Sign in
The Conversation
Our laser technique can tell apart elephant and mammoth ivory – here’s how it may disrupt the ivory trade

Our laser technique can tell apart elephant and mammoth ivory – here’s how it may disrupt the ivory trade

Rebecca Shepherd, University of Bristol

Front view of an animal with curved horns and a beard

Africa’s wildebeest: those that can’t migrate are becoming genetically weaker – new study

Joseph Ogutu, University of Hohenheim

MeerKAT: the South African radio telescope that’s transformed our understanding of the cosmos

Ed Elson, University of the Western Cape

Large white satellite dishes, their receivers pointed up to the sky, are photographed in a sprawling, empty patch of land
Nasa to overhaul mission returning samples from Mars – here’s why it must and will go ahead

John Bridges, University of Leicester

Perseverance rover taking a selfie on Mars.
Sex differences don’t disappear as a country’s equality develops – sometimes they become stronger

Agneta Herlitz, Karolinska Institutet

Human face made from different portraits of men and women of diverse age and race.
Fermented foods sustain both microbiomes and cultural heritage

Andrew Flachs, Purdue University and Joseph Orkin, Université de Montréal

Close-up of person putting shredded cabbage in a jar of other shredded vegetables.

Get evidence-based news in your inbox, for free

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

Tech talk

Understanding AI outputs: study shows pro-western cultural bias in the way AI decisions are explained

Mary Carman, University of the Witwatersrand and Uwe Peters, Utrecht University

A vibrant vector illustration depicting Ai vs natural intelligence, both shaped like human heads but with different processes occurring in their heads.
Technology makes it easy for lawyers to work across borders: regulations should too

Temitope Lawal, Bond University

Graphic illustration of scales representing justice within concentric lines on a dark blue background
Even hands-free, phones and their apps cause dangerously distracted driving

Shannon Roberts, UMass Amherst

a hand points to a virtual button on a display screen on a car dashboard.
We built an AI tool to help set priorities for conservation in Madagascar: what we found

Daniele Silvestro, University of Fribourg

We built an AI tool to help set priorities for conservation in Madagascar: what we found
Read more

Creature features

Seychelles : une étude récente confirme la présence de baleines bleues depuis des décennies

Jeremy Kiszka, Florida International University

Photo d'une baleine solitaire
Africa is full of bats, but their fossils are scarce – why these rare records matter

Mariëtte Pretorius, University of the Witwatersrand

A bat in flight against a dark sky
Tiny weevils are waging war on the invasive water lettuce plant choking South Africa’s Vaal River

Julie Coetzee, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity

A small insect with a light brown body and protruding mouth parts is pictured up close on a green leaf
Snakebites: we thought we’d created a winning new antivenom but then it flopped. Why that turned out to be a good thing

Christoffer Vinther Sørensen, Technical University of Denmark; Andreas Hougaard Laustsen, Technical University of Denmark; Bruno Lomonte, Universidad de Costa Rica, and Julián Fernández, Universidad de Costa Rica

A snake, its fangs bared because a metal rod is being held across its mouth
Read more

Our ancient world

Artist's impression of giant marine reptile on the beach with two smaller land based reptiles

How a teenager helped identify a new species of giant marine reptile

Dean Lomax, University of Manchester

Fossil beetles found in a Botswana diamond mine help us to reconstruct the distant past

Sandiso Mnguni, University of the Witwatersrand

The fossilised imprint of a beetle with a thick thorax and tail and a long thin apparatus protruding from its mouth
Fossilized dinosaur eggshells can preserve amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, over millions of years

Evan Thomas Saitta, University of Chicago

A cross section showing long, multicolor columnar structures.
Stingray sand ‘sculpture’ on South Africa’s coast may be oldest example of humans creating an image of another creature

Charles Helm, Nelson Mandela University and Alan Whitfield, National Research Foundation

A greyish-blue disc-shaped marine creature with blue spots in shallow fresh water
Duckbill dinosaur discovery in Morocco – expert unpacks the mystery of how they got there

Nicholas R. Longrich, University of Bath

Artist's illustration of three dinosaurs walking along a shore; another larger creature lies dead
Read more

You can republish our articles online or in print for free

All we ask is that you follow these guidelines

Most read this week

1.
Sex differences don’t disappear as a country’s equality develops – sometimes they become stronger

Agneta Herlitz, Karolinska Institutet

Sex differences don’t disappear as a country’s equality develops – sometimes they become stronger
2.
Rogue waves in the ocean are much more common than anyone suspected, says new study

Alessandro Toffoli, The University of Melbourne

Rogue waves in the ocean are much more common than anyone suspected, says new study
3.
Fermented foods sustain both microbiomes and cultural heritage

Andrew Flachs, Purdue University and Joseph Orkin, Université de Montréal

Fermented foods sustain both microbiomes and cultural heritage
4.
MeerKAT: the South African radio telescope that’s transformed our understanding of the cosmos

Ed Elson, University of the Western Cape

MeerKAT: the South African radio telescope that’s transformed our understanding of the cosmos
5.
Brain scans of Philly jazz musicians reveal secrets to reaching creative flow

John Kounios, Drexel University and Yvette Kounios, Widener University

Brain scans of Philly jazz musicians reveal secrets to reaching creative flow
6.
Nasa to overhaul mission returning samples from Mars – here’s why it must and will go ahead

John Bridges, University of Leicester

Nasa to overhaul mission returning samples from Mars – here’s why it must and will go ahead

The Conversation Africa is a nonprofit, independent news organization supported by readers

Click here to make a donation