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 »

South Africa: How Do Bodies Decompose? Cape Town Forensic Scientists Are Pushing Frontiers of New Detection Methods

Cape Town has consistently been one of the metropolitan regions in South Africa with the highest murder rates. It has more than double the national average, and is currently ranked… Read more »

Ethiopia: Ethiopia's Emergency Medical Response System Is Up and Running - What Other Countries Can Learn From It

Ethiopia has built a national emergency medical team and hosts Africa's first World Health Organization (WHO)-certified regional training hub. It offers a robust, African-led model… 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: Breast Cancer - New Study Finds Genetic Risk in African Women

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, it is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women. 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 »

South Africa: South African Hunters Chewed the Kanna Plant for Endurance - New Study Tests Its Effects On Mouse Brain Chemistry

Sceletium tortuosum is a little succulent plant that grows in the semi-arid Karoo and Namaqualand regions of South Africa. It has a long history of traditional use among the… Read more »

Congo-Kinshasa: DR Congo's Latest Peace Deal Is Breaking Down and It Isn't the First - What's Being Done Wrong

A series of peace initiatives since 2021 have sought to address the escalation of conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following a renewed offensive from the M23… Read more »

Africa: AI Has a Hidden Water Cost - Here's How to Calculate Yours

Artificial intelligence systems are thirsty, consuming as much as 500 milliliters of water - a single-serving water bottle - for each short conversation a user has with the GPT-3… Read more »

Egypt: Curious Kids - in Ancient Egypt, Did Pyramids Really Have Booby Traps? Why Was Treasure Hidden Inside?

In ancient Egypt, did pyramids really have booby traps? Why was treasure hidden inside? - Effie, age 8, New Plymouth, New Zealand. Read more »

Africa: Birth Control in Africa - Study Tracks the Use of Long-Acting Contraception in 26 Countries

Contraception, or birth control, can take a number of forms including drugs, devices, or surgery to prevent pregnancy. Methods can be long-acting or short-acting. Obasanjo… Read more »

Africa: 60 Percent of Africans Don't Believe Democracy Is Working in Their Interests - How Parliaments Can Fix the Problem

Across Africa, democracy is being tested - by rising authoritarianism and military coups as well as a growing disconnect between citizens and the institutions meant to represent… Read more »

South Africa: HIV Is On the Rise Among Older Africans, but Care and Research Overlook This Group - Lessons From Kenya and South Africa

For decades, public health efforts across sub-Saharan Africa have focused on HIV prevention, testing and treatment campaigns on children, and women of reproductive age, overlooking… Read more »

Namibia: What Does It Mean to Become an Adult? in Namibia, It's Caring for Others

Around the world, people become adults in different ways. In some places, it's when you get a job, get married, or move out of your parents' house. In others it might include an… Read more »

Cameroon: Cameroon's Election Risks Instability, No Matter Who Wins

Cameroonians will vote in presidential elections on 12 October 2025. The incumbent, Paul Biya, who has been in office for nearly 43 years, will be a candidate. Read more »

Congo-Kinshasa: Islamic State Massacres in Eastern DR Congo - Who Are the Insurgents and Why Are They Killing Civilians?

More than 100 civilians have perished in a spate of attacks by Islamic State-backed rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in mid-2025. The Islamic State's Central African… Read more »

South Africa: Should Governments Pay Businesses for Climate Disasters? Researchers Unpack Huge Lawsuits in South Africa

The most catastrophic natural disaster ever recorded in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province - also the worst flood in South Africa for more than a century - has sparked two major… Read more »

Senegal: Senegal's Rating Downgrade - Credit Agencies Are Punishing Countries That Don't Check Their Numbers

Senegal's dramatic two-notch credit rating downgrade in February 2025 by the credit rating agency Moody's was followed by a Standard & Poor's downgrade in July. Read more »

Africa: World Maps Get Africa's Size Wrong - Cartographers Explain Why Fixing It Matters

The African Union has endorsed the #CorrectTheMap Campaign, a call for the United Nations and the wider global community to use a different kind of world map. The campaign… Read more »

Africa: African Novels Are Being Translated to English in a Bold New Trend. We Review Ignatius Mabasa's the Mad

When it comes to African literature, translation has mostly meant translating work from European languages into African ones. Translation from African languages into English has… Read more »

South Africa: Talking About Sex Isn't Always Easy for Teachers in South Africa. Here's What They Told Us

Young people in rural Limpopo, the South African province bordering Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, face high risks of HIV, unplanned pregnancy, and other societal challenges. Read more »

Lesotho: Lesotho's Historian 'Burns' Machobane Told the Country's Story - and Helped Build It After Colonialism

Last year Lesotho celebrated 200 years since the founding of the nation by Moeshoeshoe I. This year the small country in southern Africa will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of… Read more »

Africa: How to Harness the Ocean for Prosperity - Funding African Innovations Can Unlock the Blue Economy

Africa has an enormous ocean area at its disposal. There are almost 20 million square kilometres of ocean, seas and inland water that could be developed into environmentally… Read more »

South Africa: South Africa's Service Delivery Crisis - Why Protesters Are Using More Militant Tactics

Post-apartheid South Africa is characterised by frequent public protests. On average, between 2007 and 2013, there were over 11 protests daily. Research shows that protests almost… Read more »

Africa: Africa's City Planners Must Look to the Global South for Solutions - Johannesburg and São Paulo Offer Useful Insights

For decades, the dominant theories and models in urban studies have been built from the experience of a small set of mostly western cities. Other urban contexts, particularly those… Read more »