Science & Technology - Jul 22, 2010 11:14 - 3 Comments

A dash of cyanide with those beans?

WASHINGTON U.-ST. LOUIS (US)—Lima beans won’t kill you, but they are one of many plants that naturally contain some level of the deadly poison cyanide. (more…)

Health & Medicine - Jul 12, 2010 13:22 - 0 Comments

Intervene now to slow nascent AIDS epidemic

CORNELL (US)—With the exceptions of Djibouti, Somalia and Southern Sudan, HIV transmission in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is among the lowest worldwide. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Jun 9, 2010 15:57 - 0 Comments

Pre-humans in Africa evolved to beat the heat

JOHNS HOPKINS (US)—In the Turkana Basin of Kenya the average daily temperature has reached the mid-90s or higher, year-round, for the past 4 million years, which may explain in part why pre-humans learned to walk upright, lost the fur that covered the bodies of their predecessors, and became able to sweat more. (more…)

Health & Medicine - Jun 2, 2010 17:11 - 0 Comments

Target platelets to fight cerebral malaria

U. ROCHESTER (US)— New research in the fight against cerebral malaria is focusing on platelets—known for their role in blood clotting—as playing an important role in stimulating the immune system and turning on molecules that increase inflammation. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Jun 1, 2010 16:06 - 0 Comments

Forget the forest. Prehumans lived in savannas

JOHNS HOPKINS (US)—Prehumans in East Africa 4.4 million years ago lived among grassy, tree-studded plains, not in the forests, according to a new study. (more…)

Earth & Environment - May 21, 2010 10:21 - 1 Comment

Warming threatens one of world’s oldest lakes

BROWN (US)—Geologists have documented that Lake Tanganyika in east Africa—the second oldest and the second-deepest lake in the world—has experienced unprecedented warming in the last century. (more…)

Health & Medicine - May 14, 2010 14:25 - 2 Comments

Med pouch helps protect infants from HIV

DUKE (US)—By using medications packaged just like fast-food ketchup, HIV-positive mothers in developing countries can more easily provide protection to newborn babies born at home. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Feb 1, 2010 16:03 - 0 Comments

Unselfish apes live in ‘Peter Pan world’

DUKE (US)—For bonobos, sharing just comes naturally. In fact, unlike humans and chimpanzees, they seem incapable of being selfish—both as youngsters and as adults. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jan 4, 2010 12:22 - 1 Comment

Tracing family roots with DNA

CORNELL (US)—Researchers may now reliably use genetic data to map out a person’s ancestry. The research could have implications for personalized medicine and for mapping genetic risk factors to common diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. (more…)

Health & Medicine - Dec 21, 2009 11:39 - 0 Comments

Phone records predict malaria’s next move

U. FLORIDA (US)—Researchers at work on a malaria elimination study in Africa have become the first to predict the spread of the disease using cell phone records. (more…)

Society & Culture - Dec 18, 2009 16:44 - 0 Comments

Orphanages: ‘viable option’ or ‘last resort’?

DUKE (US)—Children in institutional orphanages fare as well or better than those who live in the community, new research shows. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Nov 3, 2009 16:12 - 2 Comments

Seafloor dynamics at work splitting continent

U. ROCHESTER (US)—In 2005, a gigantic, 35-mile-long rift broke open the desert ground in Ethiopia. At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two parts of the African continent pulled apart, but the claim was controversial. (more…)

Society & Culture - Nov 3, 2009 0:01 - 0 Comments

Cell phones as tools for global development

U. WASHINGTON (US)—Computer scientists have used Android, the open-source mobile operating system championed by Google, to turn a cell phone into a versatile data-collection device. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Oct 8, 2009 17:44 - 0 Comments

Dinosaurs reacted fast to avoid slip-ups

U. MICHIGAN (US)—Early dinosaurs made on-the-fly adjustments to their movements to cope with slippery and sloping terrain, according to a new investigation of a fossilized tracksite in southern Africa. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Sep 17, 2009 19:58 - 5 Comments

Photo reveals Africa’s cryptic cat

“It is a very cryptic animal. Almost nothing is known about it,” says Gary Aronsen.

Health & Medicine - Sep 10, 2009 12:51 - 1 Comment

Low-cost bed nets prove priceless

Malaria, which is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, is common among pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa and is a major contributing factor to low birth weights and infant deaths in that region.

Earth & Environment - Aug 10, 2009 4:00 - 0 Comments

In African rocks, traces of evolutionary blast

UNC CHAPEL HILL (US)—New research has opened the door on what some consider to be the greatest event in the history of animal life: a massive evolutionary jumpstart during the Cambrian Explosion half a billion years ago. (more…)

Society & Culture - Apr 22, 2009 16:05 - 0 Comments

Slave trade records now searchable online

EMORY (US)—The hidden history of 12.5 million slaves and their transatlantic journeys is being opened to the world. A free online database documents more than 80 percent of the slave trade activity—almost 35,000 voyages—between the 16th and 19th centuries. (more…)

Posts Tagged ‘Africa’