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 »
Africa: FAQ On Covid-19 Subvariant Xbb.1.5
Despite intensive public health efforts to grind the COVID-19 pandemic to a halt, the recent emergence of the highly transmissible, extensively drug-resistant and profoundly immune… Read more »
Africa: Strep A Cases Are Rising. We Must Remember Our Earliest Hygiene Lessons As Vaccine Trials Continue
Group A streptococci, also known as "strep A", were the first organisms ever identified to be the cause of a disease. Read more »
South Africa: Being a Volunteer Won't Land You a Job. but It Could Improve Your Chances of Getting One
The South African government has implemented numerous economic policies to boost employment since the democratic transition in 1994. But between 1995 and 2022 the growth in… Read more »
January 15, 2023
South Africa: Farming in South Africa - 6 Things That Need Urgent Attention in 2023
South Africa's agriculture remains an important sector of the economy and holds great potential to reduce poverty. It's also central to the political economy of the country, as… Read more »
Africa: How to Treat Scars At Home - and Hopefully Make Them Disappear
Maybe you've had a skin cancer removed from your face or body. Perhaps you had an injury or accident and needed stitches. However you came by a cut on your skin, you probably want… Read more »
January 14, 2023
Africa: Why Cholera Continues to Threaten Many African Countries
Malawi is facing its worst cholera outbreak in two decades. The outbreak started early in 2022 and has, so far, resulted in over 18,000 cases and the loss of 750 lives. It's also… Read more »
January 13, 2023
South Africa: Frene Ginwala Remembered - Trailblazing Feminist and First Speaker of South Africa's Democratic Parliament
Frene Ginwala, feisty feminist, astute political tactician and committed cadre of South Africa's governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), has died at the age of 90. In… Read more »
Congo-Kinshasa: Mining and Armed Conflict Threaten Eastern DR Congo's Biodiversity in a Complex Web
The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) conflict-affected eastern provinces are home to numerous protected areas. These areas host unique biodiversity and a range of threatened… Read more »
Western Sahara: The Six-Decade Struggle to Liberate Africa's Last Colony
Western Sahara is the territory in north-west Africa bordered by Morocco in the north, Algeria and Mauritania in the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. A former Spanish… Read more »
South Africa: Madosini, a South African National Treasure Whose Music Kept a Rich History Alive
Renowned African musician, songwriter and storyteller Latozi "Madosini" Mphahleni passed away late in 2022. The cultural and indigenous music activist, who laughed as often as she… Read more »
January 12, 2023
South Africa: Pregnant Learners Need Creches and Compassion to Keep Them in School
After Boitumelo gave birth she decided not to go back to school. She assumed that, because she was now a mother, she would be barred from returning. Then she had a surprising… Read more »
Africa: ChatGPT, Dall-E 2 and the Collapse of the Creative Process
In 2022, OpenAI - one of the world's leading artificial intelligence research laboratories - released the text generator ChatGPT and the image generator DALL-E 2. While both… Read more »
Africa: Sitting All Day Is Terrible for Your Health - Now, a New Study Finds a Relatively Easy Way to Counteract It
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. Read more »
Africa: New Statue Celebrates Malawi Pan-Africanist the World Forgot
Samson Kambalu is a Malawian conceptual artist, writer and academic, whose sculpture Antelope was installed on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London in September 2022. Read more »
Africa: Cancer Vaccine Trials Could Start in the in Autumn - UK Signs Deal With Biontech
The UK government recently announced that it is partnering with German firm BioNTech to test vaccines for cancer and other diseases. The project aims to build on the mRNA vaccine… Read more »
January 11, 2023
Africa: Penguin Feathers Help Inspire New De-Icing Techniques
Walking down a road during a white winter comes with its own set of challenges: the frigid cold, stepping around slippery ice on roads and the need to switch sidewalks to avoid… Read more »
Ethiopia: Chinese Imports Could Undermine Ethiopian Manufacturing - Leaving Women Workers Worst Off
China is now the African continent's largest trading partner, accounting for US$254 billion in 2021. It's also the main country of origin for African manufacturing imports,… Read more »
Africa: Speculum - the Creepy History of This Ancient Gynaecological Device and Why It's Still Feared
Women's health is in crisis. In many places, gynaecology waiting lists are rising or are even at record lengths. Read more »
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 »
Africa: Mountain Environments Are Key to Biodiversity - but the Threats to Them Are Being Ignored #AfricaClimateCrisis
Mountains are home to more than 85% of the world's amphibian, bird and mammal species. Lowland slopes are rich in animal and plant species. And rugged, high-elevation environments,… Read more »
Tanzania: Why Solar-Powered Cold Storage Could Be a Sustainable Solution to Tomato Harvest Waste #AfricaClimateHope
Feeding Africa's growing population is a big development challenge for governments, policy makers and agriculture experts. Adding to the challenge is the high level of food loss… Read more »
Africa: Chinese Workers On Africa's Infrastructure Projects - the Link With Host Political Regimes
China has rapidly become Africa's most important infrastructure builder, and the footprint of Chinese construction companies is seen in cities, towns and villages across the… Read more »
Africa: Elephant Poaching Rates Vary Across Africa - 19 Years of Data From 64 Sites Suggest Why
It's a grim and all too common sight for rangers at some of Africa's nature reserves: the bullet-riddled carcass of an elephant, its tusks removed by poachers. African elephant… Read more »
January 10, 2023
Senegal: Ousmane Sembène at 100 - a Tribute to Senegal's 'Father of African Cinema'
1 January 2023 marked the centenary of the birth of Ousmane Sembène, the Senegalese novelist and filmmaker hailed as the "father of African cinema". Over the course of five… Read more »