When the maximum temperature approaches 36 degrees around 2pm in Jozi, I’m like, screw this, I’m done; let’s pick it up after dark. And then I thank the flying spaghetti monster I’m not in Pretoria right now. I’m lucky enough to have that kind of flexibility, and many other people are lucky enough to enjoy…
Pied crows, or Corvus albus, are a natural part of the landscape of southern Africa. They are bold, common, and familiar. But over recent years, especially in South Africa, there is evidence that there are many more of these birds, write Susan Cunningham and Arjun Amar in The Conversation The increase is worrying some conservationists who fear it…
SciBraai and The Global Change and Sustainability Institute will host a Data Quest at The DIZ in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on Friday 9 October 2015. The event will bring scientists, journos and techies together to tell socially-relevant science stories using data sets from the GCSRI, including data on rural firewood use, renewable energy and urban settlements.…
Following the Putco bus riots, we’re looking into public transport. Transport engineer Gerrit Wessels explains why buses always seem to whiz through intersections and Louise Naude from WWF tells us what your car is doing to climate change.
Researchers are using baobab trees to learn about climate conditions that prevailed thousands of years ago. Engorged ancient baobab trunks could tell the story of climate change in South Africa over the past thousand years, according to a paper published in the journal PlosONE. Adansonia digitata, a baobab endemic to Southern Africa, can provide this…
by Lynne Smit, Hippo Communications For many people in South Africa, the beauty and durability of their deck or staircase is more important than the fact that magnificent tropical hardwood forests are being destroyed to provide the wood to build them. [WATCH] VIDEO Luckily Scott Sargent and Stuart Prior see things differently, and their innovative…
The South African water crisis is a complex series of interlocking problems that preclude a silver-bullet solution. Each water system is unique, with different geographies, weather, populations and quirks, such as an unwillingness to reuse treated waste water. Some short-term interventions are obvious, if expensive, such as reducing demand by cutting losses from leaking pipes.…