Since the collapse of the pelagic fisheries off southwest Africa in the late 1960s, jellyfish biomass has increased and the structure of the Benguelan fish community has shifted, making the bearded goby (Sufflogobius bibarbatus) the new predominant prey species. Despite increased predation pressure and a harsh environment, the gobies are thriving.

There is more to combating HIV in the developing world than providing affordable drugs. T. V. Padma looks at the innovative new strategies being employed.

Traps baited with synthetic human odors have been proposed as suitable technologies for controlling malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases. We investigated the potential benefits of such traps for preventing malaria transmission in Africa and the essential characteristics that they should possess so as to be effective.

Fifty years after setting foot in Gombe, Jane Goodall calls for urgent action to save our closest living relatives from extinction in the wild. Conservationists and local people must collaborate, she and Lilian Pintea conclude.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7303/pdf/466180a.pdf

Emissions of African dust increased sharply in the early 1970s, but the human contribution to land degradation and dust mobilization remains poorly understood. Now, a 3,200-year record of dust deposition off northwest Africa has been constructed.

The potential of mobile telephony to transform Africa will only be achieved if the development of other infrastructure keeps pace, says a study. The number of mobile phone subscribers in Africa soared from 16 million in 2000 to 376 million in 2008, with 60 per cent of the population using them in 2008 compared with 10 per cent in 1999.