January 19, 2023
South Africa: Ancient Poop Offers Unusual Insight Into Animal Behaviour
Some people are annoyed when they encounter a fresh pile of dung while out on a walk in nature. Others are excited because it points to the recent visit of a particular kind of… Read more »
January 17, 2023
Africa: Neanderthals - The Oldest Art in the World Wasn't Made By Homo Sapiens
One of the most hotly debated questions in the history of Neanderthal research has been whether they created art. In the past few years, the consensus has become that they did,… Read more »
January 16, 2023
Africa: Most Humans Haven't Evolved to Cope With the Cold, Yet We Dominate Northern Climates - Here's Why
Humans are a tropical species. We have lived in warm climates for most of our evolutionary history, which might explain why so many of us spend winter huddled under a blanket,… Read more »
January 17, 2023
Africa: Fossil Study Brings Us One Step Closer to Revealing How 'Flying Dinosaurs' Took Flight
If you think of flying dinosaurs, you probably picture an animal with long, leathery wings, sharp claws and a big beak. The animal you are imagining is not a dinosaur, it's from a… Read more »
Africa: Curious Kids - Is There Such a Thing As Nothing?
Is there such a thing as nothing? - Reggie, aged seven, Darlington Read more »
January 11, 2023
Africa: Bivalent Covid Vaccines Have Now Been in Use for a Few Months - Here's How They're Stacking Up Against Omicron
Vaccines have played a major role in mitigating the harms of the COVID pandemic since their rollout began just over two years ago. They're estimated to have saved tens of millions… Read more »
January 05, 2023
Africa: Quiet, Please - Human Noise Is Interfering With the Sex Lives of Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers have a bad reputation. They're not popular with gardeners And locusts, a type of swarming grasshopper, can do huge damage to vegetation and crops when they're in a… Read more »
January 04, 2023
Africa: Putting the Bones of Giant, Extinct 'Thunderbirds' Under the Microscope Reveals How They Grew
The largest flightless bird found anywhere in the world today is the ostrich. It stands about 2.5 metres tall and can weigh up to 240kg. But millions of years ago ostriches would… Read more »
January 03, 2023
Southern Africa: DNA in the Water Shows South African Scientists Where to Find a Rare Pipefish
Keeping track of the world's wildlife populations is fundamental to conservation efforts in the face of the continued deterioration of global biodiversity. Read more »
December 27, 2022
Africa: Five Space Exploration Missions to Look Out for in 2023
It's been an eventful year for space exploration, with successes including the completion of Nasa's Artemis 1 mission (finally), the inauguration of the James Webb Space Telescope,… Read more »
December 14, 2022
Tanzania: Why Humans Walk On Two Legs - Some Old Theories Put to the Test
There's no trait that distinguishes humans from all other mammals more clearly than the way we walk. Human habitual bipedalism - obligatory walking on two legs - has long been a… Read more »
December 09, 2022
Africa: Arrakhis - the Tiny Satellite Aiming to Reveal What Dark Matter Is Made of
The European Space Agency (Esa) recently announced a new mission of its science programme: a small telescope orbiting the Earth dubbed Arrakhis. But although its name is inspired… Read more »
December 08, 2022
Africa: Toilets Spew Invisible Tiny Water Droplets With Every Flush - Study
Every time you flush a toilet, it releases plumes of tiny water droplets into the air around you. These droplets, called aerosol plumes, can spread pathogens from human waste and… Read more »
December 01, 2022
Africa: Digital Storytelling Can Be a Powerful Tool for Water Researchers
Storytelling and science may, at first glance, seem like strange bedfellows. Scientists usually share their research through academic journals and books or at academic conferences. Read more »
November 22, 2022
Africa: Scientists Uncovered the Structure of the Key Protein for a Future Hepatitis C Vaccine - Here's How They Did It
The hepatitis C virus, or HCV, causes a chronic liver infection that can lead to permanent liver scarring and, in dire cases, cancer. It affects around 71 million people worldwide… Read more »
South Africa: Exquisite New Fossils From South Africa Offer a Glimpse Into a Thriving Ecosystem 266 Million Years Ago
South Africa is famous for its amazingly rich and diverse fossil record. The country's rocks document more than 3.5 billion years of life on Earth: ancient forms of bacterial life,… Read more »
November 21, 2022
Africa: Intellectual Property Waiver for Covid Vaccines Should Be Expanded to Include Treatments and Tests
Global inequities in access to COVID vaccines have turned out to be a "catastrophic moral failure", just as the World Health Organization warned they would in January 2021. Yet it… Read more »
November 14, 2022
Africa: 'Gain of Function' Research Can Create Experimental Viruses. It Should Be More Strictly Regulated - or Banned
The United Nations Environment Programme recently published a scientific review that looks at environmental threats and risks in light of the COVID pandemic. It analyses links… Read more »
November 03, 2022
Egypt: Five Things Science Has Told Us About the Mummy of Tutankhamun
One hundred years ago, our understanding of ancient Egypt changed forever when the tomb of King Tutankhamun was found on November 4, 1922 in the Valley of Kings. Born around… Read more »
November 02, 2022
Africa: Astronomers Have Detected Another 'Planet Killer' Asteroid. Could We Miss One Coming Our Way?
If you surfed the web this morning, you may have seen news of the latest existential threat to humanity: a "planet killer" asteroid named 2022 AP7. Read more »
October 31, 2022
Congo-Brazzaville: Wild Chimpanzees and Gorillas Can Form Long Friendly Associations That Last Decades - New Research
To survive, animals compete for resources, be it food, mating partners or territory. But a ground breaking recent study shows chimpanzees and gorillas form friendships, some… Read more »
October 28, 2022
Africa: Zombie Worlds - Five Spooky Planets Orbiting Dead Stars
All stars, including the Sun, have a finite lifetime. Stars shine by the process of nuclear fusion in which lighter atoms, such as hydrogen, fuse together to create heavier ones.… Read more »
October 30, 2022
Africa: Vaccines Could Be a Game-Changer in the Fight Against Malaria in Africa
The development of an effective vaccine for malaria has proved to be far more challenging than developing a vaccine to protect people from COVID-19. Several different COVID-19… Read more »
October 27, 2022
Africa: A New Way to Name Bacteria - 300-Year-Old System Revised Thanks to Scientific Advances
Nearly 300 years ago the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus secured his place in scientific history when he created what's known as the binomial system. The year was 1737 and, due to… Read more »
October 26, 2022
Kenya: Kenya Has Lifted Its Ban On Genetically Modified Crops - the Risks and Opportunities
Kenya recently lifted a ban on the cultivation and importation of genetically modified crops amid the worst drought in 40 years and soaring food prices. This includes white maize,… Read more »