Women’s rugby is booming, but safety relies on borrowed assumptions from the men’s game

The Conversation|Published

More girls and women around the world are playing rugby now than ever before. However, many systems, including coaching and medical support, have not kept pace with ...

SA reading crisis: It’s not just the learners – it’s the system

The Conversation|Published

A recent study reveals that reading comprehension in South African classrooms is often assessed using overly simple questions, out of step with curriculum policy. ...

‘Are you joking, mate?’ AI doesn’t get sarcasm in non-American varieties of English

The Conversation|Published

Research shows the difficulty of large language models being able to detect sentiment and sarcasm in three varieties of English: Australian English, Indian English ...

What makes a person cool? Global study has some answers

The Conversation|Published

Data showed that despite cultural differences, coolness is uniquely associated with the same six traits around the world: cool people tend to be extroverted, hedonistic, ...

Sudan’s war is an economic disaster: here’s how bad it could get

The Conversation|Published

Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a devastating civil war that has turned into a national catastrophe. More than 14 million people have been displaced. ...

Could Rupert Murdoch bring down Donald Trump?

The Conversation|Published

If Rupert Murdoch becomes a white knight standing up to a rampantly bullying US president, the world has moved into the upside-down.

Do women really need more sleep than men?

The Conversation|Published

If you spend any time in the wellness corners of TikTok or Instagram, you’ll see claims women need one to two hours more sleep than men. But what does the research ...

Rituals, fear and blood: the new face of SA’s gang problem

The Conversation|Published

This column unpacks the rise of occult gangs in the Free State, where ritual murders and demonic symbols aren’t urban legends — they’re part of lived experience. ...

Tax season in SA: the system is designed to tackle inequality but falls short

The Conversation|Published

In a recent study we explore how features such as tax rates, deductions, credits, and bracket adjustments shape the redistributive capacity of South Africa’s personal ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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.

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 ...

Trump’s Afrikaners are South African opportunists, not refugees

The Conversation|Published

We should not be unduly surprised that the government of the US has imported 49 Afrikaners and labelled them as “refugees”. The claim is that they are escaping from ...

So who would win in a fight between 100 men and 1 gorilla?

The Conversation|Published

The internet’s latest absurd obsession is: who would win in a no-rules fight between 100 average human men and one adult male gorilla? But, beyond the jokes and ...

80 years after Mussolini’s death, what can democracies learn from his fascist rise?

The Conversation|Published

If the monarchy, military, other political parties and the church had attempted a principled, united opposition to fascism early enough, most of Mussolini’s crimes ...

I was a child soldier - and here's how we can protect children

The Conversation|Published

The problem persists because children’s presence on the battlefield throws the training and ethics of professional soldiers off balance. Children are widely considered ...

How Pope Francis influenced the global climate movement

The Conversation|Published

Originating from Argentina, Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, witnessed firsthand the destruction of the Amazon and the plight of South America’s poorest communities. ...

South Africa’s coalition government is at risk of crumbling: collapse would carry a heavy cost

The Conversation|Published

South Africa’s post-election government of national unity (GNU) was heralded as a revival of the spirit of compromise last seen in the 1990s. But less than a year ...

Do Inuit languages really have many words for snow? The results are surprising

The Conversation|Published

Thought to be a hoax, a new study looking at 616 languages around the world discovered that Eastern Canadian Inuktitut had the highest number of words related to ...

AI is automating our jobs – but values need to change if we are to be liberated by it

The Conversation|Published

Artificial intelligence may be the most significant disruptor in the history of mankin. . AI will undoubtedly help solve vast problems, while generating vast fortunes ...

South Africans flush toilets with drinkable water: why not use seawater instead?

The Conversation|Published

As the planet gets hotter and freshwater sources dry up, cities and towns will not be able to continue the global norm of using millions of litres of clean, drinkable ...