South Africa will not increase VAT from 1 May, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

Meta Platforms will open its Threads social network to almost all advertisers globally soon.

Madeleine Finlay and Ian Sample discuss three intriguing science stories from the week. From a hint at alien life on a distant planet, to a clue in the search for answers over why colon cancer rates are rising in the under 50’s, and news from a group of scientists who claim to have experienced a colour no one has ever seen before.

Are we alone? New discovery raises hopes of finding alien...

First clinical trial of its kind could be ‘life changing’ for those living in fear of severe peanut reaction

Adults with severe peanut allergies can be desensitised by daily exposure, according to the first clinical trial of its kind.

After being given steadily increasing doses of peanut flour over a period of months, two-thirds of the trial participants were able to eat the equivalent of...

Stuart Semple is selling product for £10,000 (or £29.99 to fellow creatives) – but scientists say hue cannot be replicated

A British artist claims to have replicated in paint a colour that scientists say they discovered by having laser pulses fired into their eyes.

Stuart Semple created his own version of the blue-green colour based on the US research published in Science Advances, which he is...

Study offers rare insight into human-animal combat during Roman empire

Bite marks from a lion on a man’s skeleton, excavated from an 1,800-year-old cemetery on the outskirts of York, provide the first physical evidence of human-animal combat in the Roman empire, new research claims.

While clashes between combatants, big cats and bears are described and depicted in ancient texts and mosaics,...

Instagram promised more “built-in protections” for young people but researchers say users are still exposed to sexualised images and negative stereotypes.

Is loads of muscle all you need for a long and healthy life? You’d think so, given the way everyone’s fighting over the squat racks

Name: Cardio

Age: 64

Continue reading…

Khudusela Pitje, a big investor in Vumatel and DFA, says regulators have hurt investor confidence in the telecoms sector.

Researchers say mutations more often found in younger patients’ tumours caused by toxin secreted by E coli strains

Childhood exposure to a toxin produced by bacteria in the bowel may be contributing to the rise of colorectal cancer in under-50s around the world, researchers say.

Countries, including some in Europe and Oceania, have witnessed an increase in young adults with bowel cancer in...

While Meta says the AI chatbot is a “good thing”, some users have shared their frustrations.

Yosheen Padayachee, group IT director at Tsebo Solutions Group, is our guest in this episode of TechCentral’s Meet the CIO.

The condition is more excruciating than childbirth or gunshot wounds, but little understood. An online community of ‘clusterheads’ are self-experimenting with psilocybin – with promising results

Peter was working late, watching two roulette tables in play at a London casino, when he felt something stir behind his right eye. It was just a shadow of sensation, a horribly familiar tickle. But on...

The EU fines against Apple and Meta are likely to stoke tensions with US President Donald Trump.

The tech giants have reacted with fury, accusing the EU of unfairly pursuing US companies.