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As temperatures soar across the continent, more people – especially children and the elderly – are at greater risk of dehydration. About 60% of the human body is made up of water. It transports nutrients around the body and keeps organs, muscles and tissues healthy. Excessive water loss can be fatal. Anastasia Ugwuanyi, a lecturer in family medicine, explains the risks of dehydration, what to watch for and how to treat it.
Go to any zoo and you’ll invariably find a crowd of people gathered around the chimpanzee enclosure. We are clearly fascinated by the similarities between ourselves and our closest living relatives. The Johannesburg zoo’s chimpanzees are favourites too. Luke Mangaliso Duncan unpacks research into how a group of eight chimpanzees at the zoo responded to being given a larger space to live in. The chimpanzees benefited from the new enclosure but five years after
the changes were made they still preferred to spend time in the space that was their original enclosure. The findings suggest that the chimpanzees’ perception of space had been altered by their experience of the previous, smaller housing and they
were confining themselves to a self-imposed “invisible cage”.
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Anastasia Ugwuanyi, University of the Witwatersrand
About 60% of the human body is made up of water. Excessive water loss can be fatal.
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Luke Mangaliso Duncan, University of Warwick
Zoo-based research can teach us about the needs of animals in our care.
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Tajudeen Amusa, University of Ilorin
Nigeria’s forest resources have dwindled and are in danger of disappearing in a few decades if nothing is done to save them.
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Dirk Kotze, University of South Africa
The Independent Electoral Commission cannot afford to put a foot wrong in the country’s most important election since democracy in 1994, on 29 May.
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From our international editions
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Hong Bo, SOAS, University of London
China is facing many economic obstacles, but Beijing remains optimistic about growth.
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Sebastian Dohm-Hansen Allard, University College Cork; Yvonne Nolan, University College Cork
Middle age could be a period when we can detect early risk factors of future cognitive decline.
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Hetty Roessingh, University of Calgary
The power of a handwritten letter became clear when baseball player Joey Votto penned an apology to Canadian fans. Votto also reopened the debate about whether kids should learn cursive writing.
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Adefolatomiwa Toye, University of Liverpool
The style was redefined by newly independent nations of the 20th century, who wanted to create an identity detached from their colonial past.
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Eileen Culloty, Dublin City University
As technology has advanced, AI-generated deepfakes have become more convincing.
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