firstrand
perspectives

No Zen for Gen X-Tinction

Children and teenagers everywhere are worried about the climate crisis — often unhappily so. Why should parents try to ease their anxiety, and how? Or should they save their energy for action?

06.2025 | Carlos Amato

The Sphinx Unmasked

Book review: Eliot After The Waste Land by Robert Crawford

Robert Crawford is a masterly biographer who focused his microscope-like research eye on the details of T.S. Eliot’s early life in Young Eliot (2015).

06.2025 | Tom Learmon

A billion copies, a life of adventure and a taste for murder: The life and legacy of Agatha Christie

Care to guess who the world’s best-selling author of all time is? A billion copies in print, in multiple languages – a literary phenomenon.

06.2025 | Sean Billings

The paradoxical force of islands

Something about islands captures the human imagination, evoking visions of utopia or hell, depending on the circumstances.

06.2025 | Jon Stilwell

Langa, a flawed yet culturally-rich township

A bustling hub of activity, Langa township in Cape Town, South Africa, is truly unique in so many ways. On every street corner, different small businesses are displayed.

05.2025 | Tendani Mulaudzi

Mosaic warfare: The evolution of military strategy in the 21st century

“Asymmetric warfare” quickly became one of the buzzwords as renewed terrorist activity brought the world into a new era of conflict on September 11, 2001.

05.2025 | J.A. McCallister

There’s a fingerprint on my motherboard!

Do you ever take a moment to think about the complex processes that go into creating tech gadgets that are almost inseparable from our daily lives? Under the surface of your smartphones, laptops, and countless other devices lies a world of critical components called Rare Earth Elements (REEs).

05.2025 | Irvan Damon

The Poetry Problem

It’s a private source of shame that I don’t get poetry. There are those who don’t care much about poetry and don’t give it a second thought. But for me, the problem feels personal.

05.2025 | Debby Edelstein

Thoughts on the utility of history

If it be true that the only thing history teaches us is that it teaches us nothing, and if it is also true that the more things change the more they stay the same, then why on earth would we bother the next generation with truckloads of useless information?

05.2025 | Peter Dearlove

How to get into Berghain

In more normal times, particularly in years that lack global pandemics, Berlin is known as a premiere nightlife destination. Hailed as the techno capital of the world

04.2025 | Berghain

The Wild Horses of the Overberg

The mention of wild horses conjures up images of mustangs running unbridled on the dusty plains of the American West;

04.2025 | Adrian Ephraim

The many facets of the Dunning-Kruger effect

It was 1999 when social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger decided to conduct a little experiment. Of course, a ‘little experiment’ doesn’t win a Nobel Prize

04.2025 | Toni Botes

The Mandela effect: the mysterious phenomenon of collective false memories

The Mandela Effect is a phenomenon where a large group of people remember something differently from how it actually happened.

04.2025 | ME van Heerden

The story of an African crusader

Olive Schreiner may be widely known and best remembered for her novel The Story of an African Farm, but her influence extends so much further than that.

04.2025 | Ingrid Wood

PART 2: The hazards of interplanetary settlement and travel

A journey to Mars, or space in general, presents an inexhaustible list of complexities and hazards that could endanger both the mission and the astronauts on board.

04.2025 | Joshua Gordon

The striking similarities between diet and skincare culture

According to recent research, the global skincare market size was valued at USD 130.50 billion in 2021 and is expected to continue to grow exponentially at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.6% from 2022 to 2030.

04.2025 | Rebone Masemola

The need to bleed: Taking on extreme sports to control your pain

In Ethiopia, men participate in brutal stick-fighting battles and sometimes bash each other’s heads in, all to win a woman’s heart.

04.2025 | Haji Mohamed Dawjee

For the love of curry: the history, evolution and global spread of curry

Say the word “Curry”, and you can see it, smell it and taste it – an array of aromatic and flavourful dishes now enjoyed around the world. Originating from the Indian subcontinent,

03.2025 | Tanya Steyn

Technology of the ancients

We tend to think of ourselves as advanced, and ancient civilizations as primitive. But archaeology and anthropology keep dishing up examples that contradict this simplistic understanding.

03.2025 | Robert Law Smith

10 Tech Breakthroughs We Only Have Because of War

War! What is it good for? Well, actually, technology. Throughout history, war has been a catalyst for technological innovation.

03.2025 | Sarah Edelmann

Queen: The Amazing Life of Madam CJ Walker

23 December 1867 in a town called Delta. Former slaves and sharecroppers Owen and Minerva Breedlove toil away, barely at a subsistence level, in the harsh sun and humid heat of Louisiana.

02.2025 | Amanda Jones

The art of carnival

From the opulent parades in Rio de Janeiro to the soulful rhythms of Trinidad and Tobago, Carnival is a global phenomenon that transcends cultural boundaries.

02.2025 | Eugene Yiga

Is purpose a decision or a discovery?

We would all like to have a sense of purpose in our lives that drives us forward regardless of the obstacles in our path. But is our life purpose a decision or a discovery? Many of us are drawn to the notion of a singular, overriding passion.

02.2025 | Kibo Ngowi

Foreign Accent Syndrome

It’s rude to mock the way people speak – especially foreign people with accents. It’s the kind of behaviour that can get you permanently cancelled.

02.2025 | R L Drake

Birds Aren’t Real

You think that thing flapping it’s ‘wings’ in your garden is there because it’s looking for worms? No sir – it’s information it wants!

02.2025 | Cal Clarke

Judy

Originally stationed aboard Navy vessels on the Yangtze river before World War 2, she survived being sunk twice, being stranded on a deserted island

02.2025 | Charles Cobley

Silence in the city: The quest for tranquillity amidst urban chaos

There is a cacophony in the air. It is relentless and it reigns supreme, but in the background that very cacophony is being countered by the desperate hum of something far more superior, the sound and pursuit of silence.

01.2025 | Haji Mohamed Dawjee

The mystery of consciousness

What is consciousness, when did it evolve, how does it differ between people, and why do we need it in the first place?

01.2025 | Eugene Yiga

Rewilding the human mind

Large predators are returning all over the globe – but the precious ecological balance they restore can be obscured by fear.

01.2025 | Carlos Amato

Become a Pilot, learn to fly.

To most interested in flying, the urge tickles like a phantom itch that you never imagined you could afford to scratch.

01.2025 | Mat Sher

Pythagoras and his cult: Unravelling the mysteries of an ancient mathematical sect

Pythagoras is synonymous with the Pythagorean theorem, a fundamental concept in mathematics that students encounter early on in their maths education.

12.2024 | G.H. Thacker

Mentorship and mastery: the middle way to self-development

With pharmaceutical cognitive enhancements on the one side, and delayed or deferred adulthood on the other, is there a better way to develop to your full potential?

12.2024 | Lee Blake

Pigeons and AI

When machine learning and artificial intelligence have crept into our dinner talk, it’s fair to say they have entered the mainstream of our lives to the point of no return.

11.2024 | Adrian Ephraim

The Handmaid’s Tale - too real to be fictional

As a woman, The Handmaid’s Tale hits a little too close to home. The series, adapted from the book of the same title by Margaret Atwood, contains social commentary so beautifully and frighteningly woven into every episode, the audience is almost always left with something to reflect on once the credits roll.

11.2024 | Tendani Mulaudzi

The magic of the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio

Across a multitude of creative disciplines and industries, artists, designers, musicians, and architects have all exploited this mathematical marvel in their work. Variations of this captivating number pattern, known as the Fibonacci sequence, show up all around us and have captivated the public imagination for centuries.

11.2024 | Rachel Edelstein

The spirit of Dakar

Now known as The Dakar, the first Paris To Dakar Rally was held in 1978. The world-famous endurance rally, recognised as the most gruelling off-road motorsport event in the world, has a fascinating history and its inception has been described as “something of a happy accident”.

11.2014 | Ingrid Wood

Going Solo

The widening horizons of flight and personal flying. For Pete’s sake, do yourself a favour and learn to fly the old-fashioned way before it is too late.

10.2024 | Peter Dearlove

Studies show no such thing

Bad science book review

A long time ago, in the more innocent time of the distant past, say, 2000, the words ‘Studies show’ were enough to end any argument. The appeal to the authority of science was enough to stop any charlatan in his tracks and restore sanity and balance to the world.

10.2024 | Les March

Faking it: The story special effects

You really can’t talk about movies without talking about special effects, and you can’t talk about special effects without talking about horror films.

10.2024 | Beth Brunnig

PART 1: The Hazards of travelling to Mars: Isolation and confinement

As humans, we have an inherent need for connection and social interaction with others. It is no surprise that we are social beings with social needs. Simultaneously, as we look to broaden our horizons, we enter environments that are not wellsuited to our needs.

09.2024 | Joshua Gordon

How we can (or can’t) experience the Schrödinger’s cat principle in everyday life

In the world’s most famous thought experiment, physicist Erwin Schrödinger described the uncertain predicament of a cat in a box.

09.2024 | Debby Edelstein

The Evolution of Fairy Tales

As children, amongst the first stories we are told are fairy tales. This is a tradition that spans at least 400 years, but owing to their oral origins, we can’t know for sure how long we have been passing on these particular stories.

08.2024 | Toni Botes

How much would you pay to be James Bond?

On the 9th of September 2015, an auction house in Guernsey had a peculiar item up for bid; amongst arts and antiques, there was a small plate with three digits on it.

08.2024 | Alistair Duff

The life and times of Hunter S.Thompson

A self-professed hillbilly, Hunter Stockton Thompson entered the world on the 18th of July 1937 and left it of his own accord in 2005. His life was a complex and bizarre mélange of impotent creativity set against a backdrop of seminal influence on almost everything he touched.

08.2024 | Toni Botes

The poet of apprehension

A book review of: HER DIARIES AND NOTEBOOKS 1941-1995 Patricia Highsmith Editor: Anna von Planta; afterword by Joan Schenkar. Weidenfeld and Nicholson 2021,

07.2024 | Tom Learmont

Earthbound horizons

It is a mistake to think that because the poles, the Moon and Mount Everest have been conquered, the excitement and adventure that was once the hallmark of human exploration at home on Earth is over.

07.2024 | Peter Dearlove

What they don’t teach at engineering school (and what they do)

The chances are good that you’ve been exposed to the overuse of the phrases problem-solving and critical thinking. Almost in the next breath, you’ve probably heard about the insatiable demand for engineers in the workplace.

07.2024 | Rachel Edelstein

How Nadal and Djokovic became “mentality monsters” in entirely different ways.

YEARS ago – in keeping with his reputation as a man who didn’t mind a challenge – Rafael Nadal was asked if he was glad that fellow tennis great Novak Djokovic existed.

06.2023 | Simnikiwe Xabanisa

Decoding birds' brain signals into syllables of song

Could the unique song of a bird someday, miraculously, help give a voice to people who have lost the ability to speak?

06.2024 | Adrian Ephraim

The rise of Amapiano

It’s so distinctive and universal that every song belonging to the genre sounds familiar, almost like you’ve heard it before. Amapiano, as the genre is named, has had that effect on people worldwide.

06.2024 | Tendani Mulaudzi

What I learned making a video game

In 1981, the arcade game Centipede was released by Atari, a world leader of the video game market in the late 20th century. Following the same formula as several other famous arcade games of the time, such as Pac-Man and Galaxian, the game involves a moving, player-controlled object (also known as the Bug Blaster) that tries to eliminate the enemy (Centipede) that appears on the screen.

05.2024 | Rachel Edelstein

New generation athletes

John-Laffnie de Jager’s life story reads like something straight out of D.H. Lawrence’s poem about “never seeing a wild thing feel sorry for itself”.

05.2024 | Simnikiwe Xabanisa

In defence of workaholics

I once designed a conference on a train in Italy. Travelling through a foreign country with different sights and sounds had turbo-charged my creativity. The kids were sleeping and I wanted to test out the concept before we reached the next stop.

04.2024 | Debby Edelstein

African animation is catching global attention

For the past few years, we’ve seen an increased global interest and demand in African stories, works and the creatives behind the work.

04.2024 | Rebone Masemola

When is appropriation appropriate?

The answer is almost always. Cultural borrowing and exchange are the fuel of human creative progress.

The idea that “cultural appropriation” must be guarded against, and rooted out, is arguably one of the wobbliest ideas that the era of identity politics has given us. Cultural appropriation is a vastly bigger and healthier process than its opportunist edges: in a very real sense, it is the engine of human intellectual progress.

04.2024 | Carlos Amato

Modern snakes evolved from a few survivors of a dino-killing asteroid

Love them or loathe them, there is now new information that suggests that snakes have an even more intriguing origin story than previously thought.

The ancestors of the modern snake may have been among the few reptiles to survive the giant asteroid catastrophe that erased dinosaurs from the face of the Earth at the end of the Cretaceous – a period in time that began 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago.

12.2017 | Denise Slabbert

Now that we know trees talk to each other and that maybe we can talk to them, what on earth should we talk about?

Scientists are said to be on the brink of unlocking the secret ways in which trees keep in touch with each other. In this reality check, we take a quirky look at the idea and think about a useful agenda.

03.2024 | Peter Dearlove

Narcissism and Street Fashion

Fashion designer, Diane Von Furstenberg, once said “everything in fashion begins in the streets”. In the midst of our consumer culture, where fashion trends change quarterly and we feel pressure to adhere, we have become out of touch with the true ingenuity and creativity with which it all began

02.2024 | Rachel Edelstein

Why do we read

I love reading. Immersing myself in a paperback and temporarily blocking out the outside world is one of the most enjoyable activities I know of, but there’s one problem: I often agonise over whether I’m getting the most out of my reading.

02.2024 | Kibo Ngowi

How rudeness leads to Anchoring in life and death situations

We’ve seen it all too often. A rush of blood to the head, a moment of insanity, an “emotional” decision taken through the spoken word, or an action that can never be taken back.

01.2024 | Adrian Ephraim

Out of Control

A sideways glance at the looming loss of a hands-on controlling interest in our means of conveyance, from cars to light aeroplanes, balloons and vacuum loops. Where are we going without a driver, and why?

01.2024 | Peter Dearlove

Other Voices - Confessions of a TV Translator

“I’m setting my lawyer on you,” said the furious woman, speaking from a Crimplene shop in Joburg. “You told lies on TV. When I tried to book the holiday you promised, they told me you made it all up. I can get you into big trouble.”

01.2024 | Tom Learmont

Ethical lies

Lying is wrong, except when it isn’t, and morality is not as black and white as we sometimes like to believe. Scientifically.

One of my earliest memories is when my mother, to her embarrassment, forgot about a doctor’s appointment. Calling the doctor to reschedule, she made up an excuse supported by fictitious car troubles.

12.2023 | Josh Gordon

Guernica revisited – the resonance of Picasso’s masterpiece in today’s world

Fifty years after his death, Pablo Picasso remains one of the most prolific artists in the world, having created around 25 000 works throughout his life.

11.2023 | Eugene Yiga

Tick tock….around the clock

From complicated pocket watches to iconic clocks to decorative wrist watches… there’s a fascinating world behind the multi-billion-dollar timepiece industry.

11.2023 | Ingrid Wood

When the guy in the changing room corner ends up as your coach one day

In a classic case of gamekeeper turned poacher, French international referee Alexandre Ruiz recently quit officiating to become a defence coach for club side Montpellier

11.2023 | Simnikiwe Xabanisa

Why do we forget?

Contrary to the popular belief that memories simply fade with time and forgetting is an early sign of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, a new theory suggests that forgetting is actually a form of learning

11.2023 | Adrian Ephraim

A (black) mirror to the metaverse

After a break of more than four years, season six of Black Mirror is finally here. As is typically the case for this award-winning television series, the episodes take a closer and darker look at society’s dystopian side, but this time, they do so in a new way.

11.2023 | Eugene Yiga

Animals will be animals

Intro: Camera close-ups of nature and animal life tell us more than we may have expected, but now that we are hooked, we may learn as much good as there seems to be bad.

10.2023 | Peter Dearlove

Artificial intelligence vs the world.

‘Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov’ was a clashing of six game chess matches between World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov and IBM supercomputer Deep Blue

10.2023 | Josh Gordon

Yes, they really are listening to us

Amidst all the revolutions that are sweeping the world, from economic to political, the omnipresent Fourth Industrial Revolution keeps powering ahead with no sign of reaching a peak or slowing down. One aspect of it which receives surprisingly little media coverage and rarely enters discussion is the radical development of voice profiling.

09.2023 | Athalie Russell Besseling

How ancient trees are becoming a hot new investment asset for the rich

After the financial crisis in 2008, rich people branched out into greener pastures by putting their generational wealth into acres of lands with roots in ancient trees. This global economic event alerted the rich because they saw their assets heavily affected, driving investments in safer commodities that grow in the long-term with a value that isn’t determined by unpredictable highs and lows of stock market forces.

09.2023 | Rebone Masemola

The Secret of Happy Places

“He’s not in a good place”. “She’s in a good place right now.” The terminology of self-help and pop psychology uses place as a metaphor for happiness or unhappiness – and with good reason.

09.2023 | Carlos Amato

Nothing new in Hollywood

I am not a movie snob. I promise. I can prove it too – I like nothing more than some formulaic and semi-mindless action flick. I’m down with buddy cop movies or anything depending on some gratuitous shirtless scenes to sell tickets. As a rule, I don’t like subtitles. A

08.2023 | Peter van der Walt

How Gaming Conquered the World

For many, the 70s marked the beginnings of the true modern phenomenon that is broadcast television. In 1976 South Africans gathered around these boxy units with fiddly buttons and bunny ear aerials waiting to be amazed, and they would not be disappointed.

08.2023 | Alistair Duff

The stories behind the words

You might use these terms on a daily basis, but do you know where they originate – and if you’re actually using them in context? While many wordsmiths disagree on the various theories and interpretations, here are some possible explanations of a few commonly used phrases.

08.2023 | Ingrid Wood

The Curse of Creativity

Throughout history, there’s a long list of eminent creative achievers in all fields who’ve suffered from depression.

07.2023 | Debby Edelstein

The Mysteries of Pain

Thought experiment: Take your left foot (bare) and secure it in place with some sturdy leather straps on a wooden board. Take a rusty drill bit; attach it to an electric drill.

06.2023 | RL Drake

Book Review: Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

Inspiration can strike at any moment. For two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead it was a playlist from a friend. More specifically, it was the song “Harlem Shuffle” that gave him the title for his novel, which debuted at number three on The New York Times fiction bestseller list and was named by Barack Obama as one of his favourite books of 2021.

06.2023 | Eugene Yiga

The Emperor Who Crashed Gold

In the dense forests of Guinea’s mountainous highlands, at a place called Tembakounda, the Niger River finds its source. It is about 250km inland and could dash to the Atlantic waters off the coast of West Africa by cutting directly through Sierra Leone.

06.2023 | Amanda Jones

The story of Malik Ambar

Born in 1548, a captured Ethiopian herdsman is sold as a slave in Yemen, taken to Baghdad and from there to present day India, Malik Ambar not only raised his own armies, but casually replaced kings when they became annoying. A remarkable true story that is not nearly as well-known as it should be.

05.2023 | Jen Isaac

The evolution of beauty

Evolution is my faith; Darwin is my prophet. And evolution explains the power women hold over men. Males of the species Homo sapiens sapiens are in thrall to a phenomenon called neoteny.

05.2023 | Tom Learmont

Private Schooling – is it worth the costs?

Lush manicured lawns, posh accents, and parents with executive positions. Being a private school kid is something I’ve always worn with a badge of honour.

05.2023 | Tendani Mulaudzi

Medicine, Pigeons and Pattern Recognition

Pattern recognition is the automated recognition of regularities in data. In recent years, and particularly with the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning, it has become significant to many industries.

04.2023 | Rachel Edelstein

NFTs: the future of art?

The NFT scene is booming, awash with the crypto cash of giddy evangelists including anyone from Jack Dorsey to Paris Hilton. Nowhere is its apparently transformative potential more vigorously targeted than the art world.

04.2023 | Jack Calland

The Numbers Game

Has the data analytics revolution made football better in the last decade? Your answer may depend on whether your own favoured team has become better – or worse.

04.2023 | Carlos Amato

Hackers and Hacking

Why is something so apparently mindless and nasty now rampant? Are hackers just thieves looking for an open window? What is to be done to solve the biggest threat to our sophisticated existence?

04.2023 | Peter Dearlove

Sketches of Spain

After more than two years of no international travel thanks to the pandemic, I decided to hit the road for the long term by moving to Spain.

03.2023 | Eugene Yiga

What’s the Use of Philosophy?

Sometime when I was in varsity, I was having a conversation with a friend and though I can’t quite recall the gist of the conversation I do distinctly remember one moment.

03.2023 | Kibo Ngowi

Maths anxiety in midlife

We know that maths is important. It helps us to learn critical thinking and develops the muscles of problem solving. Great minds describe it as a universal language and there are even those who see beauty and poetry in its order.

03.2023 | Debby Edelstein

Nature’s Essential Workers

Often referred to as wildlife’s “clean up crew,” vulture numbers are sadly dwindling on the African continent, but when they do pitch up – it’s a sign that nature is thriving.

02.2023 | Denise Slabbert

The future of flight technology

The delicately beautiful butterfly finds itself at the centre of new research which reveals a secret hiding in plain sight that could influence the future of flying technology.

02.2023 | Adrian Ephraim

Why adults should (sometimes) read children’s books

If you agree that age doesn’t define who you are, you’re certainly not too old to read children’s literature.

02.2023 | Ingrid Wood