January 07
Africa: Viral Outbreaks Are Always On the Horizon
A new year might mean new viral threats. Read more »
Africa: Risks Young Chimps Take As They Swing Through the Trees Underscore Role of Protective Parenting in Humans
Adolescents are known for risky behavior, with teenagers in the U.S. more likely than younger children to die from injury. But what's responsible for this uptick in risk-taking… Read more »
West Africa: Sahel Farmers Do Better When They Combine Innovations Rather Than Using Them One By One
Smallholder farmers in west Africa's Sahel face a harsh and worsening climate. Rainfall is erratic, temperatures are rising, soils are degrading, and droughts have become more… Read more »
Namibia: A Namib Desert Beetle Runs to Stay Cool - How Scientists Solved the Puzzle of This Unique and Speedy Species
The Namib desert of south-western Africa can be extremely hot - the surface temperature can be over 50°C. But a surprising number of around 200 beetle species live on its bare,… Read more »
South Africa: Land Reform in South Africa - How New Landholders Could Prosper From Wildlife and Not Just Farming
South Africa has a thriving wildlife economy - enterprises like trophy and meat hunting, ecotourism, live wildlife sales and game meat production. Read more »
Africa: Measures of Academic Value Overlook African Scholars Who Make a Local Impact - Study
Academics today, around the world, are confined by the way their research output is measured. Indicators that count the number of times their work is cited by other academics, and… Read more »
January 06
West Africa: Nigeria Has a High Poverty Rate - What This Has to Do With Ethnic Conflicts
Nigeria has endured decades of violent insurgencies and ranks 6th on the 2025 Global Terrorism Index. Numerous people have been killed and millions displaced. The number of… Read more »
January 05
South Africa: Johannesburg Has Failed Its Informal Traders - Policies Are in Place, but Action Is Needed
Johannesburg's inner city is a bustling hub of economic life - a dense, dynamic web of informal traders, adjacent businesses and other users. Informal trading remains an essential… Read more »
South Africa: Why Do South African Teachers Still Threaten Children With a Beating? A Psychologist Explains
Corporal punishment - usually referring to adults hitting children - was abolished in South Africa in 1997. The Constitutional Court had already ruled it incompatible with the bill… Read more »
January 04
Uganda: Political Policing in Museveni's Uganda - What It Means for the 2026 Elections
Uganda's police have long faced criticism for politically charged interventions. These include episodes in which lethal force has been used in ways that observers describe as… Read more »
Africa: HIV Funding Still Falls Short of Targets After Pledges - What's At Stake
The US government paused all foreign assistance in January 2025. This abrupt decision affected the delivery of life-saving HIV medicines and the provision of HIV prevention… Read more »
Africa: Hotter Weather Thickens the Blood of Wild Mammals
Large wild mammals - from elephants to antelopes - are already struggling to cope with global warming. Now new research shows that even the small creatures adapted to harsh, arid… Read more »
January 02
Kenya: Street Food in Mombasa - How City Life Shaped the Modern Meal
As Kenya's cities grew, more and more people left their rural homes and subsistence farming systems to go to urban settlements like Mombasa to find work. In the city, meals were… Read more »
January 01
Africa: Ancient African Bedrock Reveals the Violent Beginnings of Life On Our Blue Planet
You have probably seen the images of the surface of Mars, beamed back by NASA's rovers. What if there were a time machine capable of roaming Earth during its remote geological… Read more »
Africa: Oldest Known Cremation in Africa Poses 9,500-Year-Old Mystery About Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers
Near the equator, the Sun hurries below the horizon in a matter of minutes. Darkness seeps from the surrounding forest. Nearly 10,000 years ago, at the base of a mountain in… Read more »
South Africa: What Makes Mountain Birds Sing At Dawn - and Why Are They Sometimes Quiet? Ecologists Explain
Three species of the melodic African warbler bird refuse to get up early and sing their customary daybreak songs when the weather is cold. This new discovery was made recently by a… Read more »
December 31, 2025
Nigeria: The Pluses and Minuses of U.S. Airstrikes in Northern Nigeria
A month before the US carried out its Christmas day attack on militants linked to the Islamic State group (IS) in north-western Nigeria, president Donald Trump had declared Nigeria… Read more »
Kenya: Kenya's 'Night Running' - How a Rural Ritual With Links to Witchcraft Became an Urban Staple
In parts of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, it is not uncommon to hear of individuals who run naked at night. They cause trouble and instil fear in the neighbourhood. They throw stones… Read more »
December 30, 2025
Uganda: Inside Uganda's Video Halls, 'Video Jokers' Transform Hollywood Blockbusters Into Local Entertainment
If you walk into a video hall in Uganda your attention will probably go straight to a person sitting at the front of the audience. Speaking rapidly into a microphone, they comment… Read more »
South Africa: Amazing Pineapple Leaf Powder That Fights Crime and Pollution - New Research
In South Africa, manufacturers of pineapple juice and other pineapple products discard thousands of tons of pineapple leaves every year, with most ending up in dumpsites. Read more »
December 29, 2025
Africa: Choosing a Career? in a Fast-Changing Job Market, Listen to Your Inner Self - Counsellor
The world of work today, in the 21st century, is far more unpredictable than it was in the 20th century. Jobs come and go, roles change constantly, and automation and digital… Read more »
December 26, 2025
Africa: Apongo Was a Rebel Leader in Jamaica - a Diary Entry Sheds Light On His West African Origins
For over three centuries, between 1526 and 1866, at least 10.5 million Africans were forcibly trafficked to the Americas in the transatlantic slave trade. Over half of them (with… Read more »
December 25, 2025
Africa: Looted African Belongings Must Be Returned - Is It Repatriation or Restitution? the Words We Use Matter
Museums and universities around the world hold vast collections of cultural artefacts, artworks, objectified belongings and even ancestral remains. Many were not freely given but… Read more »
December 24, 2025
Africa: Africa's Rarest Carnivore - the Story of the First Ethiopian Wolf Ever Captured, Nursed and Returned to the Wild
What's the value of one animal? When a wild animal is found badly injured, the most humane option is often euthanasia to prevent further suffering. That's what usually happens, and… Read more »
December 23, 2025
Africa: When Kids Move Overseas - Why Visits Are So Rare for South Africa's Emigrant Families
More than one million South Africans, about 1.6% of the country's population of 63 million, currently live overseas. Emigration is never a solitary event or a purely economic… Read more »
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