General
by Peter Middleton
The COVID-19 pandemic has left hospitals scrambling for supplies of face masks, gloves, eye shields and aprons to protect health workers from infection; of testing kits to determine who can safely continue working and who should be in isolation; and, most importantly, of large numbers of live-saving respirators, without which worst-affected patients are likely to die.
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
Over the past few decades, thousands of satellites have been launched into space to allow us to survey every point on the Earth, with sharp enough images to study building sites, road traffic, land use and so on. Now, new constellations of satellites are being launched to provide high speed broadband connectivity across the world.
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
When it comes to language, it’s become accepted that cultural and regional norms inform how we use certain words. The claim that Eskimo languages have an unusually large number of words for snow, for example, has become a cliché often used to support the hypothesis that a language's structure shapes its speakers’ view of the world.
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
2020 will mark the start of unprecedented space exploration by humanity. The first stage of the Artemis programme for the return to the Moon by humans will begin with the launch of Artemis I, in November 2020. The mission is designed to test the crew, the spacecraft – called Orion – and the Space Launch System, with the intention of sending crewed Artemis missions as early as 2024.
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities starts with the famous quote: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
Since Roman times there have been predictions about the end of the world as a result of religious, economic, astrological or environmental events. As far back as 66 CE, the Jewish Essene sect of ascetics saw the Jewish uprising against the Romans in 66–70, in Judea, as the final end-time battle that would bring about the arrival of the Messiah.
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
For years, scientists have been warning us about the dangerous effects of pollution on our environment, and the harm this does to our health. Great strides have been made in the past couple of decades to reduce the most common pollutants, such as plastic and chemical residues, through recycling and improved manufacturing practices, but most of the world agrees that a lot more needs to be done.
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
South Africa has seen extreme weather over the last month. Following a heatwave that registered temperatures close to record highs, much of the country has suffered from heavy rains. While the country desperately needed the rainfall, so much rain has fallen that parts of the country have been declared disaster areas as a result of flooding.
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
Human beings have not only littered our planet with garbage, we have also scattered debris across space. There are currently more than 500 000 pieces of space junk orbiting Earth, comprised of disused satellites, pieces of satellites that have been in collisions, as well as pieces of rockets that have been left behind.
More...
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
As our monitoring instruments become more advanced – and more effective – humanity’s discoveries in space are increasing in frequency and impact. Since the first black hole, Cygnus X-1, was discovered in 1964, we have identified and studied hundreds of black holes.
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
In 2017, the #DataMustFall movement in South Africa spurred the powers that be into announcing an enquiry into the cost of data in the country. Almost a full two years later, the Competition Commission has found what anyone who compared local mobile providers’ prices with their pricing in other African countries could have told them: South Africa’s data prices are too high.
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
Every winter, colds and flu do their rounds. For most people, this results in a week of bed rest, but for the very old and very young, flu can still be a killer – up to half a million people worldwide die of the flu every year.
Read Mia Andric's comments here...
Artificial intelligence is the new “in thing”. Despite the fact that it is still in its infancy, companies in every sector are experimenting with different ways to incorporate AI into their operations, and researchers are constantly striving for ways to improve machine learning algorithms.