Assessing the impact of developments such as the Coega harbour project in Port Elizabeth is something the public can become more easily involved in, thanks to a new electronic toolkit. The right to a healthy environment is enshrined in the South African Constitution’s Bill of Rights.
"Would you like to go and have a look at a rather large African rock python?" game ranger Werner Miller politely asks the guests relaxing around the swimming pool at Thandeka Lodge. Simultaneous cries of "Yes!" give him his answer and in minutes his Land Rover is laden with passengers readying their cameras for the shot of the century.
The science of forensics, popularised by TV programmes like <i>CSI</i>, is nowhere near as glamourous as Hollywood would have us believe. Especially when it comes to exhuming mass graves and recovering and identifying the victims of genocide. This is a task all too familiar to forensic anthropologist Clea Koff, one of 16 scientists chosen by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal to go to Rwanda to unearth evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity.
African elephants are the most studied big mammal species in Africa. But in spite of all we know about them, there is still a lot that we don’t know. A project being conducted by the Wildlife Environmental Physiology team at the University of the Witwatersrand’s school of physiology is exploring how the elephant’s body functions in the heat of the savannah.
When Mark Shuttleworth donned his space suit and ventured into the "final frontier" of outer space, he took with him the aspirations of the nation and stirred our ÂÂcollective consciousness. So it came as no surprise when Cabinet last year approved the establishment of South Africa’s first space agency, tasked with coordinating research into space technology.
Making science popular to the masses has always had its problems. The image of the geek — an overly studious science boffin with no fashion sense or friends — has not exactly helped. Thankfully, the dawn of the digital age has changed the way the public regards science and technology.
It’s hard to imagine extreme cold, sub-zero temperatures, howling winds and a woarld cloaked in snow and ice when you’re sitting in 30°C-plus by a sparkling swimming pool bathed in South Africa’s trademark sunshine. But for an elite group of South African scientists ice is nice, and, more to the point, it is home.
As I sit and watch the kingfishers hunting at the edge of the Marico River, it’s hard to remind myself that four short hours ago I was in the heart of the urban jungle, full of stress after a long week at work. A few hours of driving has transported me to the beautiful Madikwe Game Reserve in the North West.
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/ 7 February 2007
Fishing. Even the word smacks of something men do, like golf, to ensure a few precious hours away from wives and girlfriends, or provide an excuse for a weekend away with the lads. It isn’t something immediately attractive to those who haven’t tried it.