Author: Sarah
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10 things to know about SA’s 2016 science budget vote
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To save you having to watch Parliament TV when no one is toyi-toying, or reading the minister’s 17-page speech, here are my top 10 things to take away from this year’s science and technology budget vote. #1 @SKA_Africa has supported 730 students and researchers, from undergrads to postdocs since 2005…
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Four fracking futures
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The Strategic Environmental Assessment for shale gas exploration has given us four possible fracking futures: No shale exploration Exploration, but no economically viable gas About 5-trillion cubic feet of gas, which would be enough for one 1,000MW power station About 20-trillion cubic feet of gas, which could power two 2,000MW…
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Fracking likely to burden small towns
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Fracking, already controversial for its potential environmental impact, could spell disaster for poor and corrupt municipalities, bringing further harm to areas already poorly governed. This is one of the possibilities sketched out in an as-yet-unreleased assessment of the possible impact of hydraulic fracturing to recover shale gas in South Africa.…
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Mapping South Africa’s fracking future
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It began in 2010: whispers of “shale gas”, “game changer”, “fracking” and “Karoo”. They issued from boardrooms, diplomatic quarters, government circles and the quiet corners of sleepy towns and soon infiltrated conversations all around South Africa. By 2013, this murmur had turned into a cacophony of contestation, thousands of newspaper…
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The battle of hubris: can science save South Africa?
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SCIENCE is often held up as a panacea for South Africa’s problems: the data will tell you whether the country can afford free university tuition or how to conserve water, science will instruct us in how to curb the obesity epidemic spreading among our citizens, or create the employment vital…
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Did African travellers introduce the zika virus to Brazil?
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Researched by Sarah Wild In Brazil, 404 babies were born with microcephaly in 2015 – a disorder in which a foetus’s brain does not develop properly in the womb — with thousands more cases under investigation. Of those, 17 babies were infected with the zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease, and…
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Do African countries have to worry about a zika resurgence?
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Researched by Sarah Wild The zika virus, which has been associated with cases of microcephaly in Brazil and nervous system disorders in Micronesia, was originally discovered in Africa in 1947. “For 60 years, [zika] was seen as a mosquito-spread virus causing mild illness occasionally in African populations across the equatorial…
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How dead pigs can help nail killers
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It is surprisingly difficult to find a place in Cape Town to leave a 60kg pig to rot. It cannot be close to water, in a residential area or anywhere near agricultural land – there are certain biohazard requirements. It also has to be secure, so that none of the…
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Belt-tightening hits SA’s SKA budget
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South Africa’s radio astronomy ambitions are feeling the pinch of austerity as Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s 2016 budget cuts its Square Kilometre Array (SKA) allocation by R250-million. (*The department later noted that this was an error in the budget. The budget decreased by R89-million.) The SKA will be the largest…