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Latest News Releases from Africa

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 8-Dec-2025 12:11 ET (8-Dec-2025 17:11 GMT/UTC)

Launch of landmark 2026 IPBES Business & Biodiversity Assessment Report: Accreditation opens

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

On approval by IPBES' 152 governments in early February, the Business & Biodiversity Assessment Report will become the accepted state of knowledge on methods and metrics by which companies measure and report their impacts and dependencies on nature. It will influence future international reporting frameworks, regulatory expectations, and stakeholder pressure. It will equip business leaders and policymakers with clear, practical guidance to meet rising regulatory expectations and make smarter decisions for nature and the economy. Full details and launch plans: https://www.ipbes.net/ipbes-12/primers. For early access to the report and author interviews: https://www.ipbes.net/bba-accreditation

Shaping quantum light unlocks new possibilities for future technologies

University of the Witwatersrand
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The study surveys rapid progress in techniques capable of creating, manipulating and detecting quantum structured light. These include on-chip integrated photonics, nonlinear optics, and multiplane light conversion, which now form a modern and increasingly powerful toolkit.

Journal: Nature Photonics

Becoming human in southern Africa: What ancient hunter-gatherer genomes reveal

University of Johannesburg
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In one of the largest African ancient-DNA studies to date, geneticists from Uppsala University, Sweden, and an archaeologist from the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, analysed the DNA of 28 people who lived in southern Africa between 1200 and just a few hundred years ago. It contributes further evidence that southern African hunter-gatherers were the earliest known human group with a unique Homo sapiens genetic ancestry tracing back to about 300 000 years ago.

Journal: Nature
Funder: South African National Research Foundation - African Origins Platform Grant

Day 2 of the 13th World Conference of Science Journalists: Advancing science journalism for society and global impact

World Conference of Science Journalists 2025
Meeting Announcement

The second day of the 13th World Conference of Science Journalists unfolded today at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Tshwane, South Africa - gathering over 450 science journalists, experts, and stakeholders from around the world to engage on the critical role of science journalism in promoting resilience and social justice.

Funder: Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, Science Diplomacy Capital of Africa, Gauteng Tourism, City of Tshwane, South African National Convention Bureau, South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, EurekAlert!, SciDev.Net, Association of British Science Writers (ABSW), Springer Nature

Breaking the heart’s barrier to solve drug-resistant TB

University of the Witwatersrand

Wits scientists have engineered a nanosystem that delivers bedaquiline, an essential drug for drug-resistant TB, through the heart’s protective membrane to treat lethal TB pericarditis, overcoming a barrier standard antibiotics can’t cross.

Journal: Molecules

Virtual attendance of the World Conference of Science Journalists 2025 now possible

World Conference of Science Journalists 2025
Meeting Announcement

For science journalists worldwide who can't make it to South Africa this December, the World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ 2025) is breaking barriers by launching virtual participation. The opportunity provides them with access to innovative storytelling approaches and discussions on important journalism topics, including artificial intelligence, misinformation, environmental challenges, and mental health within the newsroom, all accessible from the comfort of their homes or offices.

Funder: Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, Science Diplomacy Capital of Africa, Gauteng Tourism, City of Tshwane, South African National Convention Bureau, South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, EurekAlert!, SciDev.Net, Association of British Science Writers (ABSW), Springer Nature
Meeting: The 13th World Conference of Science Journalists 2025

Is malaria messaging working? African biostatisticians have the data

University of the Witwatersrand
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New analysis from SSACAB shows malaria messaging works. Using advanced causal methods, Edson Mwebesa found that exposure to prevention messages increases insecticide-treated net use among women and children in Uganda, offering rare causal evidence to guide policy.

Journal: Malaria Journal

Dinosaur eggshells unlock a new way to tell time in the fossil record

Stellenbosch University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Eggshell calcite gives us a new way to date fossil sites where volcanic layers are missing, a challenge that has limited paleontology for decades.

Journal: Nature Communications

Scientists reveal another piece in Long COVID puzzle

Stellenbosch University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In patients with Long COVID, a new study has revealed structural association between circulating microclots and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). This finding suggests the existence of underlying physiological interactions between microclots and NETS that, when dysregulated, may become pathogenic.

Journal: Journal of Medical Virology
Funder: SIRIC Montpellier Cancer Grant, South African National Research Foundation, Novo Nordisk Fonden, Balvi Foundation

Wits launches the Earth Observatory and CORES

University of the Witwatersrand
Business Announcement

The University of the Witwatersrand has launched two initiatives that place Africa at the centre of global earth-science innovation.

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