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Editor's note
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For 40 years, a fossil specimen nicknamed the “Grey Skull” has been sitting quietly in the collection of the Evolutionary Studies Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. But the fossil held a secret: it belonged to a previously unidentified species and genus of dinosaur. Kimberley Chapelle explains how she revealed that secret.
Another ancient secret recently uncovered relates to our human ancestors. Sarah Wurz, Joshua Kumbani, Justin Bradfield and Neil Rusch describe what happened when they took replicas of ancient bone artefacts into a recording studio to better understand how humans used sound during the Middle and Later Stone Age.
Many working mothers around the world are faced with the problem of ensuring their children are properly cared for while they’re at work. It’s particularly tough in low-income settings. Patricia Kitsao-Wekulo and Margaret Nampijja explain how subsidising the cost of care helped women in Nairobi, Kenya. Meanwhile, Sharon Adetutu Omotoso sets out how new media has turned out to be just like the old when it comes to the representation of women.
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Natasha Joseph
Assistant Editor: News and Research and Science & Technology Editor
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Top Stories
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Kimberley E.J. Chapelle, University of the Witwatersrand
The more we know about the animals that lived during this time, the more we can start to comprehend how species react and recover after an extinction event.
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Sarah Wurz, University of the Witwatersrand; Joshua Kumbani, University of the Witwatersrand; Justin Bradfield, University of Johannesburg; Neil Rusch, University of the Witwatersrand
Working with bone artefacts from archaeological sites in South Africa's southern Cape region, we've been able to show that some implements might have been used for sound production in the past.
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Patricia Kitsao-Wekulo, African Population and Health Research Center; Margaret Nampijja, African Population and Health Research Center
We found that women who had access to subsidised day-care services were 17% more likely to be employed than those who were not.
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Sharon Adetutu Omotoso, University of Ibadan
Feminists in Africa must step up to the challenge and redress the manner in which African women are portrayed in the digital age.
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Business + Economy
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Jonathan Powell, University of Central Florida; Christopher Michael Faulkner, Centre College; Joshua Lambert, University of Central Florida
Private military and security companies are increasingly being contracted in Africa. But there are big gaps in understanding their impact.
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Luis Alberto Torres-Cruz, University of the Witwatersrand
One of the most interesting developments to emerge from the disaster in Brazil is how investors can work together with mining companies and regulatory bodies to improve tailings management systems.
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Frederick Dayour, University for Development Studies; Albert N. Kimbu, University of Surrey
Ghana is banking on a much needed boost to its tourism sector from its call to Africans in the diaspora.
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Samuel Asumadu Sarkodie, Nord University
Ghana's experience is a cautionary tale for countries that find themselves in a situation of having too much electricity at any given point.
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Steven Friedman, University of Johannesburg
Secrecy over who funds political parties should trigger fears that government decisions will reflect the wishes of large donors.
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Seán Mfundza Muller, University of Johannesburg
The only way out of South Africa's crisis - financially wobbly utility Eskom, worsening public finances and poor economic growth - is a societal agreement that recognises the need for sacrifices.
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Politics + Society
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Jeff Conroy-Krutz, Michigan State University
In a surprising change in trends, citizens in many African countries increasingly support government restrictions of press freedom.
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Henning Melber, University of Pretoria; Reinhart Kössler, Freiburg University
Germany praises itself for having declared a 'special responsibility' for Namibia since independence. But the relationship is viewed differently from Windhoek.
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Amanda Gouws, Stellenbosch University
Women were able to pursue an impressive feminist agenda as South Africa made its transition to democracy. But 25 years later there's not a lot left of the early victories.
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Don Pinnock, University of Cape Town
Given the framework within which removals under the Group Areas Act took place in Cape Town, a social disaster was inevitable.
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Health + Medicine
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Yap Boum, Mbarara University of Science and Technology
Uganda is the testing ground for a new vaccine that could work on more strains of the Ebola virus and other haemorrhagic fevers.
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Nicole De Wet- Billings, University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa’s data collection is constantly improving. That's especially true when it comes to metrics that weren't collected or were distorted for political purposes during apartheid.
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Podcasts
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Ozayr Patel, The Conversation
Quantum machine learning is an exciting, rapidly growing field.
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Ozayr Patel, The Conversation
There’s a perception among young South Africans that farm jobs are back-breaking and financially unappealing.
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Would you like to republish any of these articles?
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It’s free to republish, here are the guidelines.
Contact us on africa-republish@theconversation.com in case you need assistance.
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