December 10th, 2012 12:06
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First time accepted submitter iggymanz writes
“More precise modeling has changed some long term climate predictions: sea levels to rise almost a meter more than present over the next century, but past dire warnings of stronger storms or more frequent droughts won’t pan out. Instead there will be less strong storms, but peak winds in the tropics might be slightly higher. Temperature rise of global average will be about 3 degree C total, including the 1 degree C rise over the 20th century. In places where precipitation is frequent, it will become even more frequent; in arid areas, the tendency will be to become even drier. Some new arid areas are expected to appear in the south of N. America, South Africa and Mediterranean countries. Overall, hardly a doomsday scenario.”Source: Draft of IPCC 2013 Report Already Circulating
Categories: slashdot Tags: arid, century, climate predictions, degree, doomsday scenario, frequent droughts, Mediterranean, mediterranean countries, N. America, peak winds, rise, South Africa, time
November 7th, 2012 11:38
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SternisheFan writes in with a story about early humans
passing down their tool making skills.
“Sophisticated bladelets suggest that humans passed on their technological skill down the generations. A haul of stone blades from a cave in South Africa suggests that early humans were already masters of complex technology more than 70,000 years ago . The tiny blades — no more than about 3 centimeters long on average — were probably used as tips for throwable spears, or as spiky additions to club-like weapons, says Curtis Marean, an archaeologist at Arizona State University in Tempe who led the team that found the bladelets. Twenty-seven such blades, called microliths by archaeologists, were found in layers of sand and soil dating as far back as 71,000 years ago and representing a time-span of about 11,000 years, showing how long humans were manufacturing the blades. Clever crafters The find lends credence to the idea that early humans were capable of passing on their clever ideas to the next generation of artisans, creating complex technologies that endured over time. John Shea, a palaeoanthropologist at Stony Brook University in New York, says that it also suggests that ‘previous hypotheses that ‘early’ Homo sapiens differed from ‘modern’ ones in these respects are probably wrong’.”Source: Discovery of Early Human Tools Hint at Earlier Start
Categories: slashdot Tags: arizona state university, Curtis Marean, John Shea, mdash, New York, sand and soil, South Africa, SternisheFan, stone blades, stony brook university, story, Tool, University
September 20th, 2012 09:04
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An anonymous reader writes with an item from The Next Web:
“Security researchers participating in the Mobile Pwn2Own contest at the EuSecWest Conference in Amsterdam [Wednesday] demonstrated how to hack Android through a Near Field Communication (NFC) vulnerability. The 0day exploit was developed by four MWR Labs employees (two in South Africa and two in the UK) for a Samsung Galaxy S 3 phone running Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Two separate security holes were leveraged to completely take over the device, and download all the data from it.”Source: Android Hacked Via NFC On the Samsung Galaxy S 3
Categories: slashdot Tags: Amsterdam, Android, anonymous reader, field communication, galaxy, NFC, Samsung, security, security holes, security researchers, South Africa, UK, web security
September 17th, 2012 09:39
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Amiga Trombone writes
“Christopher Stringer is one of the world’s foremost paleoanthropologists. He is a founder and most powerful advocate of the leading theory concerning our evolution: Recent African Origin or ‘Out of Africa.’ He now calls the theory into question: ‘I’m thinking a lot about species concepts as applied to humans, about the “Out of Africa” model, and also looking back into Africa itself. I think the idea that modern humans originated in Africa is still a sound concept. Behaviorally and physically, we began our story there, but I’ve come around to thinking that it wasn’t a simple origin. Twenty years ago, I would have argued that our species evolved in one place, maybe in East Africa or South Africa. There was a period of time in just one place where a small population of humans became modern, physically and behaviourally. Isolated and perhaps stressed by climate change, this drove a rapid and punctuational origin for our species. Now I don’t think it was that simple, either within or outside of Africa.’”Source: “Out of Africa” Theory Called Into Question By Originator
Categories: slashdot Tags: Africa, african origin, Amiga, Christopher Stringer, climate change, East Africa, origin, out of africa theory, place, question, South Africa, species concepts, theory
August 31st, 2012 08:51
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Diggester writes
“Researchers at the University of Cape Town in South Africa have developed a pill that can wipe out malaria with a single dose. It’s a development that could save millions of lives in Africa alone, not to mention the rest of the world. But there’s a teensy weensy little hurdle that must first be overcome: human testing. According to National Geographic, ‘Clinical tests are scheduled for the end of 2013. If this tablet is approved in coming years, this achievement will surely usher in a new age for science in Africa. It will save millions upon millions of lives on the continent, helping avoid at least 24 percent of child deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.’”Source: Promising New Drug May Cure Malaria
Categories: slashdot Tags: Africa, Cape, child deaths, clinical tests, Diggester, malaria, South Africa, sub saharan africa, town, University, university of cape town
July 25th, 2012 07:31
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Harperdog writes
“A new roundtable at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists explores the question of whether nuclear energy is the answer to climate change, particularly in developing countries where energy needs are so great. This roundtable, like the ones before it, will be translated into Chinese, Arabic, and Spanish within a week of each article’s publication. Here’s a summary: From desertification in China to glacier melt in Nepal to water scarcity in South Africa, climate change is beginning to make itself felt in the developing world. As developing countries search for ways to contain carbon emissions while also maximizing economic potential, a natural focus of attention is nuclear power. But nuclear energy presents its own dangers.”
Source: The Nuclear Approach To Climate Change
Categories: slashdot Tags: africa climate, bulletin, bulletin of the atomic scientists, carbon emissions, change, China, climate, desertification in china, energy, Harperdog, Nepal, South Africa, water scarcity
July 17th, 2012 07:00
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ananyo writes
“The species of alga that causes ‘brown tides’ in the United States and South Africa is also to blame for massive blooms along China’s east coast on the Bohai Sea, researchers have found. The finding could be the first step to tackling the problem. It is the fourth consecutive year the country has been hit by the bloom ( Slashdot’s story on the 2010 bloom), with the situation worsening each time the bloom returns.”
Source: China Third Country To Be Hit By ‘Brown Tide’
Categories: slashdot Tags: alga, ananyo, Bloom, Bohai Sea, Brown Tide, brown tides, China, Coast, country, fourth consecutive year, South Africa, United States
May 25th, 2012 05:14
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ananyo writes
“The battle for the world’s largest radio telescope has ended in a draw. As an earlier Slashdot story suggested, South Africa and Australia are to split the Square Kilometre Array, a €1.5 billion (US$1.9 billion) project made up of 3,000 15-meter-wide dishes and an even larger number of simple antennas. The decision was announced at a meeting outside of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, following a vote by SKA’s international board.”Source: Australia and South Africa To Share the Square Kilometer Array
Categories: slashdot Tags: Amsterdam, ananyo, Array, Australia, battle, euro 1, radio telescope, slashdot story, South Africa, Square, square kilometer array, square kilometre array, the Netherlands, US, World
April 11th, 2012 04:50
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gbrumfiel writes
“The Square Kilometre Array will be the world’s most powerful telescope, assuming the nations involved can agree on where to build it. A scientific panel recently backed South Africa over Australia to host the project, but neither side has conceded defeat. Rather than splitting the partners, project leaders are now thinking about splitting the telescope between the two countries. There’s little scientific advantage, but the thinking is that a split telescope would be better than no telescope.”
Source: SKA Might Be Split Between South Africa and Australia
Categories: slashdot Tags: Australia, gbrumfiel, partners project, project, project leaders, South Africa, split, splitting, Square, square kilometre array, Telescope
March 25th, 2012 03:05
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angry tapir writes
“Although earlier reports claimed that a scientific panel recommended South Africa over Australia as the best site for the proposed Square Kilometre Array, the SKA board of directors is still debating which country will host the enormous US$2.1-billion radio telescope. The scientific panel only recommended South Africa by a narrow margin earlier this month.”
Source: SKA Telescope Site Debate Not Over Yet
Categories: slashdot Tags: 1 billion, Australia, narrow margin, panel, radio telescope, site, SKA, South Africa, square kilometre array, tapir, Telescope, US