Over 3.7 billion people suffer from cold sores/fever blisters, which are caused by herpes simplex 1 virus (HSV-1). Herpes simplex 2...

Rhinoceroses are highly endangered due to poaching and illegal trade. In South Africa, we have two species, the white rhino (pictured...

Until this year, I will admit that I did not consider museums to be more than an interesting, educative day out. However, museums contain...

Science writing and science communication is an essential tool in the scientific community. Mainstream media love to post catchy and...

We know where DNA is stored; we understand how cells divide, but how is DNA relevant to cell, tissue, and organ function? Well, remember...

Cell Replication: making two from one. So now that we know what chromosomes are and where to find them let's talk about cell replication...

I am sure you have heard the terms “genes” or “chromosomes,” but maybe you are not 100% sure what they actually mean. Well, let’s start...

As part of my honours degree, I get to assist with the first-year genetics tutorial classes. It aims to teach the honours students how to...

Spider goats! This sounds like a rip off of a superhero character, but unlike the friendly neighbourhood spider-man, spider goats...

So, for the past few weeks I’ve been busy testing out some DNA extraction kits to see which works best for the dung samples I’m working...

Arabidopsis thaliana is a small flowering weed that is a key model organism used across scientific disciplines. Its genetic makeup is...

Dinosaurs amongst us. Crocodiles are ancient and fierce reptiles that have ruled both salt and fresh waters for 100s of millions of...

Fungi, we normally think of the edible mushrooms we put in our food, but the world of fungi is incredibly diverse. They come in all sorts...

St Patrick’s Day! A good excuse to wear green and go partying! I have always heard that more people say that they are Irish than there...

(Skull on the far left). In Africa, roughly 3.3 million years ago Australopithecus africanus roamed the lands. They were small ape like...

I recently paid a highly anticipated visit to the Cradle of Humankind here in Gauteng South Africa. There is an amazing interactive...

What is “science”? It seems like a pretty straightforward question, but when it was posed to my honors class on our first day the answers...