In academia, change often happens slowly. Academics are born into a paradigm and, more often than not, they maintain that paradigm rather than interrogating and critiquing it. It is rare to find a researcher who is willing, much less eager, to look outside of his or her field and recognise when a paradigm can be…
As part of her PhD in Anatomy, Mandi Alblas regularly visits Stellenbosch University’s Kirsten Skeletal Collection. Like an accountant she packs out, photographs and tallies each of 206 bones in each of the 700 skeletons included in her study – 144 200 bones in all. There’s something moving about the way that Mandi Alblas switches between…
Prof Wieland Gevers: Institution builder of note In 1970, a 32-year-old Wieland Gevers faced a big decision: To stay in North America, taking up a prestigious tenured Associate Professorship at the leading Canadian university, or to return to his native South Africa. The Canadian job involved setting up a research laboratory in…
Isilwane esithusayo sasiphila eNingizimu Afrika emandulo Awucabange nje amazinyo afana nemimese, egcwele umlomo wesilwane esingangebhasi, simi phambi kwakho – isilwane esifana nenyoni enemilenze emide nomsila ofana nowengwenya. Ukuba wawuphila ngezikhathi sasemandulo esidlula iminyaka engama-200 izinkulungwane zezinkulungwane (200 000 000), ubungahlangana naso lesi silwane esithusayo. Ososayensi abacwaninga amathambo ezilwane zasemandulo sebethole izinyathelo ezashiwa ilezi zilwane ezibizwa…
Few academics can claim being natural entrepreneurs, but Professor Eugene Cloete is one of them. His curriculum vitae features not just his publications in academic journals, but also almost a dozen patents. He considers his “best idea ever” was using an empty teabag, replacing the tea with activated carbon and using antimicrobial nanofibres for microfiltration…
Paul Cilliers passed away in 2011 leaving behind his family, friends and colleagues, and an impressive body of work on the topic of complexity. It is hard to grasp his essence without the help of an interview, but the assistance of documents authored by Cilliers (and authored by others about Cilliers) allowed for a picture…
Stellenbosch University water ecologist Dr John Simaika has spent lots of time around dragonflies since one serendipitously landed on his dinner plate while he was discussing his honours degree project. Along with his former postgraduate supervisor, the renowned insect conservationist Prof Michael Samways of the SU Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, he has recently…
Kenneth Hammond-Aryee takes stock of the risks that toxoplasmosis holds for unborn babies, immune-compromised people such as those living with HIV/Aids, and people receiving organ transplants. This disease is linked to cats, and is caused by parasites, “Say cheeeese.” Click, click, click goes the camera, as Kabaso* snaps picture after picture of the heavily pregnant…
A group of Stellenbosch University physiologists and a researcher from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology tested what happens when rats drank a sugar-sweetened beverage for three months. This was done in an effort to understand more clearly what happens in the body when you drink too much sweetened cooldrink. Researchers are increasingly realising that…
There is a cold reality contained in South Africa’s HIV/AIDS statistics: if you are poor, your chances of dying from the disease are more than 50% higher than if you have money in the bank. Your household will also be affected more severely, according to a systematic review in the journal Tropical Medicine & International…