Ten years from now, the solar system could be teeming with pint-sized space probes, each no larger than a baseball. That’s the claim of William Tang, of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), speaking last week at the 1998 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Aerospace Conference in Colorado. Tang works on micro-electro- mechanical systems, or […]
Ralph Borland A division of a major advertising agency has been contracted by cigarette giant Rothmans to create a brand aimed at a new generation of smokers: 18 to 24-year-olds. Insiders at Ogilvy & Mather Rightford Searle-Tripp Makin say the Cape Town- based advertising agency took up a multi- million contract to market brands owned […]
Swapna Prabhakaran: Movie of the week In Shooting Fish, a cheeky British version of the American Dream, Dylan (Dan Futterman) and Jez (Stuart Townsend) are down-but-not-out unemployed twentysomethings who dream of owning a mansion and a million pounds each. In the meanwhile, they live in squalor inside a huge old gas tank, furnished with various […]
Fred Pearce takes a visit to a Kenyan valley where environmental theory has been turned on its head Jane Ngei, a 30-year-old Kenyan mother and farmer, built her own dam with an ox-plough, spade and wheelbarrow. It’s not a big dam; less than 15m across. “It collects the water running down the road after it […]
Shaun de Waal: CD of the week ‘I was born with the gift of a golden voice,” sings Leonard Cohen in a sepulchral rasp on Tower of Song. He clearly isn’t talking about vocal prowess of Pavarotti proportions, but we know what he means (and we cherish his sense of humour). He is one of […]
Bill Buford: GRAFFITI I am privileged to be among the first to address a concern that has been neglected for too long: toenail fungus. Later tonight, when you get home or as you get ready for bed, take a look at what you’ve got down there, discoloured, at the end of your toes. A little […]
Charlene Smith As if the truth about Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy wasn’t devastating enough, now comes the news that not all chocolate Easter bunnies are chocolate – certainly not the cheap imported ones. Pity the Easter bunny that used to enjoy a tranquil life on supermarket shelves before being hidden under bushes for […]
There may be something to the conspiracy theories surrounding the crash of the Rietbok 30 years ago, writes Mike Loewe South Africa’s oldest aviation mystery, the ”disappearance” of South African Airways’s Rietbok, took a new turn this week when a prominent left-wing historian revealed that one of the victims on board, Audrey Rosenthal, was working […]
Andy Capostagno Rugby It has been a mixed week for teams who wear blue. Last Saturday morning the Auckland Blues lost 33-18 to a rejuvenated Queensland Reds line-up in the Super 12. In the afternoon the once-proud Blue Bulls plumbed the depths as they went down 57-27 to the Natal Wildebeests in the Vodacom Cup. […]
Lizeka Mda: CITY LIMITS Drive east along Marcia Avenue towards Bruma Lake. At the intersection of Derrick Avenue, turn left and blink. You could be forgiven for thinking you had been transported to China. The Chinese signs jump at you from both sides of the street. Apart from the video shop, the fast-food chicken outlet, […]