Elsabe Brits

Cape Town

Freelance Science and Health Journalist at Freelance

Freelance Science and Health Journalist at Daily Maverick

Science & Health journalist. Consultant @ The Story of Emily Museum. Biographer of Emily Hobhouse, pacifist & humanitarian during the Anglo-Boer War.

Articles

Op dees aarde: Alzheimer se siekte

2 weeks ago | litnet.co.za | Elsabe Brits

Elsabé Brits skryf ’n gereelde rubriek vir LitNet. Daar word geraam dat 10% van mense van 65 jaar en ouer Alzheimer se siekte het, en dié syfer sal teen 2050 verdubbel. Hoe vorder die navorsing tans om die komplekse breinsiekte te ontrafel? En wat het ’n virus en stampe teen die kop met alles te doen? Ja, almal van ons misplaas soms ’n bril, of motorsleutels. Maar nie die héle tyd telkemale per dag nie. Jy kan terugloop op jou spore en dit vind.
Fossilised reptile colony provides evidence of earliest communal living

2 weeks ago | nature.com | Elsabe Brits

Lire en françaisHundreds of curled-up fossils of a small burrowing reptile that lived in the lowlands of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana some 250 million years ago, have been discovered in South Africa. The research, published in Palaeo1, showed the skeletons are all the same reptile species, Procolophon trigoniceps, and they include both adults and juveniles.
Ancient protein from pre-human teeth reveals secrets of human evolutionary tree

4 weeks ago | dailymaverick.co.za | Elsabe Brits

Researchers have extracted 2 million-year-old protein remains from ancient pre-human teeth to reveal biological sex and genetic variability. Researchers have extracted 2 million-year-old protein remains from ancient pre-human teeth to reveal biological sex and genetic variability. The teeth are from Paranthropus robustus, an extinct hominin genus that emerged and evolved in Africa between 2.8 and 1.2 Ma. It is considered to be a side branch of our evolutionary tree.
Op dees aarde: Griepinentings

1 month ago | litnet.co.za | Elsabe Brits

Elsabé Brits skryf ’n gereelde rubriek vir LitNet. Daar is jaarliks tussen 7 000 en 12 000 seisoenale griepsterftes in Suid-Afrika, en meer as 40 000 mense moet in die hospitaal behandel word. Jy kan egter voorkomend optree teen griep en ander oordraagbare siektes deur entstowwe te neem, skryf Elsabé Brits. Daar is ’n verskil tussen seisoenale griep en ’n griepvirus wat ’n dodelike pandemie veroorsaak. Met die jaarlikse griep is daar net geringe veranderings (antigene verskuiwings) aan die virusse.
Op dees aarde: Swangerskap en die vrou

2 months ago | litnet.co.za | Elsabe Brits

Elsabé Brits skryf ’n gereelde rubriek vir LitNet. In die omvattendste wetenskaplike studie nóg oor wat met vroue se liggame gebeur vóór en ná swangerskap, is gesien hoe essensiële biologiese metings verander word deur ’n fetus te dra en uiteindelik geboorte te skenk. Dié reuse studie is onlangs deur ’n internasionale span in die vakjoernaal Science Advances gepubliseer.
Smallest hominin walked upright, fossils reveal

2 months ago | nature.com | Elsabe Brits

Lire en françaisA discovery of the articulating hip, thigh, and shin bones of Paranthropus robustus, has revealed the story of a young female, the smallest known adult hominin yet to be found, who habitually walked upright and was most probably killed by a leopard. The fossil bones were found in South Africa’s Swartkrans Cave, a kilometre northwest of Sterkfontein, within the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa.
South Africa: 'I Screamed With Joy' - 'Bionic Eye' Surgery At Tygerberg Hospital Gives the Gift of Sight

Feb 12, 2025 | allafrica.com | Elsabe Brits

After being blind for years, two patients recently each received an artificial cornea, and Tygerberg Hospital in the Western Cape hopes to continue providing this service to those who need it in future. The keratoprosthesis (KPro) implantation looks a bit like a "bionic eye". However, the fortunate patients who visited the Tygerberg Hospital Ophthalmology Clinic in Parow, Western Cape, for a checkup this week don't mind this in the least.
‘Bionic eye’ surgery gives the gift of sight

Feb 3, 2025 | dailymaverick.co.za | Elsabe Brits

COMPASSIONATE VISION After being blind for years, two patients recently each received an artificial cornea, and Tygerberg Hospital in the Western Cape hopes to continue providing this service to those who need it in future. The keratoprosthesis (KPro) implantation looks a bit like a “bionic eye”. However, the fortunate patients who visited the Tygerberg Hospital Ophthalmology Clinic in Parow, Western Cape, for a checkup this week don’t mind this in the least.
‘Beast head’ survived mass extinction due to stocky build

Nov 20, 2024 | nature.com | Elsabe Brits

Lire en françaisA study of fossil bones from four collections has revealed that a stocky build was an evolutionary advantage for a late Permian predator. Moschorhinus kitchingi is a therocephalain — a ‘beast head’ — named for its large skull and carnivorous teeth structure. Moschorhinus is the only large carnivore known to have survived the Permo-Triassic mass extinction.
I found an ancient mountain lake

Sep 10, 2024 | nature.com | Elsabe Brits

Lire en françaisImagine standing at the dizzying altitude of 3,400 meters above sea level, where the air is thin, and the landscape is a mosaic of wetlands and rocky outcrops. Here, near Mafadi Summit — the highest point in South Africa, on the border with Lesotho – I decided to extract an extra sediment core on the last day of my PhD fieldwork. I am based at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.