A North-West University (NWU) graduate is bringing together age-old plant knowledge and the latest nanotechnology to make the most of medicinal plant extracts.

Prof Klaus Kellner from the North-West University (NWU) was recently appointed by the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Barbara Creecy, to serve on the Conservation Advisory Board.

Women form the backbone of many rural economies and play an important role in poverty reduction and food security according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).

While many people cringe at the thought of consuming bugs, entomophagy – the term for eating insects – has been practised for hundreds of years in South Africa.

Our oceans are choking on plastic debris. In fact, marine plastic debris is one of the most pressing environmental concerns facing the world today, with devastating effects for both humans and the environment.

The disruptive Covid-19 pandemic has not sidetracked the North-West University’s (NWU’s) researchers and academics from using their expertise to the benefit of society.

Across the globe, a major concern in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic has been a shortage of medical equipment, particularly ventilators. As the number of confirmed cases increase on a daily basis in South Africa, the private and public sectors are preparing for the anticipated need, but it is still unclear if we will have enough ventilators should the predicted surge in infections come.

On the morning of 24 April, Prof Dewald van Niekerk, laced up his running shoes and started running around his house in Potchefstroom. The time was 10:30. When he finally stopped to unlace his shoes, twenty-four hours and ten minutes later, he’d circled his house 1 100 times to clock a distance of 110km.

The North-West University has for years been an informative and entertaining presence on the very popular weekly environmental radio programme, Omgewingspraatjies. This tradition continues with a new expert following in the footsteps of his NWU colleagues.

COVID-19. A denomination for a world epidemic that will live in infamy. In 1918 one-third of the world’s population became infected with a virus we now call the Spanish Flu. Millions died. More suffered. Endless story of those fateful years will forever be told.