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Mathematics, as a subject, strikes fear into many people's hearts. This is largely because of how complex it is and how abstract many of its concepts are to the untrained. Harry Zandberg Wiggins explains how this abstraction can be understood - and why it's so important for maths as well as other scientific disciplines.
The polyphagous shothole borer is tiny, but it has an outsized impact. The little beetle and one of its permanent associates, a fungus, can badly damage or even kill a number of tree species. Now the beetle-fungus duo has been found in South African trees and, as Wilhelm de Beer writes, this could be very bad news for some of the country's native tree and crop species.
The new cabinet announced by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa is undoubtedly better than the one that served under Jacob Zuma, argues Keith Gottschalk. He sets out why compromises were inevitable, and why the end result is, overall, a welcome one.
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Harry Zandberg Wiggins, University of Pretoria
Through abstraction, the underlying essence of a mathematical concept can be extracted.
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The polyphagous shothole borer is tiny - but a fungus it’s commonly associated with can be deadly for trees.
Wilhelm de Beer
Wilhelm de Beer, University of Pretoria
The beetle and the fungus have devastated trees in California in the US as well as in Israel. Now they're in South Africa.
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President Cyril Ramaphosa during the late night announcement of his new cabinet.
Elmond Jiyane, GCIS
Keith Gottschalk, University of the Western Cape
Overall South Africa's new president has a cabinet that forms a team with whom he can work.
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Education
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Sean Archer, University of Cape Town
The ethical and political reasons to avoid free higher education are unambiguous.
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Politics + Society
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Mzukisi Qobo, University of Johannesburg
Both the state of the nation address and budget speech didn't leave a sense that there has been much reflection on the depth of the economic malaise gripping South Africa.
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From our international editions
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Agnès De Féo, École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS)
A number of women who once wore and defended the full Islamic veil known as the niqab later chose to renounce it. Here two of them tell their stories.
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Neil Clarke, Coventry University
Drinking coffee before exercising could make you run faster and lift heavier - if you've the right genes.
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