For the first time, more than half of the world’s population is using the Internet and it is sub-Saharan Africa that is making the greatest progress. The ITU, a United Nations agency devoted to information and communication technologies, released a report Friday that estimates that 3.9 billion people, or 51.2…
The social media giant Facebook has come under heavy fire for its admitted failures to protect user privacy, to prevent “fake news” on its platform that influences elections or hate speech that fuels unrest. That’s been true in the United States and Europe, and notably in Myanmar where misinformation has…
Okwui Okpokwasili, a choreographer and dancer of Nigerian descent, has been named a 2018 MacArthur Foundation Fellow and the recipient of what are commonly called the MacArthur “genius grants.” She’ll receive USD$625,000 across the next five years, as well as the visibility that comes with the prestigious award. Okpokwasili, raised…
The cut marks on ancient bones from a long-extinct giant bird show that humans arrived on Madagascar some 6,000 years before scientists previously thought, according to new findings from a research team led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). The bones of the extinct Madagascar elephant bird, found in…
Would local agriculture benefit if treated human wastewater from cities like Abidjan, Lagos and Kinshasa was applied to nearby fields? Yes, in some cases, say the authors of a new study published in Nature Sustainability. The research team from the University of Illinois in the United States looked at 56…
African youth and the continent’s future will shape the planet in coming decades, and technology is the key to unlock that potential, said Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during the Google for Nigeria event in Lagos. “In Nigeria, we cannot train our nearly 200 million young people by 2045, in…
Researchers working in Botswana say they’ve found asteroid fragments scattered across the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), a discovery that followed the sudden arrival of the asteroid and subsequent meteor fireball witnessed last month across southern Africa. This is only the second time in history that a small asteroid observed…
Wildlife experts at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya were thrilled to hear the news Wednesday that scientists, working to save the nearly extinct northern white rhino, found a breakthrough in their search to develop an embryo suitable for assisted reproduction. Scientists at Avantea announced that their technique for developing…
Scientists who study the baobab tree – which can live for 2,000 years or more – say some of Africa’s oldest specimens are dying off in a relatively short period of time, and climate change may be the reason. Their research work, published in Nature Plants this week, calls attention…
Asfawossen Asrat is professor of geology, School of Earth Sciences at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. Nelson Torto is executive director at The African Academy of Sciences in Nairobi, Kenya. What they have in common – along with 10 other scientists from the Global South – is a concern over…
The high rise can mean high risks when making professional decisions, according to an intriguing new study set for publication in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. A team of U.S. researchers conducted experiments to measure the impact of elevation – commonly found in the high-rises of Nairobi, Cape Town, Cairo…
A researcher from Madagascar, with his South African and French counterparts, has discovered the existence of a coastal current off the island nation’s coast that may lead to improved fishing and marine industry management. Work from their study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, is part of a collaboration that includes…
Tanzania on Wednesday launched its new e-immigration system, designed to improve border security and migration at home while the new passports comply with international travel standards across the globe. “Tanzania is taking a leap forward in providing an electronic passport for our citizens,” said Anna Peter Makakala, Tanzania’s Commissioner General…
Scientists say they’ve discovered a new species of dinosaur in the Sahara Desert that will help to fill in gaps in the African fossil record that have long frustrated paleontologists. The new species, Mansourasaurus shahinae, is named after the Mansoura University in Egypt, whose team led by Dr. Hesham Sallam…
The race doesn’t always go to the swift, nor the battle to the strong – and new research from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) at the University of London aims to understand more about why, at least among Africa’s big cats. The study conducted by RVC Professor Alan Wilson in…