Author: The Conversation

For a long time, universities worked off a simple idea: knowledge was scarce. You paid for tuition, showed up to lectures, completed assignments and eventually earned a credential. That process did two things: it gave you access to knowledge that was hard to find elsewhere, and it signalled to employers you had invested time and effort to master that knowledge. The model worked because the supply curve for high-quality information sat far to the left, meaning knowledge was scarce and the price – tuition and wage premiums – stayed high. Now the curve has shifted right, as the graph below…

Petrol and diesel vehicles are being phased out globally and replaced with electric vehicles so that countries can meet their commitments to zero human-caused carbon emissions by 2050. But electric vehicles’ batteries run down quickly and take a long time to recharge. One solution is battery-swapping systems, where depleted batteries can be swapped for fully charged batteries, putting electric vehicle drivers back on the road faster than it would have taken them to fill up with petrol. Lumbumba Taty-Etienne Nyamayoka is a researcher and PhD candidate with the Future Electrical Energy Technology Research Group at the University of the Witwatersrand. His research looked…

South Africa has many factories, warehouses, schools and hospitals – big buildings with large rooftop spaces. In such a sunny country, these flat surfaces would be perfect for large photovoltaic solar systems that could generate enough renewable energy to supply themselves, and feed into the national grid. This would reduce the amount of coal that South Africa’s national electricity provider would need to burn. Renewable energy engineer and PhD candidate Mamahloko Senatla-Jaane was part of a team who researched how commercial buildings could be set up to serve as strategic assets for decarbonisation and increase the security of South Africa’s power supply.…

We are entering a new era of cosmic exploration. The new Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile will transform astronomy with its extraordinary ability to map the universe in breathtaking detail. It is set to reveal secrets previously beyond our grasp. Here, we delve into the first images taken by Rubin’s telescope and what they are already showing us. These images vividly showcase the unprecedented power that Rubin will use to revolutionise astronomy and our understanding of the Universe. Rubin is truly transformative, thanks to its unique combination of sensitivity, vast sky area coverage and exceptional image quality. These pictures powerfully demonstrate…

As AI systems expand their already impressive capacities, there is an increasingly common belief that the field of computer science (CS) will soon be a thing of the past. This is being communicated to today’s prospective students in the form of well-meaning advice, but much of it amounts to little more than hearsay from individuals who, despite their intelligence, speak outside of their expertise. High-profile figures like Nobel Prize-winning economist Christopher Pissarides have made this argument, and as a result, it has taken root on a much more mundane level – I have even personally heard high school careers advisers dismiss…

In science-fiction stories, companies often mine the moon or asteroids. While this may seem far-fetched, this idea is edging closer to becoming reality. Celestial bodies like the moon contain valuable resources, such as lunar regolith — also known as moon dust — and helium-3. These resources could serve a range of applications, including making rocket propellant and generating energy to sustain long missions, bringing benefits in space and on Earth. The Resilience lander circling the moon on June 4, 2025. (ispace, inc. via AP) The first objective on this journey is being able to collect lunar regolith. One company taking up this challenge is ispace,…

Customers contact companies regularly to purchase products and services, inquire about orders, make payments and request returns. Until recently, the most common way for customers to contact companies was through phone calls or by interacting with human agents via company websites and mobile apps. The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has seen the proliferation of a new kind of interface: chatbots. A chatbot is an intelligent software program that can carry out two-way conversations with customers. Spurred by the potential of chatbots to communicate with customers round-the-clock, companies are increasingly routing customers to chatbots. As such, the worldwide chatbot market has grown…

Astronomers manning an asteroid warning system caught a glimpse of a large, bright object zipping through the solar system late on July 1, 2025. The object’s potentially interstellar origins excited scientists across the globe, and the next morning, the European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed that this object, first named A11pl3Z and then designated 3I/ATLAS, is the third ever found from outside our solar system. Current measurements estimate that 3I/ATLAS is about 12 miles (20 kilometres) wide, and while its path won’t take it close to Earth, it could hold clues about the nature of a previous interstellar object and about planet formation in solar systems beyond ours. On July…

There is a growing and urgent need to address global food insecurity. This urgency is underscored by reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which states that nearly 828 million people suffer from hunger worldwide. Climate change is further escalating these issues, disrupting traditional farming systems and emphasising the need for smarter, resource-efficient solutions. But imagine a future where indoor farming systems can operate entirely on their own, managing water, nutrients and environmental conditions without human oversight. Such autonomous systems, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and powered by robotics, could revolutionise how we produce food, especially in…

You wake up in the morning and, first thing, you open your weather app. You close that pesky ad that opens first and check the forecast. You like your weather app, which shows hourly weather forecasts for your location. And the app is free! But do you know why it’s free? Look at the app’s privacy settings. You help keep it free by allowing it to collect your information, including: What devices you use and their IP and Media Access Control addresses. Information you provide when signing up, such as your name, email address and home address. App settings, such as…