Take the gecko, famed for its ability to scale walls, and the mussel, renowned for its clamping quality, and you have the inspirations for a superglue that can stick, unstick and stick again. The glue, dubbed "geckel", can have innumerable uses, say the inventors, whose research is published in <i>Nature</i>, the British journal.
Taxi violence may soon be snuffed out through technology, if a pilot project next month to monitor vehicles by satellite to eradicate pirate operators succeeds, the Cape Times reported on its website on Thursday. The system will first be rolled out on a single route between Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Prospects for the struggling dairy-farming sector are looking better following a decision by milk processors to raise prices this year, according to a farmers’ representative body. Milk Producers’ Organisation MD Etienne Terre’Blanche said the current milk shortage occurred after processors slashed prices from early 2005.
The JSE was slightly higher at noon on Thursday as miners gained on sustained strength in precious metals with banks in focus on vague talk that Standard Chartered Bank might make a buy-out offer for Nedbank. At midday, the all-share index was up 0,32%. Resources gained 0,48% and the gold- and platinum-mining indices added 0,57% and 1,75% respectively.
Even Jane Austen would have trouble finding a publisher today, a struggling author revealed on Thursday. David Lassman sent off to 18 publishers assorted chapters from Austen novels in which he changed just the titles and the names of the characters.
Judy Sexwale, wife of former Gauteng premier and presidential hopeful Tokyo Sexwale, was hijacked while picking up their son from school on Wednesday. The incident took place outside St David’s Marist School in Sandton where she was threatened by three armed men who pulled her from her BMW.
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Nelson Mandela’s 89th birthday was celebrated on Wednesday with a charity match in which an African XI drew 3-3 with a Rest of the World team. Mandela, who has dedicated his life to the promotion of human rights and democracy, was honoured by the ”90 Minutes for Mandela” all-star game.
Rwanda called on the United Nations on Wednesday to take action against peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) accused of trading food and intelligence with Rwandan Hutu rebels for gold. The world body is investigating allegations made against Indian troops in eastern DRC’s North Kivu province.
The confidence of South African consumers has declined over 11% in the last 12 months, the latest MasterIndex survey released on Thursday showed. Out of a possible 100 index points, the South African MasterIndex declined from a record high of 91,1 points for the second half of 2006, to 86,5.
Two British teenage girls arrested in Ghana allegedly in possession of several kilogrammes of cocaine were remanded in custody when they appeared in court on Wednesday, officials said. The hearing at a juvenile court in Accra, their second appearance in a week, took place behind closed doors.