If office colleagues begin to slide beneath their desks or flail hopelessly at out-of-reach keyboards, fear not. The latest medical advice on preventing back pain may be to blame. Using advanced scanning equipment, doctors have concluded that the best way to avoid back pain is not to sit bolt upright but to perfect a more laid-back posture, a sprawl that is halfway between upright and horizontal.

If a lump of alien goo landed in South Africa, as depicted in the movie Evolution, there would be no system to prevent it from invading the country and ”wiping the silly smile off our planet”. Leading scientists who spent years developing a national system to prevent invasions by alien species are dismayed that it has been dismissed by the department of environmental affairs and tourism.

People who use Ecstasy for the first time could suffer impaired memory and harm to their brains, a new study of the dance drug’s effects reveals. Even low doses can cause changes to the brain, according to the first study to compare users before and after they took the drug for the first time. It found blood flow to parts of the brain was reduced and that users struggled in memory tests.

”I pay R120 a month for my piece of shack floor in Phillipi. There are 15 of us, sleeping like animals on the ground. But I never complain; every night I lie down, I think of my five kids back in Harare.” Patience Moyo is one of hundreds of Zimbabweans flocking into the Cape Town townships. Most are women, Moyo says, and many are professionals or others who had well-paid jobs until their country’s economic meltdown.

The current Aids death rate of adults means that in just one year there are about 200 000 children who are orphaned. December 1 marks World Aids Day and the spotlight shines on children who have lost parents to Aids. It is a social crisis and it is going to be an even bigger crisis in a few years’ time.