SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION - The African Mirror

Sep

20

2021

Self-driving trucks to hit African “roads” in 2022, will cars follow suit?

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

SOUTH Africa is making baby, but steady steps in the adoption and production of autonomous vehicles, with the planned launch of locally manufactured self-driving articulated dump truck (ADT) on the global market in 2022. On Monday, Bell Equipment, SA’s leading heavy equipment manufacturer and distributor showcased the autonomous truck at the MINexpo 2021 in Las Vegas, US. MINExpo is the world's pre-eminent showcase of mining equipment, services and technologies. Bell has been working on the interoperability of the self-driving truck with the global ADT specialist and safety and automation technology developer, Pronto AI. According to the firm, this reinforces the…

Jan

30

2021

By The African Mirror

‘By Africans, for Africans’: Female entrepreneur pioneers facial recognition tech

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

KIM HARRISBERG CHARLETTE N'Guessan Desiree loved maths and science as a student in Ivory Coast but never imagined she would one day use her problem-solving savvy to develop facial recognition technology more adept at identifying and verifying African faces. Her company, BACE Group, hopes its artificial intelligence (AI) software will be used across the continent - helping universities to verify students for financial services, banks to sign up new clients and security firms to fight crime. N'Guessan Desiree, 27, said there would be less suspicion of tech created "by Africans, for Africans", especially given concerns that Western-designed systems are more…

Jan

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Apple’s Tim Cook criticizes social media practices, intensifying Facebook conflict

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

STEPHEN NELLIS APPLE Inc Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook on Thursday criticized polarization and misinformation on social media, intensifying a conflict between the iPhone maker and Facebook Inc. In remarks delivered at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference, Cook critiqued apps that he argued collect too much personal information and prioritize "conspiracy theories and violent incitement simply because of their high rates of engagement." "At a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories juiced by algorithms, we can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement — the longer…

Jan

27

2021

By The African Mirror

As the world changes, science does too — and that’s a good thing

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

THE term “Industry 4.0” has been used for years to describe the need for societies to adapt their work and productivity to the “4th Industrial Revolution”, in which new technologies bridge the virtual, physical and biological domains. These terms have become so dominant that governments have adopted them into their policies and planning. CAROLINA ODMAN, Associate Professor, University of the Western Cape KEVIN GOVENDER, Director, International Astronomical Union Office of Astronomy for Development Against this backdrop it is important to ask whether – and how – the world of science is effectively adapting to an ever more connected and data…

Sep

10

2021

By The African Mirror

African researchers make headway in getting decisions made based on evidence

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

THE COVID-19 pandemic has added to the challenges facing African countries, including poverty, inequality and unemployment. RUTH STEWART, Professor: Evidence-Informed Decision-Making, University of Johannesburg SIZIWE NGCWABE, Senior Manager: Operations and Research Associate, University of Johannesburg Solutions exist. But they must be based on the best available evidence. That allows governments and policymakers to ensure scarce resources are carefully, transparently allocated where they can do the most good. Around the world, there is a community working to develop and support mechanisms that increase the use of research in decision-making. This is what is called evidence-informed decision-making. The community works in many…

Sep

10

2021

By The African Mirror

Getting behind an internet “revolution” in Angola

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

VICTOR MUZADI and HANNINGTON OSODO, BIRD "WHAT we are doing is a revolution and you can’t negotiate with a revolution. It’s happening and we’re part of history,” says Morato Custodio. With two masters degrees from California's Southern University, an IT dress code and silver chain, Custodio, who is fluent in English and Portuguese, is not someone you would immediately associate with the term "revolution". In fact, Custodio found early success in the corporate corridors of top regional multinationals, making Director of Operations at Multichoice Angola by 28. His further rise in the corporate halls of power looked in assured. Then,…

Jan

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Makers of Sophia the robot plan mass rollout amid pandemic

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

MICHELLE HENNESSY "SOCIAL robots like me can take care of the sick or elderly," Sophia says as she conducts a tour of her lab in Hong Kong. "I can help communicate, give therapy and provide social stimulation, even in difficult situations." Since being unveiled in 2016, Sophia - a humanoid robot - has gone viral. Now the company behind her has a new vision: to mass-produce robots by the end of the year. Hanson Robotics, based in Hong Kong, said four models, including Sophia, would start rolling out of factories in the first half of 2021, just as researchers predict…

Jan

26

2021

By The African Mirror

How Kenya’s new personal data protection law could affect researchers

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

THE risk of infringing on privacy is growing by the day given the increased frequency and granularity of the data being collected, and advances in the technology for processing them. This has, inevitably, led to the need for laws to secure personal data privacy. CALEB KIBET, Bioinformatician, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology Researchers and research data are not exempt: advances in big data analytics for research have driven the collection even more significant amounts of data. Researchers have traditionally self-regulated. But personal data protection laws have begun to increase restrictions. Researchers need to be aware. In Kenya, a…

Jan

24

2021

By The African Mirror

South African scientists who discovered new COVID-19 variant share what they know

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

LATE last year the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) led by the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) identified a rapidly spreading new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The new variant, called 501Y.V2, raises critical questions – including whether current vaccines and treatments will still be effective. With the support of the South African Medical Research Council and the Department of Science and Innovation, a group of leading South African virologists, immunologists, vaccinologists, infectious disease specialists and microbiologists has since formed a consortium to address specific scientific questions surrounding 501Y.V2. The knowledge they…

Jan

22

2021

By The African Mirror

WhatsApp has been mining your data all along

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

GLOBAL messaging application WhatsApp made headlines when it released a controversial privacy policy update that triggered an exodus of users to rival messaging platforms. The update to WhatsApp’s terms of service and privacy policyinformed users that they would have to agree to the new policy by 8 February 2021 to continue using the service. WhatsApp planned to share its users’ data with parent company Facebook, fuelling widespread outrage. While many users assumed this meant Facebook wanted access to their personal messages with friends, colleagues and family members, this is not the data Facebook is after. What it wants to share…