A quick energy source or a temporary relief from discomfort? Here’s what drives our food preferences when we’re sick.

Different dog breeds are often blamed for increases in dog attacks. But science shows reality is more complicated.

Since the time of Hippocrates, doctors have looked at patients hands for signs of ill health.

TB is the single most deadly infectious killer of humankind. New research shows food and proper nutrition work like a vaccine against the disease.

Mysteries from China, short stories from the Balkans, a French-Moroccan autobiography and more.

The African continent is an obvious contender for courting by major powers.

Almost one in three teen mothers do not return to school. Cash incentives help get them back, but affordable day-care is essential too.

But it may have an indirect effect on weight loss – especially if you swap it for the high-calorie drinks you normally have.

It’s not just cats and dogs – we often feel a deep emotional bond with small animals like rabbits and guinea-pigs too.

Many factors such as smoking, how much you exercise and what foods you eat, can affect your biological age.

South Africa’s legal commercial lion industry is helping to act as a cover for the illegal international big cat bone trade.

Here are a few ways you can benefit from nature in and around your home without stepping foot in a garden.

From the moment a male lion is born it faces a gauntlet of challenges, ranging from snakebite to infanticide.

Losing weight is challenging. But as anyone who has ever successfully lost weight knows, it’s avoiding weight re-gain that’s the real challenge.

Some countries no longer require you to remove your shoes when passing through security – but taking out your laptop is still mostly required.

Anhedonia’ affects up to 75% of people with depression.

Women’s Day is used to draw attention to the issues women still face in South Africa.

Imagine you’ve found yourself in a difficult financial situation and needed to raise R40,000 (more than US$2,000) on the spot. Where and how would you raise these funds? Or what if a financial emergency has just taken a grip of your household? Which resources would you draw upon to address the problem?

In South Africa “umlungu” is a word that’s commonly used to refer to white people. It comes from isiXhosa, the language of the country’s Xhosa people. It’s always been a mystery how the word originated or what it actually means because no human beings were referred to as umlungu before the arrival of white people in the country by ship. There was, however, a word “ubulungu” which meant “that deposited out by the sea” or sea scum.

What are parabens? Chemically speaking, paraben is the collective name for a group of closely related compounds – the parahydroxybenzoates. The “para” refers to the positions of certain parts of the molecule (it’s also where the “para” in “paracetamol” comes from). There are several different types of paraben, so you might see methylparaben, ethylparaben propylparaben, […]

If you were told to do more exercise to lower your blood pressure, you might think you’d need break out you running gear or hit the weights. But one of us (Jamie) recently published research that found exercises that you hold in a static position, such as planks and wall sits, are actually the best […]

Throughout the world, governments impose excise taxes on products like alcohol and tobacco to reduce their demand. The South African government has implemented a tax on vaping products for the same reason. Reducing demand is necessary as there is growing evidence that vaping products are not harmless. The new vaping tax has enraged vaping lobby […]

Around 8.45 million people in South Africa live with HIV – an estimated 13.9% of the population. Of South African women aged 15-49, approximately 24% are HIV positive. The roll-out of services to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV has been notably successful in reducing the rate of transmission. But there are still gaps in the […]

Foetal alcohol syndrome is a lifelong condition caused by exposing an unborn baby to alcohol. It’s a pattern of mental, physical and behavioural symptoms seen in some people whose mothers consumed alcohol during pregnancy. Not all prenatal alcohol exposure results in the syndrome; it is the most severe form of a range of effects called […]

Climate change is not just a buzzword or a topic for political debates. It is a real and pressing issue that affects every aspect of our lives. The effects of climate change are already being felt worldwide, from rising sea levels to heatwaves, droughts, floods, loss of biodiversity, food insecurity and more. In Nigeria, climate […]