Editor's note

We’ve heard about the Atkins, Paleo and even the Keto diets. But what about the Universal Healthy Reference Diet? Some of the world’s leading scientists have come up with the first ever scientific eating plan with the aim of easing the strain on the world’s food systems. But Silvia Alonso Alvarez, Isabelle Baltenweck, Lora Iannotti and Paula Dominguez-Salas argue that it focuses on the world’s rich.

Moina Spooner

Commissioning Editor: East Africa

Top Story

The Mediterranean diet. Foxys Forest Manufacture/Shutterstock

First ever global scientific eating plan forgets the world’s poor

Silvia Alonso Alvarez, International Livestock Research Institute ; Isabelle Baltenweck, International Livestock Research Institute ; Lora Iannotti, Washington University in St Louis; Paula Dominguez-Salas, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

A Lancet commission has come up with a new sustainable diet that's supposed to be the way forward.

Science + Technology

Connecting food waste and sanitation services can help African farmers

Federico Davila, University of Technology Sydney; Alice Mutiti Mweetwa, University of Zambia; Dana Cordell, University of Technology Sydney; Frank Mnthambala, Cranfield University; Gudina Terefe Tucho, Jimma University; Ruben Sakrabani, Cranfield University

Across Africa less than 10% of the population is connected to a sewer system. But the waste could be used elsewhere.

Earth observation data offers hope for Africa’s wetlands

Lisa Rebelo, International Water Management Institute; Matthew McCartney, CGIAR System Organization

Wetlands are disappearing rapidly - but new data and technologies are revolutionising our knowledge.

Energy + Environment

Cape Town has a plan to manage its water. But there are big gaps

Jasper Knight, University of the Witwatersrand

Cape Town's draft strategy on water supply is out for comment, but important elements are missing from it.

South Africa must end its coal habit. But it’s at odds about when and how

Jacklyn Cock, University of the Witwatersrand

South Africa needs to wean itself off coal in a way that protects jobs and the environment.

From our international editions

The power of language: we translate our thoughts into words, but words also affect the way we think

Guillaume Thierry, Bangor University

Different languages have different ways of describing the world – and this in turn affects how speakers see the world.

Kashmir: India and Pakistan’s escalating conflict will benefit Narendra Modi ahead of elections

Sita Bali, Staffordshire University

India and Pakistan enter into a volatile situation after weeks of increasing tension.

Cuba expands rights but rejects radical change in updated constitution

María Isabel Alfonso, St. Joseph's College of New York

Cuba will not legalize same-sex marriage, as gay activists hoped. But its new constitution adds greater protections for LGBTQ people and for women, and gives Cubans the right to own private property.

Antibiotic resistance: public awareness campaigns might not work

Marco Haenssgen, University of Warwick

New research suggests that raising public awareness about antimicrobial resistance may have unintended consequences.

En français

Du XIXᵉ siècle à aujourd’hui, des enfants dans l’enfer de la mine

Diana Cooper-Richet, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines – Université Paris-Saclay

Les conditions que connaissent des milliers d’enfants africains exploités dans les mines n’ont rien à envier à celles des tout jeunes ouvriers des pays industrialisés au XIXᵉ siècle.

Quand la lutte contre l’immigration irrégulière devient une question de « culture »

Antoine Pécoud, Université Paris 13 – USPC

L’usage de la force s’accompagne d’une bataille des idées, dont le but est de justifier les objectifs politiques poursuivis par les États, mais aussi d’obtenir le consentement des gouvernés.

 
 
 
 

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