Humans delight in creating patterns in the sand, and over 100 000 years ago it would appear we were no different. People were drawing triangles in the dunes along South Africa’s southern Cape coast. They had also mastered how to draw circles compass-style and sculpted something that closely resembles a stingray [...]
Ten percent of South Africa’s land area, mostly in the high mountain catchments along the eastern escarpment, generates 50% of the volume of water in all our river systems. This was identified in a substantial research document produced in 2013 by WWF-SA, the Water Research Commission and the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, which [...]
Professor Zeblon Vilakazi takes up his appointment as Wits University’s 15th Vice-Chancellor in January 2021. A nuclear physicist, it’s in the nature of his research to understand life from the smallest particle to the cosmos. His cultural perspective is equally expansive as he communicates in six languages: isiZulu, Sesotho, English, Afrikaans, French and German. He reads [...]
Out of struggle comes growth, and the creators of Hlakanyana - a musical drama in the making – believe it has all the ingredients to be a socially relevant hit. Hlakanyana - a cunning, unethical creature, depicted in animal or human form - is one of the best known characters in African folklore, and, despite [...]
The line between what you study at university and the career you ultimately pursue has become increasingly blurred, says the Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, Lesetja Kganyago, who was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate of Commerce by Nelson Mandela University, during its online Business and Economic Sciences Graduation Ceremony on 17 December 2020. [...]
The origins of human self-awareness and development have been traced to South Africa’s Cape south coast. The images, human footprints and animal tracks found by scientists on South Africa’s Cape south coast are unique. Nothing like this exists anywhere else in the world. “We can, with increased confidence, say welcome home, Homo sapiens,” says [...]
The coronavirus has highlighted the need for South Africa to manufacture life-saving drugs. “We have done a huge amount of research into new ways of manufacturing generic life-saving medications in South Africa, specifically for AIDS, TB, malaria, cancer and influenza,” says Professor Paul Watts, holder of the SARChI Chair in Microfluidic Bio/Chemical Processing at Nelson [...]
Many drug ingredient makers in China remain shut or have cut their output. This is a huge problem, not only for us, but for all countries worldwide. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown the need for South Africa to manufacture life-saving drugs. “We have done a huge amount of research into new ways of manufacturing [...]
“You can’t biologise or racialise culture. My idea of knowing myself in the world is African, but my skin colour is not the determinant. This reduction of people to one template of colour is vicious racism and something that was weaponised by history. But it is not culture. Culture is a complex of multi-layered realties [...]
