Science
Province tries to run illegal trial with quack medicine
The Eastern Cape Health Department has instructed hospitals to give an untested medicine to patients with tuberculosis. It has not received ethical approval to proceed with this clinical trial. Now it appears the project has been scrapped, apparently after the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) asked the national government to intervene.
GroundUp Staff
News | 28 February 2014
Battle against Uganda’s anti-homosexual law is not over
The battle against Uganda’s anti-homosexual law is not over. Health and HIV may be the new frontier to confront homophobia explains Dr Andrew Tucker.
Andrew Tucker
Opinion | 24 February 2014
Why sugar does NOT kill more South Africans than HIV/AIDS
In a recent column, the editor of South Africa's Business Day newspaper, Peter Bruce, claimed that sugar kills more South Africans than HIV/AIDS has ever done. He was wrong.
Nathan Geffen (GroundUp Editor) via Africa Check
News | 29 January 2014
Caps and boots for dung beetles earns Wits scientists an Ig Nobel Prize
The Ig Nobel prizes are the cheeky kid brother of the illustrious Nobel Prizes like the Razzies are to the Oscars.
By Kerry Gordon
News | 18 September 2013
Fracking: what are the facts?
Natural gas extraction is being promoted as the solution to South Africa's energy crisis. Shell and other energy companies want to harness the untapped reserves of natural gas below the Karoo using fracking. This is meeting stiff opposition, particularly from residents of the Karoo who are concerned about the risks.
Kerry Gordon
Feature | 4 September 2013
Do companies have the right to own your genes?
Patenting of genes incentivises research and the discovery of new treatments, tests and drugs. But does the exclusive ownership of biological material stop the sharing of information and prevent treatment getting to the people that need it?
Kerry Gordon
Opinion | 12 August 2013
Solal Technologies actively promotes pseudoscience … and here’s how
Kevin Charleston explains why he stands by the comments a popular vitamin company is suing him for.
Kevin Charleston
Opinion | 23 July 2013
The decline of antibiotics
Antibiotics have been miracle drugs, successfully wiping out infections and saving millions of lives. Today, they're increasingly ineffective and we're facing a future where they might not work at all.
Kerry Gordon
News | 2 July 2013
Climate change denier cherry-pickers
Few other fields of science come under such heavy public scrutiny as climate science. Climate change deniers pick data to fit their agendas, ignoring what the science is telling us.
Kerry Gordon
News | 18 June 2013