Jobs crisis requires urgent, principled action

The Editor|Published

South Africa is haemorrhaging jobs at a rate that the economy can no longer bear. The loss of 74 000 formal sector jobs in the first quarter of 2025 - and 95 000 year-on-year - marks not just an economic contraction, but the deepening of a social cri…

Cloned - Researchers say using ChatGPT can rot your brain. The truth is a little more complicated

The Conversation|Published

Is that really the case? According to a recent study by scientists from MIT, it appears so. Using ChatGPT to help write essays, the researchers say, can lead to ...

Researchers say using ChatGPT can rot your brain. The truth is a little more complicated

The Conversation|Published

Is that really the case? According to a recent study by scientists from MIT, it appears so. Using ChatGPT to help write essays, the researchers say, can lead to ...

Zohran Mamdani’s victory is a Barack Obama moment

The Washington Post|Published

Obama had to swear over and over that he wasn’t Muslim just to get elected. Minnesota Democratic ...

Tennis is failing to address gambling-fueled abuse seriously

Bloomberg|Published

Wimbledon’s stars will have to endure hundreds of threatening social media posts when the tennis championship unfolds over the next two weeks. Racism, misogyny and ...

Is the semi-colon semi-dead?

The Washington Post|Published

No piece of punctuation, though, stirs people up more than the humble semicolon. Too demure to be a colon but more assertive than a comma, the semicolon was introduced ...

Mozambique after 50 years of independence: what’s there to celebrate?

The Conversation|Published

Mozambique’s government, led by the Frelimo party, has long been planning celebrations for 2025. It is 50 years since independence, won after an anti-colonial war ...

Broken pipes, broken trust: How corruption and vandalism drain SA’s water system

Prof Anja du Plessis|Published

In a country where access to water is a constitutional right, South Africans are increasingly finding themselves at the mercy of dry taps, leaking and bursting pipes, ...

The death of a former Zambian president: diplomacy, grief and ubuntu

Sifiso Sonjica|Published

The complex and contested death and burial of former President Edgar Lungu unveils fault lines within the state, raises questions about family rights, and underscorez ...

Re-inventing the wheel? Computer simulations reveal its unlikely birth 6 000 years ago

The Conversation|Published

Despite the wheel’s immeasurable impact, no one is certain as to who invented it, or when and where it was first conceived. The hypothetical scenario described above ...

I hate Khamenei’s regime, but I love Iran even more.

The Washington Post|Published

I’ve loathed the dictatorship of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for as long as I can remember. I resent the strictures, the atmosphere of moral probity the man in robes ...

There is no one-and-done on Iran

The Washington Post|Published

Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran’s hard-to-reach nuclear site at Fordow would appear that it have worked out better. But there will be more tough decisions for ...

Is ‘Trump always chickens out’ worth repeating?

The Washington Post|Published

To see his political allies on Wall Street call him weak and goad him into a Truth Social tantrum scratches a particular itch. But this attack enrages Trump only ...

The battle on antisemitism: Fighting prejudice with prejudice

The Washington Post|Published

In the aftermath of a Molotov cocktail in Boulder and the tragedy in Washington just 11 days earlier, when two employees of the Israeli Embassy, ...

Is FIFA’s attempt to establish a global club game doomed before it starts?

The Conversation|Published

FIFA are slashing prices for the opening match: Inter Miami against Egypt’s Al-Ahly. Less than a third of tickets at the 65 000-seat Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, ...

Do people really resemble their dogs?

The Conversation|Published

The idea that people and dogs resemble each other is not just a joke. Researchers have been studying different aspects of the human–animal bond for ages.

Looming meat crisis in South Africa

The Editor|Published

South Africa faces a potential meat supply crisis as the government implements emergency measures to contain foot-and-mouth disease while grappling with halted poultry ...

Should banks host the ballot? The democratic dilemma of ATM and app-based e-voting

Prof Colin Thakur|Published

Should banks host the ballot? The democratic dilemma of ATM and app-based e-voting

What if the Big Bang wasn’t the beginning? It may have taken place inside a black hole

The Conversation|Published

Our calculations suggest the Big Bang was not the start of everything, but rather the outcome of a gravitational crunch or collapse that formed a very massive black ...

Pro-doping enhanced games are the Olympics’ fault

Bloomberg|Published

Performance-enhancing drugs destroy the bodies, minds and reputations of athletes. Nonetheless, a group of investors, including Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr. ...