Brett Davidson Another newcomer on the South African media scene is Hal Interactive, an online electronic media buying system. It’s a one-stop shop where media organisations can promote themselves and sell advertising slots, while media planners and buyers can check schedules and availability and buy space. Hal provides information on all major radio stations and […]

Tim Phillips The annual computer virus season began last month and the next few weeks will be filled with new viruses with lurid names. But at least three of these -Valentine Greetings, Penpal Greetings and Join the Crew – are hoaxes. Michelangelo and Jerusalem – two of the most feared viruses in the history of […]

Cecil Abrahams: A Second Look Predictably, South African universities have once again been embroiled in the annual nauseating spectacle of disadvantaged students trying to register at cash-strapped universities where the management must refuse admission. And, as usual, the “culprits” for this stand-off are the same. Intransigent students believe the managements of the various historically disadvantaged […]

Sechaba ka’Nkosi Gauteng MEC for Safety and Security Jessie Duarte, whose political career hangs in the balance, personally handed an allegedly fraudulent document to the Mail & Guardian last week in an attempt to ward off a series of damaging allegations levelled against her. The commission of inquiry investigating the charges heard this week that […]

Belinda Beresford Too broke to pay full price for that ticket to Cape Town or around the world? Quailing at the thought of standby again? Why not try to catch your flight using a ticket auction on the Internet? Ticket auctions allow you to offer a price for a ticket, usually subject to a minimum […]

Tim Radford Wounds might be persuaded to heal without scarring, and limbs persuaded to grow again after amputation, according to scientists in Philadelphia. They have found a race of laboratory mice whose livers regenerate after surgery and whose tails grow again after being severed. Amphibians can lose limbs and grow new ones. Mammals, however, cannot. […]

David Shapshak Cloning’s advantages are numerous, from reproducing endangered animal species to breeding human organ transplant material. The public fears of cloning do not differ much from those expressed by science fiction writers in the last century, mostly the self-replication of dictators. Saddam Hussein could resist any American smart bombs’ attacks by cloning himself infinitely. […]

Fiona Macleod The next time you raise your glass to Bacchus, ponder this: you may be poisoning yourself with the remains of chameleons which get mulched in the wine-making process. The organisers of a campaign to save chameleons in the Western Cape say they are being decimated by mechanical harvesters which have been imported from […]

Stefaans Brmmer Irish funding agency representative Chris McInerney this week “returned from the dead” to say he stands by allegations of maladministration he made eight years ago against Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga. Motshekga’s past as director of a non- governmental organisation, the National Institute for Public Interest Law and Research (Nipilar), is among matters under […]

Plans for development and foreign investment may be at the expense of the rural poor, writes Craig Bishop ‘The Eastern Cape development train is in motion – don’t be left behind” was President Nelson Mandela’s rallying cry at the International Investors Conference in East London late last year. It was designed to build confidence in […]