Remote sensing: Gear up for virtual weddings, dowry deals and memorials
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we work and remote work will continue for the foreseeable future, according to media research. Forbes magazine predicts that by 2025, an estimated 70 per cent of the workforce will be toiling at home at least part-time. Also, here to stay – in...
When cool old-school computers prove too good to die, in-demand and impractical to retire
Sometimes cool old-school IT refuses to die, in demand and impractical to retire Some 22,000 miles above Earth’s surface, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory – a solar-monitoring satellite launched in 2010 – bristles with high-tech sensors. Yet one of the Earth-bound systems that supports those sensors was, until 2015, decidedly old-school....
Cement: The polluter environmentalists hate, builders and building owners love
Cement is everywhere, but few people notice the impact it has on the environment. A standard building material used everywhere it is often confused with concrete. Cement is a key component in making concrete. By burning limestone at extremely high temperatures, this process turns the stone into a fine powder...
Book review: America’s jolly physics Nobel laureate who nearly bombed Nevada
In the early 1950s, the physicist Frederick Reines and his colleague Clyde Cowan designed an experiment to detect neutrinos, the tiniest and most elusive of subatomic particles. Theorists were convinced that neutrinos must exist – and that they would be untraceable. And Reines liked nothing better than a challenge. The...
Cybersecurity: Importance of security culture in Zero Trust defence models
During a preview of this year’s Republic of South Africa conference, a team from Orange Cyberdefense demonstrated a range of pretty scary scenarios of what can happen when malicious actors take control of a user’s home router. These range from duping users into downloading payloads dressed up as fake VPN...
Delaying a Covid vaccine’s second dose boosts immune response, research finds
Facing a limited vaccine supply, the United Kingdom embarked on a bold public-health experiment at the end of 2020: delaying second doses of Covid-19 vaccines in a bid to maximise the number of people who would be at least partially protected from hospitalisation and death. Now, a study suggests that...
Cameroon updates its 2021 tax scheme to promote innovative ICT start-ups
Over the past decade, information technologies (IT) have revolutionised the way people and businesses carry out their daily activities worldwide. There is abundant evidence that the upsurge of technology has been a major contributor to fundamental economic change, notably the growth in global production and the distribution of intangible goods...
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,...
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...
Drink, drugs and disease: From sniffing to breathalysers to fix substance abuse
Until very recently, most of us hardly gave a second thought to breathing. As essential as it is for life and survival, we took it for granted, an act as natural as…well, breathing. Since the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world, however, we have all become more aware of our own...
