Wild on Science

Category: News

  • Smaller steps for mankind

    Smaller steps for mankind

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    Sarah

    In just under two years, 50 spacecraft will purposefully destroy themselves in the Earth’s atmosphere, and a South African team is helping them do it. Nanosatellites – also known as cube satellites or “CubeSats” – are small in the world of satellites, but are gaining traction globally as a comparatively…

  • Concentrating solar: Follow the sun to power the country

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    Sarah

    A tower rises up from Stellenbosch University’s Mariendahl experimental farm, against the backdrop of scenic mountains. Facing it like supplicants, more than a hundred mirrors stare at the tower, automatically tilting to catch the sun. This is the Helio100 project, funded by the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and a test-bed…

  • Stem cell research outstrips legislation

    Stem cell research outstrips legislation

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    Sarah

    It starts in a dish: a collection of cells that can be made to grow into corneas, hearts or livers, or used to treat currently incurable diseases. This is the future that stem cell therapies could offer us, but the path to that future is strewn with ethical and legal…

  • The Murky Morality of Biobanking

    The Murky Morality of Biobanking

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    Sarah

    Biobanks are in short supply in South Africa, a place whose inhabitants have some of the greatest genetic diversity in the world. These repositories of human tissue, used for health research, could save lives as scientists find links between diseases and population groups – and, possibly, cures to currently untreatable…