The coastline near the southern tip of Africa looked vastly different between about 400,000 years ago and 70,000 years ago, compared with today. At times it lay as much as 100km south of its present location, exposing the vast Palaeo-Agulhas Plain, which contained an extensive habitat for large mammals. At other times the sea level…
There is a long-running myth that Africans did not have clothes until the arrival of Arabs and later, colonisation. In fact, Africa has a long tradition of making its own unique clothing since time immemorial. From Malian mud cloths, which they say are made of the earth, the river and the sun, to the famous…
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…
A television game show in Nigeria’s commercial hub of Lagos has an unforgiving rule: Speak English and you lose. For a U.S.-born millennial in the audience and a student of her parents’ mother tongue, the high-stakes setting is a perfect classroom. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old Canadian speaks to a teacher about 13,000 kilometers (8,000 miles) away…
The first five years of life lay an important foundation for children’s future schooling, health and earnings. Yet over 77% (table 2) of children in sub-Saharan Africa don’t have access to early childhood care and education. This places them at risk of not reaching their development potential. In response, governments across Africa are increasingly committing…
Climate change could cause life insurers to rethink how they assess and price risk. According to the World Health Organisation, climate change contributes to humanitarian emergencies, from heatwaves and wildfires to floods and tropical storms. In recent years, these events have become more frequent, more intense and increasingly severe. Research shows that 3.6 billion people…
Ratko Mladic, a war criminal convicted for his role in orchestrating the Srebrenica Genocide in 1995 – the first genocide on European soil since the second world war – died in prison in The Hague at the age of 84. He had been serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity…
US President Donald Trump. Image: Reuters Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks surged in pre-market trading on Thursday after US President Donald Trump urged congress to pass legislation establishing clear rules for the digital asset sector, following a White House meeting with industry executives. Trump, a vocal cryptocurrency advocate who has promised to make the US the…
Victor Mokoena was sentenced to life imprisonment on each of the four rape counts. (Image source: iStock) In a case reminiscent of the Thabo Bester Facebook rapist saga, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has welcomed the sentencing of 26-year-old Victor Mokoena to four terms of life imprisonment. This, after the Gauteng Division of the High…
Google has officially launched the Pixel 11, powered by its new custom Tensor G6 processor. Built to boost both speed and efficiency, the Tensor G6 delivers up to 20% better CPU power efficiency than the outgoing Tensor G5. Paired with Google’s Adaptive Battery software, the Pixel 11 achieves over 30 hours of battery life on…
