Belinda Beresford Too broke to pay full price for that ticket to Cape Town or around the world? Quailing at the thought of standby again? Why not try to catch your flight using a ticket auction on the Internet? Ticket auctions allow you to offer a price for a ticket, usually subject to a minimum […]

Tim Radford Wounds might be persuaded to heal without scarring, and limbs persuaded to grow again after amputation, according to scientists in Philadelphia. They have found a race of laboratory mice whose livers regenerate after surgery and whose tails grow again after being severed. Amphibians can lose limbs and grow new ones. Mammals, however, cannot. […]

Fiona Macleod The next time you raise your glass to Bacchus, ponder this: you may be poisoning yourself with the remains of chameleons which get mulched in the wine-making process. The organisers of a campaign to save chameleons in the Western Cape say they are being decimated by mechanical harvesters which have been imported from […]

Stefaans Brmmer Irish funding agency representative Chris McInerney this week “returned from the dead” to say he stands by allegations of maladministration he made eight years ago against Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga. Motshekga’s past as director of a non- governmental organisation, the National Institute for Public Interest Law and Research (Nipilar), is among matters under […]

Cecil Abrahams: A Second Look Predictably, South African universities have once again been embroiled in the annual nauseating spectacle of disadvantaged students trying to register at cash-strapped universities where the management must refuse admission. And, as usual, the “culprits” for this stand-off are the same. Intransigent students believe the managements of the various historically disadvantaged […]

THURSDAY, 6.00PM: THE Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has terminated financial assistance to the South African Foreign Trade Organisation (Safto). The IDC said on Thursday that it had sponsored Safto’s maintenance of essential export expertise to the tune of R20-million, hoping that Safto would become a national promotion agency. But IDC chief executive officer Khaya Ngqula […]

Jay Naidoo’s bid for greater broadcasting control has caused an outcry in and out of Parliament, reports Ferial Haffajee Broadcasting minister Jay Naidoo this week fired the first salvo in a battle for greater state control of broadcasting when he rushed badly drafted legislation before Parliament to commercialise the SABC. He also came under fire […]

David Shapshak Cloning’s advantages are numerous, from reproducing endangered animal species to breeding human organ transplant material. The public fears of cloning do not differ much from those expressed by science fiction writers in the last century, mostly the self-replication of dictators. Saddam Hussein could resist any American smart bombs’ attacks by cloning himself infinitely. […]

Plans for development and foreign investment may be at the expense of the rural poor, writes Craig Bishop ‘The Eastern Cape development train is in motion – don’t be left behind” was President Nelson Mandela’s rallying cry at the International Investors Conference in East London late last year. It was designed to build confidence in […]

Bongani Siqoko When Makhaya Ntini led the South African national cricket team on to the pitch in New Zealand recently, black South Africans were filled with pride. People who could hardly tell the difference between a goalpost and a wicket were glued to their television sets to witness the lad from KwaMdingi near King William’s […]