UP scientists win Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for global research into particle discovery

Posted on October 29, 2025

Two University of Pretoria (UP) researchers have been awarded the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, along with colleagues from the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), for their contribution to the ATLAS experiment. The general-purpose particle physics experiment seeks...

Inaugural lecture at UP highlights Bible’s role across empires and apartheid

Posted on October 28, 2025

All religious texts, modern or ancient, are ultimately part of power play and power structures, serving an agenda of one kind or another. Sometimes these texts serve the powerful and sometimes the powerless – and sometimes both.

Filling the gaps of placental insufficiency

Posted on October 23, 2025

What do stillbirths, child stunting and impaired cognitive development have in common? It could be that all these problems start in the womb, with a placenta that doesn’t function as it should. Researchers at the University of Pretoria’s Research (UP) Centre for Maternal, Fetal,...

Food security starts with biodiversity

Posted on October 16, 2025

The world is five years away from the 2030 deadline to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and we are no closer to ending hunger and food insecurity (SDG 2). Yet food security is just part of the battle – we also need to fight to keep indigenous biodiversity...

UP Expert Lecture: ‘Close legal and policy gaps on cannabis and vaping to avert mental health crisis among SA youth’

Posted on October 15, 2025

A mental health crisis is looming among young South Africans amid alarming increases in both vaping and cannabis use. Known as co-use, the trend is being fuelled by poor regulation, loopholes in the law and insufficient attention to youth mental health and well-being, according to University of...

Prof Schönfeldt’s term renewed as one of 15 global experts to International Committee on Food Security

Posted on October 13, 2025

Professor Hettie Schönfeldt, an internationally recognised expert in nutrition from the University of Pretoria (UP), appointment as a member of the Steering Committee of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) for 2025-2027 has been renewed.

‘Mental health cannot wait until after humanitarian crises,’ says UP expert

Posted on October 10, 2025

World Mental Health Day provides an annual reminder that mental health is not a secondary need but a cornerstone of human resilience and recovery.

The cat’s out of the bag: Rabies still a silent threat

Posted on October 08, 2025

Many associate human rabies infections with infected domestic dogs. Yet, like most mammals, cats can also pass this deadly viral disease on to people. That is why pet owners should ensure that their feline pets receive regular rabies vaccinations, according to Professor Claude Sabeta of the...