Spending on science has been, should always be an investment for government
Much like Otto von Bismarck and other nation-builders in Germany, Tsar Alexander II was eager to bolster industrial development throughout his country. Central to those efforts was investing heavily in precision metrology. The tsar found eager and skilful natural scientists such as Mendeleev to help. In the same decade, Japan...
Aging and rejuvenation: It’s probably not a single factor that wastes, revives tissues
Conceptually, the therapeutic strategies of two front-runner start-ups – Elevian and Alkahest – could not be further apart. On the one extreme is Elevian’s reductionist approach, which attempts to recapitulate the benefits of young blood through supplementation with a single pro-youthful factor. On the other is Alkahest’s plasma formulations, created...
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...
