Also visit our Research Hub at https://www.wits.ac.za/research/
Forbes shares the honours with UCT's Professor Anthony Figaji as recipients of a dual award for 2025.
Wits-developed SmartSpot has become an innovative tool in TB testing, making diagnostics safer, faster, and more accessible.
Propelled by ambition and motivated by success, Dr Bradley Max Segal is one of five Africans featuring in FORBES AFRICA's 30 Under 30 Class of 2025 cover story.
Wits and the University of Edinburgh join forces with a new research Chair in Digital Humanities to shape more inclusive, just, and equitable digital futures.
Wits Business School (WBS) announces the new Wits Mervyn King Centre for Corporate Governance and Sustainability.
A pioneering solar power solution co-developed with Wits University is transforming access to energy in underserved communities, one “Power Brick” at a time.
The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation and the City of Johannesburg unveiled a historic Blue Plaque at the old Johannesburg Planetarium.
New research challenge the long-standing assumption that ochre was used solely for symbolic or decorative purposes.
The high-profile delegation from the Shanghai State-owned Capital Investment (SSCI) visited to identify potential key strategic partnerships.
Development of drug delivery systems focused on targeted therapy, nanomedicine, and regenerative medicine.
A Wellcome award for first-of-its-kind fungal research in Africa may unlock the origins of human infection.
The Nature Relationship Index offers a new way of of measuring how countries use and protect natural resources.
Wits’ RAIL Lab trains intelligent machines to navigate caves, pour milk, and plan like humans, pushing the frontiers of autonomous AI research.
First-of-its-kind dataset helps us understand why people from genetic backgrounds may be more vulnerable to certain diseases.
Artist-in-residence Fellow brings sound innovation to School of Architecture and Planning
The study identifies 195 million hectares globally where tree restoration will deliver maximum climate benefits without harming communities or ecosystems.
Council approves R22 million to assist researchers and students impacted by US funding cuts.
.jpg "Dr Kristie Bloom at AGTRU works with mRNA vaccine development for TB and other infectious diseases")
mRNA vaccine innovations are revolutionising how homegrown life-saving jabs can tackle persistent diseases like TB.
The Political Studies Department celebrated staff and students who made an impact in their field and society.
.jpg "Research at Agincourt")
The Academy of Science of South Africa’s framework guides researchers on how to interpret and implement POPIA for research.
Cox earned the rating for his work in research and developing cutting-edge structured light and low-cost laser internet.
Professor Helen Rees received the coveted World Health Organizations prize for her “outstanding contribution to public health”.
The Bezos Earth Fund’s AI Grand Challenge for Climate and Nature has awarded the grant to the Wits Climate Risk Modelling project.
Decline in alcohol, tobacco use, and increased participation in education, but obesity and poor mental health loom large.
One of Africa's most widespread snakes could be agricultural hero in disguise.
Scientists win prestigious international award for pioneering a biodegradable, Africa-sourced ingredient that could transform the future of vaccine production.
Stakeholders from the oil and gas industry attend this much-anticipated conversation on the status of natural gas supply in South at the Wits Business School.
Visit by Secretary-General of CIVIS European Universities’ network aims for collaboration that builds trust and public engagement with Africa.
Producing knowledge is a daily pursuit at universities — knowing how best to protect and draw value from it is crucial.
Genetic factors contribute to some 30% of breast cancer cases in SA, necessitating investment in genomic research in African contexts.
Prevention and treatment campaigns are not adequately targeting the particular needs of the 50+ years age group.
The fellowship for six early-career researchers is designed to bridge the gap between academia and society.
Alexander Humboldt Award bestowed on pharmacogeneticist Prof. Collen Masimirembwa for dedication to ensuring Africans receive safe, efficacious medicines.
Wits University announces the reopening of one of humanity’s most important palaeontological sites to the public.
The annual Principals’ Function cements commitment to innovation in education and the success of young people.
International researchers have introduced two improved tests that could precisely detect cognitive dysfunction in older African adults.
Study finds that legislation in 2013 to reduce sodium in processed food is now associated with significant declines in blood pressure levels.
Breakthrough could lead to more stable quantum computers and networks, making future technology faster, more secure, and widely accessible.
The new African Regulatory Leadership Programme (ARLP) is a step towards regional harmonising and establishing the African Medicines Agency.
The Forum, organised by the Afretec Inclusion group, was held in Rwanda in February, bringing together STEM academics from eight member institutions.
The first 1,000 days of a child’s life (conception to two) are critical for development. Research shows that the next 1,000 days (2 to 5) are also fundamental.
Leading climate scientist, Professor Sir David King, urges South Africa to take the lead into combating climate change.
“As people live longer, retirement is evolving from a single event to a life stage transition that can take 10 to 15 years.”
Remarkable new fossils from Swartkrans Cave reveal that a prehistoric relative of humans was also extremely small and vulnerable to predators.
The rise of AI in journalism signals the time for guidelines around disclosure, transparency and accountability.
The Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) delegation and Wits stakeholders explored research, innovation, and academic opportunities.
Poorly controlled type 2 diabetes can, over time, increase the risk of heart and kidney disease and lead to eye, vascular and nerve damage.
The Mid-career Academic Portfolio Writing Retreat guides scholars in leadership development through self-reflection.
Recent major research equipment acquisitions demonstrate the need and potential for proactive pursuit in the competitive research resources environment.
Thanks to the global tech revolution, support for people with disabilities has expanded exponentially in recent years.
Experts in psychiatry, psychology, and ergonomics explain how burnout manifests and what we can do about it.
Lifetime achievement for Prof. Karen Hofman, President Award for Adjunct Prof. Precious Matsoso, and a gold medal for Prof. Shane Norris at the SAMRC awards.
From selling handbags to offering haircuts, there are Witsies out there turning campus corners into mini marketplaces.
Professor Collen Masimirembwa of the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience receives Precision Medicine World Conference Pioneer Award (PMWC) 2025.
Bees, birds, and bats are part of an invisible workforce that supports humanity.
[Q&A] In our competitive job market, recruiters require job seekers to have multiple skills to even secure an interview.
Analysis of birth records and climate data will establish how many adverse pregnancy outcomes occur due to climate change.
Although SA still faces severe headwinds regarding workplace equity, there seems to be a broader societal shift. Here’s what Wits is doing.
The rise of remote and hybrid working practices post-pandemic has led to an interesting shift in population growth across South Africa.
We cheer them on to the finish line, but what happens to pro athletes after their last race?
The digital revolution has opened unimagined opportunities, but it comes with a threat of leaving the most vulnerable workers behind.
A new study shows that tuberculosis patients cash-incentivised and counselled have a 52% lower relative risk of having an unsuccessful treatment outcome.
Nature Africa marks 100 years since Australopithecus Africanus transformed our understanding of the origins of humans.
A packed Great Hall was abuzz with excitement as the 2025 cohort of postgraduate students convened for their Orientation and Welcome on 5 February.
Partnership will bring advanced monitoring, hardware, IoT communications, and artificial intelligence to AfricaWeather’s environmental intelligence platform.
Simon Gush’s visual art and academic research are interconnected.
Even relatively low levels of physical activity may be advantageous, findings from a study led by Wits Sport and Health (WiSH) show.
Opinions around cancer treatment options can be highly divisive, but many patients don’t have the luxury of choice.
Freeze, fry, microwave, or obliterated – treating early cancer which can progress to advanced life-threatening cancer with cryoablation.
With a disastrously high unemployment rate and inequality, South Africa has a mountain to climb, but there is hope.
The most extensive study of the gut microbiome in Africa has discovered new microbial species and never-before-reported metagenomes* from several African sites.
What is the future of humans in the world of AI? We look at the myths and realities, risks and opportunities posed by the adoption of AI.
Are we adequately training young people for the labour market, or do we need to review our approach to education and training?
Work isn't static. It changes as we change. In this issue, we turn to our researchers as we grapple with the evolving nature of work and an unknown future.
[Editorial] AI, Africa, equity, skills, burnout, toxic workplaces, semigration, sex work, and retirement, all in this issue of Curios.ty.
What impact does the changing world of work have on how higher education is delivered to students?
Nitrogen isotopes in tooth enamel show no evidence of meat consumption in Australopithecus.
Researchers working in Africa warn against consultants promoting a single veld-burning strategy for carbon credits, urging caution for stakeholders.
Our research impacted humans, animals and machines, while our students’ side hustles drove innovation, and our scholars deepened our knowledge.
It was a year of establishment and growth for the Wits Innovation Centre (WIC) as it broke new ground to coordinate and encourage innovation across Wits.
Journeying back to the Jurassic Era, scientists used cutting-edge tech to uncover the secrets about Orthosuchus stormbergi, a small, early crocodile ancestor.
WIC’s new Artist-in-Lab Fellow aims to create evocative art exploring the mysterious, inexplicable, and magical essence of lightning.
South African Atmospheric Quality Monitoring (SACAQM) and Evotel join forces to monitor the province’s air quality.
Wits is part of a new $150 million partnership to support the global energy transition.
Delegates from various corners of the world converged at Wits to reflect on urban planning and chart the way forward.
Innovative computing system using lasers and everyday display technology marks a significant leap in the quest for more powerful quantum computing solutions.
-with-Professors-Lynn-Morris-and-Mucha-Musemwa-600x300px.jpg "Publishing from the South: A Century of Wits University Press")
Wits Press commemorated 100 years of publishing excellence with the launch of the book 'Publishing from the South: A Century of Wits University Press'.
The Wits Postgraduate Merit Scholarship (PMS) was launched in 2023 with funding from a generous alumnus of Wits.
Carnegie Mellon University Africa announced today that it will expand its digital public infrastructure initiative across the continent.
Nobel laureate Maria Ressa believes South Africa’s traditional media is strong, but that won’t last, posing an ongoing threat to democracy.
The Wits Innovation Centre (WIC) partnered with Afretec to workshop practical steps of collaboration.
It’s a season of abundance for Dr Stanley Mpofu, who has been named CIO of the Year by industry peers, among other accolades.
Professors Andrew Forbes, Shabir Madhi, and Derick Raal are three of just 10 South Africans on the annual list of Highly Cited Researchers™.
The Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery (MIND) Institute advances AI research, exploring machine, human, and animal intelligence.
Nearly 1 million species face extinction. The award to Dr Shannon Conradie by the Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Research Grant boosts interventions.
Professor Sally Archibald receives the 2025 John F.W. Herschel Medal and Doctors Mitchell Cox and Simone Richardson are 2025 Meiring Naudé medallists.
Two Wits academics and several alumni are among the economic thought leaders appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
After major refurbishments, the old Johannesburg Planetarium has been transformed into the state-of-the-art Wits Anglo American Digital Dome.
The workshop gave scholars insights that empowered them to create AI-powered solutions for Africa’s most pressing challenges.
Keeping heritage alive through ingoma provides a sense of community, cultural pride and resilience to students.
Largest systematic review of its kind assesses 198 studies across 66 countries for the impact of heat on maternal, foetal, and neonatal health.
.jpg "Gabrielle Mudiwa recipient of the 2024 Achmat Dangor Literary Prize_pic Sam Herbst")
This inaugural award enables a talented young writer to pursue an MA in Creative Writing at Wits thereby ensuring that Dangor’s legacy endures.
EIE Open Day 2024: Can a robot do medical triage? Can a face detector spot you when you’re wearing a mask? Can geysers be smart?
National research associations have awarded accolades to Witsies across a range of scholarly disciplines as well as in research management and ethics.
Based at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the Chair will lead academically rigorous research in precision medicine and genomics in Africa.
Four young South African 2D animators train with the world’s best to become teachers for a new generation.
Two researchers transect the inhospitable Namib desert, in search of evidence of ancient human existence in this harsh landscape.
Swelihle Sibiya and Andile Mgomezulu won the R&D Challenge and the Huawei Challenge respectively, at the 2024 SATNAC Industry Solutions Challenge.
The Kuamsha app was developed as part of a study to address depression in adolescents in rural and low resource settings.
Today is World Mental Health Day with an urgent call to action for employers: 'It is time to prioritise Mental Health in the workplace'.
Researchers have identified the genetic risk factors that contribute to prostate cancer in a diverse group of African men.
Rock painting suggests San people were engaging in palaeontology long before Western scientists.
.jpg "Skeletal reconstruction of Moschorhinus kitchingi. The skeletal proportions are based on the preserved elements of NMQR 3351. Illustration by Brandon P. Stuart.")
Wits University and the University of Southern California offer a detailed look at the skeleton of Moschorhinus kitchingi beyond just its skull.
Two Wits chemists have been rewarded for their research by the South African Chemical Institute (SACI).
Two-day workshop redefines inclusive education and how to leverage new technologies to empower students and staff with disabilities.
Dr Gabriella Hyman awarded the prestigious Dr Esther Mahlangu Doctoral Fellowship for her clinician-scientist role and research in SA public health sector.
As the world races ahead with AI advancements, concerns are mounting that Africa could be left behind. Enter the Wits MIND Institute.
The spectacular entry of a meteorite into Earth’s atmosphere has unleashed a chain of events that would not be out of place in a Hollywood movie script.
Meteorites are rare and hold deep scientific value as they give us a glimpse of the make-up and birth of our solar system.
Dr David Phaho will take the helm of the Wits Business School African Energy Leadership Centre (AELC) from 1 September 2024.
Deviations in the way that particles interact point to the existence of new bosons.
These reflect the Wits Innovation Centre's agility and responsiveness in continuing to grow the University’s innovation ecosystem.
The Foundation looks to reshape discussions about democracy in Africa.
The 5th African Philanthropy Conference was held against the spectacular backdrop of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and was the biggest gathering yet.
Distinguished Research Professor Collen Masimirembwa in the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience to receive award for research in pharmacogenomics.
Wits recognises more than a hundred scholars for exceptional research accomplishments in 2024.
Philosophical, legal, moral, teaching and other angles unpacked at Wits SARIMA Carnegie 4th annual Global Ethics Day online event on 6 August.
A book commemorating 10 years of the AWI-Gen project shares stories of those who researched how genetics, environment, and lifestyle affect health in Africa.
.jpg "Prof. Nelesh Govender School of Pathology NIHR Research Professorship recipient")
Professor Nelesh Govender was awarded one of 7 prestigious 5-year UK National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Global Research Professorships.
The donation was made in honour of Professor Margo Steele, the first female head of school of the Wits School of Accountancy.
SARIMA Community of Practice for Research Ethics and Integrity wins Anderson-Kleinert Diversity Award at 8th World Conference on Research Integrity (WCRI).
Fezile Wagner, who leads Wits' Analytics and Institutional Research Unit, is a finalist in the non-profit Higher Education Resource Services-SA (HER-SA) Awards.
.jpg "Light microscope photographs of Aulacoseira ambigua and Staurosirella construens, two of the dominant species throughout the diatomite core.")
Scientists uncover fascinating evidence of an ancient mountain lake that flourished thousands of years ago.
The inaugural reporting guidelines for precision medicine research, of which Professor Michèle Ramsay is co-author, have been published in Nature Medicine.
Aspiring African innovators and entrepreneurs converge at Wits to learn skills to transform ideas into market-ready solutions.
Eight PhD students and postdocs were inducted into the programme run by the Wits Transformation and Employment Equity Office (TEEO).
To grow their entrepreneurial spirit and skills, 70 postgraduate students attended the Pan-African Entrepreneurship Week during the winter break.
The pioneering technology from Wits is transforming energy access with its new impact-driven Champion Franchise Model.
Wits researchers won in six out of 15 categories at the prestigious NSTF-South 32 Research Awards.
Novel way to map spread and evolution of pathogens, and their responses to vaccines and antibiotics, reveals how to help predict and prevent future outbreaks.
Sinéad Delany-Moretlwe is Professor of Global Health and Infectious Diseases and Research Director at Wits RHI.
.jpg "Saurodersmus robertsoni NHMUK PV OR 28877: Right femur depicted both in situ within the rock matrix (left) and after extraction (right).")
Researchers identify the oldest known non-mammaliaform cynodont from Scotland.
A new species of fossil paederine rove beetle from Orapa.
Dr Solomon Assefa, the former Vice President at IBM Research, delivered the inaugural Professor Barry Dwolatzky Memorial Lecture.
One of the grant recipient projects from Wits University will investigate the role of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Academy of Science of South Africa released the report, "Achieving Good Governance and Management in the South African Health System" on 28 June 2024.
Wits Faculty of Health Sciences and Barrow Neurological Institute, USA, MoU cements relationship to further research neurological conditions
First HIV prevention trial in history to show zero HIV infections with an intervention.
In a critical global public health development, a candidate vaccine for tuberculosis (TB) has been created using a gene-editing approach.
Three-year bursary scheme to support strategic collaboration between the two universities.
Pedro Ornelas is one of 72 students globally who won an award from the International Society for Optics and Photonics.
This addition marks a significant step forward in the ongoing efforts to preserve the University's vast archives and collections.
The Wits research team is spearheading sustainability efforts to bolster climate resilience in the forestry industry.
[Column] To prevent South Africa from becoming a failed society, we must all rise and become active citizens.
A new Late Triassic sauropodomorph dinosaur discovered in the Mid-Zambezi Basin, Zimbabwe.
Democracy, as a system of government by the whole population, seems to have had its heyday. Is ‘People Power’ a viable option?
Constitutional expert, Professor Cathi Albertyn, answers your questions on the South African Constitution, the bedrock of South Africa’s democracy.
Despite the knife-edge upon which South Africans live, the country is not, in fact, a failed state – but a new form of democracy is required.
Corruption is not unique to SA as US and UK have shown. Democracy relies on holding authorities accountable, but no one seems keen to do that.
Many countries are grappling with religious challenges. Can political structures withstand the pressures of religious groups’ ‘New Right’ ideology?
Today’s news and current affairs landscape, which underpins our democracy, requires both ethical content producers and discerning consumers.
Celebrated mathematician and Wits alumnus acknowledged for his profound impact on number theory.
South Africans are still fighting for the right to basic water supply as enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
Journalism as an institution is facing a bleak outlook. It needs to dig deep to find ways in which to pull itself out of the well.
National Institutes of Health 5-year, $2.8m grant to Wits and Vanderbilt University will advance traditional health practitioner-initiated HIV testing.
South African researchers have fully funded access to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, through the NRF.
Access to healthcare services is a constitutional right but is equal healthcare in South Africa a reality in our lifetime?
This issue is very timely as South Africa celebrates 30 years of democracy, and heads to the polls again on 29 May 2024.
[Editorial] Wits continues to contribute towards advancing democracy, social justice, and human rights.
A generation of ‘born frees’ are heading to the polls in 2024. What is the soundtrack, if any, that underscores this election year?
Traditional rituals and practices such as lobola and initiation are often misunderstood in democratic societies where they are viewed through a western lens.
The child support grant and proposed pregnancy grant give children a healthier start in life and make democratic and economic sense.
People with disabilities still experience barriers to the realisation of their rights. A new view on disability is required.
Pushing a nationalist agenda and fuelling xenophobia is politicians’ way of disguising the causes of South Africa’s economic woes.
More than half of SA’s academic publications appear in Open Access sources, with Wits University embracing this trend.
Busisiwe Kamolane-Kgadima, the Acting Director at CALS is driven by human rights, and the fight for social justice.
A stokvel research project at Wits could lead to greater financial freedom, transparency, and accessibility for members.
The lack of enforcement of environmental laws allow powerful entities to act without consequence. Where does the buck stop?
As countries move to adopt green technologies to fight climate change, the Global South is left at a disadvantage in this new revolution.
The creation of conservation areas has become a tug-of-war between the needs of local communities and preserving critical natural resources.
[Column] Under the SA Constitution, animals do not enjoy the same rights as humans. But Ubuntu principles can change that, writes Dr Sheena Swemmer.
[Column] As elected president for one day, I struggle with the same ethical question as those who have come before me: To plunder or to serve?
Archives are the custodians of evidence in the pursuit of truth and records of Commissions of Inquiry are fundamental to support democracy.
New Hub will be a place where researchers, entrepreneurs and professionals can get together to leverage technology to solve problems in the field of finance.
New Fossil Bovids from Kromdraai shed light on South Africa's ancient ecosystems.
New grant will enable Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) Network to leverage laboratory capacity and partnerships in Africa.
Number theory specialist Professor Florian Luca is now a CNRS Fellow-Ambassador.
The Sabin Vaccine Institute presented the Albert B. Sabin Gold Medal to physician-researchers Keith Klugman and Shabir Madhi.
European Research Council funds project on early human evolution at Senckenberg.
About 60% of the human body is made up of water. Excessive water loss can be fatal.
Researchers take a closer look to determine who the money has gone to, when it was disbursed, and what it was spent on.
The University held its annual Postgraduate Orientation Programme from 4 – 6 March in the Great Hall and online.
Researchers have found a way to send patterned light messages through obstructions, without distorting the message.
Geoffrey Mwendwa, a PhD candidate in Physics, secures one of the initial spots in the 100 PhDs for Africa Programme (EXAF).
In the heart of Botswana, a groundbreaking discovery at the Orapa Diamond Mine has unveiled a fossil that sheds light on the evolutionary history of beetles.
With an increasing risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera spreading in cities, it is important to learn how to keep your family safe.
Professor Lee Fairlie from the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) is a Co-National Principal Investigator of the trial.
The Wits Carnegie Diversifying the Academy (CDTA) Programme recently hosted its inaugural Pioneering Science Communications Workshop.
The Holberg Prize is one of the largest international prizes awarded annually to an outstanding researcher in the humanities, social sciences, law or theology.
A group of ten Wits University staff and students recently attended the Afretec Gender in STEM Workshop in Kigali, Rwanda.
Medals for health scientists at South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Scientific Merit Awards.
Before mating, some male and female dung beetles work together to move their brood balls to a location unknown to either.
Sustained female leadership in the Centre of Excellence for Materials, Energy and Nanotechnology (CoE MEN).
Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP) enables international research opportunities for its postgrads, postdocs, and early career researchers.
A ‘whole of society’ approach is needed to address health issues as populations in Africa age.
Two new African-European research collaborations tackle severe infections in neonates and children.
Wits University hosts the Fifth International Legitimation Code Theory Conference.
Doctors Saeideh Babaee, Ashley Coates, Isaac Nape, and Matt Noakes are the 2024 Friedel Sellschop Fellows.
The African Fellowships programme advances South-North research collaboration to find solutions to global challenges.
The exhibition showcases the archaeological heritage and rich marine environment of the Southern Cape coastline.
8 Postdoc Fellows join Wits to boost research on the intersecting themes of climate change, just transition, sustainability, and inequality.
Q&A: Academic stress and pressure can lead students to use unhealthy choices such as medication cocktails, energy drinks and supplements.
What is it about TV and film that’s so compelling that we can’t resist immersing ourselves in celluloid?
The high taxes on tobacco are counterproductive in decreasing smoking. It only benefits the illegal cigarette trade – and its political masters.
This experimental milestone allows for the preservation of quantum information even when entanglement is fragile.
In this issue, we highlight the diversity, scope, and multi-dimensional nature of drug-related research at Wits University.
Editorial: The word ‘drugs’ evokes a range of reactions – from the hopes of ‘miracle’ cures to the sadness of addiction and social harm.
Imagine a world where medicines can be guided to the exact place that they are needed in the body – a world closer than you think.
The battle to save millions of HIV-positive lives bears fruit in unexpected ways.
Current treatments are complex and expensive but new studies reveal that obesity medication could be the answer to this epidemic.
Opinions around cancer treatment options can be highly divisive, but many patients don’t have the luxury of choice.
Vitamin and nutritional supplements are big business, but are they effective or just a waste of money – or even dangerous?
“We need to create an environment for people where the healthy choice is the easier choice.”
Psychedelics: Are they the magic bullet some claim for the treatment of conditions such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder?
Alcohol is so ubiquitous and its marketing so pernicious that there’s a tendency to underestimate its impact on public health. So, why do we drink?
From alcohol to cocaine, caffeine to cough syrup, Wits experts shed light on legal and not-so-legal drugs of choice.
Academia can help show how the cannabis industry can be a thriving sector in the country.
Drugs in sport is eroding the public credibility of many sports heroes’ superhuman performances. Can trust be restored?
Treating opioid addiction is a painful, time consuming and often frustrating process. New medication can help solve this problem.
The complicated doctor-patient dynamic requires managing expectations to protect both drug efficacy and public health.
The use of antibiotics in livestock threatens public health, the environment, and food security. Researchers explore plants as an alternative.
Eradicating malaria in SA is a national policy goal, but is easier said than done. But sterile insect technique could take the bite out of mosquitoes.
Profile: Dr Eva Kowalska argues that drugs and addiction are not synonymous, as her research of drug literature and opioid biographies reveals.
Behavioural Linguistics is a new advanced area in healthcare that's especially critical to medication compliance and adherence.
New biotechnical treatments can fast-track recovery from traumatic injuries.
Treating snake bite victims remains antiquated – hopefully a new way of creating antivenom can lead to a better solution.
How our early ancestors shaped our medicine use today. Throughout history, humanity has used nature's pharmacy for healing.
Column: When it comes to health, we have grown into a society that is looking for a quick fix, rather than treating our lives holistically.
Unravelling Shakespeare's Green Quill: Professor Francis Thackeray's quest for cannabis connection.
SA visionary and quantum expert, Dr Isaac Nape, has been appointed as the inaugural Chair that seeks to advance quantum research.
Distinguished Professor Derick Raal has for the fourth time been named as a Highly Cited Researcher™ globally.
Wits is saddened by the loss of Professor Lolwana, who recently retired as the Director of the Centre for Researching Education and Labour (REAL).
While polarisation has emerged as a defining characteristic of our age, ‘good’ ethics can navigate differences to tackle shared challenges.
Researchers show for the first time, how we can transport images across a network without physically sending the image.
Advanced 3D imaging technology allows for fossil-bearing rocks to be examined non-invasively and saves time and resources.
.jpg "Artistic representation of the expansion of Bantu-speaking populations_Credit Cesar Fortes-Lima 600x300")
The study is unique in that it contains genetic data of both living and past (archaeological DNA/aDNA) populations.
Researchers explore whether Dark Matter particles actually are produced inside a jet of standard model particles.
Wits University scholars have secured funding as a network partner of the African Engineering and Technology Network (Afretec).
The Restonic Ezintsha Sleep Clinic will pioneer South African sleep research and treat sleep disorders.
The Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment hosted its inaugural Research Seminar on 25 and 26 October 2023.
Higher education leaders from across the continent recently convened for the second Pan-African network's annual conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
The humble “plakkie” made its debut up to 150 000 years ago.
50 stories from around the world celebrate the grit and passion of women in amphibian and reptile science.
Sea level and climate changes altered the marine ecosystems at the South Pole 390-385 million years ago.
Superdeep diamonds formed between 650 and 450 million years ago show how continents developed and moved.
The Chair will be located within the Tayarisha Research Group that focuses on the effects and implications of digital transformation and governance in Africa.
Comparative analysis of the Pandemic accord and amendments to the International Health Regulations texts.
Chané Moodley will be heading a research team into finding the best ways of developing and commercialising a quantum microscope.
Cancer patients in Soweto give more clues on how spiritual leaders can assist them to find peace amidst a difficult journey.
The Summit is another step forward in developing mining tech and skills to drive a low-carbon future and just energy transition.
Early ancestors collected eye-catching shells that radically changed the way we looked at ourselves and others.
Discovery of two meteorites are the first to be found by a member of the public on South African soil in over 40 years.
A gigantic, ancient crocodylomorph species that was recently discovered grew slower than other large reptiles of its day, such as dinosaurs.
Fossils from Homo naledi and Australopithecus sediba become the oldest astronauts to travel to space, flying on Virgin Galactic's spaceship VSS Unity.
National Research Foundation awards Wits Professor Jill Adler for advancing maths teaching, research, and empowering maths educators in post-democratic SA.
The study will generate real-world data on integrating a new PrEP method, the Dapi-ring, to protect women against sexual transmission of HIV.
Emeritus Professor Paul Ruff was appointed Chairperson of the Wits Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC): Medical, effective 1 August 2023.
African populations are the most genetically diverse in the world, with thousands of different ethnolinguistic groups across the continent.
The Wits-Afretec Tech-Entrepreneurship Workshop held marks a pioneering stride for young, aspiring entrepreneurs.
The index, called CICISA is a quarterly index that tracks the evolution of the “investment climate” or “investment attractiveness” of South Africa over time.
A new study has been launched that will harness real-world data to maximise the impact of PreP products on reducing HIV infections.
.jpg "Gogo Grace is one of the traditional healers who is now a certified HIV counsellor and tester in Bushbuckridge Mpumalanga_photo Sandra Maytham Bailey")
Research project in Bushbuckridge empowers traditional healers to conduct HIV testing, refer those positive for treatment, thereby curbing new infections.
The award is made for outstanding achievements by a young physicist that contributes to the research, education or technology development in physics.
Researchers from Wits and the University of Edinburgh held a symposium to explore collaborative opportunities for Space Research projects.
The new R110 million project aims to improve early warnings and enhance resilience to changing tropical cyclones in southern Africa and Madagascar.
Researchers from all over Wits have been rewarded for their excellence at a Wits ceremony.
The research will focus on the health of migrants in the African Union and European Union corridor, one of the largest migration corridors globally.
South African-born space physicist Professor Michele Dougherty is a principal investigator on the Juice mission to Jupiter.
New research reveals that the emergence of life on Earth did not require Plate Tectonics
Enhanced human verification techniques and practices will always be required to ensure accuracy and ward off inherent biases.
A new approach to optical communication that can be deployed with conventional technology.
Ancient volcanism dating back to 3.5 billion years ago are common to Archaean cratons of South Africa, India, and Australia.
Through the Research Chair Professor Mary Scholes will identify critical research needs and develop research outputs related to climate change.
Wits' research magazine focuses on how our researchers are powering up their creativity and expertise to find sustainable energy solutions.
Editorial: Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but for South Africans it feels like we are upending this fundamental law of physics.
The first fuel that enabled human beings to land on the moon was harnessed right here in Africa.
SA’s could create a new model for many countries facing power shortages but it could also lead to more muddling in the dark.
Dr Andrew Lawrence explores how funding received from the Just Energy Transition Partnership can most benefit South Africa.
Nuclear energy has had a bad rap, but in South Africa’s current energy conundrum, its importance in the mix is clear.
Scientists can do better to take industry and government-driven hype out of green hydrogen so that its actual potential can be realised.
From Star Wars to hot curry to Einstein – we’ve got you covered.
Long-term economic and social side-effects need to be considered when thinking about our cities’ energy solutions.
A tree is not just a tree. It is also fuel, paper, furniture, livelihood, and industry.
How does the body convert food to fuel? How much do we need? And will running really help with weight loss?
Freeze, fry, microwave, or obliterated – treating early cancer which can progress to advanced life-threatening cancer with cryoablation.
The implementation of universal design and access could improve the lives of people living with disabilities.
Wits researchers shed light on alternative energies and how to leverage them when we’re depleted and in the dark.
Our home planet Earth is unique, not only in its position in space but in the way it manages energy to create a comfortable spot for us to inhabit.
Lightning research will answer several questions about this lesser-known force of nature.
Cutting greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero is the next big thing on the global agenda, but academics agree it’s not feasible in the medium term on campus.
South Africa needs to reskill and upskill in the face of changing technology and shifting workplaces.
Q&A: Coal has a bad reputation, but ‘clean coal’ holds various potential opportunities, says Professor Samson Bada.
PROFILE: Living to find innovative ways to solve tough challenges, Dr Wendy Panaino digs deep into the lives of pangolins.
Researchers are developing innovative solutions to counter the energy poverty that impacts teaching and learning.
How good is a science curriculum that’s insulated from working scientists or that ignores climate change and sustainable development?
Continued extreme heat exposure is affecting the health of vulnerable groups in communities.
Focusing on the dynamics in the electricity sector, Professor Imraan Valodia outlines the challenges South Africa is facing and what can be done.
Column: South Africa is a country on the ropes. Its critical infrastructure, including its energy supply, is crippled. Do we still have some fight left?
These ghost particles have travelled light years to where we are and are proof that humans are essentially stardust and sunlight.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) can help catapult South Africa’s energy distribution into the future.
Fossil is described in a paper exploring the rapid turnover of top predators in African terrestrial faunas around the Permian-Traissic mass extinction.
The Wits Brian and Dorothy Zylstra Sports Complex is an integrated facility for training, research, and clinical practice.
The WIC will harness the creativity and ingenuity of the University’s rich, diverse community of innovators to solve complex, real-world problems.
The first Biomedical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Course sparks a new era for #WitsInnovation.
The Pecogrid pilot study will examine the viability of the large-scale rollout of microgrid inverter systems in informal communities.
Does immunising a woman during pregnancy protect her unborn baby against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the months after it is born?
Study by civil engineers at Wits University finds that the history of the Jagersfontein dam deviates from best engineering practice.
The 3-paper Series launching at Wits today is a ground-breaking exposé of the products and practices collectively called the commercial determinants of health.
Professor Athol Kemball joins the Wits School of Physics as a Distinguished Professor through the Carnegie Africa Diaspora Programme.
Telkom and Wits sign a partnership agreement to establish the new Telkom Industry Solutions Lab.
The University has invested R9-million in postdoctoral fellowships to advance its innovation and internationalisation strategies and its research agenda.
The 3rd International Summit on Human Genome Editing took place in the UK in March. Wits Professor of Genetics Michèle Ramsay was on the organising committee.
The Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute hosted a US Congress Delegation to mark the programme’s two decades of HIV/Aids relief.
To ensure adequate food, one in five South African households revealed that they had to send someone to beg for food.
He is one of 10 exceptional early-career members selected from around the world to serve as a 2023 Optical Foundation Ambassador.
An international group of researchers including Wits scientists have identified a third case of HIV infection cured by stem cell transplantation.
The University awarded the prestigious Friedel Sellschop fellowship award to Dr Mitchell Cox, Dr Eloise van der Merwe, and Dr Abhishek Pandey.
Baby formula companies use nefarious and exploitative methods to create an artificial demand for their products, thereby undermining breastfeeding.
Dr Adam Pantanowitz has been appointed as Chair in Innovation and Director of the WIC, and Letlotlo Phohole as Senior Programme Manager.
Research offers a new approach to studying complex light in complex systems, such as transporting classical and quantum light through optical fiber.
Wits’ Global Change Institute among global scientists calling for a mindset shift about climate change which draws from various knowledge systems
Wits University is proud to collaborate with the University of Edinburgh (UoE) to establish a new collaborative doctoral training centre in Africa.
Dr Keneiloe Molopyane joins the EC50 class of 2023, after also being selected as an Emerging Explorer for the National Geographic Society in 2021.
The new Data Sciences and Innovation Hub at Wits Rural Campus marks 30 years of rural public health research and sets the scene for an innovative epoch in 2023.
The African Fellowships programme advances South-North research collaboration to find solutions to global challenges.
Professor Andrew Forbes shares the award for physics with Professor Jueinai Kwo of Taiwan.
Adults aged 45-65, as caregivers and workers, are high risk for non-communicable diseases, but data on healthy ageing in SA are insufficient to inform policy.
Professor Derick Raal has for the third time been named as a Highly Cited Researcher.
Achieving access to minimum resources and services for all, while safeguarding our planet, requires redistribution and societal transformation.
A new study reveals that South Africans suffer higher rates of probable depression and anxiety than other countries.
A new study reveals astounding levels of social vulnerability in South Africa, which is linked to food insecurity.
People living with HIV have a significantly delayed internal body clock consistent with jet lag symptoms, found a study by SA and UK universities.
‘Scientivist’ says planetary health must be foremost on all agendas because the ill-treatment of animals and delicate ecosystems plays havoc with human health.
Study provides recommendations to end the public health threat without exacerbating socio-economic burdens or putting the most vulnerable at greater risk.
Earth became our servant, and we need it to be our family, says Research Professor Matthew Chersich in delivering his inaugural lecture.
Cash incentives only have a marginal effect on increasing vaccination uptake by adults, according to a Wits University and Columbia University study.
Wits Professor of Pharmacy, Yahya Choonara, is the 2022 FIP Distinguished Pharmaceutical Science Award winner.
Research shows climate change will negatively impact mountain landscapes, including increasing risks such as avalanches, river floods and landslides.
4th year engineering students show off their bold and visionary solutions with amazing final-year projects.
The new unit at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (WDGMC) is both a robotics research opportunity and a global responsibility.
Over 350 journalists from across the continent will spend three days at Wits University for the 18th African Investigative Journalism Conference.
Artistic research and its ‘tangible’ output – a creative academic degree – is an emerging yet robust field of study and enquiry in Africa.
Consensus statement by the Scientific Committee for the International Conference on Concussion in Sport will be released in 2023.
A new study by a team of South African researchers shows the more you exercise, the more protective Covid vaccination seems to be.
The Academy of Science of South Africa has awarded its highest honour, Science for Society Gold Medals, to Wits Professors Karen Hofman and Achille Mbembe.
The South African Quantum Technologies Initiative (SA QuTI) aims develop a well-established critical mass in the national quantum community.
The new Face To Face exhibit showcases hominins from The Cradle of Humankind that are brought to life by science and art.
The Afretec network has made 20 million US dollars available to members, including Wits, to collaborate in engineering and technology.
The number of SA employers reporting they are recruiting ICT skills overseas has increased dramatically in the past year – up from 38% to over 50%.
Wits' research magazine celebrates 100 years of changing the world for good.
Guest Editorial: Wits remains a beacon of hope in society. We continue to strive for excellence in all that we do and use our knowledge for the good of society.
Editorial: The stories in Curios.ty 14: #Wits100 showcase the University’s sustained participation, influence and impact in the lab, the classroom, and society.
“We live in the most unequal country in the world. We can help bridge the divide and we don’t have any time to waste.” – Dr Judy Dlamini.
Meet the Wits’ science superheroes whose research has saved lives.
The contribution of the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience to the field of human genomics is rewriting history on the African continent.
Without death, there would be no life – this might sound like ancient mysticism, but Wits scientists are proving it.
Agincourt, one of the longest-running research centres of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa, tracks health and wellbeing over the life course.
Protests are a hallmark of Wits’ history and have contributed to the University’s legacy of social activism, democracy and constitutionality.
South African universities should revisit their multiple publics and explore what a public university in southern Africa today should be.
The Wits Art Museum covers 3 000 m2, housing more than 12 000 artworks, of which 5 551 comprise the Standard Bank African Art Collection.
How has science and research practice at Wits has evolved over a century?
It’s the end of an era as Wits Planetarium is reimagined as a ‘out of this world’ digital dome.
Climate change took nearly a century to become mainstream science. Wits is taking the lead in facing up to the challenge.
Wits researchers have over the past century changed, and challenged, the way we think about the evolution of humanity and our ancestors.
Curiosity about dung beetles could lead us into our future.
Books based on research by Wits authors create a rare recording of history that tracks changes over time.
The development of the Wits Face Database: An African database of high-resolution facial photographs.
Wits is exploring the opportunities created by social enterprises that focus on addressing local, regional and global challenges.
Four Wits units demonstrate how translational research can respond to the needs of a world outside the academy.
Column: Telling the stories of Wits’ research and academics might hopefully light a fire in the mind of the world’s next Einstein.
There is something significantly common in the way in which all good things are good.
Joint hybrid conferences for African civic tech innovators and media makers, journalism innovators, and other creatives.
Basaltic magma chambers can grow extremely rapidly - in months to years.
Lightning protection research is paramount in order to safeguard people, animals, and infrastructure against one of the biggest weather-related killers.
The Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience won the National Research Foundation Science Team Award while seven Witsies received A-ratings.
Wits researchers have compelling evidence for the existence of a magma chamber deep within a South Africa’s ancient crust.
The stories, people and science behind Africa's largest longitudinal study have been captured in a book by Wits Distinguished Professor Linda Richter.
Street-based female sex workers in SA have very high HIV incidence, hence the need to sustain and strengthen efforts to mitigate risk and provide care.
Technology used to stop a nuclear bomb from being sneaked across a border could one day be at the forefront in the fight to save the rhino.
Voluntary actions from industry are not helping fight against obesity-related conditions.
Wits is one of five universities to partner with the International Atomic Energy Agency to promote the safe use of the peaceful application of nuclear science.
The Birth to Thirty (Bt30) study in Soweto is Africa’s largest and longest-running birth cohort study.
A project examining the Dutch East India Company’s day registers reveals unique information on the Cape’s past climate.
Shabir Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology and Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits won the 2020/21 NSTF-South32 Lifetime Award.
Wits hydrogeologist Prof. Tamiru Abiye is a National Research Foundation-rated scholar and winner of the 2021/22 NSTF-South32 TW Kambule Researcher Award.
Restoration science and practice are critical in combatting the loss of old-growth grasslands and the loss of biodiversity.
Sehliselo Ndlovu, Professor of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering at Wits, won a 'Science Oscar' at the NSTF-South32 Research Awards on 22 July 2022.
Wits University is home to a wellspring of talent from multiple disciplines where life-changing innovation is incubated.
The luncheon celebrated Wits NRF A-rated academics as well as scholars awarded previously but not formally acknowledged in person due to lockdown restrictions.
Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, internationally renowned nuclear physicist, joins the ranks of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking.
Professors Shabir Madhi, Sehliselo Ndlovu and Tamiru Abiye were winners at the 2021/2022 National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-South 32 Research Awards.
Karoo fossils provide “smoking gun” on clues to when warm-bloodedness evolved in pre-mammalian ancestors.
Over consumption of wildlife species for energy and food will place stress on the communities that need them for survival.
A commonly used blood test which measures how well a person’s kidneys are working may not pick up kidney disease for people in Africa.
Researchers from the Wits Structured Light Laboratory showcase recent advances in replacing the traditional linear optical toolkit with nonlinear control.
New dates for Australopithecus-bearing Sterkfontein Cave deposit places South African hominin fossils at the centre of global palaeo research.
Professor Kurt Sartorius and his colleague from the School of Accountancy, Wayne van Zijl, will set out on an expedition that nearly broke him 50 years ago.
That light gets distorted when passing through distorting media seems self-evident. Now Wits Researchers have discovered a hidden property in the light that rem
Professor Benjamin Rosman is one of 18 early-career researchers in the world to be named CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars for 2022-2024.
Using genetic risk scores to predict which individuals have a higher risk genetically of developing a particular disease is set to revolutionise medicine.
From being dazzled by the launch of space stations in the 1970s to pushing the boundaries of quantum physics.
The impact of hybrid work models on IT skills in South Africa will be among the issues coming under the spotlight this year.
“Young entrepreneurs are one of the country's best hopes in solving the jobs crisis” - Dr Robert Venter, Project Leader for the WEC.
Ground-breaking research conducted in SA to find shorter, more effective treatment for drug-resistant TB has informed global policy changes.
This result provides overwhelming evidence that the object is indeed a black hole and yields valuable clues about the workings of such giants.
Towards the creation of a future Civil Society and Human Rights Archive and Research Hub at Wits.
The NRF has awarded new A-ratings to three Wits academics in the Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Health Sciences respectively.
Wits geologists come up with an original interpretation for a long-standing petrological paradox – the common absence of roof rocks in basaltic magma chambers.
Twelve Wits researchers are contenders for the prestigious NSTF-South32 Awards for 2021/2022, four of whom were nominated in two categories each.
Mpho Mathole won the Wits leg of the international science communication competition and will go on to participate in the nationals later this year.
Programme aims to identify African ecosystem vulnerabilities while leveraging African-informed transformative change opportunities.
Wits physicist part of team that develops novel laser.
SAHA was officially relaunched at Wits and will be part of the Archives and Research Hub.
A study shows for the first time that Ultraviolet room decontamination paired with manual cleaning decreases transmission of CRE by 23% in a hospital setting.
Alumnus Dr David Fine's generous donation will be used to establish the Angela and David Fine Chair in Innovation.
Theresa Mazarire in the Wits Institute for Malaria (WRIM) combines environmental science and public health to control malaria mosquitoes.
The 2020 State of the Newsroom report looked at a year of ‘shock, confusion and a need to radically adapt’.
#Wits100 donation will be used to fund the Micro CT scanner upgrade to benefit palaeontologists.
Read the 13th issue of Curios.ty, themed: #Gender. We feature research across the gender spectrum that aims to ensure a more equitable and tolerant society.
EDITORIAL: The way we choose to identify ourselves provokes questions and demands interrogation to ensure a more equitable and tolerant society.
Structures need to be put in place at higher education institutions to give women their rightful opportunities.
The gender binary has reached its expiry date but it still hasn’t been consigned to society’s dustbin.
The backsliding of women’s rights happening right now should be the clarion call that gender rights are still everybody’s business.
Female Genital Mutilation - South African researchers and medical practitioners are increasingly seeing it in its most extreme forms.
As a species, we are only starting to scratch the surface of our understanding of gender, sex, and identity.
The competitive sporting world is playing catch-up with the realities of gender in modern society.
The work that women do in households is largely overlooked, yet it is critical for a well-functioning society.
Building cities for women will make them more inclusive for all groups.
The notion that people older than 50 neither desire nor engage in sexual intercourse is a misnomer that demands further research, particularly in Africa.
Responsibility and representation: Where does the buck stop for brands and business sales targeting the LGBTQIA+ community?
Coloured women find their centre beyond the whisper and gossip.
Despite a history of openness to queerness in pre-colonial times, Africa is now largely unwelcoming to LGBTQIA+ people.
The notion that homosexuality is ‘unAfrican’ is totally false. People have engaged in same-sex relationships for centuries.
Hate crimes such as the so-called “corrective rape” of lesbians and trans women is a black mark against SA’s constitutional democracy.
Dr Ahmed Badat spends his life focusing on improving LGBTQIA+ mental health training for medical students.
Changes in sexual functioning are a side effect of many physical and mental illnesses, however, across genders, sexual health and behaviour are not addressed.
Gender-based violence and femicide is a pandemic more insidious and endemic than a virus – how technology can help combat and prevent it.
Gender portrayals in animated films have come a long way, which is important, as animation can be a tool for positive social change.
Men cannot be left on the periphery of conversations about gender-based violence and abuse.
Q&A with Moeketsi Gordon Koahela on his research into masculinity and male university students.
Could a growing understanding of the role of women in African philanthropy spark the evolution of the charitable giving sector?
Eight female fellows of the Female Academic Leadership (FALF) Programme at Wits share their experiences of breaking the glass ceiling.
COLUMN: Srila Roy says that feminists in the Global South are fighting the battle on two fronts, making a history of their own.
When apartheid became law in 1948, a black woman from Limpopo had already achieved a series of firsts …
A new project will examine Covid-19 vaccine acceptance in SA and Zimbabwe and recommend strategies to promote vaccination.
The Wits Entrepreneurship Clinic gets going with programme to drive innovation and entrepreneurship.
Wits strengthens EU partnerships through becoming a CIVIS Alliance strategic partner.
Scientists find that large, long-lived, and entirely molten magma chambers did exist in Earth’s crust.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) and hospitalisation in infants.
Professor Andrew Forbes recognised for his outstanding leadership in founding and growing an optics and photonics community in Africa.
This accolade recognises her outstanding medical career and commitment to improving global health with a focus on public health in Africa.
South Africans had extensive immunity against severe Covid-19 disease and death prior to Omicron, due to high infections in the first 3 waves and vaccination.
It was an upbeat post-pandemic return to campus when Wits academics gathered to celebrate research excellence.
Scientists have for the first time described the microbiome in SA individuals in ‘city’ and ‘rural’ populations and discovered new bacteria in SA microbiomes.
Underrepresented populations need to feature more in genomic studies so that they benefit from research that explores how their unique genetics affect health.
A researcher and lecturer in the Wits School of Education has begun 2022 with three high-profile achievements.
Wits team develops social distancing and shopper behaviour tracker for malls.
A study into fast food nutrition labelling found that just 58% of SA’s biggest fast food retailers surveyed provide nutritional information on their products.
The virtual conference highlighted the dynamic interventions that women are making in STEM.
![Life reconstruction of Australopithecus sediba com-missioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. [© Sculpture: Elisabeth Daynes / Photograph: S. Entres¬sangle]](/media/wits-university/news-and-events/images/news/2021-sept-dec/Asediba.jpg "Life reconstruction of Australopithecus sediba com-missioned by the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History. [© Sculpture: Elisabeth Daynes / Photograph: S. Entres¬sangle]")
New lower back fossils settles a decades old debate proving early hominins used their upper limbs to climb like apes, and their lower limbs to walk like humans.
From ‘sniffing’ for an internet connection to estimating poverty from space, Open Day had you covered.
Wits leads efforts to develop low-cost, long-range free-space optics that can connect informal settlement communities to high-speed internet.
The new Wits Entrepreneurship Clinic will form part of the Innovation for African Universities Project that will drive economic development.
Meet Leti, a Homo naledi child discovered in the Rising Star Cave System that yielded Africa’s richest site for fossil hominins.
How forensic science is unlocking the mysteries of fatal lightning strikes that could help save thousands of lives.
Professor Andrew Thatcher from the School of Human and Community Development has been appointed as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
R22-million project to enhance the training of surgeons in South Africa.
The Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience today launches a new research lab to understand African genetics and advance precision medicine in Africa.
My name is Francis Otieno and I am telling this story to inspire school kids, emerging researchers, and everyone – your dreams are possible!
Wits researchers won six National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF)-South32 research awards .
New specialised Wits Roy McAlpine Burns Unit will treat burn survivors and will create a high-tech skin bank and tissue engineering laboratory in Soweto.
The 2021 ICT Skills Survey results were released on 28 September 2021.
It will help to establish two research centres to boost cancer and vaccine research at the University of the Witwatersrand.
The Oppenheimer Memorial Trust (OMT) has awarded the Rising Star Fellowship to Associate Professor Peace Kiguwa.
The Oppenheimer Memorial Trust (OMT) has donated R15 million towards the African Future Studies Initiative at Wits University.
JSCE-IITPSA ICT Skills Survey results will be released on 28 September 2021.
Professor Dilip Menon’s transnationalism research earns him prestigious Falling Walls Award.
#DIYAfrica 2021 creates space for Africans to “Do It Yourself” and realise the potential of new and emerging technologies to bring about change.
The South African Quantum Technology Initiative (SA QuTI) aims to drive local quantum technology research and innovation.
The Wits Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytical (VIDA) research unit conducted the phase 1B/2A clinical trial.
It’s South African Kidney Awareness Week from 6-10 September and the ARK Consortium has begun a unique African study.
The AI Africa Consortium partners with Cirrus AI to bring large-scale AI infrastructure capacity and expertise to the African research community and industry.
Elevated carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere negatively affects dung beetles size and survival.
DEHN AFRICA donates R500 000 to the Johannesburg Lightning Research Laboratory at Wits University to support pioneering research in lightning protections.
A new and fast tool for quantum computing and communication.
This is the first time evidence has been available from a national sample and illuminates the health and complex life experiences of these vulnerable women.
Deborah Minors interviews Professor Robert Muponde on his new book, 'The Scandalous Times of a Book Louse: A Memoir of a Childhood'.
Physicist Professor Saul Teukolsky receives the prize for theoretical work essential to the detection of gravitational waves.
The Wits Centre for Journalism will engage with the rapidly changing world of African journalism.
What might happen in South Africa?
Our cutting-edge research offers #Solutions to some of the most challenging problems facing society today.
Editorial: From solutions to the structural, political, and socioeconomic challenges in South Africa, to those ‘moonshot moments’ that advance society for good.
We need to rethink higher education by asking what kind of society we want to create.
South Africa’s infrastructure seems to be falling apart at the seams. What needs to be done to save the country from further deterioration?
A ‘world class African City’ begins and ends with history and geography.
A wealth tax could make a significant contribution to alleviating South Africa’s ailing fiscal situation.
To help close the maths gap in South Africa, Wits experts believe the focus should lie on the teacher.
Games from the Game Design programme at the Wits School of Digital Arts tell important stories, and allow for solutions to many real-world problems.
Can online platforms help therapists and tutors transform teaching and care beyond the pandemic?
Can love be the central guiding value in big business and in complex decisions?
Numbers in tourism translate into revenue for the sector. Mathematicians are now number-crunching creatively to solve tourism challenges.
Photographing a black hole in space, 55 million light years from Earth, seems an impossible task but scientists went to unprecedented lengths to achieve this.
The connections among areas of our brain and how they interact is what counts when trying to find solutions to problems.
The ructions caused by the pandemic are an opportunity to reconsider core values and spending priorities to address our social ills.
Wits researchers are creating the space and support for people with disabilities to talk about sex.
Breaking down the perceptual barriers between students and people living with disabilities.
In search of ways to help his father recover from injuries suffered in a motorbike accident, Nabeel Vandayar enrolled at Wits to study medicine.
Academia binds the public and private healthcare sectors in the move towards universal healthcare .
The media industry in South Africa has been sputtering along for several years. How do we prevent it from totally collapsing?
Some scholars consider these ‘liberating technologies’ because they empower citizens to speak back to power and hold leaders accountable.
As the world looks to COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021, it’s clear that the time for sitting on the side-lines is over.
In drug repurposing new uses are identified for a drug outside of its original scope of indication, resulting in more effective treatment.
Despite the fact the philanthropy is pervasive – benefactors and beneficiaries abound – relatively little is known about its practice in an African context.
Column: We don’t just have the ability to turn South Africa around, we have a responsibility to do so.
The solution was to convert the school hall of the McAuley House convent, The Nunnery, into a theatre – over one weekend.
Chapman’s pygmy chameleon, long feared to be extinct in the wild has been found surviving in patches of rainforest in Malawi.
Light pollution makes it difficult for dung beetles to see the stars which they use to orientate, Wits researchers find.
Variant Bio is excited to announce the first research project in South Africa through a partnership with the African Research on Kidney Disease (ARK) Consortium
Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits was part of an eminent panel to discuss the purpose of education in the 21st Century.
Professor Barry Dwolatzky has been contracted as Director of Innovation Strategy.
Wits and HUST researchers report a new form of the Doppler effect.
Wits Pharmacy graduates were awarded seed funding for their automated, antimicrobial-surface coated pill-dispensing innovation, Ra-Pill.
The Wits African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE) has awarded research grants for cross-disciplinary Covid-19 vaccine-related projects.
Wits and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) today signed a bipartite agreement of research cooperation to foster scientific excellence.
The Claude Leon Foundation will fund two research chairs and a research programme in water stewardship worth R15.7 million.
An international Wits-led team of scientists used high-powered X-rays to show how an extinct South African dinosaur, Heterodontosaurus tucki, breathed.
“We only write about them when they are dead."
Profile: NatGeo Emerging Explorer Dr Keneiloe Molopyane.
For the first time, a Wits University team will compete in the international RoboCup tournament.
Wits University’s future hub of Quantum Technology is switched on.
Dr Sahba Besharati in the Department of Psychology is one of just 19 CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars, a programme that supports early-career researchers.
WitsQ will provide first a forum for quantum scientists in all fields across the continent to connect.
The JCSE-IITPSA Skills Survey assesses skills demand and supply from both a corporate and practitioner perspective.
An innovative maths WhatsApp hotline threw high school teens an educational lifeline during 2020.
Results include 80+ researchers now collaborating from multiple continents, over 50 world class papers published and a new generation of scientists trained.
Various studies have been conducted to understand the issues surrounding the Corona virus, and its impact on different population groups.
From 2010 to 2019 over 9 600 rhinos were killed in poaching attacks. On this current trajectory, South Africa’s rhino will be nearing extinction in nine years.
South African-born engineer and entrepreneur is making a significant contribution in the fight against Covid-19.
Archaeologist and biological anthropologist, Keneiloe Molopyane, is recognised as a trailblazer by the prestigious National Geographic Society.
Wits University and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) have announced five CNRS-Wits PhD projects to be supported in 2021.
The use of South African technology to produce high tech electronic components will cost five times less than importing the technology from the United States.
A new study has found a high burden of influenza in a rural and an urban setting in SA, where asymptomatic people – particularly children – transmit this virus.
It's Global Road Safety Week from 17-23 May. Research by a bioethicist challenges assumptions about road safety, minibus taxi crashes, and who's responsible.
Scholarships seek to increase diversity in the fields of machine learning and are aimed at students from backgrounds underrepresented in AI.
Wits University is a founding partner of the new online magazine reporting on scientific research and policy across Africa.
Professor Bruce Mellado has been elected Chairperson of the Institutional Board of the Tile Calorimeter of the ATLAS experiment at CERN.
Results from the initial primary analysis of the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine trial conducted by Wits VIDA in SA have been published.
Professor Paul Ruff received the 2020 A.G. Oettlé Memorial medal from CANSA in recognition of his outstanding contributions to cancer research.
A new study challenges the presumption that all South-Eastern-Bantu speaking groups are a single genetic entity.
While models show a low risk of a third wave in South Africa, the country is still highly vulnerable.
A study by PRICELESS-SA and partners shows that SA’s 2018 “sugar tax” led to a reduction in purchases of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs).
Wits researchers report on a new phenomenon in magma chambers called “magmatic karstification”.
Two master’s students are developing new technologies aimed at disrupting the booming cannabis, or so called ‘green gold’, industry.
As a biochemist/biophysicist working primarily with proteins, Sylvia Fanucchi is naturally drawn to the mechanisms of interactions of biological macromolecules.
The team, led by Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, will lead Africa’s effort to advance artificial intelligence research and its application across the continent.
Wits astrophysicists are the only two scientists on African continent that contributed to the study.
The Endocrine Society in Washington, D.C. has named Wits Professor Roy Shires as the recipient of the 2020 International Excellence in Endocrinology Award.
![[...] Ellipses Special Issue](/media/wits-university/news-and-events/images/news/2021-jan-april/[...] Ellipses Special Issue_600x300px "[...] Ellipses Special Issue")
Online and interactive creative research from the Wits School of Arts and Arts Research Africa.
Wits scientists provide free testing of water quality in honour of International Water Day in Wakkerstroom.
Findings of the SA study in the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine trial have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
Results of the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine trial in SA and UK have confirmed high levels of efficacy against the original and variant Covid-19.
Scientific evidence shows specialised features in the large brains of whales and dolphins that are adapted for heat production.
The Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit via Wits Enterprise has partnered with Biovac to develop the skills capacity to produce viral vectored vaccines in SA.
Previously thought of as heavy, slow and sluggish, the 260-million-year-old predator, Anteosaurus, was a ferocious hunter-killer.
High resolution X-ray imaging of Little Foot's skull and dentition shows Little Foot suffered periods of dietary stress and illness when she was a child.
A study by Wits scientists and partners has proved that a targeted malaria transmission prevention intervention is not inferior to the 'blanket' approach.
This new Cluster will further encourage world class research through collaboration, coordination and communications.
The NRF has re-awarded A-ratings to four Wits scientists, a grading which confirms that they are recognised as leading international scholars in their fields.
The DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development at Wits helped develop the 15th issue of the South African Child Gauge®.
The Wits Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics (VIDA) Research Unit, which runs the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial in South Africa, has announced results.
Researchers at the University of Oxford have today published in Preprints with The Lancet an analysis of further data from the ongoing trials of the vaccine.
Clinical efficacy demonstrated in Phase 2b South Africa trial.
Wits geophysicists have invented cost-effective and environmentally friendly seismic technologies that will contribute to sustainable mining exploration.
Consortium will research predictive modelling and forecasting of the transmission of COVID-19 in Africa, using Artificial Intelligence.
The pandemic demands a relook of how we connect with each other and the world.
Editorial: The Covid-19 pandemic has gone viral and has severely impacted on how we interact, conduct our business, teach and learn.
Could a country’s collective psychology determine the outcomes of a pandemic? A global cohort of researchers believes so.
The Covid-19 lockdown has had a massive impact on South Africa’s economy, exposing profound weaknesses such as the country’s huge inequality.
The story of how vaccines save lives is important to tell – now more than ever.
South Africa has surprised itself and the world with fewer Covid-19 deaths despite a significantly higher infection rate as predicted.
So-called Covid long-haulers afflicted with 'Long Covid' are showing how long and frustrating the journey to recovery can be.
Modelling pandemics might be an imperfect science, but it is the best that we have.
If history has taught the world anything, it’s to ignore the warning signs and carry on catching diseases.
Different nations’ responses to the pandemic should serve as a warning to exercise extreme caution in choosing leaders.
Almost everyone has suffered in some way from the effects of the Covid pandemic – but women have suffered far more.
Covid-19 misinformation, mythology, and fake news has implications for public health.
Throughout her career, Professor Glenda Gray has focussed on one thing only – saving lives.
It takes a village to raise a child but the global village is shrinking.
Scientists predict that an Age of Pandemics is imminent unless human beings change their ways.
Is blaming a threatened species for a global pandemic not an indictment of our environmental conscience?
We need new rules of engagement on social media – even if we don’t know it yet.
The balance between sharing personal data online and how it’s used and by whom is difficult to define and complex to regulate.
Online attacks and phishing surged during Covid-19. Is there a permanent solution to cybercrime?
Banning popular apps like TikTok and WeChat is about more than a spat between the US and China.
Competition policy will determine if big data is a tool for inclusion or exclusion.
Profile: When Covid-19 hit, 21-year-old Wits engineering student, Xolani Radebe, knew that he wanted to be part of the solution.
Three Wits postgraduate students demonstrate how their research and innovative ideas contribute to addressing a pandemic.
Messages carried in structured light can secure quantum communications in the future.
The fight against the disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people in Africa each year could be as simple as changing a light bulb.
Column: Professor Lynn Morris reflects on a lifetime of virus hunting, from HIV, through Ebola, to SARS-COV-2.
Column: Using the Covid-19 National State of Disaster to try to govern booze and cigarettes, is the wrong approach.
How the Wayside Inn became the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
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New paper shares details on how to implement a wealth tax in South Africa.
Wits scientists and local and global partners have artificially infected mosquitoes with human malaria and identified a new chemical compound to treat malaria.
Considerations behind the largest and most complex undertaking of its kind in Africa’s history.
Gauteng Government, IBM Research and Wits University are fighting the pandemic with artificial intelligence.
For the first time, the Wits School of Architecture and Planning (SoAP) held its End of Year School Show online.
Changes in fire activity are threatening more than 4 400 species globally.
The L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Programme has recognised two female Wits scientists for their groundbreaking research.
An innovative research partnership with the potential to transform lives and support communities across the world has launched today.
For the first time, Covid-19 vaccine phase 3 human trial results have been peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal.
Wits plays key role in securing funding to develop Planetary and Space Science projects in Africa.
Humphry Tlou, a physics PhD student at Wits, is one of two students to be awarded with the CERN ATLAS PhD grant.
Unique insights from an inspiring cohort of women in South Africa.
The Gold Medal from the South African Institute of Physics is the greatest distinction that is conferred in South Africa for achievements in Physics.
Scientists at Wits University are encouraged by results announced today by colleagues at the University of Oxford in collaboration with AstraZeneca.
Register for postgraduate study at Wits University and be part of the future of exciting possibilities.
Research manager, Caryn McNamara, one of more than 50 international grantees to help develop research management professionals.
Early unblinding of the of long-acting cabotegravir (CAB LA) is a milestone for prevention of HIV among women in sub Saharan Africa.
Wits, Huawei and rain jointly launch Africa's first 5G laboratory at the Wits Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct.
Wits researchers develop solution to improve accuracy and safety of Covid-19 testing.
Wits geneticists and partners publish groundbreaking study that informs African population history, environmental adaptation, and susceptibility to disease.
Exciting new research at Wits made possible through the GCRF START grant.
Wits conservation scientist, Dr Bernard Coetzee received the prestigious Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer grant for his work on light pollution.
The School of Electrical and Information Engineering (EIE) recently held its Open Day online for the first time.
Covid-19: When and how South Africa should try to prevent or mitigate it.
More than ever, the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to prioritise physical activity as an imperative for public health in Africa.
Wits Health Consortium divisions - PRICELESS-SA, Agincourt and Ezintsha - secure grant in association with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
, Zakhele Ndala (School of Chemistry) and Leigh Crymble (Wits Business School)_600x300.jpg "Wits PhD Winners: Tamlyn Naidu (Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering), Zakhele Ndala (School of Chemistry) and Leigh Crymble (Wits Business School)")
Finalists at Wits’ first cross-faculty PhD Seminar kept judges and audiences on the edge.
The measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine may strengthen immune response to viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.
Research shows seasonal dietary changes increase the abundances of savanna herbivore species.
The discovery of triplet spin superconductivity in diamonds has the potential to revolutionise the high-tech industry.
The SA ADVANCE study of the potency and safety of SA's commonly used antiretroviral treatment regimens has published new safety data, especially on weight gain.
Socialising is essential for brain health in the elderly in rural South Africa – has lockdown affected their cognitive function?
Voice of Wits FM marks 10 years of great radio and growth.
Professor Charles de Koning is awarded the South African Chemistry Institute’s (SACI) gold medal and gets inducted as a Fellow of SACI.
Durand uses cell death as a lens through which to examine the interconnectedness of life and death.
The two students have also been awarded highly competitive fellowships for their outstanding work.
Wits Professor of Human Genetics Michèle Ramsay has contributed to the international report on Heritable Human Genome Editing released in the UK on 3 September.
The work of Joshil Naran, a masters in Architecture student, has been selected to showcase at a global festival for creatives and innovators.
Wits University has resumed vaccinating in the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial currently also underway in the UK, Brazil and the U.S.
Wits University will pause the Covid-19 vaccine trial it is running with the University of Oxford following a medical event in a volunteer in the UK.
More women (56%) than men are testing positive for COVID-19 in Gauteng.
By 2030, mental health will be the single largest global challenge we will face (World Health Organization).
Life as we know it has changed due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) which has irrevocably altered the way we live, work, behave, think and feel.
Wits postgraduate students in Medical Anthropology share the effects of living under lockdown amidst the global Covid-19 pandemic.
We live in a state of constant high alert in South Africa. The effect on us is profound but an environment like this also builds resilience.
Mental health costs should be counted in people, not rands and cents.
What’s the best thing you can do for your brain today? Move!
Lack of sleep can wreak havoc on your physical health and mental wellbeing – and may have implications for people living with HIV.
The arts evoke emotion. How do we harness them for wellbeing?
Music is thought to be one of the ways that our ancient ancestors expressed their emotions – and may well have led to early languages.
Promising technological and online innovations could be crucial in combating the world’s alarming mental health statistics.
Our dependence on technology brought on by Covid-19 makes cognitive and emotional demands that, unaddressed, threaten our mental wellbeing.
Our brain is a complex organ – it keeps us breathing, helps us pull our hands from a fire, and keeps our emotions, fears and dreams in check.
Pay close attention the next time you play a Bach concerto to your pet crocodile. If you look closely, you might just see him tapping his toes to the rhythm.
Indigenous knowledge is critical in helping people cope with mental health issues that western medicine may not address.
We are influenced by those with whom we most closely associate, in terms of our ideologies, political positions and prejudices. Covid-19 exposed who we are.
The feminisation of madness is persistent and pervasive as are forms of Othering across societies.
The role of the father in the family or, more specifically, his absence, has profound implications for the mental wellbeing of his offspring.
PROFILE: Nothing is more empowering than the feeling like you are being heard. Dr Nomfundo Moroe lends an ear and empathy to the Deaf community.
Mental health is set to become a global crisis by 2030. Creating a caring, nurturing culture in your workplace can save employers and employees a lot of stress.
Strong social networks can go a long way to assist people living with forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer's.
Suicide risk may start in the womb and studies also connect it to factors including smoking, social media and social inequality.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a long phrase to describe a short attention span. In students, ADHD can severely impact academic performance.
Q&A: Professor of Philosophy, Kevin Behrens explains why euthanasia is not simply a matter of life and death.
People with disabilities, be they physical or mental, are often treated differently, which may affect their mental wellness. How to remove the social barriers.
Critical Diversity Studies scholar, Adanma Yisa, explains why automated emotional responses shield us from confronting criticism can undermine reconciliation.
COLUMN: Every lockdown has a silver lining, Schalk Mouton discovers as he roller-coasters through the emotional demands of living in isolation.
Former student leader and now Professor of Law, Firoz Cachalia, reflects on the mood before Nelson Mandela was released from prison 30 years ago.
-600x300.png "Wits Agincourt nurse Olivia Khosa tests a child in rural Bushbuckridge for COVID for the PHIRST study")
How many people in one household contract SARS-CoV-2, transmit it without having symptoms, and how does this virus interact with other pathogens in the home?
When university resources are scarce, building and sustaining equitable research excellence should be paramount.
Humans prepared beds to sleep on right at the dawn of our species – over 200 000 years ago.
Special Report by the Wits School of Accounting on how companies should manage the Covid-19 pandemic.
The third in a series of expert advisories on how to respond to Covid-19 which will be published from time to time by Maverick Citizen.
This is the second of a series of Expert Advisories on how to respond to Covid-19 which will be published from time to time by Maverick Citizen.
This is the first of a series of expert advisories on how to respond to Covid-19 which will be published from time to time by Maverick Citizen.
Alternative energy at increased efficiency with lower cost and improved environmental footprints has a domino effect on socio-economic landscape.
“Our vision one day is to see such fuel cells commercialised and distributed around Africa and the rest of the world," says Sikhumbuzo Masina, PhD candidate.
Despite Covid-19, Wits students won second place with their applications to aide analysis of Covid-19 data in the competition held online for the first time.
For the first time, scientists have identified male mosquito-specific pheromones that influence mating rituals.
Symposium coincides with the publication of their article on environmental drivers and the potential seasonality of COVID-19.
Three Witsies in human genetics, economic geology, and public health research data respectively have won National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) awards.
Wits Researchers demonstrate a new quantum approach for sharing a secret amongst many parties, setting a new record for the highest dimensions and parties.
Immunising pregnant women with a potential vaccine against RSV could prevent the most common cause of pneumonia in their babies.
Data from 2.7 million human activity records show just how extensive human use of Antarctica has been over the last 200 years.
Senior clinicians in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits University have volunteered to participate in South Africa’s first Covid-19 vaccine trial.
Wits researchers find that aardvarks feeding in the daytime during droughts might be starving.
ACES 2020 ATLAS CMS Electronics is the state-of-the-art international electronics conference for Large Hadron Collider LHC upgrades at CERN.
Professor Zeblon Vilakazi appointed as the Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal from 1 January 2021
The first participants in South Africa's first clinical trial for a vaccine against Covid-19 will be vaccinated this week.
The study challenges a recently-emerged paradigm that magma chambers are huge masses of crystals with just a very small amount of melt.
Professor Lee Berger accepts a challenge in science communications to turn a science paper into an interesting video lecture.
Twelve Wits scientists across disciplines have been nominated for NSTF-South 32 Research Awards, known as the 'Science Oscars', and eight are finalists.
Discovering a fossil site takes a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck. Professor Lee Berger describes the clues that led him to the discovery of Malapa.
Professor Lee Berger explores the origins of the this great debate and examines the arguments of the terrestrialists and the arborealists.
Wits Master’s students create best practice guide for efficient and accurate use of DMDs in structured light laboratories.
Gladysvale is known for its impact on the dating of cave sites in Africa and has produced some of the most spectacular faunal remains of extinct animals.
Efforts to test for Covid-19 in SA have been boosted through repurposing the Cepheid GeneXpert® Systems, originally designed to test for tuberculosis (TB).
Does the fossil sample for Australopithecus africanus only represent one species. Professor Lee Berger takes on this sticky question.
Join South Africa’s Grand Geek’ and leading digital experts as they explore Africa’s Digital Future.
Professor Lee Berger explores the use of the absolute age of fossils in questions of phylogeny, and where the age of a fossil is important.
Is there any evidence in the fossil record that giants have lived on Earth in the past? Professor Lee Berger explores this question.
Professor Lee Berger explains the context of how original fossils are preserved and explores the context of discoveries.
The science to policy process that was developed to guide climate mitigation decisions can be applied to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Professor Lee Berger explains the concept of species in palaeoanthropology.
Have you tested positive for coronavirus or been near someone who has? If so, your country urgently needs you for a South African COVID-19 rapid test study.
Professor Lee Berger shows what is behind the doors of the Phillip V Tobias Fossil Hominid vault.
Professor Lee Berger introduces one of the world's longest running and richest fossil hominid sites.
A wealth tax on the top 1% of South Africans could raise R143 billion. This corresponds to 29% of the R500 billion COVID-19 package announced by the government.
New metasurface laser opens up a new world of applications using optical control of physical objects.
Health professionals will face difficult ethical decisions when it comes to dealing with COVID-19 patients.
Professor Lee Berger explains the mystery surrounding human relatives living in Africa during the middle Pleistocene.
Wits scientists along with Namibian, UK and US partners have shown how the smart application of existing interventions can reduce the transmission of malaria.
New features added as inter disciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration data on the pandemic grows.
In the second episode of Professor Lee Berger’s series of lectures on human origin, he delves into his favourite hominid-bearing site, Makapansgat.
Lectures will feature some of the University’s fossils, including the Taung Child, Homo naledi, Australopithecus sediba and various other fossils.
Academics call on government to develop a comprehensive health and economic strategy if it is to prevent long term socio-economic damage caused by pandemic.
High-powered X-rays of the world’s oldest fossilised dinosaur embryos show surprising similarities to the embryos of today’s crocodiles, lizards and chickens.
New features added as inter disciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration data on the pandemic grows.
A team of innovative Witsies is using their design and engineering skills to create face shields in aid of the fight against COVID-19.
Forbes is the first South African to take over the reins of the 100-year-old publication published by the UK’s Institute of Physics.
Geologists found the answer as to why certain magmatic rocks have varying proportions of minerals than what is expected of their type.
The dashboard is aimed at informing government, scientists, the media and general public with quick, easy-to-understand information on the current situation.
New self-sanitising surface coating will help to address infection control in hospitals, food processing plants and public transport surfaces.
Micro-CT scanning of “Little Foot” skull reveals new aspects of the life of this more than 3-million year-old-human ancestor.
Geologists from Wits have come up with an original explanation of how nature may produce a class of magmatic rocks that are made up of only one type of mineral.
Researchers at Wits University have created the world’s first framework, to better guide the management of terrestrial invasive species.
The Future Earth Report is an overview of some of the various risks faced by humanity, where it comes to our sustainable future on the planet.
Team visits Jemstech to view progress on first SA-made prototype for Tile Calorimeter of the ATLAS Detector at CERN.
2020: The year of extreme weather and how to mitigate the climate change.
A team from Wits (South Africa) and HUST (China) show that multi-dimensional quantum communications with twisted light is possible down legacy fibre networks.
Group of students find a large haul of fossils on the first day of their dig in Oviston Nature Reserve.
EDITORIAL: We do not have a choice. It is incumbent on each of us to tackle the #ClimateEmergency.
With the world facing a climate emergency, higher education institutions should lead in securing a future for our children.
Many are calling for increased population control but is this a solution to decrease the rate of climate change?
Climate change not only threatens mental health in South Africa, but also heralds poorer matric pass rates as teens, in particular, inherit the Earth.
Universities breaking new ground in climate research should be models of sustainability themselves.
An energy crisis built on an obsession with fossil fuels. Can alternative energy resources save the day for South Africa?
South Africa’s waste pickers are critical to our recycling economy and green future, yet they are marginalised, maligned, and discarded.
In our bid to save the planet from catastrophe, we have entered “the age of green”.
The green economy could save South Africa in more ways than one – cleaning up the environment will contribute to the economy, too.
Although we are facing a global climate challenge, there are hidden benefits and opportunities if we respond to this challenge sooner rather than later.
Underneath the smoke and concrete, artists invite us to respond to changing climates.
Consumer products rule our world. Period. And in our modern lives, electronic equipment is no longer a luxury – it is a necessity.
Grasslands are vastly biodiverse areas and vital for the sustainability of human wellbeing.
Grasslands have unique strategies that have ensured the enduring survival of southern Africa’s veld.
Chinese people and wildlife poaching: The Africa-China Reporting Project warns of “the danger of a single story”.
The days are gone where companies must only report on their financial bottom line. Now they should report on their impact on the environment too.
PROFILE: An early fascination with the environment sparked an interest in its protection for Miss Earth South Africa 2019.
Palaeoscientists are uniquely placed to interrogate the Earth’s geological records, the origin and development of life, biodiversity change, and extinctions.
Plants in the office are not there just to look pretty. They can lead to increased productivity, as well as improved mental health for workers.
Q&A with Professor Bob Scholes on a major project that is about to begin at Wits to look at potential and problems with four climate engineering ideas.
COLUMN: Reflections on former Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron’s critical jurisprudence and the environment.
COLUMN: While there is paralysis from above, exciting new forms of movement-building from below in Africa are saying ‘No to climate genocide!’
COLUMN: Black Friday blues’ impact on my quest to go green, on my green backs, and the implications for Earth.
Monitoring the timing of recurring biological events is key to understanding the effects of climate change.
The discovery also points to food being shared and the use of wooden digging sticks to extract the plants from the ground
Business leader and philanthropist, Dr Wendy Appelbaum spoke to Witsies about how to make an impact.
A Wits-led pilot study in Soweto has shown that minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS) can accurately determine cause of stillbirth in South African women.
“Investment in quantum technologies in South Africa is crucial if we want to leverage the next level of discovery research,” says Professor Zeblon Vilakazi.
‘Fractal light from lasers’ research by Wits physicists named among the most influential in optics and photonics in 2019.
Top marks are due for a bionic hand engineered by Wits University postgraduates, who have made mobility more accessible to the 1 million amputees in SA.
PeCo Power, a new spin-off company, is a home-grown electrical off-grid solution that will radically change lives and impact local communities.
An essay by the late Professor Bruce Murray, posthumously published by colleagues, celebrates Wits History Department’s centenary.
-600x300.jpg "A study by scientists from Wits and US and UK universities has found that depression increases risk of HIV among South African teen girls")
Teen girls in South Africa face an extraordinary threat of HIV. Addressing teens' mental health needs may help stem spread of the disease.
The 10th ICT Skills Survey shows that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is still waiting in the wings.
Wits University has added a new course to its free, online WitsX/edX learning platform.
EDITORIAL: It is only through understanding yesterday that we can shape today and create tomorrow.
Humankind is facing an ever-growing data tsunami that could swamp us as a species – or provide us with unheard of opportunities.
In an increasingly data-driven world, are we just walking data sources for the benefit of giant multinational corporations?
Data are gathering in pools and lakes. As we dip our toes into these murky waters, we see a sign that says, ‘Here be dragons…’
From hieroglyphics to emojis, and grunts to gestures, humans have always used multiple modes to communicate, including language.
Preparing for a digital revolution is as much about getting the basics right as it is looking to the future.
Craftivists have been savvy cryptographers for aeons longer than any computing geek.
Codes are changing and the rules of the game keep blurring as graffiti becomes a casualty of the era of social media.
Gene therapy – there is a long road ahead to mainstream techniques and ensure that the technology is cost-effective.
A new generation of apps could soon help health professions to decode the causes of death, and predict the likelihood of dying.
The first Earth System Model developed and based in Africa are creating one of the most reliable and most detailed modulations of climate change.
PhD candidate Shivan Parusnath plans to use social media and machine learning to help stop illegal reptile trade on global scale.
Speaking to visitors from outer space would one day require a common language and one not found in a dictionary.
It might never be one of South Africa’s 11 official languages, but that would defeat the purpose of gayle – a language of secrets.
For a Wits postgraduate drama student theatrical story-telling is a means to bridge generations and mutually empower seemingly disparate groups.
How animation depicts Bible stories: comparing panel-based image story-telling techniques against those of animation.
Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) is not a magic bullet to transform education, but it holds potential for educators and students.
Using text mining – a relatively under-utilised approach in South African humanities research – to unlock patterns and relationships.
People living with albinism endure parochial prejudice and medical scrutiny but their humanity is no less definitive than that of any other along the continuum.
COLUMN: Data domination by Big Tech, both nationally and internationally, has ominous implications for economies – and privacy.
COLUMN: Today, I am coming clean. Like most South Africans, I am in desperate need of cold, hard cash.
The University bought its first computer from IBM 59 years ago. Today, Wits and IBM are partners in quantum computing.
The two-day workshop will be part of the National Conference of the Centre of High Performance Computing.
Quantum mechanics is embracing patterns of light to create an alphabet that can be leveraged to build a light-based quantum network.
The WitsQ Quantum Computing Summer School takes place from 2 - 10 December at the Science Stadium.
The rock art archive is the first of three new floors that will provide public access to some of South Africa's most valuable historical finds.
The eighth issue of Wits University’s research magazine, Curios.ty is themed: #Code, and is available download or read online.
A delegation from Wits University, headed by the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Adam Habib, visited the European Laboratory, CERN.
African scientists speak out about global plans to plant trees on their continent.
Wits academic Michael Lucas took top honours at the International Conference on Prevention and Infection Control in Switzerland, 10-13 September 2019.
We begin to age the moment we are born and an ageing population in Africa has profound implications for people and public health, well-being and productivity.
The South African national treasures will for the first time ever go on display for international audiences, when it is exhibited in Dallas, Texas
First African evidence to support hypothesis of an asteroid impact that contributed to the extinction of large animals 12 800 years ago.
A Wits scientist has identified how climate change affects the capacity of adolescents to learn equitably in different environments.
"Wits and Tshimologong are the pioneers driving Gauteng to a modern economy in the new age of the digital revolution," said Premier David Makhuru.
Rauisuchians fed on vegetarian dinosaurs according to Wits student Rick Tolchard.
An internationally respected group of scientists, including Professor Francois Engelbrecht Wits have urgently called for world leaders to tackle climate change.
The '4IR: Philosophical, Ethical, Legal Dimensions' conference explored the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
Africans should be the contributors, shapers and owners of the coming advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, says Professor Zeblon Vilakazi.
The National Health Insurance as a funding mechanism will have to select what it covers and what it does not. A Health Technology Assessment could help decide.
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Cross-sector digital creative technology at 2019 Fak’ugesi Festival – Africa’s best creative digital workshops, talks, pitches and digital art exhibitions
The 2019 Fak’ugesi Festival has partnered with the City of Johannesburg’s Smart Cities Office to bring an exciting African-centric programme line-up.
Cultural Economies Conference at 2019 Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival.
Team is working on techniques to produce useful compounds from wood and fast growing non-edible plant waste, through a chemical process named xylochemistry.
Sourav Saha, a PhD student in the School of Molecular and Cell Biology won first prize at the Wits Science Slam competition for his cancer treatment research.
Professor Francois Engelbrecht from the Wits GCI stresses climate risks for southern Africa in talk on Africa’s projected climate change futures in Accra, Ghana
Article aimed to disprove a long-held myth in the field of optics that Bessel beams are self-healing and can reconstruct after all forms of obstructions.
New dinosaur was discovered after it lying misidentified in the university's vaults for over 30 years.
The remains of a microscopic drop of ancient seawater was used to re-establish the date that plate tectonics started on Earth.
Wits and African and global partners kick off a week-long programme focusing on migration and access to care and Universal Health Coverage in southern Africa.
Major machine learning research initiative will serve as a model for innovation and growth in Africa.
The Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute and partners have presented evidence for a shift to dolutegravir-containing antiretroviral treatment in SA.
EDITORIAL: Where do you belong? Where do you feel most at home? Curiosity explores these questions and many more in our latest issue.
Archaeologists and anthropologists peer into original homes of the past to see what made us who we are today.
In the age of densification, where will we sleep? Hyper-connected pods, embedded technology and micro democracies.
Eye-gaze devices as assistive tech have the potential to empower people with disabilities by improving their independence at home.
When you are thousands of kilometres away, ‘home’ may be what you carry in memories, but it might also be what you choose to forget.
Is buying a house still the solid investment once thought or is it time to turn nomadic?
If home is your castle, can the office be your palace? The need to ensure wellbeing at work is critical.
Land ownership has historically been the great divider, and South Africa is no different. But is this the silver bullet to address our gross inequality?
Home, health, identity and dignity - creating smarter solutions and symbiotic thinking for Jozi’s homeless people.
Understand Johannesburg’s challenges, opportunities and intricacies through the cultural microcosm that is Orange Grove.
Migration myths, human rights and the ongoing struggle to make a house a home.
If you grew up accepting the gender written on your birth certificate, you’re cisgender and probably would’ve never given this question much thought.
Machine learning study finds housing have improved in sub-Saharan Africa but adequate water and sanitation remains biggest challenge.
PROFILE: A Wits study is the first to look at transforming Victorian/Edwardian bungalows into urban compounds in Yeoville and Rosettenville.
Intentional living, the rise of imikhukhu and urban densification for dignity.
Sociable weavers are a rarity among birds. Not only do their massive nests endure for generations, but they house several other species as well.
, Michael Westgate (PhD Candidate), Mpofana Sihoyiya (MSc candidate), Prof.jpg "Kenneth Rapetsoa (MSc Candidate), Michael Westgate (PhD Candidate), Mpofana Sihoyiya (MSc candidate), Prof. Musa Manzi (Director, Wits Seismic Research Centre), and Philip Staley (Senior project geologist, Sibanye-Stillwater)")
Sibanye-Stillwater has donated their 2D/3D reflection seismic data worth R50m to the Wits Seismic Research Centre of the School of Geosciences.
Professor Herman Potgieter answers questions about whether the planet’s plastic trash tsunami can be stopped.
Migrant labour has intrinsically shaped family life in SA. Family structures and the concept of 'home' would be vastly different if it weren’t for this history.
How motherhood has been redefined through the feminisation of migration and maternal motion.
Technology and surveillance cause a sense of moral panic, but such scrutiny has the potential to enhance society.
COLUMN: Adanma Yisa shares her journey of being an African researcher in Africa today, but raised and educated in the Global North.
COLUMN: It feels like I am trapped in a scene of the Ferris Beuller movie. It is all a dream of the (near) future. Or a nightmare?
The history of housing, student accommodation and segregated living at Wits University.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the keynote address at South Africa’s first #4IRSA Digital Economy Summit.
The Wits School of Arts (WSOA) inaugural Postgraduate Research Day was a confluence of arts research and creativity.
Wits students are part of South African team to take first prize at the International Supercomputing Conference.
Dung beetles use different directional sensors to achieve the highest possible navigational precision in different conditions.
Wits Journalism releases the State of the Newsroom 2018 report.
Research from the Wits School of Geoscience shows how platinum deposits form in the Bushveld Complex of South Africa.
Wits researchers have contributed to a Lancet series on gender equality, norms and health, which was launched on 10 June 2019.
The Evidence for Contraceptive Options and HIV Outcomes study compared HIV acquisition risk among women given the injection, intrauterine device, or implant.
IBM expands its quantum computing program with Wits as its first partner in Africa on the IBM Q Network.
With rapid progress over the last couple of decades we are entering a new era of computing and Africa needs to act now.
The Universities Consortium and the Department of Health will launch a Universal Health Care project on June 6, which will test contracting mechanisms.
Our homegrown research crosses borders in Curios.ty, the 7th issue of Wits' research magazine, as we explore the concept of #Ekhaya (isiZulu for ‘home’).
Wits University hosts two African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in materials and migration respectively.
Wits geotechnical engineer and his colleagues commented on the reasons on why fatal mine disasters occur in an article published in Science.
A unique dataset has enabled scientists to better estimate the number of HIV-infected South Africans who had died by 2009 before ARVs became available publicly.
Eight Witsies are finalists in six categories of the NSTF-South 32 Awards, dubbed the ‘Science Oscars’.
Huawei South Africa has launched free 5G training for ICT postgraduates at Wits University.
A rethink of operational processes as a complex system, and the application of machine learning as an adaptive analytical framework.
Early human beings who lived around 120 000 years ago in South Africa were “ecological geniuses” who were able to exploit their environment intelligently.
The Wits Research Office has recognised scholars at the University whom the National Research Foundation has (re)rated and those awarded nationally and at Wits.
Sibanye-Stillwater commits additional R30 million to further mining 4.0 research and development.
"We are the pioneers who can reimagine how digital innovation can transform our world.”
Artificial Intelligence will be maturing over the next 18 months with Africa becoming ground zero for 4IR disruption.
Successful Early Sapiens Behaviour Exhibition extended and taking place at Iziko Museum in Cape Town.
The team of physicists has created a tiny superconducting circuit that mimics the quantum mechanical process in which an atom absorbs or emits light.
South Africa 4IR-readiness and the case for tech-savvy artisans.
A study by researchers at Wits and the London School of Economics has revealed very high rates of antibiotic prescribing in SA.
Academics and business must partner to help government understand what skills pupils and workers require for 4IR.
Wits science students have created an app to teach people the basics about genetics.
Making the right impact through the fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres.
Wits has collaborated in a project with Oxford University to test a United Nations development approach to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Wits-associated scientists are part of an international team that today published research suggesting a cure for HIV.
Research by Wits biomedical engineers that incorporates the human brain as part of a computer network is believed to be a world-first.
The Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute will evaluate the impact of HPV vaccine schedules on the prevalence of this virus on SA adolescent girls.
Rivers of untreated greywater flow through dusty township streets across South Africa.
It is not the robots that will take our jobs but a crisis of imagination and leadership, says futurist Valter Adão.
The heavy bombardment of terrestrial planets by asteroids from space has contributed to the formation of the early evolved crust on Earth.
Team confirms a 20-year-old prediction that “nature’s geometry” could be recreated by the use of laser technology.
Autralopithecus sediba is not the missing link that connects modern man to its more primitive ancestors.
Four papers published in a special issue of the open access journal, PaleoAnthropology, address critiques of Sediba, confirming it is indeed a unique species.
MicroCT scans of the 3.67-million-year-old Australopithecus fossil known as Little Foot shed some light on how she lived and moved.
Our online research magazine focuses on the socio-economic, political, physiological and psychological dynamics of food and nutrition.
EDITORIAL: It is tragic that we live in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution, yet we have millions of people who starve every day.
FOOD BITES: From a new form of food activism making gardening “cool” to developing new ways to deliver the medicines – or nutraceuticals – that our bodies need.
Africa has the ability and resources to feed the world, but much needs to be done on a continent full of challenges, opportunities and pitfalls.
The Constitution guarantees the right to food and there is enough for all but a system that prioritises profits over people undermines both society and justice.
Few Johannesburg residents enjoy the right to food and even fewer are aware that they have such a right. Community Food Centres could help change that.
Despite efforts to address hunger at Wits, ad hoc food security interventions cannot keep pace with increasing numbers of hungry students.
Food commons promote returning food (and access to it) to a place where food exists for the public good, rather than to benefit private, commercial interests.
New research due this year show link between relative increase in food and beer prices with levels of crime and violent behaviour.
Most Africans consider maize (corn) to be their staple food but few realise it carries a history of slavery, colonisation, modernisation and globalisation.
Edible stinkbugs and pre-dawn insect hunts; only for the brave.
Although eating insects might stave off starvation in a survival situation, chowing down on foam grasshoppers or red-yellow-black bugs could be fatal.
The fast food generation is trapped in an “obesogenic environment” due to international junk food giants and sugary sweet marketing.
There are almost 10 billion people on Earth and possibly 9 billion ideas of the perfect diet but there is no scientific proof the latest fad diet will work.
Adolescent South Africans increasingly struggle with eating disorders, unhealthy eating attitudes and body image issues, in both city and rural settings.
The health of your mother when you were born is a known indicator of your prospects in future, but new research shows that you inherit your health even earlier.
Breastfed babies are healthier and smarter than formula-fed babies yet these benefits still do not translate into policy and practice.
Q&A: Dr Aviva Tugendhaft, Deputy Director of PRICELESS SA sheds light on what energy drinks really do to the body.
Only limited legislation protects us against incomprehensible, misleading and detrimental food labels.
PROFILE: Professor Luke Chimuka developed a method to produce an extract from the moringa plant that is used as a dietary supplement.
COLUMN: Sauerkraut. That is how I start my day. Fermented cabbage leaves served with two boiled eggs and a slice of juicy cucumber on the side.
HISTORY: The annual Rand Easter Show has it muddy and beefy origins on Wits’ Braamfontein campus.
Professor Ron Clarke's 14-year-long excavation of the Little Foot skeleton reveals her history through the ages.
First ever endocast of the nearly complete brain of the hominin known as Little Foot reveals a small brain combining ape-like and human-like features.
The United Nations declared 12 December Universal Health Coverage Day but for migrants worldwide, accessing healthcare is often fraught with prejudice.
Wits physicists demonstrate a new device for manipulating and moving tiny objects with light.
Wits researchers go on a mission to describe, classify and trace the 4.5 billion-year-old history of a meteorite that landed in Madagascar.
Collaboration on Fundamental Physics celebrates a decade, of among others, Wits’ involvement in accelerated technology development.
First round table set the stage for South Africa to formulate a collective response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
An 82-year-old engineer at Wits has received an A-rating from the National Research Foundation for the fifth time.
Despite the challenging economic conditions, the GCRO’s 5th Quality of Life Survey (2017/2018) show the overall quality of life in Gauteng continues to improve.
Stone tools from the Middle Stone Age in South Africa shows that different communities were connected over long time periods over vast geographical areas.
Free virtual reality experience provides global access to the Dinaledi caves to researchers, students and amateur explorers.
Wits physiologists and cardiologists have established the Cardiovascular Pathophysiology Research Unit at the Mayo Clinic in Gauteng.
The Academy for Science SA (ASSAf) awarded Berger its Gold Medal for excellence in the application of outstanding scientific thinking in service to society.
GCI Director Barend Erasmus gives insight into the latest alarming IPCC Special Report on Global Warming.
Wits doctors transplanted the liver from a mother living with HIV to her critically ill HIV negative child, who had end-stage liver disease.
Wits University is the co-host of the International Conference on Physics Education, which is being held at the Misty Hills Hotel this week.
A team of international scientists, led by Professor Jonah Choiniere from Wits, described a new species of a giant dinosaur that has been found near Clarens.
The National Research Foundation has recognised Wits researchers for advancing their fields.
Automatic control is a technology that modern society cannot live without.
Public Lecture series to celebrate Heritage Day will focus on the earliest fossil hunters in Southern Africa and their findings.
Editorial: This year marked the centenary of a remarkable leader who transformed our world and left a legacy difficult to emulate.
Opinion: Advocate George Bizos SC is proud to call Nelson Mandela his life-long friend.
Nelson Mandela embodied kaleidoscopic reconciliation in 1994, but what is the prism fracturing his legacy in 2018?
Blaming Nelson Mandela for our current faults conveniently shifts introspection from the mistakes that the ANC and leaders subsequently made in power.
Three brothers captured Nelson Mandela shortly before he became South Africa’s first democratically elected President in 1994.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela married Nelson Mandela on 14 June 1958, just six years before he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The oeuvre symbolising the life of Nelson Mandela is expansive. These are a selection of the most evocative.
A patriot at heart, Dr Lindelwa Dalamba is enchanted by South Africa’s cultural history.
In Nelson Mandela’s personal office in Houghton, there is a stately wooden desk covered in brightly coloured cattle figurines.
Based at Wits University, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital is a true icon of the legacy that South Africa’s favourite son has left behind.
Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama are widely seen as two of the greatest leaders in the world in modern history. What are their legacies?
From “dangerous” black anti-apartheid fighter to iconic leader hailed the world over, to bitter ex-husband and “sell out”.
Taking a closer look at the documentary record of his father’s life and Mandela’s recollection in A Long Walk to Freedom.
To win the hearts of millions, Nelson Mandela paid dearly – with the hearts of those he loved most.
Nelson Mandela is among Wits University’s most famous alumni, but he is not a graduate of the University.
20 years since South Africa's military intervention into Lesotho - an opportune moment to consider the Mandela's position on the use of military force.
Creating a collective memory in a country with a fragmented past and persistent inequality needs money, skills and political will to preserve its history.
Sello Hatang, Head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, shared some intimate moments with Madiba, and nostalgically shares what he beliefs is Mandela's legacy.
From his name and image, to quotes, pictures, voice and artefacts, the Brand Mandela and the legacy of the ‘father of the nation’ is complicated to manage.
The following excerpt from the book, “Dare Not Linger”, shows Mandela’s belief in education as the liberator of the human spirit.
Nelson Mandela and his colleagues walked a minefield strewn with political, economic and social traps to prevent civil war and set our democratic path.
Mandela recognised we live in a world that is, and not in a world we wish existed. To truly honour him we must be responsive to his entire political legacy.
South Africa has the best anthem in the world, a product of a negotiated settlement intended as a measure of reconciliation for a new South Africa.
Drawing on a piece of silcrete found in Blombos Cave in South Africa predates previous human-made drawings by at least 30 000 years.
A breakthrough by Wits scientists could see patients with Alzheimer’s use a nasal spray to slow down the progression of the disease, the main cause of dementia.
Wits, UJ, Fort Hare and Telkom to develop a national response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution that could shape the futures of South Africa.
What does a polluted river sound like? How does sand-filtered water taste? Will acid mine drainage scald your skin? Do oceans echo?
Four scientists in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits last night won South African Medical Research Council Scientific Merit Awards.
A Wits University haematologist is the lead author in research set to revolutionise the treatment of haemophilia, a genetic blood disorder.
New fossils from north China shed light on the incremental evolution of insect-eating dinosaurs.
Is Nelson Mandela still a relevant guiding spirit for South Africans in 2018? Curiosity’s latest issue explores Madiba's life and legacy.
The MOU is part of the Museum’s new focus on human origins, plans to increase research, produce traveling exhibitions, and cultivate scientific communications.
Wits pulmonologists and partners launched the Lung Laboratory Research and Intervention Centre on World Lung Cancer Day on 1 August 2018.
It is World Hepatitis Day on 28 July. Two research entities at Wits University are part of the International Coalition to Eradicate Hepatitis B Virus (ICE-HBV).
Wits scientists share humanity’s common heritage with Heads of State during 10th BRICS Summit.
Identifying the deceased is a mammoth task for forensic specialists in South Africa.
Unique Wits-researched UN report maps out key areas for African cities to attract Foreign Direct Investment.
Researchers from the Wits School of Geosciences were involved in locating the fall area of the meteorite in Botswana’s Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
Wits academics Prof. Ian Jandrell, Dr Musa Manzi and Prof. Stephen Tollman have won prestigious NSTF-South32 Awards, the “Science Oscars” of research.
Wits Enterprise takes top honours at the annual DST/SARIMA Excellence Awards.
As a modern apex preditor, the crocodile's mode of attack - its mouth - had humble beginnings
Researchers take a deep look into a diamond to see how the atoms in its platelet defects are arranged in the hardest natural material known to man.
Researchers map out regions where exoplanets can exist within triple star systems.
Fossils of two new species of these four-legged vertebrates also evolved in polar regions, and not just in the tropics as previously believed.
Wits physicists and engineers team up to tackle Africa’s digital divide with home grown technologies
Students rub shoulders with Minister of Science and Technology and the Head of the Mission of South Africa to the United Nations in Geneva.
Wits PhD student finds a way to control the spin transport in networks of the smallest conductor known to man.
Editorial: Future world wars will be fought over water – a resource that is scarce in many parts of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa.
Lessons from Cape Town’s water shortage.
Water security is a complex challenge. Rain both alleviates drought but causes floods. David Olivier and Paulose Mvulane seek the silver lining.
Column: Water problems are in large measure problems of people and organisation, not problems of engineering.
Column: We have had some tyrants in our time but not until the last century or so have we ever come up with the idea of taking a dump in our own drinking water.
Mining is a key contributor to South Africa’s economic development but its effect on the environment could spell disaster.
The effect of water on rock art is a major concern, particularly due to climate change.
Wits researchers are using high-tech imagery and biological agents to save our water resources and economy from invasive alien plants.
WATERSHED is a programme that enmeshes the arts and science to provoke new thinking about water.
A social sciences course on Empire and the Crisis of Civilisation contextualises water, food and climate crises as systemic and demanding activist solutions.
South Africa’s hydrocolonisation of Lesotho.
The history of water inequality in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, shows that the colonisation of land cannot be separated from the colonisation of water.
Satellite data helps to track changes in groundwater storage.
Finding ways to explore water and oceans differently requires a new kind of fluidity, the kind proposed by Oceanic Humanities.
Access to sufficient water is a human right but failures of government often compel people to access this through law.
Diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of sickness and death in children under five in South Africa.
