Misinformation and disinformation remain the top-ranked global risks for 2025, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report. As the world continues to face extreme weather disasters, geopolitical tensions, and societal fragmentation. This alarming trend amplifies other crises and threatens public trust in science and democratic governance. Against this backdrop, the 13^th  World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) 2025, to be held in Africa for the first time, will focus on combating misinformation and fake news, a critical and escalating challenge globally undermining science communication and public health. The conference will be at the CSIR in Pretoria, South Africa, and will run from 1 - 5 December 2025.

A new inhalable nanomedicine developed at the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP) could help outwit one of humanity’s oldest diseases—tuberculosis (TB).

Dr Lindokuhle Ngema, a postdoctoral researcher at WADDP, has engineered a nanosystem capable of delivering all four standard TB drugs directly into the lungs, where the bacteria that cause the disease—Mycobacterium tuberculosis—hide and persist. The formulation aims to bypass the liver and bloodstream, reduce drug loss, and concentrate medication precisely at the site of infection.

“TB is clever—it hides in lung pockets where oral drugs can’t reach. Our system is designed to be smarter and to go exactly where it’s needed,” says Ngema.

TB remains a leading cause of death worldwide, claiming more than 56,000 lives in South Africa alone in 2023. Current treatments require months of daily pills and can cause severe side effects, fuelling poor adherence and the emergence of drug-resistant TB.

By transforming TB therapy into an inhalable treatment, WADDP researchers hope to improve patient adherence, shorten treatment duration, and reduce resistance. The nanosystem’s movement through the lungs will be tracked in collaboration with the Nuclear Medicine Research Institute (NuMeRI), using nuclear imaging to confirm delivery to “hidden” infection sites.

Egyptian paleontologists have discovered the earliest known member of Dyrosauridae — a group of long-snouted, coastal and marine Crocodyliforms— in the Western Desert of Egypt. The new species, Wadisuchus kassabi, lived around 80 million years ago and bridges a crucial fossil gap in the early evolution of marine crocs. The well-preserved skull and jaws, described in The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, reveal transitional features in the development of the dyrosaurid snout and skull adaptations. The findings point to North Africa — particularly Egypt’s Quseir Formation — as the birthplace of Dyrosauridae before their global expansion following the dinosaur extinction.

Wits Professor Stephen Tollman has joined the Africa Task Force on Brain Health, part of the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative. With dementia set to affect over one million South Africans, the new “6x5 Plan” aims to strengthen brain health systems, harness digital tools, and drive advocacy across Africa.