News

  • RE.SEARCH 11: Digital Worlds

    Posted on April 17, 2025

    The latest issue of the University of Pretoria’s award-winning RE.SEARCH magazine is available now and reflects a shift towards both a fresher design and outlook. This edition is curated under the theme ‘Digital’, and offers a glimpse into some of the fascinating research...

  • RE.SEARCH 10: Make today matter

    Posted on November 22, 2024

    The articles in this edition showcase work from all nine of our faculties, and underscore our University’s slogan ‘Make today matter’. RE.SEARCH has been named South Africa's top corporate publication as the winner of the 2024 SA Publication's Forum Awards. It is a runner up and...

  • UP researcher discovers two new dung beetle species which don't roll balls or use dung

    Posted on November 13, 2024

    Over the past two decades, field trips in search of dung beetles have taken University of Pretoria (UP) doctoral student Christian Deschodt across Southern Africa. But it was a well-trodden walk to fetch his kids from school, a mere 1,5km from his home near Hartbeespoort, that saw him stumble...

  • RE.SEARCH 9: What if? 

    Posted on August 26, 2024

    RE.SEARCH 9 is our most novel edition yet. In it, we have featured research that encourages us to think afresh, and is doing so, we’ve highlighted new ways of looking at research. You can expect to read about research that has potential and promise for the future but which is still nascent...

  • Arid conditions stimulate plant trait diversity – UP part of worldwide study that offers hope for biodiversity conservation

    Posted on August 16, 2024

    The University of Pretoria (UP) has been part of a groundbreaking international study to understand how plants found in drylands have adapted to these extreme habitats. The results of this large-scale study, which involved 120 scientists from 27 countries, were recently published in scientific...

  • UP scientist issues urgent call for clean-up of toxic Krugersdorp mine dumps

    Posted on July 04, 2024

    Young children in Krugersdorp are breathing in uranium, arsenic and mercury fumes wafting over from abandoned legacy mines, while pollutants are seeping into the groundwater and nearby dams and lakes, cautions Dr Alseno Kagiso Mosai, a water remediation expert at the University of...

  • RE.SEARCH 8: Connect

    Posted on May 07, 2024

    In a world in which there is an ever-encroaching digital footprint and high-tech solutions, it is vital that we reconnect with an outlook of compassion, care and communication. We do this through connection and connectivity. The theme of our latest issue, ‘Connect’, highlights how UP...

  • Research shows there are more warm-bodied sharks than previously thought

    Posted on November 15, 2023

    New research arising from a collaboration between scientists at the University of Pretoria (UP) and Trinity College Dublin has shown there are likely more warm-bodied sharks out there than previously thought.

  • UP researchers close in on the secret to aging

    Posted on October 23, 2023

    The quest for immortality has long fascinated humans, and inspired countless tales – now, in two new studies published in the journals Nature and Science, University of Pretoria (UP) researchers, along with a team of global experts known as the Mammalian Methylation Consortium, are a step...

  • RE.SEARCH 6: Open

    Posted on July 26, 2023

    This issue features research from all of the University of Pretoria's nine faculties and our business school, the Gordan Institute of Business Science (GIBS) and shows how our research is opening a new world and a better future.

  • UP researchers decode genome of king protea

    Posted on May 24, 2023

    University of Pretoria (UP) researchers are at the forefront of a very special first for South African plant sciences. They have unravelled the precise genetic make-up of the country’s national flower, the king protea (Protea cynaroides). It is the first plant that’s unique to South...

  • UP microbiologists discover rich diversity of life in Antarctica’s cold, dry soils

    Posted on December 07, 2022

    The ice-free areas of Antarctica were initially thought to be devoid of life, but with the advent of modern genetic technologies, scientists now know that microorganisms have adapted to living in this extreme environment.

  • UP scientists contribute to a key global study on the effects of grazing in deserts

    Posted on December 05, 2022

    Two University of Pretoria scientists have contributed to the first-ever global field assessment of the ecological impacts of grazing in drylands.

  • UP-US study maps roaming habits of elephants in Southern Africa to boost conservation efforts

    Posted on November 24, 2022

    A new series of maps drawn up by Emeritus Professor Rudi van Aarde of the University of Pretoria (UP) and Dr Ryan Huang of Duke University in the US details where African elephants prefer to roam in Southern Africa.

  • UP scientist joins call to protect Southern Ocean

    Posted on November 02, 2022

    The Southern Ocean around Antarctica needs urgent protection – for the sake of the rest of the world. This marine wilderness is threatened by climate change and commercial fisheries, says University of Pretoria (UP) macro-ecologist Dr Luis Pertierra, an expert on the natural value of the...

  • UP part of international study that reveals role of termites in earth’s carbon cycle

    Posted on September 28, 2022

    The University of Pretoria (UP) recently participated in an international study led by the University of Miami to investigate termite and microbial wood discovery and decay. Termites release carbon from the wood as methane and carbon dioxide, which are two of the most important greenhouse gases...

  • Smallholder farmers are aware of climate change, but are still struggling to adapt

    Posted on September 23, 2022

    Smallholder farmers are the most in touch with the earth’s changing climate patterns, and they are the most vulnerable to increased temperatures and reduced rainfall.

  • Fewer than 70 Albertina Sisulu orchids are left; researchers say fungi key to saving the species

    Posted on July 12, 2022

    The Albertina Sisulu orchid was described as a new species in 1955, the same year the struggle stalwart launched the Freedom Charter with her compatriots in the ANC Women’s League. Researchers at the University of Pretoria want to help save this endangered plant by understanding the unique...

  • Sustainable small fisheries can help the planet – UP expert

    Posted on July 07, 2022

    More than three billion people, most of whom are in developing countries, rely on the ocean to make a living. Fisheries and aquaculture provide the main source of animal protein for some 17% of the world’s population. In the least-developed countries, fish contributes about 29% of animal...

  • UP researchers call for the urgent protection of bat-inhabited caves

    Posted on April 17, 2022

    University of Pretoria researchers Dr Mariëtte Pretorius and Professor Wanda Markotter have published a study which shows that land around important bat-inhabited caves are changing and that natural habitats are being destroyed.

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