Ebola outbreak in the DRC: four reasons it will be hard to contain
According to the WHO, as of 19 May 2026 the DRC had recorded more than 500 cases and 130 deaths, while its neighbour (Uganda) had recorded two cases and one death.
Nouadhibou, Mauritania: The Ship Graveyard at the Edge of the Sahara
A ship graveyard is exactly what the name suggests: a place where vessels are abandoned, dismantled, or left to decay. Some emerge from catastrophe. Namibia’s Skeleton Coast is lined with wrecks destroyed by currents, fog, and reefs. Bangladesh’s Chittagong and India’s Alang became industrial dismantling zones where ships are systematically broken apart for scrap. Australia’s Rottnest ship graveyard was deliberately used as a dumping ground for obsolete vessels throughout the twentieth century. Nouadhibou was different.
1959: The Day America Delivered the Mail by Cruise Missile
In 1959, the United States Navy launched 3,000 letters aboard a nuclear-capable cruise missile. The experiment lasted 22 minutes. The fantasy behind it lasted much longer.
The Wüstenschiff: Johann Christoph Bischoff’s 1932 “Ship of the Desert”
The Wüstenschiff, or “Desert Ship,” was a 1920s German engineering proposal – a land-borne ocean liner designed to ferry passengers and cargo across vast deserts.
Mali’s armed groups fill a government vacuum – addressing this is key to ending the violence
We are political scientists who have researched the security situation in Mali and the Sahel. Our recently published paper showed that non-state armed groups in the Sahel, particularly in Mali, have emerged as key power brokers, shaping local governance by filling gaps left by weak state institutions.
Why do so many African women bleach their skin? Study looks beyond what they tell researchers
Our study included a sample of 221 predominantly South African Black women. This sample represented the largest share of respondents for this online survey, which was targeted to Black African women across the continent.
South Africa’s AI policy cited fake research, created by AI: what lessons need to be learned
Much of the public commentary has treated this as an embarrassment: the policy meant to govern AI was itself undermined by AI. As a senior lecturer in cyber law, including the regulation of AI, I argue that framing this episode as an embarrassment obscures what needs to be examined. It misses the main point of what is at stake.
The Tech Sisters connecting, coding and creating an Ivorian ecosystem
"Tech Sister" Longa Andrea Mbuyamba is working to change who gets to shape West Africa’s tech ecosystem.
Sebastian Sawe’s Sub 2 resets the limits of the marathon in London
Kenya's Sabastian Sawe has rewritten what the marathon can look like, running 1:59:30 to win the London Marathon and become the first man to break the two-hour barrier in an official race.
One in three young women in Africa have never tested for HIV – new study shows where the gaps lie
HIV remains one of the biggest public health challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, a region that accounts for approximately two-thirds of about 40 million people living with HIV globally.