Annalee Newitz Body Language In a quiet San Francisco neighbourhood, surrounded by views of tree-covered hills, a quaint little B&B welcomes visitors from across the country. Guests can choose from four well-appointed rooms in this refurbished turn-of-the-century house, all personally decorated by Elizabeth, the proprietor. While they’re staying at Elizabeth’s B&B – called Differences – […]

Marianne Merten The policeman’s traditional brandy and coke remains a widely acceptable way of combating stress and anxiety, as alcohol misuse is kept hush-hush in a service struggling to transform itself and deal with high levels of violent crime. “It seems to be a socially acceptable norm to drink in the police. It is part […]

The prime rate is down to 14,5%, creating an excellent opportunity to escape debt. Sharon Gill and David Le Page report Every year you swear you won’t get carried away with the commercialism of the festive season, and every year you go right ahead and blow the budget. Predicted Y2K pandemonium did not materialise, but […]

Doctors doing compulsory community service in rural hospitals are getting medical skills that would otherwise not have been possible, reports Khadija Magardie It’s nearly 7am on a rainy Monday at Tintswalo hospital in Acornhoek township, Mpumalanga, and despite the bad weather, the trickle of people queuing outside the doors to the outpatients unit is increasing […]

Howard Barrell A who’s who of the Democratic Party in Gauteng will testify before an internal investigation which began its hearings in Sandton on January 21, into allegedly fraudulent membership lists in branches in the DP’s Johannesburg heartland. Peter Leon, the former provincial leader of the DP, Jack Bloom, another of the party’s representatives in […]

Donna Block Share World Europe has got it and got it bad. What have they got? The flu? Yeah, they have that but they’ve also got “the fever”. Stock and bond fever, that is. All across the continent individual investors are getting into a frenzy over the share markets. Just a few short years ago, […]

Andreas Vinciguerra (Sweden) Age: 18 Ranking: 96 Prize money: $121122 Vinciguerra jumped 541 positions last year to a high of 96 – the third-youngest player to finish in the top 100. The left-hander has yet to win an ATP Tour title, but is an outstanding junior who considers his forehand his best shot, and clay […]

Chris McGreal A triumph of nature over technology has left a multimillion-rand World Bank scheme to combat giant weeds clogging Lake Victoria trailing behind an army of small bugs. The release of weevils into Africa’s largest lake has dramatically reversed the all-consuming spread of the water hyacinth, dubbed the “Aids of the water” in Uganda […]

Life with the creature feature – Jack Schofield charts the rise of the robots The creation of artificial life will be one of the themes of the 21st century; it’s already helping to drive the toys and games market, from CyberLife’s Creatures to Sony’s AIBO robot dog. A generation of children is keeping “virtual pets” […]

stifling public voice Peter Dickson African National Congress legislators in the Eastern Cape have been crossing swords with one another over public hearings on the province’s embattled social welfare system. The hearings are due to take place on Monday, but the 46 venues where the hearings will take place will only be announced on Friday. […]