Attacks at sea aren’t all linked to piracy. Why it’s important to unpick what’s what: Nigerian Navy Special forces pretend to arrest pirates during a joint military exercise with the French navy. Photo by Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images Pirate attacks against merchant ships off the African coast have been reported regularly over the …
Vaccines alone aren’t enough to eradicate a virus – lessons from history: Dryvax, smallpox vaccine with bifurcated needle. James Gathany Content Providers/CDC Public Health Image Library Smallpox killed countless millions – 300 million people in the 20th century alone – before it was finally declared eradicated on May 8 1980. It was a momentous day, …
South Africa in the news: Two members who returned unconfirmed positive COVID-19 tests aren’t infected: ECB: England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Tuesday said that the two members, who returned unconfirmed positive tests for COVID-19, are not infected and are no longer self-isolating. ECB also said that …: “South Africa” – BingNews Season finale …
Why COVID-era campaigns against wildmeat consumption aren’t working: A newly-hunted wild boar is taken back to a village in Borneo. Paul Hasan Thung, Author provided COVID-19 probably originated as a virus that jumped from wild animals to humans. So some conservation organisations have used the pandemic to campaign against the hunting and consumption of wildlife …
There’s a ‘revolving door’ between industry and regulators, but its effects aren’t as strong as you think: blurAZ / shutterstock Toby Willison, a senior executive at the UK’s Environment Agency, is departing for the private utility firm Southern Water. Willison has been with the agency since 2002 and is currently its director of operations. The …
Net-zero carbon emissions won’t be sustainable if social inequalities aren’t addressed: Willy Barton/Shutterstock With COP26, the UN’s climate change conference, on the horizon next year in Glasgow, all eyes are on securing the decarbonisation of the global economy. What this will mean and how it will be achieved will be hotly debated before, during and …
South Africans aren’t being protected from fake sanitisers: what needs to be done: The WHO recommends sanitisers with an alcohol content of at least 70%. Phill Magakoe / AFP via Getty Images A wave of panic buying struck many countries when national states of disaster were announced in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Overnight, …
Infrastructure megaprojects that are delivered late and over budget aren’t necessarily failures – here’s why: Sydney Opera House. Korawee/Shutterstock If an infrastructure megaproject is completed late and over budget, it is widely judged to be unsuccessful. For instance, the delay to Crossrail, a new train line across London and the south east of England, has …
Reptiles: one in three species traded online – and 75% aren’t protected by international law: Rhinos, tigers, pangolins – we’re used to hearing about the mammals that are snatched from the wild so that their body parts can be sold. But did you know that you can buy and sell 36% of all known reptile …
How many people will migrate due to rising sea levels? Our best guesses aren’t good enough: Many villages in coastal Bangladesh are struggling with erosion of land, homes and crops. Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson, Author provided An article in 2011 shocked many by suggesting that up to 187 million people could be forced to leave their homes …
Coronavirus: why aren’t death rates rising with case numbers?: eamesBot/Shutterstock It is a conundrum. For much of the past two months, many people have been convinced that mortality associated with COVID-19 would rise as the number of people testing positive with the disease increased. But this has not happened so far. Why? A look at …
Why more Ugandan farmers aren’t adopting drought tolerant maize: A farmer inspects his maize in Uganda. Photo by: Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Maize is one of the most important cereal crops in Uganda. In particular, smallholder farmers rely on it for food and as a cash crop. They also grow it as an …
Humans aren’t inherently selfish – we’re actually hardwired to work together: Franzi/Shutterstock There has long been a general assumption that human beings are essentially selfish. We’re apparently ruthless, with strong impulses to compete against each other for resources and to accumulate power and possessions. If we are kind to one another, it’s usually because we …
Models aren’t a panacea for saving the environment: hard lessons from REDD+: REDD+ goals suffer at the hands of other development aims Wikimedia Commons International conservation is known for its pursuit of global, ‘win-win’ solutions that seek to simultaneously address multiple environmental and social issues. But few proposed solutions have offered as much hope, and …
Two-thirds of glacier ice in the Himalayas will be lost by 2100 if climate targets aren’t met: Debris covered Khumbu glacier in the Everest region of Nepal. Ann Rowan, Author provided In the world of glaciology, the year 2007 would go down in history. It was the year a seemingly small error in a major …
Thermal cameras aren’t perfect, but they can help control the coronavirus pandemic: In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the world has rushed to deploy infrared thermal imaging cameras (also known as infrared radiometers) to measure people’s temperature and the technology has become big business. Since the pandemic began, thermal cameras have been deployed in areas …
Autonomous cars: five reasons they still aren’t on our roads: Grzegorz Czapski/Shutterstock Elon Musk thinks his company Tesla will have fully autonomous cars ready by the end of 2020. “There are no fundamental challenges remaining,” he said recently. “There are many small problems. And then there’s the challenge of solving all those small problems and …
South Africans aren’t wearing masks or keeping their distance. This needs to change: Volunteers handing out masks to residents in Johannesburg. In countries like South Africa that face severe resource shortages, the burden of fighting COVID-19 falls heavily on citizens to change their behaviour and follow preventative measures. These include avoiding mass gatherings, physical distancing …