tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/technology/articlesScience + Tech – The Conversation2024-03-26T16:03:37Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2248822024-03-26T16:03:37Z2024-03-26T16:03:37ZWe built an AI tool to help set priorities for conservation in Madagascar: what we found<p><em>Artificial Intelligence (AI) – models that process large and diverse datasets and make predictions from them – can have many uses in nature conservation, such as remote monitoring (like the use of camera traps to study animals or plants) or data analysis. Some of these are controversial because AI can be trained to be biased, but others are valuable research tools.</em></p>
<p><em>Biologist Daniele Silvestro has developed an <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-022-00851-6">AI tool</a> that can help identify conservation and restoration priorities. We asked him to tell us more about how it works and what it offers.</em></p>
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<h2>How does your artificial intelligence tool for conservation work?</h2>
<p>Artificial intelligence (AI) is a term indicating a broad family of models used to process large and diverse datasets and make predictions from them. </p>
<p>We built a model using biodiversity datasets as well as socioeconomic data. The aim was to identify optimal strategies to conserve nature. Our AI tool, Conservation Area Prioritisation through Artificial Intelligence (Captain), uses a type of AI called <a href="https://online.york.ac.uk/what-is-reinforcement-learning/">reinforcement learning</a>. This is a family of algorithms that optimises decisions within a dynamic environment. </p>
<p>The tool we built was the result of years of work involving an international team with experience in biology, sustainable economics, maths and computer science.</p>
<p>The software we developed can take multiple types of data as input, including biodiversity maps, species ranges, climate and predicted climate change, as well as socioeconomic data such as cost of land and a budget available for conservation action. It then processes this information and, based on a set conservation target (for example, to include all endangered species in a protected area, or to protect as many species as possible) it suggests a conservation policy.</p>
<p>The tool’s environment is a simulation of biodiversity, an artificial world with species and individuals that reproduce, migrate and die through time. We use the tool to look for the most appropriate conservation policy. </p>
<p>It works similarly to a video game where the player (called the agent) is the “brains” of our software. The goal of the game is to protect biodiversity and prevent as many species as possible from going extinct within a simulated environment that includes human pressure and climate change. </p>
<p>The agent observes the environment and tries to place protected areas in this environment in the best way. At the end of the game the agent gets a reward for each species it manages to save from extinction. It will have to play the game many times to learn how to best interpret the environment and place the protected areas. After that, the model is trained and can be used with real biodiversity data to identify conservation priorities that should maximise biodiversity protection. </p>
<h2>Why did you test the tool in Madagascar? What did you find?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.kew.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/State%20of%20the%20World%27s%20Plants%20and%20Fungi%202023.pdf">State of the World’s Plants and Fungi report</a> showed that biodiversity is facing unprecedented threats, with as many as 45% of all plant species at risk of extinction. Together with climate change, this is one of the major challenges humanity faces, given our dependence on the natural world for our survival. </p>
<p>In a recent <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.adf1466">paper</a> we summarised the extent of Madagascar’s extraordinary concentration of biodiversity with thousands of species of plants, animals and fungi. The project was led by Hélène Ralimanana of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Kew Madagascar Conservation Centre. </p>
<p>By applying the Captain tool to a dataset of endemic trees of Madagascar we were able to identify the most important areas for biodiversity protection in the country, for instance the area in the Sava region, where the Marojejy National Park has long been established. </p>
<p>Madagascar already has number of conservation areas and programmes. What our experiment shows is that the technology we developed can be used with real-world data. We hope it can guide conservation planning.</p>
<h2>Who do you think can use the Captain AI?</h2>
<p>We think it can help policy makers, practitioners and companies in guiding conservation and restoration planning. In particular, the software can use diverse types of data in addition to biodiversity data. For instance it can use costs and opportunity costs related to setting up protected or restoration areas. It can also use future climate scenarios. </p>
<h2>Is technology alone enough to conserve biodiversity?</h2>
<p>Certainly not. Technology can help us by crunching the numbers and disentangling complex data. But there are many aspects of conservation that are not easily quantifiable as numbers. There are aspects of cultural value of land and nature, and social and political issues related to the fair distribution of resources. These are issues for real humans to take into account, rather than artificial intelligence programs. </p>
<p>Technology and science can (and should) assist us in making decisions, but ultimately the protection and conservation of the natural world is and must be in the hands of humans, not software.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224882/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniele Silvestro is a computational biologist at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and University of Gothenburg (Sweden). He is also a co-founder of CAPTAIN Technologies LTD.
D.S. acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (PCEFP3_187012), the Swedish Research Council (2019-04739), and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research MISTRA within the framework of the research programme BIOPATH (F 2022/1448).</span></em></p>Conservation of biodiversity is in the hands of humans but artificial intelligence can help guide decisions.Daniele Silvestro, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of FribourgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2244112024-03-17T08:37:05Z2024-03-17T08:37:05ZSnakebites: we thought we’d created a winning new antivenom but then it flopped. Why that turned out to be a good thing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579144/original/file-20240301-30-2x5qov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A _Bothrops asper_ is prepared for its venom to be milked to use in making antivenom.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jon G. Fuller/VWPics/Universal Images Group</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Snakebites kill <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrdp201763">over 100,000 people each year</a>, and hundreds of thousands of survivors are left with long-term disabilities such as amputations.</p>
<p>Africa, Asia and Latin America are <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0009073">the regions most heavily affected</a>. The most venomous snakes in Africa are the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-knowing-what-black-mamba-venom-does-to-the-human-body-is-crucial-121386">black mamba</a>, cobras and saw-scaled and carpet vipers. In Asia, the Indian cobra, Russel’s viper, saw-scaled viper and common krait are the most venomous.</p>
<p>In the Central America and northern South America regions, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/viper-snake">venomous pit viper</a> <em>Bothrops asper</em> <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22146491/">is responsible for most of the fatal and harmful bites</a>.</p>
<p>We are venom and antivenom specialists who spent four years developing a therapeutic antibody to mitigate the effects of the pit viper’s bites. We were certain that we’d met all the standards for an effective, safe and efficacious antivenom. But, at the last hurdle, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42624-5">we realised</a> the antibody didn’t neutralise the snake’s toxins: it enhanced them, worsening the venom’s effects.</p>
<p>Initially this was, of course, very disappointing. But it was also a valuable lesson. By reporting this new way that future antivenoms can fail, we have highlighted a problem with the <a href="https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/255657/9789241210133-eng.pdf#page=217">current recommendations for testing antivenoms</a> that was hidden until now.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mozambique-had-no-data-about-snakebites-our-new-study-filled-the-gap-and-the-results-are-scary-192106">Mozambique had no data about snakebites. Our new study filled the gap -- and the results are scary</a>
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<p>Our lesson is likely to have a much larger impact on the development of snakebite treatments than if the antibody had been a success, because the discovery will help antivenom researchers focus their efforts so they don’t fail at the last hurdle as we did. </p>
<h2>Developing our antivenom</h2>
<p>A large percentage of <em>B. asper’s</em> venom consists of potent muscle-damaging molecules called phospholipases A₂ (PLA₂s) and PLA₂-like toxins. These have <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36632869/">severe effects</a>, often leading to irreversible damage and disability. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/finally-snakebite-is-getting-more-attention-as-a-tropical-health-issue-131016">Finally, snakebite is getting more attention as a tropical health issue</a>
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<p>Myotoxin II, a formidable PLA₂-like toxin within <em>B. asper’s</em> arsenal, is particularly significant. The precise mechanisms that underlie myotoxin II’s action aren’t fully understood. It is known to exert its effects locally, binding to muscle fibres and triggering muscle damage. This localised action poses a challenge for traditional antivenom treatments.</p>
<p>We have attempted to develop human monoclonal antibodies that target and neutralise this membrane-disrupting myotoxin II. For the first four years of our research project, the antibodies we discovered kept showing impressive effects in neutralising myotoxin II. </p>
<p>Even when tested in living mice, using the current gold standard for antivenom testing, the antibodies continuously showed impressive neutralisation. However, for our most promising antibody, we wanted to go a step further and carry out an experiment that more closely resembled a human envenoming, in which the antibody is injected after injection of the venom. </p>
<p>The results of this additional experiment were equal parts disappointing and surprising. Our most promising antibody in this last experiment changed its toxin-neutralising effect to toxin-enhancing instead, as we’ve <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42624-5">documented in a research paper</a>. </p>
<p>The results were so surprising that we decided to immediately repeat the experiment. We thought something must’ve gone wrong, like the antibody or other materials having gone bad. However, the results remained the same.</p>
<p>This curious phenomenon, which we termed “antibody-dependent enhancement of toxicity”, represents a novel discovery in toxin immunology. Similar phenomena have been observed in other contexts, such as with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19307220/">poisonous mushrooms</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3188055/">bacterial toxins</a>, but never before with toxins from the animal kingdom. </p>
<p>Additional studies will be needed to fully understand what causes antibody-dependent enhancement of toxicity. </p>
<h2>Reassessing preclinical models</h2>
<p>There’s good news about this failure. It’s a chance for antivenom researchers all over the world, no matter what snake species they’re working with, to reassess their preclinical models (like the <a href="https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/255657/9789241210133-eng.pdf#page=217">current gold standard model</a>).</p>
<p>We also think antivenom researchers should consider incorporating more sophisticated experiments like the ones used in our study, which more closely resemble a real-life envenoming case. By doing so, the antivenom research community can streamline the drug discovery process. This will expedite the identification and development of safer and more effective snakebite treatments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreas Hougaard Laustsen receives funding from Wellcome, the European Research Council, the Villum Foundation, and Innovation Fund Denmark. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruno Lomonte receives funding from Vicerrectoría de Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julián Fernández receives funding from Vicerrectoría de Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christoffer Vinther Sørensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By reporting this new way that future antivenoms can fail, the research has highlighted a problem with current antivenom testing recommendations.Christoffer Vinther Sørensen, Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Center for Antibody Technologies, Technical University of DenmarkAndreas Hougaard Laustsen, Professor & Center Director at the Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of DenmarkBruno Lomonte, Emeritus Professor, Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Universidad de Costa RicaJulián Fernández, Researcher at Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Universidad de Costa RicaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2259122024-03-15T13:28:50Z2024-03-15T13:28:50ZUndersea cables for Africa’s internet retrace history and leave digital gaps as they connect continents<p><em>Large parts of west and central Africa, as well as some countries in the south of the continent, were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/14/much-of-west-and-central-africa-without-internet-after-undersea-cable-failures">left without internet services</a> on 14 March because of failures on four of the fibre optic cables that run below the world’s oceans. Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Ghana, Burkina Faso and South Africa were among the worst affected. By midday on 15 March the problem had not been resolved. Microsoft <a href="https://mybroadband.co.za/news/internet/528961-massive-undersea-cable-outage-fix-delayed-says-microsoft.html">warned its customers</a> that there was a delay in repairing the cables. South Africa’s News24 <a href="https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/nine-undersea-cables-make-the-internet-work-in-sa-four-are-currently-damaged-20240315">reported</a> that, while the cause of the damage had not been confirmed, it was believed that “the cables snapped in shallow waters near the Ivory Coast, where fishing vessels are likely to operate”.</em></p>
<p><em>Jess Auerbach Jahajeeah, an associate professor at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, is currently writing a book on fibre optic cables and digital connectivity. She spent time in late 2023 aboard the ship whose crew is responsible for maintaining most of Africa’s undersea network. She spoke to The Conversation Africa about the importance of these cables.</em></p>
<h2>1. What’s the geographical extent of Africa’s current undersea network?</h2>
<p>Fibre optic cables now literally encircle Africa, though some parts of the continent are far better connected than others. This is because both public and private organisations have made major investments in the past ten years. </p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://www.submarinecablemap.com/">an interactive map</a> of fibre optic cables, it’s clear that South Africa is in a relatively good position. When the breakages happened, the network was affected for a few hours before the internet traffic was rerouted; a technical process that depends both on there being alternative routes available and corporate agreements in place to enable the rerouting. It’s the same as driving using a tool like Google Maps. If there’s an accident on the road it finds another way to get you to your destination. </p>
<p>But, in several African countries – including Sierra Leone and Liberia – most of the cables don’t have spurs (the equivalent of off-ramps on the road), so only one fibre optic cable actually comes into the country. Internet traffic from these countries basically <a href="https://blog.cloudflare.com/undersea-cable-failures-cause-internet-disruptions-across-africa-march-14-2024">stops when the cable breaks</a>. </p>
<p>Naturally that has huge implications for every aspect of life, business and even politics. Whilst some communication can be rerouted via satellites, satellite traffic accounts for <a href="https://blog.telegeography.com/2023-mythbusting-part-3">only about 1% of digital transmissions globally</a>. Even with interventions such as satellite-internet distribution service <a href="https://www.starlink.com/">Starlink</a> it’s still much slower and much more expensive than the connection provided by undersea cables. </p>
<p>Basically all internet for regular people relies on fibre optic cables. Even landlocked countries rely on the network, because they have agreements with countries with landing stations – highly-secured buildings close to the ocean where the cable comes up from underground and is plugged into terrestrial systems. For example southern Africa’s internet comes largely through connections in Melkbosstrand, just outside Cape Town, and <a href="https://www.submarinenetworks.com/en/stations/africa/south-africa/mtunzini-cls">Mtunzini</a> in northern KwaZulu-Natal, both in South Africa. Then it’s routed overland to various neighbours. </p>
<p>Each fibre optic cable is extremely expensive to build and to maintain. Depending on the technical specifications (cables can have more or fewer fibre threads and enable different speeds for digital traffic) there are complex legal agreements in place for who is responsible for which aspects of maintenance.</p>
<h2>2. What prompted you to write a book about the social history of fibre optic cables in Africa?</h2>
<p>I first visited Angola in 2011 to start work for <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781487524333/from-water-to-wine/">my PhD project</a>. The internet was all but non-existent – sending an email took several minutes at the time. Then I went back in 2013, after the <a href="https://www.submarinenetworks.com/en/systems/brazil-africa/sacs">South Atlantic Cable System</a> went into operation. It made an incredible difference: suddenly Angola’s digital ecosystem was up and running and everybody was online. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-our-wi-fi-world-the-internet-still-depends-on-undersea-cables-49936">In our Wi-Fi world, the internet still depends on undersea cables</a>
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<p>At the time I was working on social mobility and how people in Angola were improving their lives after <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/angolan-civil-war-1975-2002-brief-history">a long war</a>. Unsurprisingly, having digital access made all sorts of things possible that simply weren’t imaginable before. I picked up my interest again once I was professionally established, and am now writing it up as a book, <a href="https://stias.ac.za/2022/03/when-a-cable-is-not-just-a-cable-fellows-seminar-by-jess-auerbach/">Capricious Connections</a>. The title refers to the fact that the cables wouldn’t do anything if it wasn’t for the infrastructure that they plug into at various points. </p>
<p>Landing centres such as Sangano in Angola are fascinating both because of what they do technically (connecting and routing internet traffic all over the country) and because they often highlight the complexities of <a href="https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad582-digital-divide-who-in-africa-is-connected-and-who-is-not/">the digital divide</a>. </p>
<p>For example, Sangano is a remarkable high tech facility run by an incredibly competent and socially engaged company, Angola Cables. Yet the school a few hundred metres from the landing station still doesn’t have electricity. </p>
<p>When we think about the digital divide in Africa, that’s often <a href="https://www.bmz-digital.global/en/datacolonialism-double-interview/">still the reality</a>: you can bring internet everywhere but if there’s no infrastructure, skills or frameworks to make it accessible, it can remain something abstract even for those who live right beside it.</p>
<p>In terms of history, fibre optic cables follow all sorts of fascinating global precedents. The 2012 cable that connected one side of the Atlantic Ocean to the other is laid almost exactly <a href="https://www.slavevoyages.org/blog/volume-and-direction-trans-atlantic-slave-trade">over the route of the transatlantic slave trade</a>, for example. Much of the basic cable map is layered over the routes of the <a href="https://notevenpast.org/to-rule-the-waves-britains-cable-empire-and-the-birth-of-global-communications/">copper telegraph network</a> that was essential for the British empire in the 1800s.</p>
<p>Most of Africa’s cables are maintained at sea by the remarkable crew of the ship Léon Thévenin. I <a href="https://mg.co.za/africa/2023-11-27-down-to-the-wire-the-ship-fixing-our-internet/">joined them</a> in late 2023 during a repair operation off the coast of Ghana. These are uniquely skilled artisans and technicians who retrieve and repair cables, sometimes from depths of multiple kilometres under the ocean. </p>
<p>When I spent time with the crew last year, they recounted once accidentally retrieving a section of Victorian-era cable when they were trying to “catch” a much more recent fibre optic line. (Cables are retrieved in many ways; one way is with a grapnel-like hook that is dragged along the ocean bed in roughly the right location until it snags the cable.)</p>
<p>There are some very interesting questions emerging now about what is commonly called <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo216184200.html?trk=public_post_comment-text">digital colonialism</a>. In an environment where data is often referred to with terms like “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nishatalagala/2022/03/02/data-as-the-new-oil-is-not-enough-four-principles-for-avoiding-data-fires/?sh=23be1821c208">the new oil</a>”, we’re seeing an important change in digital infrastructure. </p>
<p>Previously cables were usually financed by a combination of public and private sector partnerships, but now big private companies such as Alphabet, Meta and Huawei are increasingly financing cable infrastructure. That has serious implications for control and monitoring of digital infrastructure. </p>
<p>Given we all depend so much on digital tools, poorer countries often have little choice but to accept the terms and conditions of wealthy corporate entities. That’s potentially incredibly dangerous for African digital sovereignty, and is something we should be seeing a lot more public conversation about.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225912/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jess Auerbach Jahajeeah receives funding from the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Study where she is an Iso Lomso Fellow, the National Research Foundation of South Africa and the UCT Vice Chancellor’s Future Leaders Program. </span></em></p>Fibre optic cables now literally encircle Africa, though some parts of the continent are far better connected than others.Jess Auerbach Jahajeeah, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2230252024-03-11T13:07:21Z2024-03-11T13:07:21ZTechnology to protect South Africa’s oceans: experts find that a data-driven monitoring system is paying off<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577893/original/file-20240226-24-qjmkpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A fishing boat launching into South African waters at dawn.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Justin Klusener Photos</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nine years ago South Africa put in place an innovative information management system designed to monitor and protect its seas. The country is surrounded by the Atlantic and Indian oceans on its southern, eastern and western borders. </p>
<p>The oceans are an <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19480881.2015.1066555">important source of income and employment</a>. The ocean economy <a href="https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/publications/oceans-economy-summary-progress-report-June2019.pdf">contributed about R110 billion</a> (around US$5.7 billion) to South Africa’s GDP in 2010. A 2019 government report <a href="https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/publications/oceans-economy-summary-progress-report-June2019.pdf">projected</a> that, by 2033, this would rise to R177 billion (US$9.2 billion), as well as creating just over one million jobs. The main sectors in ocean industries are maritime transport, fisheries and aquaculture, mineral resource exploitation and tourism. The potential for economic growth is also reflected in the country’s <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201706/saoceaneconomya.pdf">Operation Phakisa Oceans Economy plan</a>.</p>
<p>But, while the sheer extent of its maritime domain presents many opportunities, it also comes with governance challenges. It’s hard to monitor and plan for ocean-related economic development and conservation.</p>
<p>That’s where the National Oceans and Coastal Information Management System (<a href="https://ocims.environment.gov.za/About.html">OCIMS</a>) comes in. It was conceptualised within the country’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment in 2012 and officially launched in 2015 in partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). </p>
<p>While the system is tailored to South Africa’s national priorities, it was inspired by other mature ocean information systems around the world, such as those in <a href="https://imos.org.au/">Australia</a> and the <a href="https://coastwatch.noaa.gov/cwn/index.html">US</a>.</p>
<p>The system brings ocean observations made by various national agencies into one platform. The major users are also partners who contribute to the system by sharing data and expertise.</p>
<p>For example, data capture apps on the system are used to share measurements made on aquaculture farms and inform users on the potential risk of <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/redtide.html">red tides</a> (a common name used for harmful algal bloom). Boat-based whale watching operators contribute their marine species sightings data towards biodiversity assessments. All this data can be analysed by scientists and their findings used to advise on policy options or compliance and enforcement actions.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.120255">recent paper</a> we looked at how the system emerged and why it’s been important for the protection of the country’s oceans. We found that it was providing value for money: it helped mitigate environmental or security risks, resulting in significant cost savings for the public and private sectors. It also promoted dialogue across government departments, non-profit organisations and the private sector. This facilitates a coordinated approach to ocean governance.</p>
<p>The approach taken to establish the system could benefit other countries looking to build their own ocean and coastal system knowledge platforms.</p>
<h2>Data-driven</h2>
<p>As the COVID pandemic demonstrated, informed decisions cannot occur without access to data. Historical and operational data provides situational awareness, informs policy and supports long-term planning and management.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-african-countries-can-harness-the-huge-potential-of-their-oceans-77889">How African countries can harness the huge potential of their oceans</a>
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<p>To this end, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, working with the <a href="https://www.saeon.ac.za/">South African Environmental Observations Network</a>, created the <a href="https://data.ocean.gov.za/">Marine Information Management System</a>. It’s an essential component of the overall OCIMS system. It preserves, discovers and disseminates long-term data. It is internationally accredited and bound by best international standards and practices. </p>
<p>The system also makes data more accessible by providing <a href="https://ica-abs.copernicus.org/articles/6/275/2023/ica-abs-6-275-2023.pdf">user-specific data capture applications</a>, complemented by data visualisation platforms such as webmaps and dashboards. </p>
<h2>Supporting decisions</h2>
<p>Another of the system’s aims is to provide tools for supporting decisions. Such tools can be used for coordination and response (for example, monitoring <a href="https://ica-abs.copernicus.org/articles/6/275/2023/ica-abs-6-275-2023.pdf">avian influenza</a>). They can also be used in compliance and enforcement initiatives, such as tracking vessels.</p>
<p>The Fisheries and Aquaculture tool, for instance, supports both the public and private sectors by providing warnings on potentially harmful algal blooms, a phenomenon that can threaten aquaculture farms or affect fish and lobster populations. It detects algal blooms through satellite observations; this satellite data is complemented by information from those in the field, combining to create an active, interactive decision-making tool.</p>
<p>Then there’s the Integrated Vessel Tracking tool. It monitors vessels’ movements and is used daily by the institutions mandated to enforce security at sea, such as intelligence services and the navy, to detect or intercept illegal activities at sea. <a href="https://issafrica.org/research/books-and-other-publications/south-africas-maritime-domain-awareness-a-capability-baseline-assessment">Researchers say</a> the tool has worked to prevent illegal fishing and marine pollution. It’s also been instrumental in the interception of drug-loaded vessels.</p>
<h2>Collaboration</h2>
<p>All of these successes have been made possible by secure, sustained funding by the South African government. That has instilled a sense of security in collaborators and partners; they provide invaluable co-funding, expertise and data, saving money and building resilience into the system.</p>
<p>Some of the system’s tools have been shared with other countries in the <a href="https://marcosio.org/">southern African</a> and Indian Ocean regions. </p>
<p>As the project’s visibility increases, new opportunities for collaborations are emerging. Government departments, non-profit organisations and the private sector are coming forward with offers to share data. The system is also being proposed for use by academic scientists in their proposals.</p>
<p>One of the main lessons emerging from our research, which may be of interest to other countries wanting to launch similar initiatives, is that it’s crucial to involve a system’s major users in development from the start. Formalised stakeholder interactions ensure that the system directly responds to major user needs. That makes it immediately relevant and useful.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223025/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marjolaine Krug works for the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Oceans and Coast Branch.
The OCIMS is funded through Operation Phakisa Marine Protection Services and Ocean Governance workstream and is a partnership between the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, the Department of Science and Innovation, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the South African Environmental Observation Network and the South African Weather Services. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashley Naidoo was the Chief Director for the Oceans and Coasts Science Programs at the Department of Forestry Fisheries and the Environment until January 2024.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Williams works for the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (South Africa). She has been involved in the development of the Oceans and Coastal Information Management System (OCIMS) since its inception. </span></em></p>South Africa’s ocean information management system is helping to mitigate security and environmental risks.Marjolaine Krug, Senior Scientific Advisor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2235682024-03-11T12:51:48Z2024-03-11T12:51:48ZFintech is sold as the answer to Africa’s problems, but digital money services have downsides which media often overlook<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577861/original/file-20240226-16-p2toeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The research assessed newspaper coverage of fintech in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The online financial products and services known as “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/what-is-fintech/">fintech</a>” have become deeply embedded in the economic and social life of many African countries over the past decade.</p>
<p>Headlines across the continent often extol fintech’s virtues. Technology is “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S19bJvbYrE">driving financial inclusion</a>” and “<a href="https://observer.ug/businessnews/63783-fintech-revolutionizing-how-we-spend-our-money">making life better for people</a>”. It’s helping “<a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001452750/how-fintech-tools-can-help-cushion-kenyans-during-inflation">consumers to manage inflation</a>”. Fintech is “<a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/09/27/how-nigeria-is-expanding-financial-inclusion-through-fintech">too sweeping to ignore</a>”. And, if it’s not embraced, “<a href="https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/10/06/on-boarding-financially-excluded-rural-women">the country and the entire economy will be left behind</a>”. </p>
<p>These headlines depict a popular story about fintech: it is the answer to several of Africa’s economic problems. This story is also appearing in policy documents in countries like Uganda. Fintech is now a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3dno0vThbc">key component</a> of the country’s <a href="https://bou.or.ug/bouwebsite/bouwebsitecontent/FinancialInclusion/2023/Signed_2023_2028_National-Financial-Inclusion-Strategy_.pdf">National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2023-2028</a>. </p>
<p>However, a counter-narrative is emerging. Political economists, anthropologists and social theorists warn that fintech is an example of an exploitative, <a href="https://www.theelephant.info/ideas/2021/07/09/neocolonial-components-of-algorithmic-capitalism-in-africa-today/">neocolonial</a> and <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/histories-of-racial-capitalism/9780231190756#:%7E:text=Racial%20capitalism%20is%20not%20simply,value%20from%20racial%20classification%20">racialised</a> form of platform capitalism, a system by which a fairly small number of commercial networks profit from user activities and interactions. They caution that it is inherently <a href="https://africasacountry.com/2019/10/kenyas-mobile-money-revolution">anti-development</a>. It is, they say, likely to cause a crisis of <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/lifestyle/debt-trap-ensnared-by-loans-women-turn-to-suicide-as-escape-4086004">consumer debt</a>, <a href="https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/perpetual-debt-silicon-savannah/">emotional distress</a>, <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/smart-company/suicide-that-jolted-cbk-inside-plan-to-rein-in-digital-lenders-251530">self-harm</a> and <a href="https://www.theelephant.info/opinion/2019/11/29/data-protection-in-the-age-of-huduma-namba-who-will-benefit/">data piracy</a>. </p>
<p>We wanted to know how the press in Africa reports on fintech. Are its failings and potential pitfalls acknowledged? Is it mostly presented as a “good news” story?</p>
<p>So, in a project we began two years ago with South African political economist <a href="https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/monobook/book/9781529221770/9781529221770.xml">Scott Timcke</a>, we <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14747731.2023.2275816">set out to answer these questions</a>. This kind of analysis helps reveal how public attitudes about this new pillar of everyday economic life are formed. It also shows whether the press is serving as the public’s watchdog with regard to economic matters and corporate affairs. </p>
<p>Our analysis, the first to look at how the fintech story is being told in the African press, reveals that the coverage is celebratory and offers limited cautionary and critical reporting to the public and to policymakers. We found that fintech is most often covered with a positive tone and as a business story. </p>
<h2>The fintech context</h2>
<p>International and African <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Africas-Media-Image-in-the-21st-Century-From-the-Heart-of-Darkness-to/Bunce-Franks-Paterson/p/book/9781138962323">media coverage of the continent</a> is often accused of fuelling negative stereotypes, a trend characterised as “afro-pessimism”. But in the past decade, much of the media conversation has focused on business buzz and followed an “afro-optimism” or “Africa rising” script, as the headlines above depict. </p>
<p>The fintech ecology is shaped by dynamics from the late 2000s. These include the rapid uptake in <a href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/sub-saharan-africa-embraces-5g-and-smartphone-adoption-soars-gsma-report-reveals/9xnt95l">broadband use</a> and the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash. Proponents claim that fintech will reduce poverty and motivate development (sometimes referred to as “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/wbro/article/33/2/135/5127166?login=false">leapfrogging</a>” or “<a href="https://thefintechtimes.com/here-are-four-cities-in-africa-emerging-as-fintech-hubs/">Silicon Savannah</a>”), uplifting those unserved by formal banking. One 2016 study credited fintech with delivering a remarkable <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.aah5309">2% poverty reduction</a> in Kenya. </p>
<p>Others call for a more cautious and sceptical approach. Critics dispute claims that fintech produces significant progressive change. They also argue that fintech can be <a href="https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/fintech-digital-futures-paper-tni-web.pdf">exploitative</a> and <a href="https://botpopuli.net/how-fintech-became-the-gateway-to-predatory-lending-in-sub-saharan-africa/">predatory</a>, and that it fuels inequality by further enriching the already wealthy. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nigerias-mobile-money-system-has-a-dark-side-even-though-its-convenient-new-study-explores-the-risks-207777">Nigeria's mobile money system has a dark side even though it's convenient - new study explores the risks</a>
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<h2>Our analysis</h2>
<p>Previous research into the roll-out of fintech in countries across the continent revealed community-level tactics. “<a href="https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jams_00035_1">Change agents</a>” are deployed to recruit new customers for mobile money services. “<a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IMR-05-2019-0130/full/html">Brand ambassadors</a>” are hired to “sit in public transport and talk about” fintech products. </p>
<p>We wondered whether journalists were similarly talking up fintech or were warning of its risks. We analysed news coverage and looked at journalism published between 2016 and 2021 by leading newspapers in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa, as well as through the <a href="https://allafrica.com/">AllAfrica</a> news aggregator. We began with a set of 1,190 news pieces and analysed a sample of 368. </p>
<p>Based on our initial examination of articles, we identified nine themes or frames that appeared frequently in news coverage of fintech. </p>
<p>The dominant frame was one we labelled “announcement”: the proclamation of a new fintech product through the media; a celebration of innovation. “Gender inclusivity” was the least common frame. This is the kind of reporting that focuses on a commonly shared <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2022/06/03/Fintech-Female-Employment-and-Gender-Inequality-518871">rationale</a> for fintech: that it particularly benefits women and gives them new opportunities for equality and participation. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-fintech-solutions-succeed-we-built-a-model-based-on-ghanas-experience-169286">What makes FinTech solutions succeed? We built a model based on Ghana's experience</a>
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<p>We paid particular attention to the frame we called “trepidation”. We were surprised that 61% of news stories within that frame had a positive overall tone, despite the frame implying potential danger. This trepidation often appeared as the backdrop for a news item rather than as the main story. </p>
<p>These kinds of stories, we reason, allow government officials to advise the public on safe financial conduct and fintech companies to promote the benefits of their “safe” products. The advice includes guidance on how individuals can enhance their awareness of potential risks, such as fraud, and act with caution. This consumer education approach is typical of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-fight-against-economic-fraud-how-african-countries-are-tackling-the-challenge-161432">anti-fraud measures</a> across sectors.</p>
<p>Most stories about the hazards of fintech conclude that it is nonetheless a beneficial force and that any “hiccups” are minor. These can be soothed through state action (such as regulation) or individual responsibility (such as consumer education). Overall, this reinforces a narrative that it is safe and logical to embed fintech in society: it is “sanitised” through this style of news coverage. </p>
<p>Overall we concluded that the journalism in the African press we examined was largely sanitised. The tone, content and sourcing of reporting, even in the context of well-founded fears about fintech, point to an uncritical promotion of fintech products, firms and the entire industry.</p>
<h2>More critical journalism needed</h2>
<p>The breadth of fintech’s expansion across Africa and extent of potential harm it carries – even if its critics are only minimally correct – indicates a pressing need for further analysis of what story is being told. News audiences, politicians and civil society need to demand a more critical journalism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Coverage is celebratory and offers limited cautionary and critical reporting to the public and to policymakers.Cathleen LeGrand, Postgraduate researcher, University of LeedsChris Paterson, Professor of Global Communication, University of LeedsJörg Wiegratz, Lecturer in Political Economy of Global Development, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2241652024-03-05T13:13:59Z2024-03-05T13:13:59ZThese tiny worm-like creatures in the soil can destroy pests but they can also kill crops - an expert’s guide to nematodes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578226/original/file-20240227-16-a0262c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">PeopleImages/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether you’re a gardener growing food for your household, a small scale farmer or a commercial producer, soil matters. You cannot really tell the difference between healthy and unhealthy soil just by looking at it. But there are organisms in the soil – creatures you can’t see with your naked eye – which scientists use to measure soil health. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/nematode">Nematodes</a> are among the creatures that scientists look for. These multicellular, <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-space-travelling-nematode-a-worm-like-no-other-47949">wormlike animals</a> differ from most other organisms in the soil, such as bacteria and fungi, which are single celled. Nematodes are equipped with a digestive system. They’re also transparent, making it easy for scientists to examine their feeding habits.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-space-travelling-nematode-a-worm-like-no-other-47949">All you need to know about the space travelling nematode: a worm like no other</a>
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<p>I study nematodes to use as biological control agents and also represent Stellenbosch University, South Africa, in the <a href="https://nemedussa.ugent.be">NEMEDUSSA project</a>. This is a consortium of 16 research and educational institutes across Africa and Europe who work on and study nematodes. We want to increase awareness, research and teaching about nematodes, especially in agricultural disciplines.</p>
<p>We also believe it’s important for everyone, especially those working in the <a href="https://extension.umn.edu/soybean-pest-management/soybean-cyst-nematode-management-guide">agricultural sector</a>, and even just casual food gardeners, to know about nematodes. If you grow tomatoes in your garden, for instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/8820211">root-knot nematodes</a> can cause total crop failure.</p>
<p>Four main types of nematodes occur in soil. Each group has expert scientists studying their behaviour and how they can be managed in agricultural practice to minimise the amount of damage they cause. </p>
<h2>Free-living nematodes</h2>
<p>Free-living nematodes are non-parasites. They tend to feed on almost anything in the soil, including fungi, bacteria and other nematodes. In fact, without these free-living nematodes, soil is regarded as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2018.08.008">biologically dead</a> and unhealthy for plant growth. </p>
<h2>Plant-parasitic nematodes</h2>
<p>The unchecked build-up of plant-parasitic nematodes in unbalanced soil is every farmer’s nightmare. Such nematodes feed through a needle-like stylet, which they use as a syringe for obtaining food from the roots of plants. They have adapted their lifestyle from feeding on the outside of the root to inside it, where they are protected against the harsh soil environment.</p>
<p>Plant-parasitic nematodes can never be fully controlled. However, researchers have developed ways to keep them from multiplying to damaging levels. These techniques include planting crops that are resistant to specific nematodes or rotating with crops that the nematodes do not like.</p>
<h2>Entomopathogenic nematodes</h2>
<p>Entomopathogenic nematodes as biological control agents are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Antoinette-Malan">my special interest</a>. They are plant allies. They feed on pest insects such as larvae and pupae that are in contact with the soil, rather than on plants. Researchers recommend that every farmer or food gardener should have entomopathogenic nematodes present in their soil because they help to keep insect numbers low. Yes, you can buy them: they’re <a href="https://www.e-nema.de/en/about-us/">available commercially</a>, including from <a href="https://biobee.co.za/solutions/biosf/">some South African companies</a>.</p>
<h2>Slug-parasitic nematodes</h2>
<p>Many slug species are in close contact with soil, so certain nematodes have adapted their feeding habits over millions of years to feed on slugs, as well as <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-44210-5_23">some snails</a>.</p>
<p>Researchers realised that the slug nematode could be used as a biological control agent. Biocontrol involves using living organisms like pathogens or insects to control pests, rather than using more environmentally damaging chemical products. A commercial product, available under the trade name <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JopdT8cmrh0">Nemaslug</a>®, was created in 1994 which harnessed the slug nematodes’ feeding habits for biocontrol. But it’s only available in Europe: research is ongoing to identify whether the nematode species used in the commercial product is found in South Africa and whether it’s non-toxic to local endangered molluscs.</p>
<h2>Monitor soil health</h2>
<p>My advice to gardeners and farmers, even those working at a small scale, is to regularly send soil samples for laboratory testing. This will allow you to find out what sorts of nematodes are living among your tomato plants – the “good guys” who take care of pests, or the plant parasites. There are a number of private companies (<a href="https://www.nemlab.co.za">Nemlab</a> is one example) in South Africa to do these sorts of analyses and offer advice based on the results.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224165/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Antoinette Paula Malan receives funding from NEMEDUSA, Erasmus+ NEMEDUSSA project, Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE): Nematology Education in Sub-Sahara Africa (NEMEDUSSA). The project is funded by the European Union.</span></em></p>Four types of nematodes occur in soil.Antoinette Paula Malan, Researcher in Nematology, Parasitology, Systematics, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2237392024-02-29T14:41:33Z2024-02-29T14:41:33ZSerengeti migration: fire and rain affect how zebras, wildebeest and gazelles make the journey<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578227/original/file-20240227-18-b7rwld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Zebra and wildebeest taking part in the Serengeti migration.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">nikpal/iStock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tanzania’s Serengeti ecosystem is like a time machine. As one of the world’s last remaining fully intact grazing ecosystems it provides a glimpse of what others in Australia, Eurasia and the Americas might have looked like when communities of large grazing mammals roamed freely across these continents.</p>
<p>During the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Pleistocene-Epoch">Late Pleistocene</a>, which spanned from 129,000 to 11,700 years ago and is sometimes referred to as the “ice age”, populations of these grazing animals collapsed all over the world. </p>
<p>But those populations left a mark: the effect they had on plant communities. Animals and plants shape each other’s evolution. These effects are visible and continuing in the Serengeti. One way this plays out is during one of Earth’s last great herbivore migrations – of zebras, wildebeest and Thomson’s gazelles in Serengeti National Park in northern Tanzania. </p>
<p>Since the early 1970s there have been various theories about what explains the order and timing of the three main Serengeti migratory herbivores. Is it always zebras first, followed by wildebeest and then gazelles? Is that because of competition for the best food? The foraging benefits that smaller herbivores gain from following larger herbivores? Or the risk of being eaten by predators?</p>
<p>Now we believe we have the answer. In <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg0744">our new research</a> in the journal Science, we report that the large herds sweeping across the grasslands of Tanzania in synchronised migration waves overlap in patterns that can be influenced by fire and rain. </p>
<p>Our findings may help conservationists manage migratory herbivore populations, especially as they face future threats due to human induced climate change.</p>
<h2>Various hypotheses</h2>
<p>The Serengeti is composed of the Serengeti National Park, the Maasai Mara in Kenya, and several smaller protected areas. It’s a tropical savanna dominated by grass. Thorny acacia trees are sparsely scattered in the grassland. </p>
<p>Several competing hypotheses have emerged in the past five decades about the Serengeti migration.</p>
<p>In 1971, Richard Bell, a leading researcher in African savanna ecology and conservation, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24922780">described</a> the Serengeti migration as a “grazing succession”. During this year-long trek, African herbivores navigate an ecosystem the size of Lesotho (about 30,355km²) in a way that depends on body size. </p>
<p>In his description zebras come first. Wildebeest follow about eight weeks later. And, again about eight weeks later, Thomson’s gazelles follow. The description painted the migration as a giant game of follow the leader, smaller herbivores benefiting from following larger herbivores. Zebras (and then wildebeest) graze the tallest, low-quality components of grass. This exposes the more nutritious grass tissues nearer to the ground and promotes the regrowth of fresh, high-quality leaf tissue.</p>
<p>By visiting a grassland patch weeks after being grazed by larger herbivores, the smaller herbivores, which require more protein per unit body weight, can be selective and obtain better nutrition per bite.</p>
<p>In the years after Bell’s seminal paper, other competing hypotheses emerged which could also account for the movement patterns of Serengeti migratory herbivores. </p>
<p>Some authors argued that competition between grazing species explained the body-size dependent order of migration. Anthony Sinclair of the University of British Columbia, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00389015">for instance</a>, argued that wildebeest, because of their enormous population size and capacity to reduce the height of vegetation, out-compete zebra for food. This forces zebras to seek taller vegetation to meet their energy demands. Under the competition hypothesis, zebras migrate in front of the wildebeest because they are consistently nudged forward so that they encounter abundant forage, lest they be left behind to starve behind massive herds of wildebeest.</p>
<p>Finally, the mixed herding behaviour sometimes observed during migration was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4386">proposed</a> as an anti-predation strategy which reduced the risk of being killed by large predators such as lions, cheetahs and leopards. This hypothesis argues that, if herbivores must move to obtain forage, they should do so in groups that contain other species to decrease their chance of being killed by predators.</p>
<h2>Breakthrough</h2>
<p>The size of the migration (<a href="https://www.serengeti.com/great-migration-africa.php">around two million animals</a>), involving large herbivore populations and a huge spatial footprint, made it nearly impossible to explicitly test these hypotheses. </p>
<p>Then, in 2010, Craig Packer from the University of Minnesota launched a bold project to establish 200 camera traps in central Serengeti. Today the Serengeti camera trap database offers the longest running camera trap study in Africa. It is one of the most significant spatiotemporal databases of herbivore occupancy, movements and habitat selection ever collected. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Grant Hopcraft of the University of Glasgow was attaching GPS satellite collars to migrating wildebeest and zebras to <a href="https://www.serengeti-tracker.org/about">track animal movements</a>.</p>
<p>Other satellites, operated by Nasa, provide data on <a href="https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/">vegetation growth and fires</a>, which animals respond to on a year-to-year basis. </p>
<p>Finally, Rob Pringle’s lab at Princeton pioneered <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1503283112">an emerging technology</a> that relies on DNA sequence data from the faecal matter of individual herbivores. This opened the door to quantifying herbivores’ diets over time and space.</p>
<p>A combination of camera trap observations and multiple seasons of dietary and GPS collar data allowed me and my collaborators to, for the first time, explicitly test the mechanisms proposed to control the Serengeti migration.</p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>We made several major findings.</p>
<p>First, the movement of migratory herbivores only cursorily matched the classic predictions of grazing succession. Rather than spacing themselves months apart as observed by Bell, zebras and wildebeest travelled closer together than expected. They also frequently crossed paths during migration. Thomson’s gazelles followed behind the larger migrants by approximately three weeks. This was consistent with the classic predictions of grazing succession and foraging facilitation, but over a shorter window than reported by Bell.</p>
<p>Second, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/env.2657">statistical analyses</a> developed by Wake Forest University professor Staci Hepler revealed spatial associations between Thomson’s gazelles and wildebeest that were strong in high rainfall years and weakened in years with widespread fires. This strengthened the evidence for foraging facilitation on the tail end of the migration. </p>
<p>The movements of individual collared zebras and wildebeest demonstrated a striking pattern: zebras consistently selected habitats away from wildebeest, and more so in a dry year. Wildebeest, though, were indifferent to the location of zebras during habitat selection. Dietary analysis revealed strong grass consumption and considerable overlap between zebras and wildebeest. And Thomson’s gazelles consumed largely flowering plants that would have only become accessible after larger herbivores removed the tall grasses.</p>
<p>Together the results suggested a “push-pull” mechanism of multi-species migration. Zebras are nudged ahead of wildebeest due to the negative consequences of competition. The smaller Thomson’s gazelles follow in the wake of larger herbivores to gain access to high quality forage. Rainfall strengthens the association by stimulating grass productivity and creating a greater reliance of small herbivores on the foraging of larger herbivores. Fire, however, weakens the association by burning vegetation and opening the grass canopy for smaller herbivores.</p>
<h2>Understanding herbivore populations</h2>
<p>If conservationists are going to protect remaining herbivore populations, or restore those that have collapsed, they must have a fundamental understanding of how they function and what promotes their stability. Our hope is that this study’s lessons will help.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223739/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>T. Michael Anderson received funding from the National Geographic Society (grants WW-025R-17 and NGS-52921R-18) and the US National Science Foundation (grant BCS-1461728).</span></em></p>Lessons from the Serengeti herds may help conservationists manage migratory herbivore populations.T. Michael Anderson, Professor of Biology, Wake Forest UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2229052024-02-27T14:08:45Z2024-02-27T14:08:45ZAfrica needs China for its digital development – but at what price?<p>Digital technologies have many potential benefits for people in African countries. They can support the delivery of healthcare services, promote access to education and lifelong learning, and enhance financial inclusion. </p>
<p>But there are obstacles to realising these benefits. The backbone infrastructure needed to connect communities is missing in places. Technology and finance are lacking too. </p>
<p>In 2023, only <a href="https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ITU_regional_global_Key_ICT_indicator_aggregates_Nov_2023.xlsx">83%</a> of the population of sub-Saharan Africa was covered by at least a 3G mobile network. In all other regions the coverage was more than 95%. In the same year, <a href="https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ITU_regional_global_Key_ICT_indicator_aggregates_Nov_2023.xlsx">less than half of Africa’s population</a> had an active mobile broadband subscription, lagging behind Arab states (75%) and the Asia-Pacific region (88%). Therefore, Africans made up a substantial share of the estimated <a href="https://www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/Pages/PR-2023-09-12-universal-and-meaningful-connectivity-by-2030.aspx#:%7E:text=The%20number%20of%20people%20worldwide,global%20population%20unconnected%20in%202023.">2.6 billion</a> people globally who remained offline in 2023.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://gga.org/china-expands-its-digital-sovereignty-to-africa/">key partner</a> in Africa in unclogging this bottleneck is China. Several African countries depend on China as their main technology provider and sponsor of large digital infrastructural projects.</p>
<p>This relationship is the subject of a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2023.2297363">study</a> I published recently. The study showed that at least 38 countries worked closely with Chinese companies to advance their domestic fibre-optic network and data centre infrastructure or their technological know-how. </p>
<p>China’s involvement was critical as African countries made great strides in digital development. Despite the persisting digital divide between Africa and other regions, 3G network coverage <a href="https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ITU_regional_global_Key_ICT_indicator_aggregates_Nov_2023.xlsx">increased from 22% to 83%</a> between 2010 and 2023. Active mobile broadband subscriptions increased <a href="https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ITU_regional_global_Key_ICT_indicator_aggregates_Nov_2023.xlsx">from less than 2% in 2010 to 48% in 2023</a>. </p>
<p>For governments, however, there is a risk that foreign-driven digital development will keep existing dependence structures in place.</p>
<h2>Reasons for dependence on foreign technology and finance</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2023.2297363">global market</a> for information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure is controlled by a handful of producers. For instance, the main suppliers of fibre-optic cables, a network component that enables high-speed internet, are China-based Huawei and ZTE and the Swedish company Ericsson. </p>
<p>Many African countries, with limited internal revenues, can’t afford these network components. Infrastructure investments depend on foreign finance, including concessional loans, commercial credits, or public-private partnerships. These may also <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596124000107">influence a state’s choice of infrastructure provider</a>.</p>
<p>The African continent’s terrain adds to the technological and financial difficulties. Vast lands and challenging topographies make the roll-out of infrastructure very expensive. Private investors avoid sparsely populated areas because it doesn’t pay them to deliver a service there. </p>
<p>Landlocked states depend on the infrastructure and goodwill of coastal countries to connect to international fibre-optic landing stations.</p>
<h2>A full-package solution</h2>
<p>It is sometimes assumed that African leaders choose Chinese providers because they offer the cheapest technology. <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/networking/uganda-orders-probe-into-huaweis-fiber-project/">Anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise</a>. Chinese contractors are attractive partners because they can offer full-package solutions that include finance. </p>
<p>Under the so-called <a href="https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00TN5G.pdf">“EPC+F”</a> (Engineer, Procure, Construct + Fund/Finance) scheme, Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE oversee the engineering, procurement and construction while Chinese banks provide state-backed finance. Angola, Uganda and Zambia are just some of the countries which seem to have benefited from this type of deal.</p>
<p>All-round solutions like this appeal to African countries. </p>
<h2>What is in it for China?</h2>
<p>As part of its <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-137-57813-6_6">“go-global”</a> strategy, the Chinese government encourages Chinese companies to invest and operate overseas. The government offers financial backing and expects companies to raise the global competitiveness of Chinese products and the national economy. </p>
<p>In the long term, Beijing seeks to establish and promote Chinese digital standards and norms. Research partnerships and training opportunities expose a growing number of students to Chinese technology. The Chinese government’s expectation is that mobile applications and startups in Africa will increasingly reflect Beijing’s technological and ideological principles. That includes China’s interpretation of human rights, data privacy and freedom of speech. </p>
<p>This aligns with the vision of China’s “<a href="https://www.orfonline.org/research/the-digital-silk-road-in-the-indo-pacific-mapping-china-s-vision-for-global-tech-expansion">Digital Silk Road</a>”, which complements its <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-massive-belt-and-road-initiative">Belt and Road Initiative</a>, creating new trade routes. </p>
<p>In the digital realm, the goal is technological primacy and greater autonomy from western suppliers. The government is striving for a more <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/04/chinas-digital-silk-road-and-the-global-digital-order/">Sino-centric global digital order</a>. Infrastructure investments and training partnerships in African countries offer a starting point. </p>
<h2>Long-term implications</h2>
<p>From a technological perspective, over-reliance on a single infrastructure supplier makes the client state more vulnerable. When a customer depends heavily on a particular supplier, it’s difficult and costly to switch to a different provider. African countries could become locked into the Chinese digital ecosystem.</p>
<p>Researchers like <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Arthur-Gwagwa">Arthur Gwagwa</a> from the Ethics Institute at Utrecht University (Netherlands) believe that China’s export of critical infrastructure components will <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/africa-embraces-huawei-technology-despite-security-concerns/a-60665700">enable military and industrial espionage</a>. These claims assert that Chinese-made equipment is designed in a way that could facilitate cyber attacks. </p>
<p>Human Rights Watch, an international NGO that conducts research and advocacy on human rights, has <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/09/future-technology-lessons-china-and-us">raised concerns</a> that Chinese infrastructure increases the risk of technology-enabled authoritarianism. In particular, Huawei has been <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/huawei-technicians-helped-african-governments-spy-on-political-opponents-11565793017">accused</a> of colluding with governments to spy on political opponents in Uganda and Zambia. Huawei has <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3023215/huawei-denies-helping-governments-uganda-and-zambia-spy">denied</a> the allegations. </p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Chinese involvement provides a rapid path to digital progress for African nations. It also exposes African states to the risk of long-term dependence. The remedy is to diversify infrastructure supply, training opportunities and partnerships. </p>
<p>There is also a need to call for interoperability in international forums such as the <a href="https://www.itu.int/en/Pages/default.aspx">International Telecommunications Union</a>, a UN agency responsible for issues related to information and communication technologies. Interoperability allows a product or system to interact with other products and systems. It means clients can buy technological components from different providers and switch to other technological solutions. It favours market competition and higher quality solutions by preventing users from being locked in to one vendor. </p>
<p>Finally, in the long term African countries should produce their own infrastructure and become less dependent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222905/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Arnold does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In sub-Saharan Africa, most governments welcome China’s investment in digital infrastructure.Stephanie Arnold, PhD Candidate, Università di BolognaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2233832024-02-22T14:37:01Z2024-02-22T14:37:01ZDeepfakes in South Africa: protecting your image online is the key to fighting them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575560/original/file-20240214-24-qaryuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Deepfakes pose serious dangers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arkadiusz Warguła/iStock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Leanne Manas is a familiar face on South African televisions. Towards the end of 2023 the morning news presenter’s face showed up somewhere else: in <a href="https://omny.fm/shows/capetalk-breakfast/morning-live-presenter-leanne-manas-targeted-by-ai">bogus news stories and fake advertisements</a> in which “she” appeared to promote various products or get-rich-quick schemes. </p>
<p>It quickly emerged that Manas had fallen victim to “deepfaking”. Deepfakes <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.47348/SAMLJ/v32/i3a5">involve the use</a> of artificial intelligence tools to manipulate images, video and audio. And it doesn’t require cutting-edge technical know-how. Software like <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/2/20844338/zao-deepfake-app-movie-tv-show-face-replace-privacy-policy-concerns">FaceSwap and ZaoApp</a>, which can be downloaded for free, mean that anybody can create deepfakes. </p>
<p>Deepfakes were initially used in the entertainment industry. For example, an actress in France who was unable to film her parts in person for a soap opera due to COVID restrictions still played the role <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/encore/20201210-face-swap-france-s-top-soap-uses-deepfake-technology-for-self-isolating-actress">thanks to deepfakes</a>. In the health industry deep-learning algorithms, which are responsible for deepfakes, are used to <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/07/05/134286/ai-deepfakes-gans-medical-cancer-diagnosis/#:%7E:text=Deep%2Dlearning%20algorithms%20are%20excellent,abnormalities%20in%20an%20x%2Dray">detect tumours through pattern-matching in images</a>.</p>
<p>But these positive applications are few and far between. There are rising <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgedjb/the-first-use-of-deepfakes-in-indian-election-by-bjp">global concerns</a> about the effect deepfakes might have on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/21/call-for-action-on-deepfakes-as-fears-grow-among-mps-over-election-threat">democratic elections</a>. Recent reports suggest that deepfakes are <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/deepfake-fraud-and-attacks-on-the-rise-in-sa-1c14c52e-4cd1-43ef-a5f8-4f0d5cfcdf68">on the rise</a> in South Africa and that <a href="https://www.news24.com/fin24/companies/deepfakes-are-booming-online-but-south-africans-struggle-to-spot-them-20240121">South Africans seemingly struggle to spot them</a>.</p>
<p>It is worrying, then, that South Africa’s government hasn’t yet taken any legislative steps to combat deepfakes – especially with the country’s national elections scheduled for later this year. I am a legal scholar specialising in sport law, with a particular focus on image rights. I’m especially interested in the recognition of an individual’s image right and the legal position when their likeness is misappropriated without their consent. That includes the use of deepfakes. </p>
<p>In my <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/server/api/core/bitstreams/000cd700-2e54-4c4d-bde5-6cc617d8623a/content">LLD thesis</a>, I argued that a person’s image needs clear legal protection, taking into account the realities of digital media and the fact that many individuals such as influencers, athletes and celebrities generate an income from commodifying their image online. Promulgating legislation will create legal certainty in South Africa as it pertains to an individual’s image.</p>
<h2>International examples</h2>
<p>Various states in the US have already taken action to deal with deepfakes, mostly in the context of elections. For example, Texas become one of the first states to <a href="https://versustexas.com/deepfakes/">criminalise the use of deepfakes</a>, especially if the content of the deepfake relates to political elections. It also recently passed <a href="https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB1361">a second bill</a> which targets sexually explicit deepfakes. So it’s a criminal offence to create a deepfake video with the intention of injuring a political candidate or influencing an election result, or to distribute sexually explicit deepfakes without the consent of the individual, with the intention to embarrass them.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2020/01/deepfakes-laws-and-proposals-flood-us">Maryland and Massachusetts</a>, meanwhile, have proposed legislation that specifically prohibits the use of deepfakes. Maryland plans to target deepfakes that may influence politics; Massachusetts wants to criminalise the use of deepfakes for already “criminal or tortious (wrongful) conduct”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/algorithms-bots-and-elections-in-africa-how-social-media-influences-political-choices-179121">Algorithms, bots and elections in Africa: how social media influences political choices</a>
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<p>In 2020 California became the first US state to criminalise the use of deepfakes in political campaign promotion and advertising. The <a href="https://www.dwt.com/blogs/media-law-monitor/2020/02/two-new-california-laws-tackle-deepfake-videos-in">AB 730 bill</a> makes it a crime to publish audio, imagery or a video that gives a false and damaging impression of a politician’s words or actions. Though the bill doesn’t explicitly mention deepfakes it is clear that AI-manufactured fakes are its primary concern.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.govtech.com/policy/new-york-governor-signs-deepfake-likeness-bill-into-law">In 2023, the governor of New York signed the Senate Bill 1042A</a>. This aims to prohibit the dissemination of deepfakes in general, not just in relation to elections.</p>
<p>At least four federal deepfakes bills have been considered. <a href="https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2020/01/deepfakes-laws-and-proposals-flood-us">These include</a> the Identifying Outputs of Generative Adversarial Networks Act and the Deepfakes Accountability Act.</p>
<h2>Protecting image rights</h2>
<p>There is currently no recognition of image rights in South Africa’s case law or legislation. Image rights are distinct from copyright in law. The scope of protection provided by copyright alone would not be enough to tackle the problem of deepfakes in a court setting. </p>
<p>I <a href="https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/128896">argue</a> for legal intervention which recognises individual image rights. By recognising an image right the image will be protected against unauthorised use. This will not only include the misappropriation of an individual image for commercial use, it will also combat deepfakes, whether those relate to elections and politicians or any manipulation of a person’s image with malicious intent.</p>
<p>Image rights legislation is key. It can:</p>
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<li><p>clearly define an individual’s image</p></li>
<li><p>specify when an infringement of the image has occurred </p></li>
<li><p>provide the image right holder with legal remedies for unauthorised use. </p></li>
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<p>This can all help regulate deepfake situations. The malicious and deceptive nature of deepfakes may cause the image right holder to suffer significant harm. It is time that South Africa’s legislature addressed these situations by providing the necessary protection to individuals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Layckan Van Gensen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Deepfakes are on the rise in South Africa and many people seemingly struggle to spot them.Layckan Van Gensen, Junior Lecturer in Mercantile Law, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2232092024-02-21T13:13:10Z2024-02-21T13:13:10ZEarth’s early evolution: fresh insights from rocks formed 3.5 billion years ago<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576464/original/file-20240219-24-5de047.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains look peaceful today - but 3.5 billion years ago the earth there was roiled by volcanoes. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Instinctively RDH/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Our Earth is <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darwin/the-world-before-darwin/how-old-is-earth#:%7E:text=Today%2C%20we%20know%20from%20radiometric,have%20been%20taken%20more%20seriously.">around 4.5 billion years old</a>. Way back in its earliest years, vast oceans dominated. There were frequent volcanic eruptions and, because there was no free oxygen in the atmosphere, there was no ozone layer. It was a dynamic and evolving planet.</p>
<p>Scientists know all of this – but, of course, there are still gaps in our knowledge. For instance, while we know what kind of rocks were being formed on different parts of the planet 3.5 billion years ago, we are still understanding which geological processes drove these formations. </p>
<p>Luckily the answers to such questions are available. Evidence is preserved in ancient volcanic and sedimentary rocks dating back to the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/archean-eon#:%7E:text=Thus%2C%20the%20Archean%20Eon%20is,continental%20plates%20began%20to%20form.">Archaean age</a>, between 4 billion and 2.5 billion years ago.</p>
<p>These rocks are found in the oldest parts of what are today the continents, called cratons. Cratons are pieces of ancient continents that formed billions of years ago. Studying them offers a window into how processes within and on the surface of Earth operated in the past. They host a variety of different groups of rocks, including greenstones and granites.</p>
<p>One example is the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012825222000782">Singhbhum Craton</a>, in the Daitari Greenstone Belt in the state of Odisha in eastern India. This ancient part of the Earth’s crust has been found in previous research to date back to 3.5 billion years ago. The craton’s oldest rock assemblages are largely volcanic and sedimentary rocks also known as greenstone successions. Greenstones are rock assemblages made up mostly of sub-marine volcanic rocks with minor sedimentary rocks. </p>
<p>My research team and I recently published <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301926823000372">a study</a> in which we compared the Singhbhum Craton to cratons in South Africa and Australia. We chose these sites because they preserve the same kinds of rocks, in the same condition (not intensely deformed or metamorphosed), from the same time period – about 3.5 billion years ago. They are the best archives to study early Earth surface processes.</p>
<p>Our key findings were that explosive-style volcanic eruptions were common in what are today India, South Africa and Australia around 3.5 billion years ago. These eruptions mostly occurred under oceans, though sometimes above them.</p>
<p>Understanding these early Earth processes is vital for piecing together the planet’s evolutionary history and the conditions that may have sustained life during different geological epochs. This kind of research is also a reminder of the ancient geological wonders that surround us – and that there is much more to discover to understand the story of our planet.</p>
<h2>The research</h2>
<p>We sampled some rocks from the Singhbhum Craton so we could study them in our laboratory. Existing data from the same site, as well as sites in South Africa and India, were used for comparison purposes.</p>
<p>Our detailed field-based studies were complemented by <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-007-6326-5_193-1">uranium-lead (U-Pb) radiometric-age dating</a>. This common and well-established method provides information as to when a magma crystallised; in other words, it tells us when a rock formed. In this way we were able to establish key geological timelines to illustrate what processes were underway and when.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-discovery-of-a-small-continental-fragment-in-the-indian-ocean-matters-72314">Why the discovery of a small continental fragment in the Indian Ocean matters</a>
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<p>We also found that the geology of this area shares stark similarities with the greenstone belts documented in South Africa’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301926816300663">Barberton</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1342937X11002504?via%3Dihub">Nondweni</a> areas and the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/375574a0">Pilbara Craton</a> in western Australia. </p>
<p>Most particularly, all these areas experienced widespread submarine mafic – meaning high in magnesium oxide – volcanic eruptions between 3.5 and 3.3 billion years ago, preserved as pillowed lava and komatiites.</p>
<p>This differs from silicic (elevated concentration of silicon dioxide) volcanism, which research <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0040195100000585">has shown</a> was prevalent around 3.5 billion years ago.</p>
<p>These findings enrich our understanding of ancient volcanic and sedimentary processes and their significance in the broader context of Earth’s geological as well as biological evolution.</p>
<h2>Our planet’s formative years</h2>
<p>Our discoveries are pivotal for several reasons. First, they offer a clearer picture of Earth’s early tectonic activities during the Archaean times, contributing to our understanding of the planet’s formative years. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-ways-that-fossils-are-part-of-everyday-life-199193">Four ways that fossils are part of everyday life</a>
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<p>Second, the Singhbhum Craton’s unique geological features, including its greenstone belts, provide invaluable information about Earth’s surface and atmospheric processes. This is crucial for hypothesising early habitable conditions and the emergence of life on Earth. </p>
<p>Additionally, comparing the Singhbhum Craton with similar cratons in South Africa and Australia allows us to construct a more comprehensive model related to geological processes that operated during the Archaean. This can help to shed light on ancient geodynamic processes that were prevalent across different parts of the young Earth.</p>
<p>This research emphasises the need for further exploration into the geological history of ancient cratons worldwide. Understanding these early Earth processes is vital for piecing together the planet’s evolutionary history and the conditions that may have sustained life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223209/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jaganmoy Jodder received funding from the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Integrated Mineral and Energy Resource Analysis (CIMERA) and Genus DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences.</span></em></p>Cratons are pieces of ancient continents that formed billions of years ago.Jaganmoy Jodder, Post-doctoral researcher, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217672024-02-12T14:14:08Z2024-02-12T14:14:08ZThe San people of southern Africa: where ethics codes for researching indigenous people could fail them<p>There is a long and often complicated history of researchers studying Indigenous people. In 1999, the education scholar Linda Tuhiwai-Smith, in her book <a href="https://www.google.nl/books/edition/Decolonizing_Methodologies/Nad7afStdr8C?hl=en&gbpv=0">Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples</a>, emphasised the colonial character of much research. She warned that it</p>
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<p>brings with it a new wave of exploration, discovery, exploitation and appropriation.</p>
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<p>Well into the <a href="https://www.google.nl/books/edition/Anthropology_and_the_Bushman/bUUHEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0;%20https://www.google.nl/books/edition/The_Bushman_Myth/BPZKDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0;%20https://www.google.nl/books/edition/Ethnologists_in_Camouflage/qGhezwEACAAJ?hl=nl">20th century</a>, researchers depicted groups like the Indigenous San of southern Africa in a racist fashion, fixating on their physical characteristics and writing of their “savage” or “primitive” state. </p>
<p>Historically, many researchers did not care about their study participants’ consent or agency, or how they could benefit from the research, for instance through improving their position in society. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-im-righting-the-wrongs-of-my-early-research-and-sharing-my-scientific-data-with-local-communities-191713">Why I'm righting the wrongs of my early research and sharing my scientific data with local communities </a>
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<p>This has gradually shifted over the past 50 years. Global organisations such as the Ethical Research Partnership <a href="https://trust-project.eu/">TRUST</a>, the <a href="https://americananthro.org/about/policies/statement-on-ethics/">American Anthropological Association</a> and most, if not all, credible academic institutions, have created ethical rules and guidelines to protect vulnerable populations from exploitation and promote their role in research.</p>
<p>But, as I and a group of fellow ethnographers, together with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/San">San people</a> from all over southern Africa, show in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02101-0">a recent paper</a>, such ethical guidelines have flaws. </p>
<p>Today there are <a href="https://peabody.harvard.edu/video-traces-and-tracks-journeys-san#:%7E:text=But%20just%20to%20give%20you,%2C%20Botswana%2C%20and%20South%20Africa.">about 130,000 San people</a> in Angola, Botswana, <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6096/">Namibia</a>, South Africa and Zimbabwe. They were historically nomadic hunter gatherers; in the past century or so their lives have become more settled, based on agriculture and wage labour.</p>
<p>The pitfalls we identified in the guidelines manifest mainly in three ways: by oppressing vulnerable groups; by being ambiguous about potential benefits to the participants; and by being difficult to follow in practice.</p>
<h2>Three issues</h2>
<p>There are several reasons why ethical conduct in scientific research is so important. Ethical rules are there to prevent what’s known as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01423-6">“ethics dumping”</a>, in which unethical research practices are used in lower-income countries that would not normally be allowed elsewhere. They also guard against <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01423-6">“helicopter research”</a>, when scientists from high-income countries conduct their research without involving local scientists or communities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/african-ubuntu-can-deepen-how-research-is-done-190076">African ubuntu can deepen how research is done</a>
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<p>In 2017 a <a href="https://trust-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/San-Code-of-RESEARCH-Ethics-Booklet-final.pdf">code of conduct</a> was created by academics and San leaders working with and for the South African San Institute, the South African San Council and TRUST. The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02101-0">paper</a> discussed in this article, as well as <a href="https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/hgr.2023.4">one other</a>, analysed problems with this code and similar instruments, and individual contracts unique to a particular piece of research.</p>
<p>These were:</p>
<p><strong>1. Oppression of opinions:</strong> Authorities (often NGOs) sometimes want to push their agenda by keeping unwelcome ideas out of the research. In South Africa, a colleague of mine encountered dubious gatekeepers who claimed to represent the community she hoped to study and who wanted to dictate whom she could interview.</p>
<p>An instrument intended to promote ethical research was used to exclude particular people, or their ideas. </p>
<p><strong>2. An over-emphasis on immediate benefits:</strong> Most codes of conduct and contracts include a clause that research must be “beneficial”. This ignores the essence of what most scientific research is: fundamental and not applied. Fundamental knowledge is not immediately practical but it is crucial to make research potentially beneficial. </p>
<p>I have worked on <a href="https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3197/np.2019.230104">research</a> about a land claim by the San in northern Namibia. Knowledge similar to the sort reflected in my research <a href="https://doi.org/10.3366/ajicl.2020.0339">has helped San groups</a> in other parts of southern Africa <a href="https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/BieseleJu/1000">regain or retain land</a>. Will my research do the same? I have no idea, because that takes time – the research doesn’t instantly benefit the participants.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-steps-every-researcher-should-take-to-ensure-participants-are-not-harmed-and-are-fully-heard-191430">Five steps every researcher should take to ensure participants are not harmed and are fully heard</a>
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<p>A focus on benefits also ignores different interests and perceptions within communities. A benefit for some may be detrimental to others. For instance, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280233612_Local_impacts_of_community-based_tourism_in_southern_Africa">research</a> can support wildlife management and the creation of tourism jobs for some. But these activities may constrain other livelihoods in the same community. In a <a href="https://journals.lww.com/coas/fulltext/2017/15020/ju__hoansi_lodging_in_a_namibian_conservancy_.2.aspx">Namibian case study</a>, some San complained about restrictions on hunting, small-scale farming, or keeping livestock. </p>
<p><strong>3. Practical limitations:</strong> In southern Africa it is often unclear in advance whom you need to contact to discuss and sign something, and what the legal status of codes and contracts is. In our experiences, e-mails often go unanswered. Many local San do not even know – or, in some cases, care – that these instruments exist. For most, researchers’ needs and aims are not a priority in their ordinary lives. </p>
<p>In such cases research codes and contracts mainly legitimise the researchers’ and gatekeepers’ role in research, but not necessarily that of the people being studied. </p>
<p>This is not an exhaustive list of potential issues. Others include the imposition of a red tape culture, illiteracy among participants and a lack of clear consequences if researchers behave unethically even after signing a contract.</p>
<h2>Paper is no panacea</h2>
<p>We are not opposed to instruments that can empower research participants, but they are not a panacea. Researchers need to scrutinise such codes’ inherent and complex challenges. They also need to put collaboration at the heart of their work.</p>
<p>Examples of such scrutiny and collaboration already exist. Some San groups, such as the <a href="https://anadjeh.wordpress.com/">||Ana-Djeh San Trust</a>, have created initiatives to increase their participation in research, including community training to raise awareness about research. In such cases they like to collaborate with researchers they trust, normally because they have been in contact with them for many years already. Such trust is at the heart of good collaborations and is, we would argue, much more important than paper agreements.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stasja Koot does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are several reasons why ethical conduct in scientific research is so important.Stasja Koot, Assistant Professor, Wageningen UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2216552024-02-06T14:27:03Z2024-02-06T14:27:03ZMicroplastics found in Nile River’s tilapia fish: new study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570625/original/file-20240122-15-ncnbn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A fisherman on the River Nile.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Nile is one of the world’s most famous rivers. It’s also Africa’s most important freshwater system. <a href="https://www.rti.org/impact/nile-river-basin-initiative#:%7E:text=The%20longest%20river%20in%20the,%2C%20Rwanda%2C%20Burundi%2C%20Tanzania%2C">About 300 million people</a> live in the 11 countries it flows through. Many rely on its waters for agriculture and fishing to make a living. </p>
<p>The Nile’s two main tributaries, the Blue Nile and the White Nile, come together in Sudan’s capital city, Khartoum. This industrial hub has <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/khartoum-population">grown rapidly over the past few decades</a>.</p>
<p>The Nile is not immune to the same pollutants that affect rivers all over the world. Plastic debris is of particular concern. Over time plastics break down into smaller pieces known as microplastics. These are tiny plastic particles with a maximum size of five millimetres, all the way down to the nanoscale. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40501-9">Recent research</a> found that</p>
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<p>rivers are modelled to export up to 25,000 tons of plastics from their sub-basins to seas annually. Over 80% of this amount is microplastic.</p>
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<p>This has huge negative consequences for biodiversity and the climate. As microplastics degrade, scientists have found, they <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213343722019200">produce greenhouse gases</a>. Airborne microplastics may influence the climate by scattering and absorbing solar and terrestrial radiation, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/microplastics-may-be-cooling-and-heating-earths-climate/">leading to atmospheric warming or cooling</a> depending on particle size, shape and composition. It also negatively affects <a href="https://www.undp.org/kosovo/blog/microplastics-human-health-how-much-do-they-harm-us">animal and human health</a>. Microplastics <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/envhealth.3c00052">have been shown</a> in laboratory studies to be toxic to animals and cells. </p>
<p>Much of the research about microplastics in African waters has focused on marine and coastal areas. To address this gap, I <a href="https://www.cell.com/heliyon/pdf/S2405-8440(23)10601-3.pdf">conducted a study</a> to assess the presence of microplastics in the River Nile in Khartoum. My students and I tested for the presence of microplastics in Nile tilapia. This popular African freshwater fish species <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/974">forms the basis</a> of commercial fisheries in many African countries, including Sudan.</p>
<p>The results do not make for happy reading. In the 30 freshly caught fish we surveyed, we found a total of 567 microplastic particles. This shows that the River Nile is contaminated with microplastics that can be consumed or absorbed in various ways by the tilapia and other aquatic organisms.</p>
<h2>Our sample</h2>
<p>The fish used in our study were caught just after the meeting point of the two Niles, known in Arabic as Al-Mogran. </p>
<p>We visited the Al-Mawrada fish market in the Omdurman area, which is also alongside the Nile. All 30 specimens we bought were freshly caught. </p>
<p>We dissected the fish to remove their digestive tracts. The individual tracts were treated so they would digest any organic matter they contained without interfering with the analysis of microplastics. The resulting solution was subject to another extraction procedure and we then conducted physical and chemical analyses.</p>
<p>Every specimen had microplastics in its digestive tract.</p>
<p>The number ranged from as few as five to as many as 47 particles per single fish. In total we identified 567 particles. This is high compared to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0045653520331659">studies</a> that have <a href="https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-2430557/v1">reported microplastics</a> in tilapia species in other rivers and lakes. There is, as yet, no global guideline or standard for what might be an “acceptable” number.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fish-in-a-major-south-african-river-are-full-of-microplastics-186017">Fish in a major South African river are full of microplastics</a>
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<h2>Shape, size and colour</h2>
<p>We detected different sizes of microplastics (0.04mm to 4.94mm), shapes (fibres, fragments, films, foams and pellets) and colours. The most common were very small (less than 1mm), fibrous – they appear slender and elongated – and coloured (dyed).</p>
<p>These characteristics make sense because of how fish and other aquatic organisms feed. Nile tilapia are versatile feeders: they consume a variety of organisms including phytoplankton, aquatic plants, invertebrates, detritus, bacterial films, as well as other fish and fish eggs. That puts them at a high risk of ingesting microplastics.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lagos-beaches-have-a-microplastic-pollution-problem-128133">Lagos beaches have a microplastic pollution problem</a>
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<p>Nile tilapia are also more likely to consume particles that are within a similar size range as their natural prey, as well as the same shape and colour.</p>
<p>Smaller microplastics are especially good carriers for other pollutants such as heavy metals, resulting in additional health risks. Their small size also makes it easier for them to move into organs like the liver. Studies have found microplastics in the tissues, muscles, livers, blubber and lungs of other <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X15002581">aquatic</a> as well as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S026974912301254X">marine mammal species</a>.</p>
<p>Fibres, the most dominant shape found in our specimens, stay in the intestine for longer than other microplastic shapes. This, too, can lead to health problems for the fish. Coloured microplastics contain dyes, many of which <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13762-023-05168-1">contain toxic chemicals</a>. </p>
<p>This all has serious implications for human health, as people catch and eat the fish, which introduces those <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/86342">microplastics and associated chemicals into their bloodstreams</a>.</p>
<h2>Pollution sources</h2>
<p>Where does all this plastic originate? For starters, 65% of plastic waste in Khartoum is disposed of in <a href="https://www.ijsr.net/archive/v4i3/SUB151879.pdf">open dumps</a>. From there, it contaminates water bodies and other parts of the environment.</p>
<p>The city’s wastewater treatment system is ineffective. The three wastewater treatment plants in Khartoum state, Karary, Wd-Daffiaa and Soba, are outdated and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214785321069704?via%3Dihub">do not meet local and international standards</a>. That means untreated effluent from domestic, industrial and agricultural activities is another probable source of microplastic pollution.</p>
<p>There are also countless recreational sites along the River Nile in Khartoum. The Nile Street is the most popular in the capital city, hosting water sports, restaurants, cafes, clubs, event venues and hotels, as well as the tea ladies (women who serve hot beverages from makeshift mobile cafes along the banks of the river). However, waste disposal and collection practices are sorely lacking, so plastic litter from these leisure activities leaks into the river.</p>
<h2>No easy fix</h2>
<p>Tackling microplastic pollution is not easy. It will require technological advances, as well as the collective efforts of consumers, producers, governments and the scientific community.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/plastic-pollution-in-nigeria-is-poorly-studied-but-enough-is-known-to-urge-action-184591">Plastic pollution in Nigeria is poorly studied but enough is known to urge action</a>
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<p>As consumers, we need to change our behaviour around plastic products, especially single-use plastics. For example, opt for fabric shopping bags instead of plastic bags; use glass and metal containers. Recycling is also important.</p>
<p>Governments must enforce waste management regulations and improve waste management practices, as well as helping to improve public awareness. Strategies and policies must explicitly feature microplastics.</p>
<p>Scientists can not only fill the knowledge gaps around microplastics. Communicating scientific findings is crucial; so too is developing innovations to protect against microplastics and their harmful effects.</p>
<p><em>I would like to thank and acknowledge my student Hadeel Alamin, who conducted this study with me.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221655/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The project was funded by the Royal Society – UK.</span></em></p>The River Nile is contaminated with microplastics.Dalia Saad, Researcher, School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2191222024-01-17T13:06:07Z2024-01-17T13:06:07Z3D scanning: we recreated a sacred South African site in a way that captures its spirit<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563302/original/file-20231204-19-z5jfbg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A 3D rendering of Ga-Mohana Hill in South Africa, a sacred and important heritage site.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen Wessels</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>These days, if you want to visit remarkable archaeological sites such as <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/364/">Great Zimbabwe</a> or <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/326/">Petra</a> in Jordan you don’t even need to leave your house. </p>
<p>3D scanning technology has improved in leaps and bounds in the last two decades and become much more affordable. This has led to numerous archaeological and heritage sites appearing on online interactive 3D platforms such as <a href="https://sketchfab.com">Sketchfab</a>. Unlike still images and videos, 3D models offer enhanced interaction, enabling users to navigate and perceive a place from various perspectives. </p>
<p>But while technology has raced ahead, there is a noticeable lag in the establishment of best practice guidelines within the field.</p>
<p>We are a multidisciplinary team made up of a geomatician, an architect, and two archaeologists. In <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11759-022-09460-3">a recent article</a> we examined the implications of current scanning technology and sought to answer the question: can people avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when digitising cultural locations? </p>
<p>One criticism of current 3D models of archaeological sites is that they are devoid of human traces and history. The pursuit of objectivity in scientific endeavours is the norm. But, in using 3D technology – making decisions about site boundaries, what is cleaned from the model, and the chosen level of detail – a subjective filter is introduced. The omission of human usage and cultural traces renders these representations static and sterile. This inadvertently strips sites of the very culture they aim to preserve.</p>
<p>In our research we sought to offer an alternative approach: one which aligns with indigenous archaeology, where indigenous knowledge and scientific methods are blended. To do so, we undertook a case study by <a href="https://rockartportal.org/Ga-Mohana.html">digitising a site</a> in South Africa that is of profound cultural and spiritual importance to many who live in that area. The results highlighted that, with considered approaches, researchers can help keep the vibrant culture of meaningful places alive even when they’re brought into the digital world. </p>
<h2>A place with potency</h2>
<p>Ga-Mohana Hill is situated close to a small town called Kuruman in a semi-arid region in the north of South Africa. We chose the site as our case study because of its rich cultural and archaeological significance. It has two significant rock shelters, Ga-Mohana Hill North Rockshelter, facing north-west, and Ga-Mohana Hill South Rockshelter, facing south-east, which are located at opposite sides of the hill. </p>
<p>The south rockshelter preserves rock art and archaeological traces from the Later Stone Age. In the north shelter, archaeologists have <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-eggshells-and-a-hoard-of-crystals-reveal-early-human-innovation-and-ritual-in-the-kalahari-154191">recovered material</a> dating to 105,000 years ago, including ostrich eggshell fragments, stone tools, and a cache of calcite crystals. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-eggshells-and-a-hoard-of-crystals-reveal-early-human-innovation-and-ritual-in-the-kalahari-154191">Ancient eggshells and a hoard of crystals reveal early human innovation and ritual in the Kalahari</a>
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<p>Today Ga-Mohana Hill holds profound cultural significance for the local community. While this cultural heritage endures, its prominence has been diminishing due to various socio-political factors. One of us, Sechaba Maape, grew up in the area, and has actively worked to restore Ga-Mohana as a meaningful place from a cultural perspective. <a href="https://www.thesitemagazine.com/read/drawing-creepy-places">Reflecting on his youth</a>, he recounts tales of Noga ya Metsi, the Great Snake, residing in the rockshelters and engaging in abductions and supernatural activities that unsettled the community. </p>
<p>These narratives contributed to the places acquiring a frightening reputation. Interestingly, the secrecy surrounding the locations dissuades many in the community from visiting them, though the sites have been used for various initiation rituals. And, today, the landscapes at Ga-Mohana Hill are used by church groups and other community members for spiritual communion and prayer sessions. Traditional healers and <a href="https://theworkshopkokasi.co.za/">tourists</a> also visit Ga-Mohana.</p>
<p>These multiple uses and its rich archaeological heritage mean that Ga-Mohana is a place of deep meaning and can be considered a living heritage site. We therefore wanted to create an online, interactive 3D digital replica that represented its multiple uses. Ultimately, our aim was to manifest the potency that this place holds within the 3D model, rather than merely representing its archaeological and scientific value.</p>
<h2>A new approach to 3D models</h2>
<p>Our approach was to focus on three elements. First, the agency – the ability to act upon people to give and receive meaning – that this place holds. Second, the proximity the 3D model gives to the physical site and to past and present people and their cultures and, third, the multivocal nature of the site – that is, telling the different stories of this place so all relevant voices can be heard.</p>
<p>To achieve this, we conducted a 3D scan of Ga-Mohana Hill and its shelters by acquiring photogrammetric images by drone and hand-held cameras. The images were processed to produce an optimised 3D model suitable for web-based applications. The <a href="https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/ga-mohana-hill-and-rock-shelters-f260e92d749045a1b4896a30f96a09a5">3D model</a> was then augmented with a number of visual devices, along with customised text in the form of rotating signboards. </p>
<p>The Great Snake is represented as a moving shadow on the shelter wall. Candles were placed in the 3D version of the shelter to symbolise the site’s ongoing religious aspects. </p>
<p>To represent the archaeology, a number of artefacts that were excavated were 3D scanned and then digitally placed into the 3D model to show where they were found, thus in a sense returning them to their original context. Other visual devices include a hearth, flowing tufas (ancient waterfalls), enhanced rock art and animated engravings. All the visual devices were designed to be moving to animate the place and show its vitality.</p>
<p>We also created <a href="https://rockartportal.org/Ga-Mohana.html">a website</a> to contextualise and introduce the 3D model and warn people who may not want to visit the model for cultural reasons and because of its ritual potency.</p>
<h2>What we’ve learned</h2>
<p>Based on what we’ve learned from this project, we proposed an approach that prioritises the digitisation of place – with all its meanings and vitality, over space – simply inert geometry – emphasising agency, proximity and multivocality.</p>
<p>A shift is needed from a purely objective approach to 3D documentation, towards representing the space as a meaningful place to a public audience. This involves acknowledging and portraying cultural, social and political contexts. By avoiding the privileging of one voice over others, our aim is to subvert dominant viewpoints and promote inclusivity. </p>
<p>The study also underscores the significance of archaeological visualisation in reshaping perceptions of the past and contributing to the formation of present identities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219122/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Schoville receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jayne Wilkins receives funding from the Australian Research Council and Griffith University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sechaba Maape and Stephen Wessels do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One criticism of current 3D models of archaeological sites is that they are presented devoid of human traces and history.Stephen Wessels, PhD candidate, University of Cape TownBenjamin Schoville, Senior Research Fellow, The University of QueenslandJayne Wilkins, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, Griffith UniversitySechaba Maape, Senior Lecturer, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2188322024-01-15T11:39:04Z2024-01-15T11:39:04Z20 years ago South Africa had 40 qualified astronomers – all white. How it’s opened space science and developed skills since then<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568811/original/file-20240111-21-fbk2ef.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Southern African Large Telescope.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">SAAO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South African astronomy started an important journey two decades ago, when an initiative to attract and train future scientists in the field welcomed its first group of students under the <a href="https://www.star.ac.za/">National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme</a>. </p>
<p>World class facilities have been established during this period, the most notable of which are the <a href="https://www.salt.ac.za/">Southern African Large Telescope</a> (SALT) and the <a href="https://www.sarao.ac.za/science/meerkat/">MeerKAT radio telescope</a>, a precursor to the international <a href="https://www.sarao.ac.za/about/the-project/">Square Kilometre Array</a>. They add to the <a href="https://www.saao.ac.za/">South African Astronomical Observatory</a> and <a href="https://www.sarao.ac.za/about/hartrao/">Hartebeesthoek Radio Observatory</a> which existed already.</p>
<p>The National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme has played a vital role in ensuring that these facilities were not simply operated for the benefit of international partners. It has also contributed individuals with crucial data analysis skills to the country’s growing high-tech workforce.</p>
<p>As astronomers who were part of this journey – organisers, contributors and beneficiaries – we are using the 20th anniversary date to reflect on the programme’s impact and its significance for the country.</p>
<h2>The history</h2>
<p>South Africa’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-astronomy-has-a-long-rich-history-of-discovery-and-a-promising-future-152777">astronomical history</a>, spanning over 200 years, took a leap in 2000 with the cabinet’s approval for the construction of the Southern African Large Telescope. </p>
<p>Beyond its scientific impact, the idea was to attract and nurture young talent, addressing shortages in scientific and engineering fields in South Africa.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568554/original/file-20240110-19-8im4w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Large white dish-shaped structures in a dry landscape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568554/original/file-20240110-19-8im4w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568554/original/file-20240110-19-8im4w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568554/original/file-20240110-19-8im4w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568554/original/file-20240110-19-8im4w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568554/original/file-20240110-19-8im4w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568554/original/file-20240110-19-8im4w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568554/original/file-20240110-19-8im4w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">MeerKAT.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the time, there were only about 40 astronomers with PhDs in the country. All were white. This was the result of the racially skewed education system during the apartheid era.</p>
<p>In 2001, astronomers began preparing for SALT and future projects. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-australia-and-south-africa-construction-has-started-on-the-biggest-radio-observatory-in-earths-history-195818">Square Kilometre Array</a> (SKA) emerged as an opportunity to host a big international radio telescope which could, among other things, investigate the beginnings of the Universe. Unfortunately the shortage of South African astronomers posed a threat to the success of the two projects, and to Africa’s participation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-visionary-scientist-bernie-fanaroff-put-african-astronomy-on-the-map-183248">How visionary scientist Bernie Fanaroff put African astronomy on the map</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Developing a pipeline</h2>
<p>Becoming a professional astronomer requires a PhD in astronomy, physics, or a related subject. It takes about 10 years to qualify after completing secondary school. At that time <a href="https://repository.hsrc.ac.za/handle/20.500.11910/7864">fewer than 1% of black school leavers qualified to study for a BSc in physics or astronomy</a>. </p>
<p>It became clear that universities needed to start co-operating if the landscape was to change. The country’s small astronomical community was spread across eight universities and two national facilities. </p>
<p>A decision was taken to pool resources to establish the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme. In this way, university lecturers and professionals at the national observatories could all contribute to teaching, while students could choose from a wide range of research projects. </p>
<p>This collaboration, including the organisation that became the <a href="https://www.sansa.org.za/">South African National Space Agency</a>, focused on guiding students through honours and master’s degrees. It emphasised cooperation over institutional interests and targeted young scientists, especially those from previously disadvantaged communities.</p>
<p>The primary objectives were clear: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>attract students post-Bachelor of Science</p></li>
<li><p>recruit from other countries in Africa</p></li>
<li><p>entice school leavers into BSc physics programmes</p></li>
<li><p>make participation in the programme a selling point for all participating universities. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Bursaries covering basic needs were crucial to attract smart students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Funding from private foundations, particularly from the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation and the Canon Collins Trust, added to very basic grants from the <a href="https://www.nrf.ac.za/">National Research Foundation</a>. </p>
<p>Today, the government’s Department of Science and Innovation is the primary funder. </p>
<p>Grants are adequate, rather than generous. Nevertheless, students have developed successful careers through the programme, transforming astronomy and space science in South Africa and beyond.</p>
<p>Programme participant Pfesesani van Zyl <a href="https://nassp-at-20.saao.ac.za/testimonials/">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The journey to SALT was a truly transformative experience for me … As a child growing up in a small town, the notion of pursuing a career in astronomy seemed like an unattainable dream, especially as a female of colour … However, that visit shattered those limiting beliefs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As former beneficiary <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/roger-deane-1344758">Roger Deane</a>, now a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, put it, the programme was pivotal in</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://nassp-at-20.saao.ac.za/testimonials/">giving us exposure to the leading astronomers in the country … This was extremely helpful in assessing astronomy as a career.</a></p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Track record</h2>
<p>By mid 2023, the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme had produced 439 honours graduates and 215 master’s degrees in astrophysics and space science. Another 27 honours and 21 master’s students are set to graduate shortly, and similar numbers of students will complete their degrees in 2024. </p>
<p>A 2023 survey of programme graduates had 230 respondents, including 53 graduates from 19 other African countries. The largest numbers were from Uganda, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia and Sudan. Many have returned home.</p>
<p>Former participant <a href="https://africanscientists.africa/business-directory/nyamai/">Miriam Nyamai</a> <a href="https://nassp-at-20.saao.ac.za/testimonials/">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Collaboration with international researchers through the programme enabled me to do world-class research, attend international conferences, and give talks on my work.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Impact</h2>
<p>The impact of the programme’s graduates extends far beyond academia. Many have embarked on successful careers across diverse sectors, including industry, education and government. </p>
<p>Graduates have participated in exciting astronomical discoveries. These include producing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/african-scientists-and-technology-could-drive-future-black-hole-discoveries-183139">first images of black holes</a> with the Event Horizon Telescope, finding some of the most distant galaxies yet known, and using SALT to investigate the remnants of some very massive binary stars and unusual active black holes at great distances. </p>
<p>The work of many individuals has been recognised by national and international bodies and programme graduates are in key teaching and research posts in South African universities. Over 30 are employed in the astronomy national facilities and the national space agency, while some have prestigious positions elsewhere in the world. South Africa now has over 200 qualified astronomers, not all of them from the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it remains a challenge to fill vacant astronomer posts in South Africa. Many factors contribute to this, including funding, opportunities outside academia, and the lack of clear career paths. The National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme can only ever be part of the solution to these complex systemic problems.</p>
<h2>Future directions</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562413/original/file-20231129-31-7ta15v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562413/original/file-20231129-31-7ta15v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562413/original/file-20231129-31-7ta15v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562413/original/file-20231129-31-7ta15v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562413/original/file-20231129-31-7ta15v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562413/original/file-20231129-31-7ta15v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562413/original/file-20231129-31-7ta15v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562413/original/file-20231129-31-7ta15v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">NASSP students visit the SAAO 1-m telescope.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">SAAO</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The programme has evolved since its establishment. Students now have to navigate extensive volumes of intricate data of different kinds, from various sources. Machine learning and artificial intelligence are indispensable. Students must know what these tools can and cannot do as they push the boundaries of our comprehension. This is a challenge for both students and their mentors.</p>
<p>The main obstacle now lies, as it did 20 years ago, in helping university staff to collaborate across institutions in such a way that their work is recognised and rewarded. This requires senior administrators to understand that inter-university collaborations are an investment in their own institutions as well as in the advancement of South African science.</p>
<p><em>To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme, a two-day <a href="https://nassp-at-20.saao.ac.za/">symposium</a> has been organised in January 2024, hosted at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patricia Ann Whitelock receives research funding from the National Research Foundation and the University of Cape Town.. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Cunnama receives funding from the National Research Foundation. He works for the South African Astronomical Observatory, a business unit of the National Research Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosalind Skelton receives funding from the National Research Foundation. She works for the South African Astronomical Observatory, a business unit of the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>The astronomical community has thrived and world-class astronomical facilities have been established in South Africa.Patricia Ann Whitelock, Former director of SAAO and honorary professor at UCT, South African Astronomical ObservatoryDaniel Cunnama, Science Engagement Astronomer, South African Astronomical ObservatoryRosalind Skelton, SALT Astronomer and Head of Research at the South African Astronomical Observatory, National Research FoundationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2188332024-01-04T10:27:36Z2024-01-04T10:27:36ZAfricans discovered dinosaur fossils long before the term ‘palaeontology’ existed<p>Credit for discovering the first dinosaur bones usually goes to British gentlemen for their finds between the 17th and 19th centuries in England. <a href="http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/learning/htmls/plot.htm">Robert Plot</a>, an English natural history scholar, was the first of these to <a href="https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/dinosaurs-and-fossils/who-discovered-the-first-dinosaur-fossils?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share-from-amnh-org">describe</a> a dinosaur bone, in his 1676 book The Natural History of Oxfordshire. Over the next two centuries dinosaur palaeontology would be dominated by numerous British natural scientists. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/10.1144/SP543-2022-236">our study</a> shows that the history of palaeontology can be traced back much further into the past. We present evidence that the first dinosaur bone may have been discovered in Africa as early as 500 years before Plot’s.</p>
<p>We’re a team of scientists who study fossils in South Africa. Peering through the published and unpublished archaeological, historical and palaeontological literature, we discovered that there has been interest in fossils in Africa for as long as there have been people on the continent. </p>
<p>This is not a surprise. Humankind originated in Africa: <em>Homo sapiens</em> has existed for at least <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22336">300,000 years</a>. And the continent has a great diversity of rock outcrops, such as the Kem Kem beds in Morocco, the Fayum depression in Egypt, the Rift Valley in <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-maasai-legend-behind-ancient-hominin-footprints-in-tanzania-119373">east Africa</a> and the Karoo in southern Africa, containing fossils that have always been accessible to our ancestors. </p>
<p>So it wasn’t just likely that African people discovered fossils first. It was inevitable.</p>
<p>More often than not, the first dinosaur fossils supposedly discovered by scientists were actually brought to their attention by local guides. Examples are the discovery of the gigantic dinosaurs <a href="https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Jobaria/390687"><em>Jobaria</em></a> by the Tuaregs in Niger and <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/542624-Giraffatitan"><em>Giraffatitan</em></a> by the Mwera in Tanzania.</p>
<p>Our paper reviews what’s known about African indigenous knowledge of fossils. We list fossils that appear to have long been known at various African sites, and discuss how they might have been used and interpreted by African communities before the science of palaeontology came to be.</p>
<h2>Bolahla rock shelter in Lesotho</h2>
<p>One of the highlights of our paper is the archaeological site of Bolahla, a Later Stone Age rock shelter in Lesotho. Various dating techniques indicate that the site was occupied by the Khoesan and Basotho people from the 12th to 18th centuries (1100 to 1700 AD). The shelter itself is surrounded by hills made of consolidated sediments that were deposited under a harsh Sahara-like desert some 180 million to 200 million years ago, when the first dinosaurs roamed the Earth. </p>
<p>This part of Lesotho is particularly well known for delivering the species <em>Massospondylus carinatus</em>, a 4 to 6 metre, long-necked and small-headed dinosaur. Fossilised bones of <em>Massospondylus</em> are abundant in the area and were already so when the site was occupied by people in the Middle Ages. </p>
<p>In 1990, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3889171">archaeologists</a> working at Bolahla discovered that a finger bone of <em>Massospondylus</em>, a fossil phalanx, had been transported to the cave. There are no fossil skeletons sticking out the walls of the cave, so the only chance that this phalanx ended up there was that someone in the distant past picked it up and carried it to the cave. Perhaps this person did so out of simple curiosity, or to turn it into a pendant or toy, or to use it for traditional healing rituals. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dinosaur-tracksite-in-lesotho-how-a-wrong-turn-led-to-an-exciting-find-208963">Dinosaur tracksite in Lesotho: how a wrong turn led to an exciting find</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>After heavy rains, it is not unusual that the people in the area discover the bones of extinct species that have been washed out of their mother-rock. They usually identify them as belonging to a dragon-like monster that devours people or even whole houses. In Lesotho, the Basotho call the monster “Kholumolumo”, while in South Africa’s bordering Eastern Cape province, the Xhosa refer to it as “<a href="https://chosindabazomhlaba.com/2022/03/29/ukufika-kwamacikilishe-angamagongqongqo/">Amagongqongqo</a>”.</p>
<p>The exact date when the phalanx was collected and transported is unfortunately lost to time. Given the current knowledge, it could have been at any time of occupation of the shelter from the 12th to 18th centuries. This leaves open the possibility that this dinosaur bone could have been collected up to 500 years prior to Robert Plot’s find.</p>
<h2>Early knowledge of extinct creatures</h2>
<p>Most people knew about fossils well before the scientific era, for as far back as collective societal memories can go. In Algeria, for example, people referred to some dinosaur footprints as belonging to the legendary “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">Roc bird</a>”. In North America, cave paintings depicting dinosaur footprints were painted by the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">Anasazi people</a> between AD 1000 and 1200. Indigenous Australians identified dinosaur footprints as belonging to a legendary “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">Emu-man</a>”. To the south, the notorious conquistador Hernan Cortes was given the fossil femur of a Mastodon by the <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Fossil_Legends_of_the_First_Americans.html?id=CMsgQQkmFqQC&redir_esc=y">Aztecs</a> in 1519. In Asia, Hindu people refer to ammonites (coiled fossil-sea-shells) as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/shaligrams-the-sacred-fossils-that-have-been-worshipped-by-hindus-and-buddhists-for-over-2-000-years-are-becoming-rarer-because-of-climate-change-209311">Shaligrams</a>” and have been worshipping them for more than 2,000 years. </p>
<h2>Claiming credit</h2>
<p>The fact that people in Africa have long known about fossils is evident from folklore and the archaeological record, but we still have much to learn about it. For instance, unlike the people in Europe, the Americas and Asia, indigenous African palaeontologists seem to have seldom used fossils for traditional medicine. We are still unsure whether this is a genuinely unique cultural trait shared by most African cultures or if it is due to our admittedly still incomplete knowledge. </p>
<p>Also, some rather prominent fossil sites, such as the Moroccan Kem Kem beds and South African Unesco <a href="https://www.maropeng.co.za/content/page/introduction-to-your-visit-to-the-cradle-of-humankind-world-heritage-site">Cradle of Humankind</a> caves, have still not provided robust evidence for indigenous knowledge. This is unfortunate, as fossil-related traditions could help bridge the gap between local communities and palaeontologists, which in turn could contribute <a href="https://theconversation.com/graffiti-threatens-precious-evidence-of-ancient-life-on-south-africas-coast-157777">preserving</a> important heritage sites.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rock-stars-how-a-group-of-scientists-in-south-africa-rescued-a-rare-500kg-chunk-of-human-history-192508">Rock stars: how a group of scientists in South Africa rescued a rare 500kg chunk of human history</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>By exploring indigenous palaeontology in Africa, our team is putting together pieces of a forgotten past that gives credit back to local communities. We hope it will inspire a new generation of local palaeoscientists to walk in the footsteps of these first African fossil hunters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julien Benoit receives funding from the DSI-NRF African Origins Platform program and GENUS (DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences) </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Penn-Clarke receives funding from GENUS (DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Helm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some time between 1100 and 1700 AD, a Massospondylus bone was discovered and carried to a rock shelter in Lesotho.Julien Benoit, Senior Researcher in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the WitwatersrandCameron Penn-Clarke, Senior Researcher, University of the WitwatersrandCharles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2165482023-12-26T08:48:13Z2023-12-26T08:48:13ZUnusual ancient elephant tracks had our team of fossil experts stumped – how we solved the mystery<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559289/original/file-20231114-17-wm62rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elephants communicate underground by generating seismic waves. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anadolu Agency</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past 15 years, through our scientific study of tracks and traces, we have identified more than 350 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.039">fossil vertebrate tracksites</a> from South Africa’s Cape south coast. Most are found in cemented sand dunes, called aeolianites, and all are from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Pleistocene-Epoch">Pleistocene Epoch</a>, ranging in age from about 35,000 to 400,000 years. </p>
<p>During that time we have honed our identification skills and have become used to finding and interpreting tracksites – a field called ichnology. And yet, every once in a while, we encounter something we immediately realise is so novel that it has been found nowhere else on Earth.</p>
<p>Such a moment of unexpected discovery happened in 2019 along the coastline of the De Hoop Nature Reserve, about 200km east of Cape Town. Less than two metres away from a cluster of fossil elephant tracks was a round feature, 57cm in diameter, containing concentric ring features. Another layer was exposed about 7cm below this surface. It contained at least 14 parallel groove features. Where the grooves approached the rings, they made a slight curve towards them. The two findings, we hypothesised, were connected with each other and appeared to have a common origin.</p>
<p>Elephants are the largest, heaviest land animals. They leave large, deep, easily recognisable tracks. We’ve documented 35 fossilised elephant track sites in our study area, as well as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2021.32">first evidence</a> of fossilised elephant trunk-drag impressions. </p>
<p>Elephants, like another group of massive land creatures, dinosaurs, can be viewed as geological engineers that create minor earth-moving forces on the ground they walk(ed) on. This can be related also to a remarkable ability that elephants possess: communicating by generating seismic waves. These are a form of energy that can travel under the surface of the Earth.</p>
<p>The feature we found in 2019 seemed to reflect just such a phenomenon: an elephant triggering waves that rippled outwards. After additional investigation and a thorough search for alternative explanations, we could report in a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016787823000792">recently published study</a> that we believe we’ve found the world’s first trace fossil signature of seismic, underground communication between elephants. </p>
<h2>Elephant seismicity</h2>
<p>Since the 1980s, an ever-increasing body of literature has documented “elephant seismicity” and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300007">seismic communication through infrasound</a>. The lower threshold of human hearing is 20Hz; below that, low frequency sounds are known as infrasound. Elephant “rumbles”, originating in the larynx and transmitted into the ground through the limbs, fall within the infrasonic range. </p>
<p>Infrasound at high amplitude (it would seem very loud to us if at a slightly higher frequency) can travel further than high frequency sounds, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.062">over distances as great as 6km</a>. Elephants have an advantage here. Lighter creatures cannot <a href="https://doi.org/10.1152/physiol.00008.2007">generate low-frequency sound waves through vocalisation</a>. It is thought that long-distance seismic communication can allow elephant groups to interact over substantial distances, and it has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.062">been shown</a> that sandy terrain allows the communication to travel furthest.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fossil-tracks-and-trunk-marks-reveal-signs-of-ancient-elephants-on-south-africas-coast-164306">Fossil tracks and trunk marks reveal signs of ancient elephants on South Africa's coast</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Continuing the elephant-dinosaur analogy, we considered the multitude of publications on dinosaur tracks. We are aware of only a single example that exhibits possible concentric rings within a track, from Korea, and none that involve parallel grooves. This suggests something unique about elephants that generates concentric rings within tracks and leads to the associated groove features. Elephant rumbling provides a plausible explanation.</p>
<p>In our scenario at De Hoop Nature Reserve, we postulate that vibrations from rumbling travelled down the elephant limb and created the concentric ring features. They are reminiscent of some of the patterns that become evident when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFAcYruShow">sprinkling sand onto a vibrating surface</a>. The surface on which the concentric rings appear must have been just below the dune surface at the time. The parallel grooves would then represent a trace fossil signature of subsurface communication. We’re not yet sure how old the trace fossil is; we’ve sent samples for testing.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tFAcYruShow?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A video showing sand vibrating when it’s exposed to sound.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rumblings in rock art</h2>
<p>Elephant seismicity is a relatively new field of study for scientists. However, those who have lived close to elephants won’t be surprised at the idea of the animals communicating through vibration. Indeed, vibrations from elephant rumblings can sometimes be felt (rather than heard) by the astute observer. And it appears that this knowledge is not just recent. </p>
<p>The rock art experts on our team have identified and interpreted rock art that suggests the indigenous San people appreciated and celebrated this knowledge in southern Africa thousands of years ago. Elephants were of profound importance to the San and were prominently featured in <a href="https://www.archaeology.org.za/sites/default/files/attachments/publications/2019/09/02/ds_2018_december.pdf">their works of art</a>. Several rock art sites appear to contain paintings of elephants in relation to sound or vibration.</p>
<p>For example, at the Monte Cristo site in the Cederberg the artist has painted 31 elephants, in several groups. They are in a realistic arrangement. Fine red lines surround each elephant; zigzag lines touch the abdomen, groin, throat, trunk, and specifically the feet. Many zigzag lines link the elephant to the ground. The finest lines are closest to the elephants, and every elephant is connected to this set of lines. These are in turn connected to broader lines surrounding the elephant group, which radiate out and away from the elephants as concentric rings. </p>
<p>This is interpreted as the San artist’s probable illustration of seismic communication between elephants. The feeling of shaking and vibration, which the San call <em>thara n|om</em>, is vital to the San healing dances, including the <a href="https://www.archaeology.org.za/sites/default/files/attachments/publications/2019/09/02/ds_2018_december.pdf">elephant song and elephant dance</a>. Lines of energy, called <em>n|om</em>, are regarded as a vibrant life-giving force that animates all living beings and is the source of <a href="https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/view/28011/way-of-the-bushman">all inspired energy</a>.</p>
<p>We believe that an understanding of elephant seismicity requires the integration of three bodies of knowledge: research on extant elephant populations, ancestral knowledge (often manifested in rock art) and the trace fossil record. </p>
<p>That elephant seismic communication might leave a trace fossil record has never been reported before, or even postulated. Our findings may have the potential to stimulate multi-disciplinary research into this field. This could include a dedicated search for sub-surface patterns in the sand in the vicinity of modern rumbling elephants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Helm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Elephants can be viewed as geological engineers that create minor tectonic forces on the substrate they walk on.Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2084912023-12-21T08:55:07Z2023-12-21T08:55:07ZNigeria’s plantain wine: a traditional drink with huge economic potential<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542808/original/file-20230815-25-o1drw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Plantain waste can be reduced in Nigeria and used in the production of wine. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/green-and-yellow-plantains-royalty-free-image/1167085854?phrase=Plantain&adppopup=true">Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Agadagidi, a wine made from plantain, is a popular drink at festive occasions in Nigeria. But it’s not always of a high quality. </p>
<p>It is usually produced in the <a href="https://library.faraafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Guidebook-Plantain-production-in-Nigeria-rev.pdf#page=9">southern part of the country</a> in limited quantities because it is difficult to store. Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Enugu, Rivers, Edo, Delta,
Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Oyo states are known for plantain cultivation.</p>
<p><a href="https://office2.jmbfs.org/index.php/JMBFS/article/view/8258">Our study</a> examined ways to improve the production of agadagidi and ultimately create more jobs. </p>
<p>Agadagidi is traditionally produced from overripe plantain by fermenting the juice, known as must, for three days and filtering it thereafter. The juice has a cloudy appearance, is effervescent and has a sweet-sour taste.</p>
<p>Given that plantain is readily available in the country, and imported wines are expensive, we conducted <a href="https://office2.jmbfs.org/index.php/JMBFS/article/view/8258">research</a> to establish if it was possible to make better quality agadagidi. </p>
<p>In Nigeria the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468227618302357">agricultural sector</a> employs about 70% of the labour force and contributes about 30% of the national GDP. Smallholder farmers account for almost 90% of the total food production. </p>
<p>But losses due to poor post-harvest practices can reach up to 50% for some fresh food produce. Half of the food that is produced for humans never gets consumed. The country grapples with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468227618302357">food insecurity</a> partly due to bottlenecks such as high food losses along its food supply chains. Farmers also lose out on income.</p>
<p>Plantain production <a href="https://knoema.com/data/agriculture-indicators-production+plantains+nigeria">increased</a> from 994,000 tonnes in 1972 to 3.12 million tonnes in 2021. The average production increase is 2.75% which could be a boon to the economy if well managed. </p>
<p><a href="https://office2.jmbfs.org/index.php/JMBFS/article/view/8258">Our study</a> was carried out to optimise the production process to make it safe and of consistent quality. This would be beneficial in a number of ways: it would reduce reliance on imported wine, reduce waste and encourage the production of indigenous wineries, thereby creating jobs and boosting Nigeria’s economy. </p>
<h2>How we conducted our research</h2>
<p>One batch of agadagidi was produced using the traditional method. We also produced agadagidi using controlled fermentation and divided the liquid separated into six batches testing various scenarios using sodium metabisulphite and wine yeast. Some of the samples were pasteurised and some not. </p>
<p>All samples were fermented for three days and dispensed into sterile bottles. </p>
<p>Microbial count, pH and acidity were determined at a weekly intervals for a period of three weeks. </p>
<p>Microorganisms were identified to determine the safety of the products and the consumer acceptability test was also assessed.</p>
<h2>Our findings</h2>
<p>All the unpasteurised samples treated with sodium metabisulphite with or without the addition of wine yeast were acceptable in terms of microbial count, physicochemical properties and consumer acceptability.</p>
<p>Our method could be replicated on a large scale using the same materials we did. It’s also made easier with the abundant plantain in Nigeria. The country can generate more jobs for its teeming young population. Nigeria’s unemployment rate is expected to rise to <a href="https://assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2023/03/kpmg-global-economic-outlook-h1-2023-report.pdf#page=47">40.6% in 2023 as compared to 2022’s 37.7%</a>, and as high as 43.9% in 2024.</p>
<p>Our findings show that plantain waste can be reduced and used in production of wine. The quantity of imported wine consumed in Nigeria <a href="https://businessday.ng/business-economy/article/nigerias-wine-consumption-hits-record-high-in-2021/">increased</a> from 26.7 to 33.1 million litres from 2015 to 2021. In 2021, Nigeria <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/wine/reporter/nga#:%7E:text=Imports%20In%202021%2C%20Nigeria%20imported,and%20Italy%20(%246.14M).">spent US$116 million on wine imports</a>, becoming the 36th largest importer of wine in the world. </p>
<p>Optimisation of locally produced wine will reduce reliance on imported wine and boost the country’s economy, especially in these days of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/nigeria-central-bank-make-moves-impacting-fx-markets-days-2023-08-14/">scarce foreign exchange</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208491/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Malomo Adekunbi Adetola receives funding from Carnegie and Dutch Government.</span></em></p>Increasing the quality of a traditional wine sourced from plantain in Nigeria offers a viable way of reducing waste and boosting food security.Malomo Adekunbi Adetola, Lecturer in Food Science and Technology, Obafemi Awolowo UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2161982023-12-14T13:40:03Z2023-12-14T13:40:03ZPhishing scams: 7 safety tips from a cybersecurity expert<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558278/original/file-20231108-27-qgt394.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Phishers are crafty and their scams are always evolving.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">weerapatkiatdumrong</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently, one of my acquaintances, Frank, received an email late on a Monday afternoon with the subject line, “Are you still in the office?” It appeared to come from his manager, who claimed to be stuck in a long meeting without the means to urgently purchase online gift vouchers for clients. He asked for help and shared a link to an online platform, from which Frank bought R6,000 (about US$325) worth of gift vouchers. Once he’d sent the codes he received a second email from the “boss” requesting one more voucher.</p>
<p>At that point, Frank reached out to his boss through WhatsApp and discovered he’d been duped. Frank had fallen prey to a phishing scam. </p>
<p>This is just one example of many from my own circles. Other friends and relatives – some of them seasoned internet users who know about the importance of cybersecurity – have also fallen prey to phishing scams. </p>
<p>I am a cybersecurity professional who conducts <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/staff/academic-a-z-listing/m/mau-maz/thembekilemayayisewitsacza/">research</a> on and teaches various cybersecurity topics. In recent years I have noticed (and confirmed through <a href="https://iacis.org/iis/2023/4_iis_2023_294-310.pdf">research</a>) that some organisations and individuals seem fatigued by cybersecurity awareness efforts. Is it possible that they assume most people are technologically astute and constantly well-informed? Or could it simply be that fatigue has set in because of the demanding nature of cybersecurity awareness campaigns? Though I have no definitive answer, I suspect the latter.</p>
<p>The reality is that phishing scams are here to stay and the methods employed in their execution continue to evolve. Given my expertise and experience, I would like to offer seven tips to help you stay safe from phishing scams. This is especially important during the festive season as people shop for gifts and book holidays online. These activities create more opportunities for cybercriminals to net new victims. However, these tips are appropriate throughout the year. Cybercriminals don’t take breaks – so you shouldn’t ever drop your guard.</p>
<h2>What is phishing?</h2>
<p>“Phishing” is a strategy designed to deceive people into revealing sensitive information such as credit card details, login credentials and, in some instances, identification numbers. </p>
<p>The most common form of phishing is via email: phishers send fraudulent emails that appear to be from legitimate sources. The messages often contain links to fake websites designed to steal login credentials or other sensitive information. The same email will be sent to many addresses. Phishers can obtain emails from places such as corporate websites, existing data breaches, social media platforms, business cards or other publicly available company documents.</p>
<p>Cybercriminals know that casting their net wide means they’ll surely catch some.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-yahoo-boys-nigerias-undergraduate-conmen-60757">Meet the ‘Yahoo boys’ – Nigeria's undergraduate conmen</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Voice phishing (vishing) is another form of this scam. Here, perpetrators use voice communication, like a phone call in which the caller falsely claims to be a bank official and seeks to assist you in resetting your password or updating your account details. Other common vishing scams centre on offering discounts or rewards if you join a vacation club, provided you disclose your personal credit card information.</p>
<p>Social media phishing, meanwhile, happens when scammers create fake accounts purporting to be real people (for instance, posing as Frank’s boss). They then start interacting with the real person’s connections to deceive them into giving up sensitive information or performing financial favours.</p>
<p>Cybercriminals also employ SMS phishing (smishing), using text messages to target individuals to reveal sensitive information such as login credentials or credit card details by clicking on malicious links or downloading harmful attachments. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/online-fraudsters-colonial-legacies-and-the-north-south-divide-in-nigeria-187879">Online fraudsters, colonial legacies and the north-south divide in Nigeria</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Who is behind these scams? Typically, these are seasoned and cunning scammers who have honed their skills in the world of phishing over an extended period. Some work alone; others belong to syndicates.</p>
<h2>Phishing skills</h2>
<p>Successful phishers have a variety of skills. They combine psychological tactics and technical prowess. </p>
<p>They are master manipulators, playing on victims’ emotions. Individuals are deceived into believing they’ve secured a substantial sum, often millions, through a jackpot win. This scheme falsely claims that their cellphone number or email was used for entry. Consequently, the victim doesn’t seek clarification. Excited about getting the windfall payment quickly, they give their personal information to cybercriminals.</p>
<p>These scammers even tailor their approach to match individuals’ personal beliefs. For example, if you have an affinity for ancestral worship, be prepared for a message from someone claiming to be a medium, asserting that your great-great-grandfather is requesting a money ritual involving a deposit to a particular account and promising multiplication of your funds – even though your ancestors have communicated no such information. </p>
<p>Likewise, if you are a devout Christian, someone claiming to be “Prophet Profit” might attempt to contact you through a messaging platform, suggesting that a monetary offering to their ministry will miraculously resolve all your financial challenges. It’s simply too good to be true.</p>
<h2>Seven tips</h2>
<p>So, how can you avoid e-mail phishing scams? Here are my tips.</p>
<p><strong>1.</strong> Before acting on an email that seems to be from a trusted colleague or friend – especially if it involves an unusual request – check whether the communication is authentic. Contact them directly through a telephone call.</p>
<p><strong>2.</strong> If you encounter suspicious emails at work and are unsure of what to do, promptly report them to your IT department.</p>
<p><strong>3.</strong> Exercise caution when disclosing your contact information, such as email addresses and phone numbers, on public platforms. Malicious individuals may exploit this information for harmful purposes.</p>
<p><strong>4.</strong> Be vigilant when responding to unsolicited emails or messages that request personal information or immediate action.</p>
<p><strong>5.</strong> Validate the sender’s email address. When in doubt, use official contact details from an organisation’s official website to get in touch instead of replying to the message.</p>
<p><strong>6.</strong> Don’t click on dubious links. Always double-check the URL before entering sensitive data.</p>
<p><strong>7.</strong> Keep your devices, anti-spam and anti-malware software up to date. Use strong and unique passwords or multi-factor authentication.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216198/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thembekile Olivia Mayayise received research funding from the Diversifying Academy Grant at Wits University.
</span></em></p>Cybercriminals don’t take breaks, so you shouldn’t ever drop your guard.Thembekile Olivia Mayayise, Senior Lecturer, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2191362023-12-12T14:42:58Z2023-12-12T14:42:58ZMadagascar cave art hints at ancient connections between Africa and Asia<p>Unique, prehistoric rock art drawings have been discovered in the Andriamamelo Cave in western Madagascar. </p>
<p>I was part of a team that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15564894.2020.1749735">discovered and described</a> these ancient treasures. They’re the first truly pictorial art, depicting images of nature with human-like and animal-like figures, to be seen on the island. Until recently, rock art in Madagascar had only yielded a few sites with basic symbols.</p>
<p>The dramatic discoveries contained several surprises, including hints at some remarkable cultural connections. </p>
<p>First, scenes depicted in some cases linked up fairly directly to Egyptian religious motifs from the Ptolemaic period (300-30 BCE). </p>
<p>Second, other inferences from symbols and writing on the walls showed connections to the Ethiopian and Afro-Arab worlds. </p>
<p>Finally, prevalent symbology and motifs evoked a two-millennia-old cave art style from Borneo. </p>
<p>An additional realm of surprises: at least three extinct animals of Madagascar (thought to have been extinct for many centuries) may be depicted – a giant sloth lemur, elephant birds and a giant tortoise. </p>
<p>It has long been believed – and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/30846019_The_Culture_History_of_Madagascar">evidence</a> has confirmed – that the people, language, and culture of Madagascar are rooted in distant ancient connections to Borneo, an island in south-east Asia, combined with strong influences from continental eastern Africa.</p>
<p>However, who the first Malagasy were, when they arrived, and what they did after that, are all hotly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379119303282?via%3Dihub">debated</a> topics.</p>
<p>Though our findings are speculative, any information that might be derived from the Andriamamelo Cave evidence is of considerable interest to the reconstruction of Malagasy early history.</p>
<h2>Connections beyond Madagascar</h2>
<p>Our research group – including Malagasy scientists from local institutions, and American, British and Australian specialists – visited the site near the village of Anahidrano on the north-west edge of the 17,100-hectare Beanka protected area in 2013. </p>
<p>Our team spent several days recording the images, surveying and mapping the entire cave, searching for associated archaeological sites, and interviewing local villagers regarding the art. It took several years, however, to search through relevant literature and museum archives to confirm the uniqueness and significance of what we’d found.</p>
<p>We made digital copies and hand-drawings of 72 cave-art objects. These were drawn in black pigment and included 16 animals, six human forms, two human-animal hybrid forms, two geometric designs, 16 examples of an M-shaped symbol, and many other patterns and indistinct forms. </p>
<p>Egyptian connections are hinted at in eight major images, including a falcon (Horus); the bird-headed god Thoth; the ostrich goddess Ma`at and two human-animal figures which were similar to Anubis – an ancient Egyptian god usually depicted as a man with a canine head. </p>
<p>The ubiquitous and mysterious M-figures demand explanation: we suggested, after searching many relevant alphabets, that it is a perfect match for only one, the letter “hawt” (ሐ) in the ancient Ethiopian Amharic alphabet, pronounced “ha”.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, though, we also found this symbol in cave art from Borneo thought to be about 2,000 years old, and in no other cave or rock art throughout the Indo-Pacific region. In some Austronesian languages (the diverse language family that extends from Malagasy on the west to distant Hawaii and Rapa Nui in the Pacific), the word “ha” is a term for the “breath of life”. </p>
<p>All these possible connections remind us that Madagascar’s people, language, and culture are in themselves syncretic, blending African and Asian influences to produce a unique Malagasy people.</p>
<p>The richly detailed and diverse art is notable also for what it doesn’t show. </p>
<p>No Christian, Muslim or Hindu symbolism is depicted, and no relatively modern motifs such as the Latin alphabet, cars, airplanes or flags. Even the ubiquitous zebu (cattle), the culturally paramount symbol of the last thousand years or more in Madagascar, are absent.</p>
<h2>When and whose</h2>
<p>It’s hard to know exactly when these drawings were made. Direct dating of cave art is notoriously difficult, and proved so in this case as the black pigment was made from dark inorganic minerals with only a small component of charcoal we could use for radiocarbon dating. </p>
<p>The presence of extinct animals, and the lack of modern motifs and the alphabet used in modern Malagasy, weigh heavily against the notion of a recent origin for the art.</p>
<p>We suspect that the art is about 2,000 years old – dating back to the time of Cleopatra or before, based on the religious motifs. If it is, that is remarkable and useful to know because it may provide evidence for who colonised Madagascar and when.</p>
<p>If, on the other hand, a set of pre-Christian religious beliefs has survived for centuries or even millennia among certain ethnic groups in very remote areas of the immense island – retaining recognisable influences from Egypt, Ethiopia and Borneo – that would be perhaps more remarkable. Village informants hinted at that possibility, by insisting that the “sorcerer” pictured was a member of a mysterious group of “Vazimba” or “Bosy”) who lived in the forest nearby.</p>
<p>So, whose art is this? We wish we knew, but clues are mostly lacking. The only possible writing, besides the M-figures, is a line of faint script in the lower right corner of this rock-art extravaganza. </p>
<p>Our best guess is that the legible middle six of eight characters, inferred to be <em>sorabe</em>, archaic Malagasy writing in Arabic script, may say “D-A-NT-IA-R-K”. </p>
<p>Does that refer to Antiochus IV Epiphanes? This king of the Seleucid Empire (western Asia) in the Ptolemaic period built a large navy, conquered much of Egypt in 170 BCE, and sent exploring and trading expeditions down the Red Sea and the east African coast. Ivory traders in that period <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/200009">spread</a> Roman goods as far south as ports in Tanzania south of Zanzibar, to trade with Azania. </p>
<p>Until more art or relevant archaeological evidence turns up for ancient African and Asian influences in Madagascar, we can only speculate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219136/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Burney received funding from the National Geographic Society for the field research leading to these discoveries.</span></em></p>Rock art from a Malagasy cave hints at some remarkable cultural connections.David Burney, Professor of Conservation Paleobiology, National Tropical Botanical Garden, and Adjunct Professor, University of HawaiiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2182672023-11-30T13:35:54Z2023-11-30T13:35:54ZDrone fishing in South Africa is a danger to sharks and may be unfair to other fishers – study<p>“Drone fishing” is a relatively recent innovation in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. Some recreational anglers are using personal drones to fly baited lines into hard-to-reach areas of water, or to look for good fishing areas. </p>
<p>Recreational fishing is a popular sport and hobby in South Africa, which has a 2,850km shoreline. The most recent estimate of the number of marine shore based anglers is about <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/fme.12515">400,000</a>. </p>
<p>The group of researchers I’m part of, who study linefish (fish caught using hook and line) became aware over the past 10 years or so of the increased practice of drone fishing. This was in part thanks to recreational fishers approaching us with their concerns. </p>
<p>One of the concerns is that increases in the numbers of enthusiastic anglers and their ability to catch fish might have significant effects on fish stocks and other animals (such as birds) in coastal zones. Another is that drone fishing might intensify conflict between fisher groups competing for the same species. Aside from recreation, linefishing provides the primary source of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/1814232X.2020.1824738">protein and income</a> for about 2,730 commercial fishers, 2,400 small-scale boat fishers and 30,000 small-scale shore-based fishers in South Africa. </p>
<p>We agreed the practice should be investigated, but faced a challenge: there was very little monitoring going on to provide data. </p>
<p>So we took an unconventional approach to our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-021-01578-y#Sec11">study</a>. We used publicly available online monitoring to estimate the growing interest, global extent and catch composition of drone fishing. This showed us that there had been a big (357%) spike in interest in drone fishing in 2016. There were also worrying indications of a threat to species of conservation concern in South Africa. </p>
<p>We then consulted commercial drone operators, legal researchers and others to get a more holistic view. Drone fishing has economic, political, legal, ecological and physiological implications. Based on this we made some recommendations for further research and monitoring, and shared them with fishing authorities.</p>
<p>The South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment then released a <a href="https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites/default/files/legislations/publicnotices/25february2022motorisedequipment_recreationalangling.pdf">public notice</a> warning recreational anglers that the use of drones and other electronic devices is deemed illegal under the <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/marine-living-resources-act-27-may-1998-0000">South African Marine Living Resources Act</a>.</p>
<p>The fishing drone companies that had already emerged are now struggling to survive. They have taken the department to <a href="https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/2022/250.html">court</a> seeking clarity on the legality of using drones in fishing. The judgement on this case, which is currently in the appeal court, will no doubt pave the way for how drone fishing is managed in South Africa in the future.</p>
<h2>Innovative research methods</h2>
<p>Largely because we were house-bound during the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic we gathered most of our data via the internet. We surveyed social media platforms for drone-fishing dedicated groups and used Google Trends to track internet searches for “drone fishing”.</p>
<p>Results indicated a 357% spike in interest in 2016, after the release of a popular YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sdUZqOoAq4">video</a> of an angler catching a large longfin tuna from an Australian beach using a drone. The search volume increased to about 3,600 monthly searches from an average of about 1,400 before the peak. “Drone fishing” Facebook groups had over 17,000 members and 38,700 videos with titles including the term “drone fishing” had been uploaded. </p>
<p>The online interest was mostly in three countries: New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. </p>
<p>To get an idea of which fish species were targeted, we then watched 100 YouTube videos posted by drone fishers in those three countries. In both New Zealand and Australia, the most frequently observed catch was red snapper, which is not a species of direct conservation concern. In South Africa, though, sharks made up the majority (97%) of viewed catches, many of which are of severe conservation concern, such as the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/3852/2872747">dusky shark</a>. </p>
<h2>Impacts of drone fishing</h2>
<p>Having established interest in and the presence of drone fishing in South Africa, we sought to consider the issue holistically – its impact on:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>targeted fish and their habitats</p></li>
<li><p>other animals in the coastal zone</p></li>
<li><p>other people using the coastal zone.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Drones with cameras allow anglers to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cz8sBz7ihYb/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng%3D%3D">identify</a> ideal fishing habitats far from the shore. Areas that anglers couldn’t reach before are now open to exploitation. Even fish that are released are less likely to survive when caught further offshore. A large fish hooked hundreds of metres offshore is likely to experience <a href="https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps2013/496/m496p207.pdf?">extreme exhaustion and physiological disturbance</a> and may be consumed by other predators. </p>
<p>The potential loss of fishing tackle by drone anglers is also a concern. It is common to lose tackle, either when it gets stuck in rocky habitats or while fighting large fish such as sharks. Both scenarios may result in hundreds of metres of fishing line remaining in the ocean. In addition to polluting the marine environment, such debris threatens to entangle birds, marine mammals and turtles. </p>
<p>In South Africa, drone fishing is only accessible to affluent anglers. Their increased catches might lead to conflict with fishers who depend on their catch for food or income.</p>
<p>It’s also possible that sharing live information on fishing conditions via the internet could add to concerns about the privacy of other public beach users.</p>
<p>Our 2021 <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-021-01578-y#Sec11">paper</a> noted that at the time, there were no specific regulations relating to drone fishing in any country, including South Africa. We drew attention to legislation that could be used indirectly to regulate the practice. </p>
<h2>Regulation and management of fisheries</h2>
<p>Three of the paper’s co-authors were part of a working group for the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. We shared the paper with the department and in 2022, it took concrete action on this issue for the first time. </p>
<p>The department released a <a href="https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites/default/files/legislations/publicnotices/25february2022motorisedequipment_recreationalangling.pdf">public notice</a> which explicitly prohibits drones and other remotely operated vehicles for angling. </p>
<p>Companies that custom build fishing drones were granted <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/use-motorised-equipment-recreational-angling-drones-and-remotely-operated-devices-and-or">leave to appeal</a> the original court ruling on their application to unban drone fishing. The appeal has not yet been heard.</p>
<p>We hope the end result will be better monitoring and management of South African recreational fishery, so that resources are available to those who need them the most.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218267/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Claus Winkler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Increased interest in recreational fishing with drones has led to concern about its environmental and social impact.Alexander Claus Winkler, Research Associate, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2175652023-11-20T14:37:39Z2023-11-20T14:37:39ZLibyan desert’s yellow glass: how we discovered the origin of these rare and mysterious shards<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559038/original/file-20231113-25-wg8y9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The pieces of Libyan desert glass that formed the basis of the study.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.lonelyplanet.com/egypt/western-desert/attractions/great-sand-sea/a/poi-sig/1500963/355269">Great Sand Sea Desert</a> stretches over an area of 72,000km² linking Egypt and Libya. If you find yourself in a particular part of the desert in south-east Libya and south-western parts of Egypt, you’ll spot pieces of yellow glass scattered across the sandy landscape. </p>
<p>It was first described in <a href="http://www.qattara.it/DESERTO%20EGIZIANO_FILES/silica.pdf">a scientific paper in 1933</a> and is known as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/libyan-desert">Libyan desert glass</a>. Mineral collectors value it for its beauty, its relative rarity – and its mystery. A pendant found in Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb <a href="https://egypt-museum.com/winged-scarab-pendant-of-tutankhamun/">contains a piece of the glass</a>. Natural glasses are found elsewhere in the world; examples include moldavites from the Ries crater in Europe and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/tektite">tektites from the Ivory Coast</a>. But none are as rich in silica as Libyan desert glass, nor are they found in such large lumps and quantities.</p>
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<p>The origin of the glass has been <a href="https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1998M%26PS...33..951G">the subject of debate</a> among scientists for almost a century. Some suggested it might be from <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/volcanic-glass">volcanoes on the moon</a>. Others propose it’s the product of lightning strikes (“<a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/media/5617/jmmv19592301.pdf#page=207">fulgurites</a>” – glass that forms from fusion of sand and soil where they are hit by lightning). Other theories suggest it’s the result of sedimentary or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/hydrothermal-deposit#:%7E:text=From%20Hydrothermal%20Veins-,Hydrothermal%20deposits%20refer%20to%20the%20accumulation%20of%20minerals%20in%20fractures,can%20also%20heat%20circulating%20groundwater">hydrothermal processes</a>; caused by a massive explosion of a meteor in the air; or <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2001.tb01960.x">that it came from a nearby meteorite crater</a>.</p>
<p>Now, thanks to advanced microscopy technology, we believe we have the answer. Along with colleagues from universities and science centres in Germany, Egypt and Morocco, I <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.2138/am-2022-8759/html">have identified</a> Libyan desert glass as originating from the impact of a meteorite on the Earth’s surface.</p>
<p>Space collisions are a primary process in the solar system, as planets and their natural satellites accreted via the asteroids and planet embryos (also called planetesimals) colliding with each other. These impacts helped our planet to assemble, too.</p>
<h2>Under the microscope</h2>
<p>In 1996 scientists determined that the glass was close to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1945-5100.1996.tb02017.x">29 million years old</a>. A <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/maps.12223">later study</a> suggested the source material was composed of quartz grains, coated with mixed clay minerals and iron and titanium oxides. </p>
<p>This latter finding raised more questions, since the proposed age is older than the matching source material in the relevant area of the Great Sand Sea desert. To put it simply: those source materials didn’t exist in that location 29 million years ago.</p>
<p>For our recent study, a co-author obtained two pieces of the glass from a local who had collected them in the Al Jaouf region in south-eastern Libya. </p>
<p>We studied the samples with a state-of-the-art transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique, which allows us to see tiny particles of material – 20,000 times smaller than the thickness of a paper sheet. Using this super-high magnification technique, we found small minerals in this glass: different types of zirconium oxide (ZrO₂). </p>
<p>Minerals are composed of chemical elements, atoms of which form regular three-dimensional packaging. Imagine putting eggs or soda bottles on the shelf of a supermarket: layers on top of layers to ensure the most efficient storage. Similarly, atoms assemble into a crystal lattice that is unique for each mineral. Minerals that have the same chemical composition but different atomic structure (different ways of atom packaging into the crystal lattice) are called polymorphs. </p>
<p>One polymorph of ZrO₂ that we observed in Libyan desert glass is called cubic zirconia – the kind seen in some jewellery as a synthetic replacement for diamonds. This mineral can only form at a high temperature between 2,250°C and 2,700°C. </p>
<p>Another polymorph of ZrO₂ that we observed was a very rare one called ortho-II or OII. It forms at very high pressure – about 130,000 atmospheres, a unit of pressure. </p>
<p>Such pressure and temperature conditions provided us with the proof for the meteorite impact origin of the glass. That’s because such conditions can only be obtained in the Earth’s crust by a meteorite impact or the explosion of an atomic bomb.</p>
<h2>More mysteries to solve</h2>
<p>If our finding is correct (and we believe it is), the parental crater – where the meteorite hit the Earth’s surface – should be somewhere nearby. The nearest known meteorite craters, named GP and Oasis, are 2km and 18km in diameter respectively, and quite far away from where the glass we tested was found. They are too far and too small to be considered the parental craters for such massive amounts of impact glass, all concentrated in one spot.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A landscape photograph of sand dunes that appear almost golden in colour, stretching far into the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559039/original/file-20231113-25-mccnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559039/original/file-20231113-25-mccnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559039/original/file-20231113-25-mccnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559039/original/file-20231113-25-mccnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559039/original/file-20231113-25-mccnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559039/original/file-20231113-25-mccnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559039/original/file-20231113-25-mccnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Great Sand Sea desert.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sylvester Adams</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So, while we’ve solved part of the mystery, more questions remain. Where is the parental crater? How big is it – and where is it? Could it have been eroded, deformed or covered by sand? More investigations will be required, likely in the form of remote sensing studies coupled with geophysics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217565/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizaveta Kovaleva receives funding from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. </span></em></p>Libyan desert glass originated from the impact of a meteorite on the Earth’s surface.Elizaveta Kovaleva, Lecturer, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2134792023-11-08T13:53:29Z2023-11-08T13:53:29ZTurkana stone beads tell a story of herder life in a drying east Africa 5,000 years ago<p>On the shores of Lake Turkana in east Africa, about 5,000 to 4,000 years ago, pastoralists buried their dead in communal cemeteries that were marked by stone circles and pillars. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721975115">The north-west Kenya “pillar sites”</a> were built around the same time as Stonehenge in the UK. But these places have a different story to tell: about how mortuary traditions reflect people’s environments, behaviours and reactions to change.</p>
<p>The burial sites appeared at a time of major <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027737912200021X">environmental</a> and economic <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012825217303331">change</a> in the region. The Sahara, which received enough rainfall 9,000-7,000 years ago to sustain populations of fisher-hunter-gatherers and pastoralists, was <a href="https://pastglobalchanges.org/publications/pages-magazines/pages-magazine/7413">drying</a>, causing groups of people to move east and south. Even in eastern Africa, lake levels were dropping dramatically; grassy plains were expanding. Around Lake Turkana, people began herding animals in addition to fishing and foraging. </p>
<p>At several of the pillar sites around Lake Turkana, archaeologists have found that hundreds of people were <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-019-00914-4">ceremonially interred</a> under large, circular platform mounds. Many of those individuals were found wearing remarkable colourful stone beads, some as part of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and other jewellery worn, for example, around the waist. These beautiful personal ornaments include blue-green amazonite, soft pink zeolite, deep red chalcedony, purple fluorite and green talc, among other minerals and rocks.</p>
<p>I study relationships between humans and their environments, especially at times of major economic transformations, using scientific techniques applied to archaeology. I recently led a team of experts in geology and archaeology of the region to conduct the first comprehensive mineralogical <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00934690.2023.2232703">analysis</a> of the Turkana stone beads. </p>
<p>The focus of our study was to discover what types of minerals and rocks the early herders had used to make adornments, and where these materials came from. </p>
<p>This kind of information can tell archaeologists about the role of artefacts in the society that used them.</p>
<h2>Wearing beads</h2>
<p>Humans have been making and wearing beads for over <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abi8620">140,000 years</a>. Beads are one of the oldest forms of symbolism and are often used as <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-tiny-ostrich-eggshell-beads-that-tell-the-story-of-africas-past-128577">adornment</a> in a culture. Wearing something on your body is an expressive choice that can have many meanings, such as protection, acknowledgement of friendships and bonds, status or role in society. Personal ornaments like beads may indicate a common cultural understanding. </p>
<p>Analysis of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-excavated-beads-tell-us-about-the-when-and-where-of-human-evolution-53695">beads in archaeological sites</a> has shown that we can learn many things from them. </p>
<p>At the Turkana pillar sites, the stone bead tradition was clearly important, partly because of the number of beads found accompanying burials, and partly because the practice persisted for hundreds of years. </p>
<p>Knowing the range of materials helps us understand landscape use in the past: where people were buried, where they watered their animals, seasonal movements for grazing, special yearly trips to significant places and other movements. Pastoralists recorded or marked their worlds by what they left behind and what they took with them. Patterns in the composition of the bead collections may indicate there was communication and exchange of objects across the region.</p>
<h2>Sorting the stone beads</h2>
<p>Of the six pillar sites that have been excavated by archaeologists, three have yielded substantial assemblages of stone beads: Lothagam North, Manemanya and Jarigole. Our team began by sorting the stone beads by site, and by their mineral and rock types.</p>
<p>Our study identified the mineral characteristics of 806 stone beads. We looked at properties like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/specific-gravity">specific gravity</a>, crystal and molecular structure, and the characteristic emissions that are particular to certain minerals. </p>
<p>What we found was a strikingly diverse set of beads that varied by site. The visual characteristics of some of the beads – colour, lustre and so on – may have made them particularly valuable or had a special meaning economically, socially, spiritually or symbolically. Their source and workability may also have given them a certain value. </p>
<p>Pink zeolites and turquoise amazonites were the most common stone beads at the site of Lothagam North, comprising over three-quarters of the assemblage. This was very similar to the site of Jarigole, located across the lake. The sites are hundreds of kilometres apart, with Lake Turkana in between – suggesting a cultural connection between them.</p>
<p>In contrast, the kinds of beads at Manemanya were different: mostly softer and paler pink and off-white calcite beads that were quite large. Further, while at Lothagam North there often were just a few beads found with any individual, one person at Manemanya was buried with over 300 stone beads and over 10,000 ostrich eggshell beads. </p>
<p>This suggests that although having stone beads was a commonality across the sites, distinctions – and distinct meanings for different people – did exist. </p>
<h2>Sourcing stones</h2>
<p>We also wanted to know whether the beads were produced from local sources (within a few days’ walk) or acquired through long-distance journeys or trade. Sourcing allows us to partially reconstruct how the earliest pastoralists moved around the landscape during the year.</p>
<p>A survey of the areas west of Lake Turkana and a search of the published literature on the geology of the region identified places where these materials might have come from.</p>
<p>There are possible sources for most of these materials within about 150km of the pillar sites. Limestone rocks may have been procured easily near the lake. Some of the tougher materials, like the chalcedonies, could have been carried to the lake area by rivers, to be picked up perhaps by someone watering cattle or fetching water from a stream. Other minerals come from a specific source. The variety of bead types demonstrates that people knew their landscape well.</p>
<p>Sometimes, they went out of their way to get certain minerals, or perhaps traded for them. The closest known sources for amazonite and fluorite are, respectively, 225 km, in southern Ethiopia; and 350 km, near the modern city of Eldoret, Kenya. </p>
<p>These suggest that bead making was not just a casual affair; material selection was intentional.</p>
<h2>Local landscapes</h2>
<p>Early herders in the Turkana Basin obtained materials from both local and distant places, and shaped them into personal adornments. These stone beads were placed with the dead, in numbers and combinations that differed by individual and place. We don’t yet fully know what they meant – but future research in the Turkana Basin will continue to explore the lives and legacies of these pioneering herders as they negotiated new environmental and social landscapes.</p>
<p><em>Edits and comments for this article were provided by Late Prehistory of West Turkana project co-directors Drs. Elizabeth Hildebrand and Katherine Grillo, project minerologist Mark Helper, and Emmanuel Ndiema, who helped lead the sourcing study.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213479/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Funding for Klehm's research on the pillar site stone beads was provided by the Wenner-Gren Foundation.</span></em></p>Mineralogical analysis of 5,000-year-old stone beads from Turkana, Kenya suggest a novel mortuary tradition by early pastoralists.Carla Klehm, Research Assistant Professor, Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, University of ArkansasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171112023-11-08T13:53:13Z2023-11-08T13:53:13ZDo you like snakes, lizards and frogs? Why herpetology might be the career for you<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557734/original/file-20231106-23-lkg44h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The author handling a boomslang as part of her work with a conservation organisation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Cooke</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We are so fortunate to share the world with a huge diversity of creatures. For me, some of the most fascinating are reptiles and amphibians. Collectively called <a href="https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/administration_pdf/0220c4kherps.pdf">herpetofauna</a>, reptiles and amphibians are ectotherms; they rely on external sources to regulate their body temperature.</p>
<p>A person like me who works with these groups of animals is called a herpetologist. Among the reptiles and amphibians, my special interest is in snakes. I’ve always been interested in reptiles, from the days when I would chase common flat lizards in the Motobo Hills in Zimbabwe, where I grew up, and interact with snakes and other animals at our local rehabilitation centre. </p>
<p>Still, if somebody had told my teenage self that my job would entail working with snakes and encouraging other people to appreciate them, I never would have believed them. I didn’t even know you could make a career out of working with reptiles. Today, I’m studying towards my PhD in herpetology (which is technically a degree in ecology and conservation) while also working with a snake conservation organisation in South Africa.</p>
<h2>Learning about snakes</h2>
<p>Most people will be familiar with zoology, the branch of biology that focuses on the study of all animals. Some animals have their own speciality within the discipline of zoology. Herps (a slang term for herpetofauna) are one example.</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://www.reptile-database.org/db-info/SpeciesStat.html">over 4,000 species</a> of snakes around the world. Each species has a unique adaptation to its own environment. Some snakes, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ultimate-in-stealth-puff-adders-employ-camouflage-at-every-level-53316">puff adders</a>, are scentless as a way to camouflage themselves from predators. Others, like southern African pythons, <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-insights-into-how-southern-african-pythons-look-after-their-babies-91276">show maternal care</a>, which is very unusual for snakes and much more common in mammals and birds. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ultimate-in-stealth-puff-adders-employ-camouflage-at-every-level-53316">The ultimate in stealth, puff adders employ camouflage at every level</a>
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<p>These unique adaptations have allowed snakes to thrive in different environments. This makes them a great model in science: herpetologists can ask questions about their physiology, evolution, ecology and biology.</p>
<p>For anyone looking to become a herpetologist, a basic zoology degree will get you started. Most universities will have someone who specialises in teaching herpetology or someone who can point you in the right direction. Volunteering at institutions that have reptiles, like zoos, is also a great way to get some experience working with them. Once you get to postgraduate level, you can specialise in one of many different topics in herpetology and apply different techniques to answer questions that you are curious about. </p>
<p>As a specialist in reptiles and amphibians, you can merge that interest with other disciplines like photography, law or conservation, and this can open up many job opportunities. You can also pursue further research at a university, become a lecturer or school teacher, work at a zoo or become a museum curator. There are many options to explore. </p>
<h2>My research</h2>
<p>I completed my MSc in 2017 and my research focused on the evolution of diet in a group of snakes called <a href="https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/items/2d772155-77f6-4f7c-94db-b3e59fb0b22a">lamprophiids</a>. I loved learning about how diverse snakes are in the food they eat. For my PhD, I wanted my research to have a real-world application, so I waited until 2021 to start after getting some work experience in conservation. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-insights-into-how-southern-african-pythons-look-after-their-babies-91276">New insights into how southern African pythons look after their babies</a>
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<p><a href="https://hiralnaik.wordpress.com/contact-info/publications/">My current research</a> focuses on the way that snakes behave (behavioural ecology) to answer some of the bigger question of what leads snakes to bite people. Another year and I will have some answers for you on this. </p>
<p>Snakebite is a <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/snakebite">neglected tropical disease</a> according to the World Health Organization and affects millions of people around the world. When natural spaces are transformed and destroyed, many animals, like snakes, go looking for food and shelter – often in people’s homes. Many people are afraid of snakes, so encounters often lead to conflict as people try to kill the animals and get bitten in the process. </p>
<p>I am also fortunate to work for a non-profit organisation, <a href="https://savethesnakes.org/">Save The Snakes</a>, which allows me to educate people about snakes and do my part to conserve them by applying my research. My job includes researching information on snakes that live in different parts of South Africa and assessing threats to them, like habitat transformation, learning more about the relationship between humans and snakes, conducting fieldwork and running experiments to understand more about the behaviour and ecology of snakes.</p>
<h2>The circle of life</h2>
<p>I’m also passionate about education.</p>
<p>Learning about the world of snakes has allowed me to appreciate the natural world in a unique way. <a href="https://youtu.be/ltQcE0gapIo">As predators and prey</a>, snakes are an emblem of the circle of life. One of my favourite activities is going out at night looking for them (called “herping”) and watching them display different behaviours. After the summer rains, frogs and insects come out and the snake predators follow. When I take these moments to observe the world around me I feel fortunate to appreciate these animals in a way most people don’t. This is the feeling I like to share in my education efforts.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A southern African python being returned to the wild by Save the Snakes.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Some of my favourite moments in my current job have involved seeing the change in people’s perceptions about snakes. Snakes have been feared for many generations because of misinformation. Most snakes are harmless. They don’t chase people, and they stay hidden much of the time. By sharing the correct information about snakes, we show that fear can be changed to curiosity and that creates more motivation to learn about them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217111/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hiral Naik has received funding from the National Research Foundation. She is affiliated with Save The Snakes.</span></em></p>Learning about snakes offers unique insights into the natural world.Hiral Naik, PhD candidate: School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2166472023-11-02T14:23:30Z2023-11-02T14:23:30ZSocial media content in times of war: an expert guide on how to keep violence off your feeds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556623/original/file-20231030-25-2np8f3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are some practical ways to filter the amount of violent and graphic content you see on social media.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">bubaone</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Social media platforms are a great source of information and entertainment. They also help us to maintain contact with friends and family. But social media can also – <a href="https://theconversation.com/mounting-research-documents-the-harmful-effects-of-social-media-use-on-mental-health-including-body-image-and-development-of-eating-disorders-206170">and has</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab034">often</a> – become a toxic environment for spreading disinformation, hatred and conflict. </p>
<p>Most people can’t or don’t want to opt out of social media. Efforts by courts and <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/25/the-real-threat-to-social-media-is-europe/">state bodies</a> to regulate or control it are slowly catching up, but so far have been unsuccessful. And social media companies have a record of <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/03/11/1020600/facebook-responsible-ai-misinformation/">prioritising engagement</a> over social benefit.</p>
<p>Users are left with a dilemma: how to benefit from social media without exposing themselves to distressing, damaging or illegal content. This becomes even more of an issue in times of heightened global tension and conflict. Both the conflict in Ukraine and now the Gaza War have increased the risk of seeing <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/10/24/1208165068/graphic-videos-and-images-of-the-israel-hamas-war-are-flooding-social-media">horrifying and damaging images</a> on one’s feed. </p>
<p>This article, based on <a href="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5171-663X">my research</a> on news on social media, is a guide to curating and editing your social media feeds to ensure that the content you see is suited to your needs and is not offensive or disturbing. </p>
<p>It is organised into the broadest social media categories. I’m not covering newer services such as <a href="https://www.threads.net/login">Threads</a>, <a href="https://mastodon.social/explore">Mastodon</a>, <a href="https://post.news/feed">Post</a> and <a href="https://bsky.app/">Bluesky</a>, although the principles are generally applicable. I have focused on using these apps on a mobile phone, because that’s what <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/12/06/internet-smartphone-and-social-media-use-in-advanced-economies-2022/">the majority of users</a> do, rather than using them on a web browser. I am concentrating mostly on video content.</p>
<p>Social media can be a powerful tool for information and learning, but it is a flawed one. Whatever approach you take to managing your feeds, remain cautious and sceptical. Pay attention to updates to policies and user agreements and consider carefully who you trust and follow. </p>
<h2>Your choice or theirs?</h2>
<p>Many social networks offer an algorithmically selected feed as your first point of contact. The specifics of the algorithms are not publicly known and the companies refine them constantly. The feed is largely based on your location and the topics and people you have expressed an interest in previously (whether following, or simply having watched or interacted with the content). It may also include other information such as your age and gender, which you may have previously given the service. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/algorithms-are-moulding-and-shaping-our-politics-heres-how-to-avoid-being-gamed-201402">Algorithms are moulding and shaping our politics. Here's how to avoid being gamed</a>
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<p>Organisations and individuals invest money and time in ensuring that their content will be seen. Advertisers will also pay to have their content shown to customers who meet their criteria. It is also important to remember that paid content is not just goods and services for sale, but may be a political or social agenda – often one that is hidden. This is the basis of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13278-023-01028-5">fake news and deliberate misinformation</a>.</p>
<p>Here are a few ways to manage your social media feeds.</p>
<h2>Be careful who you follow</h2>
<p>On all networks except TikTok, the key is carefully selecting the people you follow.</p>
<p>On Twitter (X) the best option is to move away from the “for you” page (which is the default view) and focus on the “following” page. You can’t remove the “for you” page entirely. The “following” feed includes everyone you follow, their tweets and their retweets. </p>
<p>If you are seeing content you don’t want to, you can unfollow, block or mute them.</p>
<p>The simplest way to clean up your Facebook news feed is to “unfriend” accounts. Another option is to “unfollow” someone: you remain friends, they can see your content and engage with it, but their posts won’t appear in your feed unless they mention you or you seek it out. Or you can “take a break” from someone, which is a kind of temporary block. Blocking is the most extreme option. It will remove them and all of their content and hide all of yours from them.</p>
<p>Instagram offers similar options to unfollow and mute (similar to Facebook’s “take a break” option).</p>
<p>TikTok has only limited options for users to filter or curate their feeds. The “following” page only shows creators you are following (and ads). It isn’t and can’t be set as the default view.</p>
<p>The “for you” page is entirely algorithm driven. Clicking on a creator only allows you to follow them, not to hide or block them. You can, however, block specific users. Click on their profile, then the share icon. “Report” and “block” are below the various share options. Blocking removes their content, but not other users’ content that features them.</p>
<h2>Explore your settings</h2>
<p>Many platforms have options for limiting violent or graphic content. On Facebook this is buried in the Settings menu. From there, click on News Feed, then Reduce. You can’t remove this content, but you can move it down in your feed. </p>
<p>On TikTok, long pressing on the screen brings up the options panel. From there you can report a video; there’s also a “not interested” option to remove that video and others with similar hashtags from your feed. If you click on “details” to see which hashtags will be filtered, you can select specific ones to block. It’s not clear how reliable this is, however – hashtags change over time. A number of hashtags apparently can’t be filtered, but it’s not clear what these are or why they can’t be filtered.</p>
<p>The “content preferences” option under “settings” allows you to filter video keywords. That removes them from your “for you” page, your “following” page, or both.</p>
<p>You can also set TikTok to “restricted mode”. This limits access to “unsuitable content” – an opaque description.</p>
<h2>User beware</h2>
<p>This is not a perfect guide, since social media is not designed to be controlled by the user. These companies are based on user engagement: the more time you spend on their app, the more money they make. They’re not particularly interested in ensuring the content is helpful or accurate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216647/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan Knight does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Whatever approach you take to managing your feeds, remain cautious and sceptical.Megan Knight, Associate Dean, University of HertfordshireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157322023-10-26T13:38:18Z2023-10-26T13:38:18ZA mystery disease hit South Africa’s pine trees 40 years ago: new DNA technology has found the killer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555224/original/file-20231023-29-u8m533.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An unidentified fungal killer swept through a South African pine plantation in the 1980s. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rodger Shagam</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the 1970s and 1980s, pine trees growing in various forestry plantations in South Africa’s Western Cape province began to die in patches. These trees succumbed to a mysterious root disease and the patches expanded gradually. Spontaneous regrowth of seedlings in the patches died dramatically. </p>
<p>As in many other true crime dramas, the finger was initially pointed at the most likely suspect: the root-infecting <em><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28519717/">Phytophthora cinnamomi</a></em>. Its name – plant (phyto) destroyer (phthora) – reveals its power to cause harm; the pathogen is known to cause disease in almost 5,000 different plants.</p>
<p>After further investigation and the collection of many samples, tree pathologists shifted the blame onto the fungus <em>Leptographium serpens</em> (now known as <em>Leptographium alacre</em>). This fungus is well known to be transported by insects and was previously only known in Europe. It was visually identified from the roots of the dying trees. Now it was the prime suspect. </p>
<p>Doubts lingered, though. Most <em>Leptographium</em> species are not known to act as primary disease agents and so <em>L. serpens</em> was most likely not able to cause the disease. Other fungi were also found within the roots of the diseased trees but could not be identified at the time due to a lack of more advanced techniques.</p>
<p>Knowing that the then-available technologies could not provide the complete answer to this mystery, the pathologists took more samples from the dead and dying pine trees, and stored them carefully. The hope was that one day they would have a better idea of the cause of this disease outbreak. </p>
<p>Fast forward to 2023 and a new character enters the mystery: DNA sequencing. This modern technology did what wasn’t possible a few decades ago, allowing our team of molecular mycologists <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42161-023-01502-1">to identify the real culprit</a>.</p>
<p>This tale is a testament to the ever-evolving nature of scientific inquiry. It reinforces the idea that, in the pursuit of knowledge, no stone should be left unturned and no assumption should be taken for granted. Through a blend of perseverance, technology, and a touch of serendipity, it was possible to solve a decades-old mystery.</p>
<h2>Tracking a killer</h2>
<p>Back in the 1980s the samples were stored in the culture collection of the <a href="https://www.fabinet.up.ac.za">Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute</a> at the University of Pretoria. In 2020, the samples were revived by a team that included ourselves and several others who recently <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42161-023-01502-1">published a paper</a> on the topic. </p>
<p>We sequenced the samples’ DNA to reveal their unique genetic code. By comparing this code against genetic databases, it was possible to figure out exactly what was causing the tree disease. And so, more than four decades after the disease was first described, the pathogen was finally identified as <em>Rhizina undulata</em>. <em>L. serpens</em>, the long time primary suspect, was finally exonerated. </p>
<p><em>Rhizina undulata</em> is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00382167.1984.9629524">well known</a> to cause tree disease and death, mainly in Europe. This fungus is known colloquially as the “coffee fire fungus” because the intense heat caused by fires made by campers in a forest to brew coffee activates its dormant spores. This allows it to colonise the roots of conifers, including pines. <em>R. undulata</em> is also well known in South Africa, where it kills many pines in the aftermath of forest fire and when trees are felled to clear a plantation.</p>
<p>What remains a mystery, however, is the trigger that activated this fungus in the Western Cape plantations. No fires were known to have occurred during the relevant time period.</p>
<p>One potential clue to the trigger may lie in the soil in which these trees were planted. Known as Table Mountain sandstone, this soil is sandy and acidic. Acidic soil <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0007-1536(67)80014-7">has been shown</a> in the laboratory to encourage <em>R. undulata</em> growth. This naturally occurring acidity may have been the nudge the pathogen needed to infect the pine trees. It is also possible that the fungus was activated by heat radiating from the quartz rocks that are common in the areas in which the dying trees were planted.</p>
<h2>It pays to be patient</h2>
<p>In the years since the mysterious Western Cape outbreak, <em>R. undulata</em> has become well known to foresters in pine plantations in other parts of South Africa and has done great damage to newly planted trees after fires. These fires can be accidental or due to what is known as slash-burning after trees are harvested. </p>
<p>Identifying <em>R. undulata</em> as the culprit in those (no longer active) Western Cape plantations means scientists have more data that might help to better understand the biology of the fungus – which may lead to better control strategies in the future.</p>
<p>Our work is also a testament to the timeliness of scientific progress and the importance of patience. This story could only be fully unravelled when more advanced techniques were developed. It shows the power of modern technologies to solve historical problems. This underlines the need for continued investment into research and the development of new tools, both in South Africa and worldwide.</p>
<p>Our study also strongly advocates for the preservation of diverse fungal cultures for extended periods of time, regardless of their perceived importance at the time they are collected. The lack of accessible culture collections for lesser-known fungi, in South Africa and internationally, highlights the need for innovative approaches to safeguard these invaluable resources. This shift could revolutionise the study of microbes, opening new avenues beyond traditional species descriptions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215732/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andi Wilson receives funding from the National Research Foundation through a Scarce Skills Postdoctoral Fellowship. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brenda Wingfield receives funding from South African Department of Science and Innovation. DSI-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael John Wingfield has previously received Grant funding from the South African National Research Foundation and the Department of Science and Innovation as the director of the DSI/NRF Center of Excellence in Tree Health Biotechnology</span></em></p>Through a blend of perseverance, technology, and a touch of serendipity, it was possible to solve a decades-old mystery.Andi Wilson, Postdoctoral fellow, University of PretoriaBrenda Wingfield, Previous Vice President of the Academy of Science of South Africa and DSI-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics, Professor in Genetics, University of Pretoria, University of PretoriaMichael John Wingfield, Professor, Advisor to the Executive, University of Pretoria, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.