Editor's note

Severe floods triggered by Tropical Cyclone Idai have swept across the south and east of Africa, affecting Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi. In Malawi alone more than 50 people have been killed and about a million people have been affected. Rainfall in the country is erratic and variable, which means that floods aren’t uncommon. Invariably this means disaster for vulnerable communities because there are no early warning systems in place and because they don’t have proper infrastructure. But there are solutions, as Robert Šakić Trogrlić explains.

As the investigations continue into the Ethiopian Airlines crash of a Boeing 737 Max airliner and the same type of aircraft in Indonesia, veteran pilot, air accident investigator and aviation professor Daniel Kwasi Adjekum sets out the painstaking work that goes into figuring out what happened.

For 1.7 billion people, the Indian summer monsoon can mean drought and food shortages or widespread flooding between June and September. Being able to predict how climate change will affect the weather system in future could help people on the Indian subcontinent prepare. Luckily, there are clues in the distant past from the last time this weather system underwent abrupt climate change. Katrina Nilsson-Kerr and Pallavi Anand reveal how global warming strengthened India’s monsoon 130,000 years ago, causing it to pull warmth and moisture far into the northern hemisphere – hastening the end of an ice age.

Moina Spooner

Commissioning Editor: East Africa

Top Stories

Torrential rains in Malawi have caused dozens of deaths. Arjan van de Merwe/UNDP/Flickr

Why Malawi is failing to protect people from floods and what needs to be done

Robert Šakić Trogrlić, Heriot-Watt University

High poverty levels mean people lack access to land and work and they are often driven to settle in zones that are exposed to natural hazards.

An investigator surveys wreckage at the site of the Ethiopian Airlines crash. Baz Ratner/Reuters

Here’s how airplane crash investigations work, according to an aviation safety expert

Daniel Kwasi Adjekum, University of North Dakota

The inquiries can take months of painstaking work, but often yield important insights that improve flight safety for everyone long into the future.

Monsoon clouds approach in India. Manoj Felix/Shutterstock

Indian summer monsoon amplified global warming 130,000 years ago, helping end ice age

Katrina Nilsson-Kerr, The Open University; Pallavi Anand, The Open University

The Indian summer monsoon rainfall affects the lives of over a billion people. By looking at how prehistoric climate changes affected it, scientists can contribute to its future prediction.

Science + Technology

A guide for parents and teachers: what to do if your teenager watches violent footage

Rachael Sharman, University of the Sunshine Coast

Many teenagers may have seen the live footage of the Christchurch shooting. Here are some ways parents and teachers can help them process it.

Four ways social media platforms could stop the spread of hateful content in aftermath of terror attacks

Bertie Vidgen, University of Oxford

What can social media platforms do after terrorist attacks?