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: Few things evoke frustration like the feeling that you’re not 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.
Column: Lessons unlearnt from a week in dry Cape Town.
The story of why rainfall at Wits dispenses to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans respectively is a tale as old as Africa itself.
Q&A with Professor David Block from the Wits School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.
From slow sand filters and to towers that measure energy and gases.
Profile: As a photographer, swimmer and researcher, Dyani Jeram’s life is all about water.
Bruce Mellado, National Contact Physicist of South Africa at the ATLAS experiment at CERN, says there are future plans for a bigger, better LHC.
Society seeks to increase its funding to South African students doing research in the country.
The human-like features of Homo naledi's brain surprised the research team that examined the fossil's brain imprints.
In a lab in Joburg, a crack team of Wits scientists led the investigation into the ubiquitous Listeria bacteria that stick like glue and thrive in the cold.
Humans are facing a #Watershed moment in our efforts to secure a collective future.
College supported with five-year grant by Robert Bosch Stiftung and include partner institutions from Ghana, Kenya, the UN and the University of Cape Town.
A Master's graduate has produced research that impacts health policy in the field of cervical cancer, which is one of the top five cancers that kill women.
Professor Lawrence Hamilton is the first political scientist in the history of the National Research Foundation (NRF) rating system to receive an A-rating.
Wits robotics researcher awarded Africa’s only grant in the 2017 round of the Google Faculty Research Awards.
 and Dr Marta Nunes of Wits RMPRU-600x300.jpg "Dr Clare Cutland (L) and Dr Marta Nunes of the Wits RMPRU")
Research by Wits scientists shows that pregnant women vaccinated against influenza also have less pertussis infection.
Wits – in the champion’s league of archaeology – hosted the first African Conference on Experimental Archaeology.
The National Minimum Wage Research Initiative at Wits raises concerns over serious shortcomings of the Bills.
Celebrating the research of the new Sibanye-Stillwater Digital Mining Laboratory (DigiMine) at Wits University.
Female South African pythons are the first ever egg-laying snake shown to care for their babies - at great cost to themselves.
Wits students contribute to the upgrade of the high-tech software and hardware at the CERN ATLAS detector.
Catch these Wits researchers at South Africa’s National Science Festival that kicks off in Grahamstown today.
Study conducted by the School of Geosciences reveals how platinum-bearing chromite layers form in the crust of the Earth.
Scientists have pioneered a process to detect TB bacteria by adding a molecule to the bacteria's own armour that lights up under fluorescent light.
Epilepsy affects more than 60 million individuals globally with at least 70% of cases found in low- and middle-income countries.
Professors Bob Scholes and Shabir Madhi have been elected as Fellows of the prestigious The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).
A Distinguished Professor of Biocatalysis at Wits, Roger Sheldon has published a paper on green chemistry in a prestigious high-impact research journal.
The Marang Centre for Mathematics and Science Education is advancing specialized knowledge in the field locally and through collaboration with the global north.
It is World Cancer Day on 4 February and Wits specialists are poised to challenge cancer and other non-communicable diseases.
Wits PhD student pieces together the mystery of how single cell life forms evolved into multicellular organisms.
Rich in proteins, fats, vitamins and nutrients - PhD-student unearths the benefits of edible termites in new study.
A study of the tooth sockets of one of the world’s most famous fossil skulls, “Mrs” Ples, has made scientists think differently about “her” sex.
CT-scan study of Wits PHD student makes it possible to 3D print the skull of the dinosaur species Massospondylus that roamed South Africa 200 million years ago.
Interview with Lord Peter Hain about his efforts to bring British banks to justice for their alleged involvement in state capture.
Can we finally see beyond the hashtags, clever memes, and witty commentary that #StateCapture, the #Guptas and #EdwardsFather elicit?
Capitalising on consumers' sweet spot has dangerous implications for public health.
What are the prospects for a free media in a captured state in 21st Century South Africa?
Let’s celebrate the work of investigative reporters in exposing state capture but also interrogate where they got it wrong, and how damaging this has been.
Public-private sector relationships should serve society broadly and when it starts serving the interest of a individuals it undermines our hard-won democracy.
Professor Zeblon Vilakazi’s editorial in the latest issue of Curiosity, Wits’ new research magazine:
Wits palaeoanthropologist tops 25 300 others in a new study on highly visible scientists.
A matchbox-sized circuit board with a short aerial could save lives by transmitting the vital statistics and location of miners missing underground.
Research into optics and photonics by Wits physicists has been highlighted as some of the most influential in 2017.
Wits scientists and partners have sequenced the genomes of 24 South African individuals of different ethnolinguistic origins.
After 20 years of painstaking excavation and preparation, Professor Ron Clarke introduces the most complete Australopithecus fossil ever found to the world.
The Dean of the Faculty of Science at Wits University has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa.
Two scientists from Wits University are on the list of Highly Cited Researchers in the world.
Three-year funding will aim to further academic knowledge of mechanised mining and rock engineering in South Africa.
The study shows that clinical interventions should take place at lower viral loads than those proposed by the current World Health Organization guidelines.
Creative management of grazing through the use small fires can draw back herbivores to grazing areas that are avoided by animals.
The Wits-led African Innovation Laboratory Network (iLEAD) launched today with a mission to integrate and optimise laboratory systems to improve patient care.
Collaboration between Wits and the new CoE at University of Bergen is essential to answer some of the most fundamental questions about our ancestry.
More accurate aging of teeth could hold the key to identifying health-compromised children in Africa.
The Minister of Health has appointed Wits Professor Helen Rees to chair the Board of the South African Health Products Authority.
A global study of GBS, bacteria that cause stillbirth and infant death, shows that Africa has the highest incidence. Wits University is pioneering a vaccine.
"Wits and Vaccines: the impact and potential of vaccines for Africa” is the title of a lecture hosted by Wits Faculty of Health Sciences on 1 November, 17:30.
The ‘Brainternet’, robotic arm, mosquito repeller, adaptive digital hearing aid, leaf recognition software – our future engineers show their stuff.
Fossil records near the lost Gondwanides mountains show that the Permian-Triassic extinction started 1 million years prior to what was previously believed.
Breakthrough paves the way for future Multi-Messenger astronomical observations
Seven scholars from Wits were inaugurated into the Academy of Science of South Africa at its annual Awards Ceremony held on 11 October 2017.
In September, the Wits Rural Facility became a ‘lab in the bush’ for a hands-on systems analysis thinking and modelling programme.
New study finds 'staying longer at home' was key to Stone Age technology change some 60 000 years ago.
Wits University and the University of Cambridge, UK, have announced an academic exchange programme in political theory.
The bones of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, like every industrial revolution in the past, come from the dirt under our feet.
Wits alumnus, Elash Mistry was elated when he became the first blind person in Africa to be admitted as a fellow of the Actuarial Society of SA in 2017.
Digital access itself does not untangle past inequalities. In many cases, it may even increase inequality.
The launch of a high-tech eZone, eFundanathi – “Learn with Us”, is set to revolutionise teaching and learning at Wits.
Tech advances are already impacting skilled white-collar and unskilled workers whereas the digital revolution affected mainly semi-skilled, blue-collar workers.
In 2011, a faceless, emotionless voice named Watson famously defeated two of the greatest champions of Jeopardy!, an American TV gameshow.
Technique paves the way for high-bit-rate secure long distance quantum communication.
Complex life, as we know it, started completely by chance, with small strands of molecules linking up, which eventually would have given them the ability to rep
Benita Olivier is an Associate Professor in musculo-skeletal physiotherapy in the Physiotherapy Department at Wits.
The rise of big data and advances in information technology has serious implications for our ability to deliver sufficient bandwidth to meet the growing demand.
In a world controlled and dominated by robots, is there still space for humans?
Wits scientists have developed technology that ensures the efficacy of equipment that tests for tuberculosis (TB).
Nine researchers from Wits University were recognised by the National Research Foundation (NRF) at the 2017 NRF Research Awards in Bloemfontein last night.
In research thought to be a world first, biomedical engineers at Wits are connecting a human brain to the internet in real time.
Origin Centre's new Virtual Reality experience uses state of the art communications technology to tell the story of what makes us human.
Is tech killing indigenous African languages? Prof. Leketi Makalela, head of Languages, Literacies and Literatures in the Wits School of Education talks back.
Biomedical engineers at Wits are researching how brainwaves can be used to control a robotic prosthetic hand.
There are over 300 tech hubs in Africa and maybe 52 or more in South Africa, one of which is the Wits Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct in Braamfontein.
The GCRO to shift borders at first Seoul Biennale on Architecture and Urbanism.
The Indaba will bring leaders in machine learning and artificial intelligence to Wits University to teach and mentor students, researchers and entrepreneurs.
The National Research Foundation (NRF) has awarded an A1-rating to Professor Lyn Wadley.
Novel genetic techniques might be used to understand the effects of habitat transformation as well as to combat illegal trade of the animals.
Researchers have confirmed that transit-orientated development (ToD) is a good choice to ensure a spatially transformed Johannesburg in 2057.
The aardvark will become increasingly rare as the world warms and dries, and the consequences go well beyond a decline in aardvark safari encounters.
Early human's ability to survive through prolonged arid areas in southern Africa developed from their ability to innovate and adapt.
A 9-year-old South African diagnosed with HIV at a month old who received antiretroviral treatment during infancy has suppressed the virus for almost 9 years.
Pollen record of plant, that is currently being eradicated, extends much further back than the 100 years it is believed to be growing in the Lesotho Highlands.
[FACT SHEET] The state of South Africa’s prisons.
Lancet calls research ‘extraordinarily flimsy’. What do we know about the safety of e-cigarettes?
Fewer than 1 in 7 doctors examine the prostate gland for cancer, a new study finds.
Wits researchers contribute to the new Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology Commission report on diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Wits alumnus is among a select group, including seven Nobel laureates, who have received this honour.
Academics from Wits won in two categories at the prestigious 2016/2017 NSTF-South32 Awards held last night.
New book reviews the current status and future trends in the recycling and reuse of mineral and metal waste.
Wits hosts the 15th Prestigious Research Lecture, "Practice changing advances in common cancers (breast and colorectal)", on 20 June 2017.
A study by Wits scientists and peers has revealed that South Africa has the highest prevalence of hypertension in southern Africa.
-600x300.jpg "Professor Lynn Morris received the Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award in June 2017")
Professor Lynn Morris received the prestigious Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award, arguably equivalent to the Nobel Prize, on 2 June 2017.
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Scientists have pioneered a technique to directly date prehistoric rock paintings in southern Africa, which reveals dates much older than previously thought.
Dr Robin Drennan, Director of Research Development at Wits, has been awarded by his southern African peers for his contribution to research management.
Wits researchers co-authored a state capture report produced by the State Capacity Research Project, an interdisciplinary, interuniversity research partnership.
Wits researchers and their peers have awarded South African children a C-grade on the Healthy Active Kids South Africa Report Card for physical activity levels.
250 000 year old species from Rising Star Cave raises more questions about our origins.
Scientists have discovered the genetic mutation that causes the rare skin disease, keratolytic winter erythema (KWE), or ‘Oudtshoorn skin’, in Afrikaners.
Professor Achille Mbembe of the Wits Institute of Social and Economic Research (WiSER) has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
TIME has named Glenda Gray, Full Professor: Research, in the School of Clinical Medicine at Wits, among the top 100 most influential people in the world.
International scientists share knowledge with SA students and industry at a workshop, dedicated to the CERN electronics upgrade.
The Wits Research Office last night recognised 67 researchers at the University whom the National Research Foundation (NRF) has rated or re-rated.
New laboratory will work closely with the University of Johannesburg to offer southern African scientists a local solution for isotope analysis.
Regulatory changes aimed at encouraging very fast, technology-driven trading on the JSE may have some unintended consequences.
With its new Centre of Excellence status, the Centre for Early Human Behaviour will receive funding amounting to about R540 million over the next 10 years.
A new malaria vector discovered in South Africa is not linked to the ‘Odyssean’ malaria cases reported in two provinces this week.
Researchers use “Fitbits” to track elephant sleep in the wild.
The National Research Foundation (NRF) has awarded an A-rating to Professor Christopher Mathew.
This competition is an exciting chance to enhance your communications skills, and, maybe, represent your country internationally.
Workshop included an overview of the exciting results coming from astrophysics and how future experiments can shed more light on these results.
CT scans of fossils of the pre-mammalian reptile, Euchambersia, shows anatomical features, designed for venom production.
One of Africa's iconic snakes, the puff adder use what is termed “lingual luring” to attract amphibian prey closer, and increase the odds of catching it.
A research report released by PRICELESS SA has revealed evidence that fiscal measures could address the burden on the healthcare sector.
Lava-covered piece of continent is an ancient remnant, left over from the break-up of the supercontinent, Gondwana, which started about 200 million years ago.
Professor Luke Chimuka in the School of Chemistry developed a method to produce an extract from the Moringa plant through pressurised hot water extraction.
_600x300px-600x300.jpg "Prof. Bavesh Kana heads the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical TB Research at Wits")
Tuberculosis (TB) affects some 35-million people globally. In 2009 testing for TB using molecular diagnostics proved a game-changer for national TB programmes.
The Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) is a partnership between Wits, the University of Johannesburg and the Gauteng provincial and local government.
Wits physicists show that real-time error correction in quantum communications is possible.
The books of Prof. Robert Muponde illustrate how critical redress in cultures of representation can yield cross-disciplinary innovation in global humanities.
Professor Felix Maringe has since 2004 researched higher education markets in the context of international and global developments.
Professor Leketi Makalela chairs a research programme on complex multilingual encounters, a growing field attracting increasing numbers of PhD candidates.
Pumla Dineo Gqola is a Professor in the Department of African Literature. She is interested in how power works in contemporary societies.
Dr Nicole De Wet is a lecturer in demography and population studies at Wits. Her research is on adolescent health outcomes in South Africa.
The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) aims to establish a vibrant African academy able to lead research that impacts public health.
Biostatistics is the analysis and interpretation of data generated in the biological and health sciences to inform clinical or health policy and practice.
Professor Ronald Wall is an economic geographer and urban planner and the Johannesburg City Chair in Economic Development at Wits.
Professor Dorrit (Dori) Posel holds the Helen Suzman Chair in Political Economics at Wits.
Professor Vishnu Padyachee in the School of Economic and Business Sciences at Wits holds the Derek Schrier and Cecily Cameron Chair in Development Economics.
Distinguished Professor in the School of Chemistry at Wits, Roger Sheldon is a globally recognised authority on Green Chemistry.
Discovery allows scientists to connect the last major vertebrate group to the tree of life.
Researchers find a way to accurately identify the sex of the artists who created ancient rock art.
Humans living in South Africa in the Middle Stone Age used these techniques to vastly improve their living conditions during the era.
Wits to benefit from R1.2 million over five years, while DRDGOLD will benefit from Wits' research and consultation expertise.
-and-the-JB1-radar-transmitter_600x300px.jpg "Professor Basil Schonland (left) and the JB1 radar transmitter.")
New research highlights radar’s development in SA and that first echo.
The researchers have been named among the world's most Highly Cited Researchers in Thomson Reuters' annual list recognising leading scientists.
The Friedel Sellschop Award is handed out every year to recognise and encourage young researchers.
Four new papers on different aspects of the anatomy of Homo naledi have been published, and more papers are coming soon, all led by early career researchers.
The Vice-Chancellor’s Research Award is the University’s most prestigious award for research.
UNESCO-funded World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development report will aim to understand how global media have been changing.
In a paradigm shift from conventional electronic devices, exploiting the quantum properties of superlattices holds the promise of developing new technologies.
300 million-year-old pre-mammalian reptiles knew that it was their beautiful smiles that made them sexy, so they evolved mouths full of teeth to attract mates.
New research shows resilience does not explain the dissociation between chronic pain and physical activity in South Africans living with HIV.
New Madala boson might assist in the understanding of Dark Matter.
The arrival of medium and large antelope on African soil coincides dramatically with the evolution of thorn trees in the African savanna.
Pneumonia is the number one infectious disease killer of children under five in the developing world.
New research by the Brain Function Research Group at Wits and the University of Adelaide challenges views of human intelligence
Surprising results from a new study reveal the heel bone from our fossil relative is closer related to gorillas.
Discovery of 1.7 million-year-old foot bone is the oldest evidence of cancer in human ancestors.
Many questions have been thrown up by the discovery in South Africa of a previously unidentified human relative, Homo naledi.
Research into public understanding of Early Childhood Development (ECD) compared to the actual science has informed SA’s ECD policy, which Wits helped draft.
Eight-year-old South African boy discovers early turtle fossil that explains why the turtle got its shell.
Molecular diagnostics uses genetic material to look for infectious organisms like TB and HIV. If you don’t know what you’ve got, how do you treat it?
While climate shifts may have influenced early human subsistence strategies, it may not have been the driving factor behind cultural innovation.
New data from the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) shows that satisfaction with municipalities declined slightly.
Groundbreaking research by Wits scientists sheds light on the ancestry of mammals and the origin of hair.
African researchers demonstrate a 100x increase in the amount of information that can be 'packed into light'.
.jpg "3D Mapping of the Dinaledi cave system, where Homo naledi was found.")
The high-tech 3D mapping of Homo naledi’s Dinaledi chamber.
Underground astronaut, Marina Elliott, says she is honoured to be part of this prestigious research programme.
The Astronomical Plate Archive of the South African Sky is a unique collection of astronomy wonders.
Wellcome Trust grants aimed at stemming the ‘brain drain’ of the best African scientists.
Habib and Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron are the only two South Africans of the 213 new members elected to the Academy.
Wits palaeoanthropologist honoured as one of the most influential people in the world.
Implementing a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages could prevent more South Africans, especially younger ones, from becoming obese, according to Wits researchers.
Wits University honoured a number of academics for their excellence in research and postgraduate supervision at a ceremony on Wednesday, 13 April 2016.
World Health Day: Hope for effectively treating patients with Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH).
Media release: National Museum examines life history of ancient mammal relatives.
Health Awareness Month: Dr Sadhna Mathura is excavating the hidden potential of chloride intracellular channel (CLIC) proteins in the human body.
Poster-4 (002)..png "Microstructural Skeletal Damage poster")
Over 170 posters and oral presentations vied for prizes at the 7th Postgraduate Cross-Faculty Symposium
State-of-the-art techniques and high-end computer graphics help to process, interpret and model huge volumes of integrated data in 3D.
The Marikana killings drew international attention with the prevailing discourse focused on human rights.
Human Rights Day: Female Sex Abuse (FSA) victimhood is an underexplored territory in academia.
Super-massive black hole at center of Galaxy is likely to accelerate cosmic ray particles to energies 100 times larger than the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
Jasper Knight and Stefan Grab are stirring the geomorphology community by overturning ideas that have stood for decades on how mountain landscapes are formed.
Using geometric phase inside lasers for the first time, researchers find a way to change the orbital angular momentum of laser beams.
The newly established Cimera will take the study of minerals to the next level.
The DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences is leading the charge.
The Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP) Research Unit is not just an institution of research.
Research could not, and should not be done in isolation.
Postdoc helps mining industry to remediate high levels of mercury in the Wits mining basin.
Africa Month: Research by Sonwabile Mnwana and Gavin Capps is expected to cause a major upset in the way mines negotiate land rights with communities.
French postdoctoral research fellow, Dr Xavier Glaudas, is on a mission to find out.
Africa Month: Professor Clifford Odimegwu is passionate about developing a new generation of population scientists in Africa.
A hundred years ago, Albert Einstein published his theory of general relativity.
Brendan Gray’s construction of a versatile and novel experimental rig contributes to the understanding of how curved shock waves behave.
An estimated 350 million people worldwide are infected with chronic Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) with the majority living in sub-Saharan Africa.
International Mother Tongue Day: Insisting that children use one language at a time is primary cause for inability to reason cognitively, research shows.
Now Dr Lesley Chown can test new metals cost-effectively in her lab.
Wits researchers in optical communications explore ways to drastically increase the optical fibre bandwidth.
Professor Christopher Henshilwood is the co-winner of the Vice-Chancellor’s research award.
More than one million slaves were traded during 18th Century on the Loango coastline.
Specimens from the Homo genus and can be associated with early stone tools dated to 2.18 million years ago.
Hepatitis B Virus causes between 600 000 and one million deaths per year, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
Southern Africa’s talent in high energy particle physics displayed at annual workshop.
Researchers say there are still large gaps in our understanding of the associated utility systems in batch chemical processes.
Media release: Biting too hard would have dislocated the jaw of Australopithecus sediba.
Warren Maroun examines how companies are reporting on different sustainability metrics in their integrated reports.
Professor Natasha Sacks aims to make Wits a world expert in tribology.
Companies see matric certificates as applicant’s ability to read, write and be trained, research shows.
PRICELESS SA will benefit from a generous Gates Foundation grant for the International Decision Support Initiative.
The School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering is about to make headlines for the development of new technology to cool high-speed computers.
Professor Boris Urban's goal is to create a new cadre of researchers in the field entrepreneurship.
Why did many Zimbabweans leave their home country in search for work in SA?
Diamonds dug up from ancient rock formations in the Johannesburg area, between 1890 and 1930 have revealed secrets of how ancient Earth worked.
Puff adders - one of Africa's most abundant and venomous snake species - hide from prey and predator by hiding their smell.
An African elephant detects dangerous TNT using its extraordinary sense of smell.
New results from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN have scientists exploring the possibilities another new particle.
Declining bee colonies puts industry totaling R20-billion at risk, including Western Cape's fruit industry with its 77 800 hectares of fruit farms.
Are females paying the price for being heavier children?
In 2017 there will be 1.2 million more obese adults in South Africa - study
Professors Florian Luca and Lynn Morris receive their A-ratings.
Ecologists across the world are starting to realise that many ecosystems cannot be understood without including animals and their impact
Estimating the age of fossils is important because it allows palaeoanthropologists the opportunity to try to draw up a family tree.
It's crunch time for 50,000 delegates from government, intergovernmental organisations, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society to agree on a shared action plan.
New book from leading climate change experts at Wits sheds light on how southern Africa is impacted.
New research in structured light will have exciting outcomes for telecoms and other industries.
The development of a vaccine remains the best possibility for ending the HIV pandemic.
The two papers, titled: The foot of Homo naledi and The hand of Homo naledi, describe the structure and function of the H. naledi hand and foot.
The research has been published in the open access journal, eLife, where anyone access the scientific papers.
It is the single largest fossil hominin find yet made on the continent of Africa.
Our ancestor practiced a form of ritualised behaviour (or repeated behaviour) previously thought to be unique to humans.
An average shopper takes between four and ten seconds to pick a food product off a shop shelf during their regular visit to buy groceries.
This review identified nutrition labelling research from 20 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
