Did Kenya’s ‘education delocalisation’ adversely affect exam performance?
Just hours after the Kenya Cabinet Secretary for Education George Magoha released examinations results for the delayed Kenya Certificate of Secondary, questions have already been raised about “education de-localisation” that seems to have adversely affected region that have traditionally performed well in national examinations. Conversely, schools in regions that had...
Invest Africa, DLA strike best practice in African renewable energy projects deal
Global law firm DLA Piper is partnering with Invest Africa, the leading trade and investment platform for African markets to support the development of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) best practice in African renewable energy projects. Clear ESG targets and measurements have become an increasingly important part of fundraising as...
Want to be forever young? ‘Biohackers’ hunt for technology that can stop aging
Last year, two self-described “biohackers” in Russia had themselves hooked up to blood collection machines that replaced approximately half of the plasma coursing through their veins with salty water. Three days later, the men tested their blood for hormones, fats and other indicators of general well-being. The procedure, it seemed,...
Science and politics feed off each other, shape our view of the world around us
Late in August 1609, the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei wrote excitedly to his brother-in-law, relating the fast-moving events of that summer. A few weeks earlier, Galileo had heard rumours that a spyglass had been invented in Flanders (now part of Belgium). He quickly produced an improved version, setting off a...
‘HIV vaccine research has long been hindered by a missing sense of urgency’
In 2010, William Schief, an immunologist at Scripps and executive director of vaccine design at IAVI’s Neutralizing Antibody Center, working with a group of researchers began to work with a class of broadly neutralising antibodies called VRC01, the first to be discovered by the NIH Vaccine Research Center. First, they...
Is HIV/Aids vaccine in sight? Covid success provides scientists with a ‘wisp of hope’
When virologist José Esparza began working with the World Health Organization to combat the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, he and many of his colleagues were convinced that a vaccine would be the solution – and that it would come quickly. Their optimism rested on solid science: Researchers knew that...
Facebook’s brazen ban of President Trump should concern every American
The Facebook Oversight Board’s decision upholding President Donald Trump’s Facebook ban undermines the First Amendment and free speech. The brazen ban of President Trump is already chilling the speech of other Facebook users and Internet users generally, who fairly worry about Facebook and Big Tech censoring and de-platforming them. I...
Equatorial Guinea hires a US firm to do a documentary on its oil energy potential
Energy Capital & Power (ECP) has announced a partnership with Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons for the premier US-Africa Energy Forum 2021. ECP in partnership with Equatorial Guinea’s MMH officially commenced work in-country on the Africa Energy Series: Equatorial Guinea 2021 special investor report and documentary film on...
When sea science needed money, Navy loosened purse strings and discoveries followed!
These two statements are uncontroversial: the path of science is more or less determined by the educated curiosity of scientists; the funding of science is sometimes based on condition of usefulness. So, does usefulness affect science’s path? Sometimes it does, especially when the funder has skin in the game. Pharmaceutical...
The Bill and Melinda Gates divorce, wealth memes are just too funny to ignore
First, let’s get one thing out of the way: Memes aren’t supposed to be comfortable or nice. Hopefully they induce laughter, but they’re not above doing it at others’ expense. I get all that. And yet, I have got to say, all of these memes about Bill and Melinda Gates’...
