Category: News
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Mentorship: the route to networks, upliftment, science
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“Mentorship is important in all fields, but it’s particularly important in science,” says Dr George Smoot. Ten years ago, Smoot won the Nobel prize for physics, after he discovered the cosmic microwave radiation background, the ancient radiation left over from the Big Bang. Last week, he was one of 29…
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Manchester, robot cars and the apocalypse: ESOF16, Day 1
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There’s a bright-eyed eagerness to the first day of a conference. People bustle from session to session, take notes while speakers talk, and are prepared to wait their turn in the line for coffee. It won’t last. In two short days, the polite veneer rubs off. The coffee queue will…
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Science Today 2016 candidates announced
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WildonScience in conjunction with Stuff Magazine are proud to announce the 2016 Science Today candidates. A collection of their writing, published as The Best Postgrad Science Writing 2016, will be published in September. Sphume Ndlovu (University of KwaZulu-Natal) Zikhona Tywabi (University of Zululand) Theodora Ekwomadu (North-West University) James Burns…
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South Africa’s still in the R&D doldrums: the 10 things you need to know
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South Africa’s latest R&D figures were slipped into the public domain last week, with none of the fanfare of previous years. It is easy to understand why. Science and technology minister Naledi Pandor has been pushing increased investment in research and development, and these figures seem to show that no one is listening.…
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MeerKAT to get an optical companion
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It can happen in the blink of an eye: millions of light years away a star collapses in on itself. From Earth, that cataclysmic event is only a sudden brightening of a point in the night sky, and on the ground, astronomers scramble to investigate it. A new telescope, to…
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New app for small-scale fishing industry
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A free app – co-developed by academics, government, civil society and fishing communities – will be the lynchpin in the government’s efforts to launch and roll out a small-scale fishing industry in South Africa. Traditional and artisanal fishing communities, according to an Equality Court ruling in 2007, have been consistently…
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Industry doubles government research chair spend
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For every R1 invested in the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI), industry had invested R2, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor said in Cape Town on Wednesday. The SARChI, established in 2005, aims to address the shortage of postgraduate supervisors and increase the country’s research output. Research chairs are…
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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…