can Give Uncertain Results - New Science Is Making the Picture Clearer to Guide Treatment

Cancer treatment is becoming more personalised. By considering a patient's unique genetic and molecular profile, along with their lifestyle and environmental factors, doctors can… Read more »

Egypt: We Decoded the Oldest Genetic Data From an Egyptian, a Man Buried Around 4,500 Years Ago - What It Told Us

A group of scientists has sequenced the genome of a man who was buried in Egypt around 4,500 years ago. The study offers rare insight into the genetic ancestry of early Egyptians… Read more »

Africa: Supernova Theory Links an Exploding Star to Global Cooling and Human Evolution

What's the link between an exploding star, climate change and human evolution? Francis Thackeray, who has researched ancient environments and fossils for many years, sets out his… Read more »

Africa: South Africa and China Set Up a Quantum Communication Link - How We Did It and Why It's Historic

A major breakthrough in quantum technology was achieved in October 2024: the first-ever quantum satellite communication link between China and South Africa. The connection spanned… Read more »

Africa: African Sci-Fi Imagines New Ways of Living in Climate-Changed Worlds

A new book called African Climate Futures explores how African science fiction is addressing climate change. Read more »

Ghana: Ghana Has a Rare Treasure, a Crater Made When a Meteor Hit Earth - Why It Needs to Be Protected

Impact craters are formed when an object from space such as a meteoroid, asteroid or comet strikes the Earth at a very high velocity. This leaves an excavated circular hole on the… Read more »

Africa: New Clues From 2 Million-Year-Old Tooth Enamel Tell Us More About an Ancient Relative of Humans

For nearly a century, scientists have been puzzling over fossils from a strange and robust-looking distant relative of early humans: Paranthropus robustus. It walked upright, and… Read more »

Africa: Most Plant-Friendly Fungi Are a Mystery to Scientists

If you walk through a forest and look down, you might think you're stepping on dead leaves, twigs and soil. In reality, you're walking over a vast underground patchwork of fungal… 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 »

Egypt: Toxic Fungus From King Tutankhamun's Tomb Yields Cancer-Fighting Compounds - New Study

In November 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter peered through a small hole into the sealed tomb of King Tutankhamun. When asked if he could see anything, he replied: "Yes, wonderful… Read more »

Kenya: A Fossil Cranium From Kenya Tells the Story of an Extinct Elephant Species

Some 4.5 million years ago, during the early Pliocene epoch, Kenya's Lake Turkana looked very different than it does today. Grasslands and open woodlands were spreading in cooler,… Read more »

South Africa: Fossil Tracks and Trunk Marks Reveal Signs of Ancient Elephants On South Africa's Coast

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, South Africa's Cape south coast looked very different. Some of the species that roamed this area are now extinct; others evolved over the… Read more »

Africa: How Biotechnology Could Offer Hope for Snakebite Victims

Snakebite is a major public health burden for low-income countries in tropical parts of the world. There are around 5 million bites and 150,000 deaths every year. And about 400,000… Read more »