The Patagonian desert in southern Argentina is a harsh environment. Little seems to thrive on its seemingly endless red plains and parched land. Yet in this unlikely place there is a unique bilingual community. It’s made up of the Afrikaans and Spanish-speaking descendants of the about 650 South African Boers, who came to Patagonia in […]

Analysis shows that what has been predicted to happen in Southern Africa under changing climate in the future is already happening, with more dry periods today than, say, 20 or 50 years ago. Mark New, Director, African Climate and Development Initiative, University of Cape Town; Friederike Otto, Deputy Director and Senior Researcher, Environmental Change Institute, […]

Kate Dooley, Researcher, Australian German Climate and Energy College, University of Melbourne Three years after the Paris Agreement was struck, we now finally know the rules – or most of them, at least – for its implementation. The Paris Rulebook, agreed at the UN climate summit in Katowice, Poland, gives countries a common framework for […]

A staggering 30% of pregnant women in South Africa have HIV. Amy Slogrove, Senior lecturer in Paediatrics and Child Health, Stellenbosch University; Kathleen M. Powis, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School , and Mary-Ann Davies, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Infectious Diseases Epidemiology and Research, University of Cape Town One of the most […]

When did early humans first arrive in the Mediterranean area? New archaeological evidence published 29 November 2018 online by the journal Science (as a First Release) indicates their presence in North Africa at least 2.4 million years ago. This is about 600,000 years earlier than previously thought. The results, from the Ain Boucherit site in […]

Timothy Clack, Lecturer in Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Oxford Encompassing swathes of Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya, the Omo-Turkana Basin is one of the oldest landscapes in the world that is known to have been inhabited by Homo sapiens and is now one of the world’s most extraordinary examples of ethnic diversity. In the […]

Givemore Munhenga, Medical Scientist, National Institute for Communicable Diseases South Africa is one of four southern African countries aiming to eliminate malaria transmission by 2023. Indoor residual spraying using DDT and pyrethroid insecticides constitutes the backbone of South Africa’s malaria control programmes. Effective vector control by indoor residual spraying has been key in the reduction […]

Sant-Rayn Pasricha, Laboratory Head, Population Health and Immunity/ Infection and Immunity, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Ever since humans first evolved from our primitive ancestors, we have been locked in a battle with our greatest infectious foe – malaria. This life-threatening disease, caused by the Plasmodium parasite and transmitted through mosquito bites, kills one child […]

by Carol Dwyer, E-Learning Manger and Russell Chisango, Open Learning Centre Co-ordinator: False Bay TVET College Illiteracy is one of the major challenges that African countries grapple with and South Africa is no exception. In 2016 South Africa was ranked last in the International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) survey. The study found that 78% of […]

Vasudha Narayanan, Professor of Religion, University of Florida In the Freddie Mercury biopic, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” there’s a scene in which a family member scolds Mercury. “So now the family name is not good enough for you?” “I changed it legally,” Mercury responds. “No looking back.” It might come as a surprise to some that Freddie […]