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Nigeria’s ancient Ilorin city – archaeologist uncovers over 1,000 years of history

Nigeria’s ancient Ilorin city – archaeologist uncovers over 1,000 years of history

ILORIN, the capital of Kwara State, is a Nigerian city with a long and rich history. However, much of its distant past is not well known. Archaeology is now uncovering more of this history and the relationships of Ilorin to other ancient parts of the Yoruba world. BOLAJI OWOSENI, Research Fellow in Black Heritage, University of Cambridge Situated in north-central Nigeria and predominantly Yoruba-speaking, Ilorin gained prominence in the late 1700s. It was a significant northern province of the Oyo empire, which was active between the 1500s and early 1800s. Thanks to its strategic location between savannah and forest regions…
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Archaeologists in Egypt unearth section of large Ramses II statue

Archaeologists in Egypt unearth section of large Ramses II statue

A joint Egyptian-U.S. archaeological mission has uncovered the upper part of a huge statue of King Ramses II during excavations south of the Egyptian city of Minya, Egypt's tourism and antiquities ministry said. The limestone block is about 3.8 metres (12.5 feet) high and depicts a seated Ramses wearing a double crown and a headdress topped with a royal cobra, Bassem Jihad, head of the mission's Egyptian team, said in a statement. The upper part of the statue's back column shows hieroglyphic writings that glorify the king, one of ancient Egypt's most powerful pharaohs, he said. Also known as Ramses…
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Generative AI in the classroom risks further threatening Indigenous inclusion in schools

Generative AI in the classroom risks further threatening Indigenous inclusion in schools

IT is well documented that Australian teachers face challenges incorporating Indigenous perspectives and content in their classrooms. The approach can sometimes be somewhat tokenistic as if the teacher is “ticking a box”. We need a more culturally responsive teaching workforce. Generative AI is advancing at a fast pace and quickly finding a place within education. Tools such as ChatGPT (or Chatty G as the kids say) continue to dominate conversations in education as these technologies are explored and developed. TAMIKA WORRELL, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Critical Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University, Macquarie University There are many concerns around academic…
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Are social media platforms ready for record elections in 2024?

Are social media platforms ready for record elections in 2024?

FROM deepfake videos of Indonesia's presidential contenders to online hate speech directed at India's Muslims, social media misinformation has been rising ahead of a bumper election year, and experts say tech platforms are not ready for the challenge. Voters in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and India go to the polls this year as more than 50 nations hold elections, including the United States where former president Donald Trump is looking to make a comeback. Despite the high stakes and evidence from previous polls of how fake online content can influence voters, digital rights experts say social media platforms are ill-prepared for the inevitable rise…
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Deepfakes in South Africa: protecting your image online is the key to fighting them

Deepfakes in South Africa: protecting your image online is the key to fighting them

LEANNE Manas is a familiar face on South African television. Towards the end of 2023, the morning news presenter’s face showed up somewhere else: in bogus news stories and fake advertisements in which “she” appeared to promote various products or get-rich-quick schemes. It quickly emerged that Manas had fallen victim to “deepfaking”. Deepfakes involve the use of artificial intelligence tools to manipulate images, video and audio. And it doesn’t require cutting-edge technical know-how. Software like FaceSwap and ZaoApp, which can be downloaded for free, mean that anybody can create deepfakes. LAYCKAN VAN GENSEN, Junior Lecturer in Mercantile Law, Stellenbosch University…
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Morocco dinosaur discovery gives clues on why they went extinct

Morocco dinosaur discovery gives clues on why they went extinct

66 million years ago, the last dinosaurs vanished from Earth. We’re still trying to understand why. New fossils of abelisaurs – distant relatives of the tyrannosaurs – from North Africa suggest that African dinosaurs remained diverse up to the very end. And that suggests their demise came suddenly, with the impact of a giant asteroid. NICHOLAS R. LONGRICH, Senior Lecturer in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences at the University of Bath, University of Bath The causes of the mass extinction have been debated for two centuries. Georges Cuvier, the father of palaeontology, thought extinction was driven by catastrophes. Charles…
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Banksias are iconic Australian plants, but their ancestors actually came from North Africa

Banksias are iconic Australian plants, but their ancestors actually came from North Africa

FEW plants conjure up the Australian bush better than banksias, whose beautiful flowers are irresistible to honeyeater birds, small marsupials and nature lovers. But our research, published in Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, shows that the ancestors of banksias actually migrated here from North Africa. From early fossil pollen studies, we already knew that the protea family (Proteaceae), which includes banksias, grevilleas, waratahs and macadamias in Australia, originated in northwest Africa 130 million years ago. Our task was to track their migration to Australia, where they became the unique symbols of the Australian bush that we admire today.…
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South African researchers are tracing the vibrational language of elephants – using fossils

South African researchers are tracing the vibrational language of elephants – using fossils

RESEARCHERS in South Africa have unearthed groundbreaking evidence that sheds light on the ancient communication methods of elephants, according to an academic report quoted in The Conversation. A research team led by Charles Helm of the African Centre for Coastal Palaescience at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa published a report in ScienceDirect, a scientific research journal, in September 2023. The team's work focused on the discovery of 35 fossilized elephant track sites, some of which are the first-ever trunk-drag impressions. “These have been noted in South African Pleistocene coastal deposits, in apparent association with elephant tracks,” the scholars explain…
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20 years ago South Africa had 40 qualified astronomers – all white. How it’s opened space science and developed skills since then

20 years ago South Africa had 40 qualified astronomers – all white. How it’s opened space science and developed skills since then

SOUTH African astronomy started an important journey two decades ago when an initiative to attract and train future scientists in the field welcomed its first group of students under the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme. World-class facilities have been established during this period, the most notable of which are the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) and the MeerKAT radio telescope, a precursor to the international Square Kilometre Array. They added to the South African Astronomical Observatory and Hartebeesthoek Radio Observatory which existed already. The National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme has played a vital role in ensuring that these…
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Unusual ancient elephant tracks had our team of fossil experts stumped – how we solved the mystery

Unusual ancient elephant tracks had our team of fossil experts stumped – how we solved the mystery

OVER the past 15 years, through our scientific study of tracks and traces, we have identified more than 350 fossil vertebrate track sites from South Africa’s Cape south coast. Most are found in cemented sand dunes, called aeolianites, and all are from the Pleistocene Epoch, ranging in age from about 35,000 to 400,000 years. CHARLES HELM, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University During that time we have honed our identification skills and have become used to finding and interpreting tracksites – a field called ichnology. And yet, every once in a while, we encounter something we…
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