Smallpox is the only human infectious disease to have been eradicated worldwide. Researchers have now recovered fragments of ancient DNA belonging to variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox, from the naturally mummified remains of two Indigenous people buried in northern Chile. For centuries, smallpox caused devastating epidemics. Its severe form, variola major, killed around…
Washington, DC — The inaugural Africa Business Investment Summit saw a target of $500m of structured commitments, a royal keynote and an unusually candid accounting of why capital still hesitates. Otumfuo Osei Tutu II had been speaking for barely five minutes when he put the question the rest of the day would attempt to answer….
What do you do when you need a moment to focus? For thousands of people around the U.S., the answer might be reaching for a technicolor piece of plastic that, when pressed, emits a soft and satisfying “click.” A lot of those people have Victoria Baumann and Charlie Moreton to thank, the father-daughter duo behind…
South Africa is home to 88% of the world’s colonies of African penguins (Spheniscus demersus). The species is classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This means there is a high risk the birds could go extinct in the wild following rapid population declines. This species was once abundant along…
In the ongoing quest to understand South Africa’s political and economic stagnation, it may be helpful to look at other postcolonial states that have travelled further along the path of independence. This may help clarify the stagnation question that citizens, politicians and economists are grappling with. Much of the analysis of postcolonial Africa and Asia…
