Coronavirus is here to stay even if a vaccine is found
For much of the past year, life in Western Australia has been coronavirus-free. Friends gathered in pubs, people kissed and hugged their relatives, children went to school without temperature checks or wearing masks. The state maintained this enviable position only by placing heavy restrictions on travel and imposing lockdowns –...
African researchers want more say in genomics data
Many human genome studies ask participants to sign a form that gives them little direct control over how their data will be used. But a panel of researchers in Africa says that this can fuel distrust between researchers and participants, and needs to change. This stark message comes in a...
Decarbonisation: Why Africa is investing more and faster in gas, renewable energy
The power sector accounts for up to 41 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions today, with Africa contributing about 2-3 per cent. In parallel, there are still over 580 million people on the continent who do not have access to reliable energy and the demand for electricity is expected...
Wildlife species diminish as trade shoots up even in protected areas
Wildlife trafficking is having a profound negative impact on biodiversity, a new analysis finds. Hunting and trapping to feed international and national trade networks threaten numerous species, the researchers report, even those living in protected areas. “This study adds to the growing body of evidence that commercial wildlife trade is...
Listening to the sound of silence: How decibel levels hurt the heart and the brain
Exposure to loud noise has long been linked with hearing loss. But the ruckus of planes and cars takes a toll beyond the ears. Traffic noise has been flagged as a major physiological stressor, second to air pollution and on roughly equal footing with exposure to second-hand smoke and radon....
Misinformation almost always contains kernels of truth in it
Implantable microchips in the Gates conspiracy can be traced to a Gates Foundation-funded paper published in 2019 by MIT researchers, who designed technology to record someone’s vaccination history in the skin like a tattoo. It turned out to be the well from where many falsehoods sprung. The tattoo ink would...
Debunked repeatedly by journalists, fact-checkers, online lies keep mutating
You may have heard the outlandish claim: Bill Gates is using the Covid-19 vaccine to implant microchips in everyone so he can track where they go. It’s false, of course, debunked repeatedly by journalists and fact-checking organisations. Yet the falsehood persists online – in fact, it is one of the...
Has the pandemic hit academic mothers really hard? New data say so
Reshma Jagsi, a radiation oncologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor city, wrote an opinion piece predicting female scientists would feel a disproportionate impact from the Coid-19 pandemic. Sceptical journal editors declined to publish it. Since then, though, many commentators have echoed her message. And now the evidence...
Why Mozambique is well-placed to take advantage of minerals market boom
In addition to sizable gas reserves found offshore, Mozambique is home to commercially significant deposits of coal, gold, graphite, ilmenite, iron ore, titanium, copper, tantalum and bauxite, to name a few. While Covid-19 may have disrupted mining operations in terms of site closures and reduced export earnings, demand for precious...
African energy stakeholders sign partnerships to spur growth in the sector
Future Energy Series Africa (FESA) has signed an agreement with the African Forum for Utility Regulators (AFUR) for strategic partnership. FESA is a project origination platform that targets the continent’s most influential low-carbon energy stakeholders. As part of the agreement, AFUR will contribute to the development of the inaugural FESA...
