‘Screening of emotions harmful to lives of suspects in criminal investigations’
In an experiment on how determine truth from lies, some volunteers were told to try to blend into the crowd and not look “suspicious,” because people would be trying to identify them. The other half of the group were given a regular cell phone to transport with no instructions to...
Work in progress: Psychologists grapple with how to detect a ‘true lie’
Police thought that 17-year-old Marty Tankleff seemed too calm after finding his mother stabbed to death and his father mortally bludgeoned in the family’s sprawling Long Island home. Authorities didn’t believe his claims of innocence and he spent 17 years in prison for the murders. Yet in another case, detectives...
How major wildlife crimes in Tanzania are covered up and convictions quashed
When a Tanzanian court overturned the conviction of a notorious wildlife poacher and ivory trafficker Boniface Matthew Malyango mid-last year, conservationists held their breath. Years of tracking down and assembling the evidence and the resources that were committed to the protection of wildlife and the environment had been dealt a...
Africa’s Free Trade Area carries hopes of wonder drug for struggling economies
Created by the Free Trade Agreement in 2018, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into effect on January this year. Expectations are high that the new economic and trading bloc will open up borders for more intra-Africa trade. Since the World Trade Organization creation, the AfCFTA is the...
‘Fake news is the currency with which opinion shapers peddle their influence’
The growth of fact checking in Africa has established one cardinal fact: sources and spreaders of fake news are routinely opinion shapers. At government level, they are in the executive, the judiciary, the legislature or security formations. Beyond the government, the business community, keen to have advantage over rivals, spreads...
Fake vs fact: Disinformation risks security, public health and democracy in Africa
The rise in disinformation in Africa poses a threat to security, public health and democracy, fact-checkers warn. The African Centre for Security and Strategic Studies (ACSSS) says combatting misinformation requires building the capacity of Africa’s fact-checking community and improving media literacy. The process, they say, is painstakingly slow and risky...
Science needs data and evidence from the arts to effectively roll back coronavirus
One key issue is who is being called on to aid recovery. Governments have sought expert advice from the beginning of the pandemic, but that expertise tended to come from people in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) – despite it being clear from the start that human behaviour, motivations...
Storm before a lull: African economies to bounce back after coronavirus chaos
Africa is set to recover from its worst recession in half a century. Real gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow by 3.4 per cent in 2021 after contracting by an estimated 2.1 per cent in 2020, mainly due to Covid-19 related disruptions. The estimates are based on the...
EU slaps sanctions on South Sudan army general for human rights violations
The European Union has imposed sanctions on a South Sudanese army general allegedly involved in serious human rights violations, such as arbitrary executions and killings, the Sudan Tribune reports. Citing EU statement issued on Monday the agency reported that Maj-Gen Gabriel Moses Lokujo of South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF)...
Journals forced to change editorial review processes to combat organised fraud
Journal editors know that if they reject manuscripts they suspect to be fabricated, that might not kill the paper forever. Fraudulent manuscripts can be submitted to multiple journals at the same time: so even if an editor rejects it during peer review, they might see it published elsewhere. This has...
