News

  • The science behind hail

    Posted on January 04, 2016

    As South Africa lives through one of its hottest and driest summers in years people are scanning the heavens for harbingers of rain. And as we saw again on 16 November last year, thunderstorms can come up suddenly and cause havoc.

  • The law at your fingertips

    Posted on January 01, 2016

    Developed countries have long been aware of the need for citizens to have ready access to up-to-date legislation. A number of years ago Ms Shirley Gilmore, Head of the Law Library at the University of Pretoria (UP), realised that most people do not have ready access to South African legislation

  • The hidden health risk in our water

    Posted on January 01, 2016

    With industrial and agricultural effluents, sewage works and landfill sites contributing to the pollution levels in our water sources and environment, the quality of our drinking water is fast becoming a debateable topic.

  • RhODIS Rhino DNA Barcoding - Rhino DNA database puts poachers in the cross-hair

    Posted on January 01, 2016

    Rhino poaching in South Africa took off steeply around 2009, and shows no sign of abating before every rhino has been killed or mutilated for its horn.

  • New strategies for talking to the public about climate change

    Posted on December 14, 2015

    Sometimes an emotive message has more impact than a clear, logical one. In the context of climate change, emotive messages even convince climate change deniers of the benefits of mitigation, particularly those measures that promote economic and scientific development or social cohesion.

  • Research examines the ethics of corporate communication

    Posted on December 07, 2015

    From the very start of their careers, communication professionals learn four universal truths about dealing with the media: do not lie to the media, do not hide facts from the media, do not say ‘no comment’ and do not lose your temper with the media.

  • Ancient giants reveal the realities of climate change

    Posted on December 03, 2015

    Climate change has been the subject of much debate in recent years, with arguments raging across the globe about what the real causes behind the changes that we are seeing on our planet are.

  • Research examines SA legislation on the rights of persons with disabilities

    Posted on November 26, 2015

    The DRU undertook the project in collaboration with the Centre for Child Law and the Department of Public Law in UP’s Faculty of Law.

  • Study aims to address complex genomics of human diversity and prostate cancer

    Posted on November 23, 2015

    Gender is one of the strongest and most consistent predictors of health and life expectancy. For men, unfortunately, this is not good news. On average, across the globe, men die six years earlier than their female counterparts.

  • Empowering communities to beat malaria

    Posted on November 17, 2015

    Malaria is a deadly, infectious disease with a complex life cycle. So complex in fact that after many years of research, scientists have still not been able to come up with a definitive solution to eradicate the disease completely.

  • Fighting breast cancer in the laboratory

    Posted on November 02, 2015

    Prof Annie Joubert, a professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Pretoria (UP), has been involved with research focused on the treatment of breast and cervical cancer for a number of years and has gained national and international recognition in this field.

  • Education towards the elimination of Malaria

    Posted on October 29, 2015

    On Monday, 12 October 2015 the University of Pretoria Centre for Sustainable Malaria Control (UP CSMC) Student Forum, in collaboration with the Faculty of Education at UP, presented a seminar titled ‘Education towards malaria elimination’.

  • Faculty of theology presents cross-disciplinary, inter-religious study

    Posted on October 27, 2015

    The Department of Science of Religion in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria (UP), in association with the Muslim Education Institute Trust (MEIT), recently held a conference on one of the Timbuktu Manuscripts, viz the text dealing with Alexander the Great and Dhul Qarnain.

  • A major crisis looms in sport

    Posted on October 19, 2015

    Sport has been an aspect of human society since the earliest times and sports injuries have probably also been part of human existence from the outset. Ancient sports contests often led to serious injury or even death and athletes were viewed as expendable resources that could be sacrificed in...

  • Paper on the effect of global capital flows receives award

    Posted on October 06, 2015

    Professor Nicola Viegi of the Department of Economics and his PhD student Haakon Kavli received the award for best paper in macroeconomics at the Economic Society of South Africa Conference, held in September 2015.

  • South Africa's competitiveness as a tourist destination examined

    Posted on October 05, 2015

    The South African government recognises the tourism sector's potential to create employment and bring about economic growth, and has prioritised this sector as one of the six core pillars of growth in the countryís New Growth Path framework.

  • Turn it down! Your music is damaging your hearing

    Posted on September 29, 2015

    Through his research, Prof Vinck has already been instrumental in the passing of legislation regulating sound exposure at music festivals in Belgium. He feels very strongly that awareness.

  • Finding the perfect balance between money, the environment and people

    Posted on September 23, 2015

    South Africa is a country that is world-famous for its wildlife. The income generated by its wildlife industry exceeds US$1 billion annually. A recent trend in the industry is wildlife ranching – farming game animals in a sizable fenced system for monetary gain.

  • Understanding bluetongue and lumpy skin disease

    Posted on September 18, 2015

    Prof Estelle Venter has been working in the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Pretoria (UP) for the past 30 years. She has produced more than 70 publications and for the past four years she has been one of the top ten researchers in the Faculty.

  • UP research examines the importance of reading

    Posted on September 16, 2015

    Dr Surette van Staden, a lecturer in the Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria (UP), is an active researcher in education who, in her most recent research, examined literacy achievement among primary school learners...

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