SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION - The African Mirror

Jan

21

2025

Ethiopian earthquakes and volcanic eruptions: earth scientist explains the link

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

ETHIOPIA’S Afar and Oromia regions have been hit by several earthquakes and tremors since the beginning of 2025. The strongest, with a magnitude of 5.7, struck on 4 January. The US Geological Survey and the German Research Centre for Geosciences reported that its epicentre was 142km east of the capital, Addis Ababa, which is in the Oromia region. It came just a day after a quake with a magnitude of 5.5 hit the same area. Two more quakes were reported over the weekend of 11 January. The Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Council is relocating around 60,000 residents in the two…

Jan

17

2025

By DENITSA DINEVA

What Meta’s move to community moderation could mean for misinformation

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

META, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other services has announced it will discontinue its third-party fact-checking programmes, starting in the US. Journalists and anti-hate speech activists have criticised the decision as an attempt to curry favour with the incoming US president, Donald Trump, but there could be an even more cynical reason. Meta’s strategy could be a calculated move for greater user engagement and income. This decision marks a significant shift in how the social media giant addresses misinformation on its platforms. Meta’s official rationale for ending its independent fact-checking in favour of crowdsourced contributions centres on…

Jan

12

2025

By PATRICK VAN ESCH and YUANYUAN (GINA) CUI

Logging off life but living on: How AI is redefining death, memory and immortality

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

IMAGINE attending a funeral where the person who has died speaks directly to you, answering your questions and sharing memories. This happened at the funeral of Marina Smith, a Holocaust educator who died in 2022. Thanks to an AI technology company called StoryFile, Smith seemed to interact naturally with her family and friends. The system used prerecorded answers combined with artificial intelligence to create a realistic, interactive experience. This wasn’t just a video; it was something closer to a real conversation, giving people a new way to feel connected to a loved one after they’re gone. Virtual life after death…

Jan

07

2025

By DANIEL ELDRIDGE

How do mosquito repellents work? A chemistry expert explains

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

IT’S summertime, and for many of us that means plenty of time outside – and, unfortunately, mosquitoes. The combination of the increase in temperature and plenty of water is ideal for these blood-sucking insects to make their presence felt. In the best-case scenario, they are a pest, delivering a highly unpleasant sting. At the other end of the spectrum, they are vectors for diseases responsible for more human fatalities than any other animal on Earth. To keep them at bay, many of us will reach for the bottle of insect repellent or citronella candles in order to avoid the bite…

Jan

04

2025

By CHARLES HELM

Fossil treasure chest: how to preserve the geoheritage of South Africa’s Cape coast

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

I am standing on a dune looking out to sea. It’s 2024, but I’m thinking about a very different time. Hundreds of thousands of years ago this 350km stretch of southern African coast looked very different. It was home to giant zebra, bird species that are now extinct, giant tortoises and crocodiles. Our hominin ancestors roamed the area. We know some of these facts because of body fossils. But South Africa’s Cape South Coast is also home to another rich source of information, which our research team from the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University has documented…

Nov

22

2024

By The African Mirror

Hundreds of 19th-century skulls collected in the name of medical science tell a story of who mattered and who didn’t

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

WHEN I started my research on the Samuel George Morton Cranial Collection, a librarian leaned over my laptop one day to share some lore. “Legend has it,” she said, “John James Audubon really collected the skulls Morton claimed as his own.” Her voice was lowered so as not to disturb the other scholars in the hushed archive. As my work progressed, I uncovered no evidence to substantiate her whispered claim. Audubon had collected human skulls, several of which he then passed on to Morton. But birds and ornithology remained Audubon’s passion. Nevertheless, the librarian’s offhanded comment has proven useful –…

Nov

18

2024

By AMORÉ ELSJE NEL

A geomagnetic storm has hit Earth – a space scientist explains what causes them

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

A geomagnetic storm lit up the night sky in parts of the US during the first weekend in October. South Africa’s National Space Agency (Sansa) told reporters that the storm had originated from a solar flare “that erupted from sunspot 3842 on October 3”. It said this was the strongest Earth-facing solar flare recorded by Sansa in the past seven years and that the eruption briefly affected high-frequency radio communications, “resulting in a total radio blackout over the African region which lasted for up to 20 minutes”. What is a geomagnetic storm? The Conversation Africa asked Sansa’s Amoré Nel, who…

Oct

29

2024

By MICHELLE LANGLEY and LAURA DIAMOND

First-ever biomechanics study of Indigenous weapons shows what made them so deadly

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

FOR the first time, state-of-the-art biomechanics technology has allowed us to scientifically measure just how deadly are two iconic Aboriginal weapons. In First Weapons, an ABC TV series aired last year, host Phil Breslin tested out a range of Indigenous Australian weapons. Amongst these were two striking weapons – the paired leangle and parrying shield, and the kodj. Both weapons are used to strike at an opponent. While the warriors who wield them are well aware of the lethality of the weapons, our team was approached by the show’s creators, Blackfella Films, to use modern biomechanics tools and methods to…

Oct

26

2024

By MARIA CRISTINA TELLO RAMOS

Avian architects: weaver birds in Africa have unique building styles

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

FROM afar, the acacia trees look like they have been decorated with grass pom-poms. The birds have been busy, building shelters of straw and grass. Up close the real shape of the “pom-poms” becomes clear: grass tubes in the form of an upside-down “U”, with an opening at each end. These structures are the work of white-browed sparrow weavers (Plocepasser mahali). White-browed sparrow weavers are cooperative breeders. Within a multi-generational family group, only one dominant pair will reproduce; all other birds, which are mostly kin (related), will help with the rearing of chicks. These birds do everything together: forage, defend…

Oct

23

2024

By SARAH KOLLAT

Some people love to scare themselves in an already scary world − here’s the psychology of why

SCIENCE, TECH AND INNOVATION

FALL for me as a teenager meant football games, homecoming dresses – and haunted houses. My friends organized group trips to the local fairground, where barn sheds were turned into halls of horror, and masked men nipped at our ankles with (chainless) chainsaws as we waited in line, anticipating deeper frights to come once we were inside. I’m not the only one who loves a good scare. Halloween attractions company America Haunts estimates Americans are spending upward of US$500 million annually on haunted house entrance fees simply for the privilege of being frightened. And lots of fright fans don’t limit…