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University of the Witwatersrand

Public research university in Johannesburg, South Africa, founded in 1922 and known for work in palaeontology, human origins, physics and health sciences.

Known aliases

  • Wits
  • Wits University

Current stories

scienceOne report1 publisher

Lake Kariba yields a second sauropodomorph dinosaur unique to Zimbabwe's Late Triassic rocks

An international team has named Musango matusadonaensis, the second Triassic dinosaur from Lake Kariba's rocks known only from Zimbabwe. The researchers suspect the ancient environment set these animals apart from South Africa's dinosaurs, though two species from one area cannot yet test that idea.

Publishers:phys.org

Reality

Evidence40
Adoption
Insufficient
Hype gap+15
Incentives55
Confidence45
scienceConfirmed2 publishers

Adult skull fragment from Drimolen backs a 2-million-year date for Homo erectus in South Africa

La Trobe researchers describe DNH 127, the first adult Homo erectus fossil from South Africa's Drimolen cave, dated to 2 million years ago. It is 200,000 years older than adult specimens found elsewhere and supports a first-appearance date that had rested on a child's skull from the same cave.

Reality

Evidence68
Adoption
Insufficient
Hype gap+25
Incentives
Insufficient
Confidence62