A new study puts the total number of tree species on Earth at 73 274, with another 9 186 still to be discovered. Roughly 40% of these undiscovered tree species are in South America. This new global estimate of the number of tree species, published in PNAS recently, is about 14% more than... Read more

President Cyril Ramaphosa, along with the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Blade Nzimande, and the biotech investor of NantAfrica (a division of NantWorks), Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, visited the Stellenbosch University (SU) Biomedical Research Institute (BMRI) today (19 January 2022) to view the cutting-edge facilities of the Centre... Read more

Investment in ecological infrastructure (EI)  ̶  ecosystems such as mountain catchments, wetlands, coastal dunes and riparian corridors that deliver a range of essential services to humans  ̶  is largely driven by the need to protect and conserve biodiversity and to mitigate the effects of environmental degradation. This is according... Read more

Stellenbosch University (SU) researchers have been involved in the first ever paper to be published containing practical guidelines and a suggested ethical protocol on how to cause as little as possible disturbance to elephants when flying over them with drones. These tips might come in handy to both filmmakers... Read more

Biofilters with indigenous South African plants such as palmiet, mat sedge, soft rush, cobra lily and vleibiesie are more efficient than unvegetated soils in removing pollutants from urban stormwater which can have a detrimental impact on aquatic systems, posing a major human and environmental health risk. This is one... Read more