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It’s hard to think back to a time when the word “coronavirus” was relatively unknown. The family of viruses, first identified in humans in the 1960s, caused relatively minor health concerns: the common cold and seasonal respiratory infections that come around every year. Coronaviruses gained infamy in 2003 with the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Asia and then the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2012. So why do some coronaviruses kill, while others only cause a cold? A team of scientists from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa share their findings.
Petroleum has become the backbone of Ghana’s economy barely two decades since it was first drilled there in commercial quantities. Its contribution could be greater, however. As Clement Sefa-Nyarko explains, the governance of the country’s petroleum sector needs restructuring if its citizens are to enjoy the benefits of the resource.
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Dewald Schoeman, University of the Western Cape; Burtram C. Fielding, University of the Western Cape; Ruben Cloete, University of the Western Cape
The enigmatic envelope protein seems to hold the key to understanding why some human coronaviruses cause more severe disease than others.
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Clement Sefa-Nyarko, La Trobe University
Disagreements and political considerations override the common good in managing Ghana’s petroleum sector
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XN Iraki, University of Nairobi
Njuguna Ndung'u has the experience that suits Ruto’s bottom-up economics but lacks the political gravitas to appease voters.
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Thabani Khumalo, University of KwaZulu-Natal
The six young men took very different routes to recovery. Their experiences hold important lessons for managing opiod addicition.
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Gibson Ncube, Stellenbosch University
The comic offers important ways of criticising those in power. Trevor Noah is superb at it.
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Alison Hutton, University of Newcastle
Saturday’s soccer match was afflicted by a deadly cocktail of a stadium packed to the brim, violent fans and the use of tear gas by police. Here’s how the disaster could have been avoided.
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Matthew Sussex, Australian National University
There are now definite signs his grip on power is starting to fray, even if Putin’s demise may still be some way off.
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Angela Alonso, Universidade de São Paulo
Political violence that has broken out during the rule of Brazil’s president Bolsonaro draws on a long history of attacks.
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Germán Orizaola, Universidad de Oviedo; Pablo Burraco, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC)
Research on Chernobyl frogs has shown that the ionising radiation caused by the accident triggered a process of natural selection among these animals.
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