Editor's note

Radio, which continues to be the most used medium for mass communication in Africa, has a rich history of resistance. For example, in late colonial Angola, liberation forces used radio programmes to transmit information that was used as a weapon in the struggle for independence from Portugal. Marissa Moorman provides an outline of what’s she’s uncovered in her new book, Powerful Frequencies.

Some landslides on Mars seem to defy the laws of physics by moving very fast for long distances. The surprising lack of friction involved in these powerful events has led many scientists to think they must have formed during an ice age, with distinct long ridges thought to be the result of underlying ice at the time of the landslide. Now new research by Giulia Magnarini and Tom Mitchell suggests this might not have been the case at all. The long ridges could have instead been formed by underlying layers of unstable, light rocks, created by vibrations and collisions of rock particles.

Charl Blignaut

Arts, Culture and Society Editor

Top Stories

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Radio as a form of struggle: scenes from late colonial Angola

Marissa J. Moorman, Indiana University

The Portuguese colonisers were not the only ones who could use radio for control. A new book tells how popular radio broadcasts from Angola's liberation fighters were used as weapons in the struggle.

Mars landslide. The blue area represents the landslide debris.

Mars: we may have solved the mystery of how its landslides form

Giulia Magnarini, UCL; Tom Mitchell, UCL

New research on landslides on Mars could help protect against devastating landslides on Earth.

Arts + Culture

Politics + Society

NATO and the EU: a short history of an uneasy relationship

Simon J Smith, Staffordshire University

Why the EU and NATO have struggled to cooperate fully.

Haiti crisis highlights the need for a strong civil service

Jean-François Savard, École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP); Emmanuel Sael, École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP); Joseph Jr Clormeus, École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP)

Haiti is embroiled in turmoil once again as people flock to the streets to protest rampant corruption in their government. But what are the roots of the problem?

Syrian refugees in Canada: Four years after the welcome

Leah Hamilton, Mount Royal University; Luisa Veronis, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa; Margaret Walton-Roberts, Wilfrid Laurier University

The overall outcomes of Syrian refugees’ resettlement experiences are positive, but challenges remain.

Islamophobic attacks mostly happen in public. Here’s what you can do if you see it or experience it

Derya Iner, Charles Sturt University; Mehmet Ozalp, Charles Sturt University

592 online and offline Islamophobia incidents were recorded in the last four years. But this represents only the tip of the iceberg.

Environment + Energy

The bizarre and ecologically important hidden lives of mosquitoes

Daniel A.H. Peach, University of British Columbia

Mosquitoes have intricate and essential relationships with plants. Understanding their important work as pollinators would help to understand their role in different ecosystems.

Earth has a couple more chances to avoid catastrophic climate change. This week is one of them

Robert Hales, Griffith University; Johanna Nalau, Griffith University; Samid Suliman, Griffith University; Tim Cadman, Griffith University

Recent bushfires and extreme weather are just a small taste of what is to come if this week's climate negotiations in Madrid fail to deliver.