Heavy metals can be toxic to plants - and humans, too.
Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock
Plants have evolved several ways to deal with heavy metals that might otherwise poison or kill them.
Medical staff prepare to enter a hospital isolation unit in western Uganda during a suspected Ebola outbreak in 2018.
Sumy Sadurni/AFP via Getty Images
The Sudan strain of the Ebola virus has been identified in Uganda for the first time in more than a decade.
Habiba Hassan Leesow, who had to leave her home due to drought, sits outside her tent with her daughter Najima Barre in a displacement camp.
Photo by Ed Ram/Getty Images
Millions of Somalis are in urgent need of aid. But not enough is being done to reach marginalised groups.
Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss.
EFE-EPA/Stuart Brock
Since the Brexit referendum in 2016, Africa has slipped from its precarious but tangible place in UK political discourse.
The waters of Lake Nyos, Cameroon, turn a murky brown following a deadly release of toxic gas.
Photo by Thierry Orban/Sygma via Getty Images
Cameroon has many potentially dangerous gas-charged lakes. But not much has been done to mitigate the risks they pose.
A copy of the VOC’s registers for April 1789. These daily registers contained rich detail - including about the weather.
Tracing History Trust
A project to transcribe Dutch colonial records of the weather in Cape Town can benefit modelling of future climate scenarios and assist in forecasting weather now.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images
The global realignment triggered by the end of the Cold War and Gorbachev’s reforms ushered in a period of transition on the African continent.
Spiral galaxies like M100, pictured here, may hold answers about the nature of dark matter.
NASA Spitzer Space Telescope/NASA/JPL-Caltech
A comparison of star-forming galaxies suggests, surprisingly, that dark matter and visible matter do interact – taking us closer to understanding what keeps the galaxies together.
There are concerns about how safe rainwater is to drink.
Rainwater may be contaminated with chemicals and scientists are still uncertain about their effects.
The Anopheles stephensi is usually found in South-East Asia.
Jim Gathany
The spread of this urban malaria vector species threatens the gains made against malaria and the achievement of malaria elimination.
Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, speaking in Senegal in 2019.
Photo by Seyllou/AFP via Getty Images
The IMF sends its staff on two types of mission to member countries: to assess the state of the country’s macro economy or to assess the need for financial support.
The country is reeling from the recent gang rape of eight young women.
LumiNola/GettyImages
The truth is that there are no easy and quick fixes, such as the governing party’s recent castration idea, which falls short on a range of scores.
Protesters demand the freedom of the Sahrawi population.
Jesus Merida/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Long considered a frozen conflict, the Western Sahara dispute roared back to life in late 2020, reviving old wounds and inflicting fresh ones.
Uhuru Kenyatta (centre) holds hands with opinion polls’ favourites, Deputy President William Ruto (left) and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images
Kenya’s ethnic-based politics often leads to electoral violence that hurts regional trade.
Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov are intent on growing Russia’s African influence.
Kremlin/Wikimedia Commons
Russia is trying to normalise an international order where might makes right. And democracy and respect for human rights are optional.
After being displaced by drought, nearly 300 people, mostly women, and children arrived at Qansahley camp in Dollow, Jubaland, Somalia.
Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
About 7.7 million Somalis need emergency aid right now.
Support for young internet users needs to come from parents, teachers, governments and the social media industry.
Adam and Kev via GettyImages
Understanding the impact of the digital environment on children’s mental health requires a balanced consideration of not only the potential risks, but also the benefits of the online world.
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Belgian King Philippe toast at an official banquet in Kinshasa.
Nicolas Maeterlinck/Belga/AFP via Getty Images
For relations with the DRC to truly improve, the Belgian state must acknowledge its historical responsibility more strongly.
A group of armed Islamists gathered in Gao, northern Mali in 2012. Now such groups are seeking foothold in Togo.
Photo by Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images
Recent attacks on Togo show that West African states must act quickly and decisively to stop the spread of violent extremism.
Tigray’s al-Nejashi Mosque, one of Africa’s oldest Islamic sites, was damaged in December 2020.
Photo by Eduardo Soteras/AFP via Getty Images
Many of the artefacts Ethiopia is famous for are found in Tigray. Their continued destruction could lead to irreversible culture shock and social collapse.