Featured Research: Sustainability

Talking Point

Science has the power to boost farming in Africa. But a lot has to change

The agricultural sector is the world's largest single employer. It provides jobs for more than 40% of the global population. It's also the largest source of income and jobs for poor, rural households.

Talking Point

With the wild ones – a reflection of science and passion

It might sound strange at first to hear of a professor in human oral pathology who researches animals, but Prof Erich Raubenheimer has spent over a quarter of a century studying the great African Elephant (Loxodonta africana). What started as a challenge by an American researcher to bring something unique to the international research community, soon became so much more than science and one of...

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A cross section through a tusk

It might sound strange at first to hear of a professor in human oral pathology who researches animals, but Prof Erich Raubenheimer has spent over a quarter of a century studying the great African Elephant (Loxodonta africana). What started as a challenge by an American researcher to bring something unique to the international research community, soon became so much more than science and one of...

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Minimally invasive methods make surgery safer for Africa's big cats

In most medical success stories, one would expect to hear about procedures first being successfully tested on animals before they are applied in the human realm of medicine.

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Lethal dehydration - a ticking clock for desert birds

While political leaders deny climate change, mass deaths of desert birds resulting from escalating temperatures are becoming a frequent occurrence.

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Africa's protected areas have only a quarter of the elephants they should

A new study from the Conservation Ecology Research Unit (CERU) at the University of Pretoria provides an estimate of the number of elephants that should be present in 73 protected areas spanning 21 African countries.