Skip to Content

MONDAY, 04 MAY 2026, 18:33

Top Stories

Chornobyl’s legacy of state disregard for human life echoes in Russia’s war in Ukraine

Today at 18:13 PM, via Daily Maverick

Chornobyl was a defining rupture in the late Soviet system, revealing how bureaucratic secrecy, ideological control and propaganda converged to obscure disaster and devalue human life. This logic of state-driven denial and expendable populations persists today in Russia’s continued war in Ukraine, showing an unbroken thread of imperial ambition that comes at massive human cost.

World

Rescuers help Timmy, a stranded whale, return home

Today at 10:41 AM, via NPR

Rescuers defy warnings as the stranded “Humpback Hope,” also known in German media as Timmy, is carried by barge into the North Sea, racing against time to save her.

Africa

Athletics won’t strangle super-shoe innovation – Coe

Friday at 20:20 PM, via BBC News

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe says current rules are “on the right side” when it comes to shoe technology, following Sabastian Sawe’s record-breaking time at the London Marathon.

Business

New threat to schools in South Africa

Today at 16:18 PM, via BusinessTech

Results from a recent Schools Water Testing Project have revealed major concerns about water quality in South Africa.

Education

One in four humanities students in Australia to take more than 25 years to pay off student loans, treasury finds

Today at 17:00 PM, via The Guardian

Job ready graduates program will also leave almost two-thirds of humanities and creative arts students with debts exceeding $50,000

Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

One in four humanities students will take more than 25 years to fully repay their student loans because of Morrison government changes to university fees, newly public Treasury modelling reveals.

The job...

Entertainment

24 hours in pictures, 4 May 2026

Today at 18:30 PM, via The Citizen

Through the lens: The Citizen’s Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.

Science/Tech

Scientists Discover 27 Potential New Planets That Orbit Two Stars

Today at 18:00 PM, via Slashdot

Astronomers have identified 27 potential new circumbinary planets — worlds that orbit two stars, like Star Wars’ Tatooine. “To date, only about 18 circumbinary planets … had been identified in the universe,” reports the Guardian. “More than 6,000 planets have been discovered that orbit single stars, like Earth does around the sun.” The Guardian reports: In a timely publication for May 4, also...

Science/Tech

Infrasound Waves Stop Kitchen Fires, But Can They Replace Sprinklers?

Today at 17:00 PM, via Slashdot

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In a makeshift demonstration kitchen in Concord, California, cooking oil splatters in and around a frying pan, which catches fire on an unattended gas stove. Within moments, a smoke detector wails. But in this demonstration, something less common happens: An AI-driven sensor activates and wall emitters blast infrasound waves toward the...

Science/Tech

Man produces sperm from testicular tissue frozen as a child in breakthrough trial

Today at 16:00 PM, via The Guardian

Exclusive: Sperm re-transplant offers hope that boys left infertile by chemotherapy could have biological children one day

In a groundbreaking fertility trial, a man whose testicular tissue was frozen before he underwent chemotherapy as a child to be re-transplanted 16 years later has been able to produce sperm.

It is the first time a transplant of cryopreserved prepubertal testicular tissue...

Health

How can you improve your balance?

Today at 12:55 PM, via BBC News

Chris and Xand continue their conversation with physiotherapist and vestibular rehabilitation specialist, Maggie Stacey.

Health

A Medical Examiner Chases Down an Elusive Killer

Today at 11:00 AM, via New York Times

Unusual opioids are infiltrating street drugs. Knoxville’s top forensic doctor is on the front lines, pressing to quickly identify the most lethal.