By Carsten Schradin, Director of Research, Université de Strasbourg; University of the Witwatersrand
About 200 million years ago, furry little egg-laying creatures evolved the ability to feed their offspring with a secretion from some special glands: milk. Their evolutionary journey continued and by about 160 million years ago, the first mammals with a real placenta had come into being. Instead of laying eggs, they gave birth to live young that had been connected via a placenta directly to their mother during pregnancy, allowing the exchange of oxygen, nutrients and waste products.
These early…
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By Amy Sarah Padayachee, Lecturer, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Questions about the integrity of educator appointments remain unresolved in South Africa ten years after a ministerial task team investigated the alleged sale of teaching posts.
The inquiry exposed vulnerabilities in a system intended to ensure that appointments are fair, equitable and transparent. A decade later, how well does South Africa’s system protect teacher appointments and promotions from improper influence? The question remains relevant because allegations…
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By Yap Boum, Professor in the faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology
Marie Roseline Belizaire, Researcher, School of Medicine, Universidad de Alcalá
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s fight against Ebola has reached a tipping point. It can accelerate what it has been doing to bring the latest outbreak under control, or risk allowing it to persist as the worst Ebola epidemic ever recorded.
As at 1 September 2026, more than 6,186 confirmed cases and 3,007 deaths have been reported since May…
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By Moha Ennaji, Professor, Université Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah
International attention needs to be paid to Europe’s outsourcing of border controls, and to the relationship between Spain and Morocco.
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By Anuradha Gupta, Assistant Professor of Physics & Astronomy, University of Mississippi
Some stars turn into black holes at the end of their lifespans, once they stop burning the fuel in their cores.
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By Peter Whitewood, Associate Professor of History, York St John University
Relations between London and Moscow reached another peak of tension in August over the UK’s support for Ukraine. The success of Ukraine’s long-range strikes against targets deep inside Russia, with the help of UK-made drones, and the UK’s commitment to supply blueprints to help it manufacture long-range missiles, led the Kremlin to accuse the UK of deliberately escalating the conflict.
Russia’s London embassy promised that the deeper the UK’s involvement in the war “the higher price it will…
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By Manal Mohammed, Senior Lecturer, Medical Microbiology, University of Westminster
From 3 September 2026, Brazilian beef, poultry and other animal products will no longer be authorised for import into the European Union (EU) or Northern Ireland. England, Scotland and Wales will continue accepting them during a separate UK assessment. The split concerns how antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines are used in farm animals.
Brazil has not provided the EU with sufficient guarantees that producers meet its rules on antimicrobial…
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By Ian Copple, Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology / MRC Senior Fellow Pharmacology & Therapeutics, University of Liverpool
Small challenges can activate cells’ protective systems. Scientists are exploring whether food compounds and medicines can make use of this effect.
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By Malte Jauch, Lecturer in Management and Marketing, University of Essex
Technological progress has taken more than its fair share of the workload from humans over the years. Washing machines clean our clothes, tractors plough the fields and computers sort out the admin.
Meanwhile, economic growth and redistribution of wealth means most workers in industrialised countries do not need to spend most of their waking hours on gainful employment. The 12 hour working day that was common during the 19th century has been largely…
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By Mehebub Sahana, Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer in Environmental Management, University of Manchester
Nimesh Dhungana, Lecturer in Disasters and Global Health, Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, University of Manchester
Priyank Pravin Patel, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Presidency University, Kolkata
Reshma Shrestha, Associate Professor, Department of Geomatics Engineering, Kathmandu University
The exact timeline of the recent Nepal flooding disaster is becoming clearer. At 8:37am, instruments recorded what was initially interpreted as an earthquake near Nepal’s border with China. Seven minutes later, CCTV recorded the Gyirong Port border post being destroyed by a massive debris flow and flood.
Nepal’s flood authorities learned about the incident at about 9:00am and sent out an emergency SMS alert at about 9:15am. But by that time, Nepal was already deep into a major disaster.
The 38 minute…
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