New world map makes Africa look bigger: what’s the fuss about? Cartographers explain

Jack Swab, University of Tennessee and Derek H. Alderman, University of Tennessee

Steep-sided valley with snow-topped mountain in the background

Africa’s rocks hold ancient stories. We need better ways to document and protect them

Kamaldeen O L Omosanya, University of the Western Cape

Man with hearing aid talking to a nurse.

Fewer than 2% of Africans who need hearing aids have them, but new solutions offer hope

De Wet Swanepoel, University of Pretoria

Discovery of ancient DNA from antelope fossils in South Africa opens a new window on the past

Deon de Jager, University of Copenhagen and Eline Lorenzen, University of Copenhagen

Early mammals weren’t all loners, as scientists thought – some already lived in pairs alongside the dinosaurs

Carsten Schradin, Université de Strasbourg; University of the Witwatersrand

Illustration of large dinosaurs and small mouse-like animals in a forest

Sunscreen for lakes and dams: could a thin floating layer of nanomaterial shield water from evaporation?

Daniel Kwasi Kpeglo, University of South Africa

South Africa produces enough food, yet millions face hunger. Better cold storage could help change that

Ikechukwu Opara, Stellenbosch University and Frederic Isingizwe, University of the Western Cape

Air traffic control is becoming more automated. Is regulation keeping up?

Cindy Hendrikse, University of Cape Town

Person seen from behind sitting at a desk with computer screens, phone and binoculars, facing a big window looking onto an airport runway

Close-up of a fly on a piece of woven fabric

The bloodsucking insect with a saw for a mouth: how the tsetse fly bites through almost anything

Markus Engstler, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg and Daniel Masiga, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology

The soil’s early warning system: microbes can predict desertification before plants start to die

Marc Van Goethem, University of Pretoria

A new class of metals could transform Africa’s clean energy economy – scientists explain

Michael Oluwatosin Bodunrin, University of the Witwatersrand; Abdalrhaman Koko, National Physical Laboratory, and Nihad Omer, Sudan University of Science and Technology

Archaeology has evolved: Four eras of understanding Africa’s past

Tim Forssman, University of Mpumalanga

South Africa’s privacy laws are evolving, but vulnerable people are being left behind

Phumezo Ntlatywa, Sol Plaatje University

Antibiotic resistance is spreading through South Africa’s water systems: study explains how

Thulani P. Makhalanyane, Stellenbosch University and John Paul Makumbi, Stellenbosch University

The sex life of treefrogs: how females build better nests by mating with multiple partners

Phillip Byrne, University of Wollongong and Aimee Silla, University of Wollongong

Can a newly discovered soil fungus stop the devastating African armyworm when chemicals have failed?

Letodi Luki Mathulwe, Stellenbosch University

Stored water can develop slimy bacterial films: nanotechnology may be a solution

Muthumuni Elizabeth Managa, University of South Africa and Lijo Mona, University of South Africa

A bottle of water with nanoparticle diagrams drawn on the outside

Did Cape Town’s gunshot detection system work? Why jury is still out on what ShotSpotter achieved

Grant Oosterwyk, University of Cape Town; Ojelanki Ngwenyama, Toronto Metropolitan University, and Raffaele F Ciriello, University of Sydney

Where do the world’s biggest diamonds come from? Geology now has answers

Geoffrey Howarth, University of Cape Town

The world has the science to transform food systems. The next frontier is scaling it

Timothy Krupnik, CGIAR

AI can make the dead talk – why this doesn’t comfort us

Tom Divon, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Christian Pentzold, University of Leipzig

Drawing of a person hugging an outline figure with an electronic circuitry pattern

Our ancient planet

Oxygen atoms in 15-million-year-old giant eggshells reveal how plants reacted to a hotter Earth – study

Vincent Hare, University of Cape Town

Lesotho’s mountain life was harsh for early humans: fire made all the difference

Kyra Pazan, California State University, Stanislaus and Andrew Carr, University of Leicester

In Sudan, a migrant community reveals a resistance to malaria: the genetic study helping shape medicine

David Comas, Universitat Pompeu Fabra; Instituto de Biología Evolutiva (IBE - CSIC - UPF) and Laura Vilà Valls, Universitat Pompeu Fabra; Instituto de Biología Evolutiva (IBE - CSIC - UPF)

Group of women, some wearing veils on their heads, in a church building

Embryo fossil found in South Africa is world’s oldest proof that mammal ancestors laid eggs

Julien Benoit, University of the Witwatersrand; Jennifer Botha, University of the Witwatersrand, and Vincent Fernandez, University of the Witwatersrand

Illustration of an embryo curled up inside an egg

Life in fossil bones: what we can learn from tiny traces of ancient blood chemicals

Timothy G. Bromage, New York University

Early humans relied on simple stone tools for 300,000 years in a changing east African landscape

Niguss Gitaw Baraki, George Washington University; Dan V. Palcu Rolier; David R. Braun, George Washington University; Emmanuel K. Ndiema, National Museums of Kenya, and Rahab N. Kinyanjui

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Creature features

Monkey perched on a tree stroking a squirrel

Monkeys keep pets too – animal specialist on the world of interspecies friendship

Cyril Grueter, The University of Western Australia; University of Oxford

Female baboons keep family bonds strong: research reveals the benefits

Joan Silk, Arizona State University

Adult baboon with an infant on its rump.

A Namib desert beetle runs to stay cool: how scientists solved the puzzle of this unique and speedy species

Duncan Mitchell, University of the Witwatersrand and Joh R. Henschel, University of the Free State

Chimpanzees ingest more than the equivalent of one alcoholic drink a day – new research

Stefano Kaburu, Nottingham Trent University

Two chimpanzees sitting together with playful expressions

Whose turn is it? The question is at the heart of language and chimpanzees ask it too

Kayla Kolff, Osnabrück University and Simone Pika, Osnabrück University

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Talking tech

Could AI create a new form of inequality in South Africa?

Rennie Naidoo, University of the Witwatersrand

Hand holding a smartphone showing the message 'how can I help you?'

AI regulation in Africa: why copying the European model won’t work

Kinfe Yilma, University of Leeds and Grace Mutung'u, Strathmore University

Digitally generated image of human figure and gavel. 3d render.

AI offers promise for agriculture, but smallholder farmers risk being left behind

Abiodun Olusola Omotayo, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; North-West University and Abeeb Babatunde Omotoso, North-West University

Farmer on a tractor in a ploughed field, looking at a laptop

AI and journalism in southern Africa: editors are using it but balanced with human expertise and editorial judgement

Mandla J. Radebe, University of Johannesburg and Mbongeni J Msimanga, University of Johannesburg

Science + Tech – Views & Research – The Conversation

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