Lessons from Africa

Gabon halts rock quarry to protect ancient fossils

Wednesday, 14 July 2010 16:20

Gabon's government shut down a rock quarry in the country's remote eastern region to protect ancient fossils scientists say could prove complex life on earth is more than two billion years old.

(3 Votes)

Tags: Science - Fossils - Julien Nkoghe Bekale - Gabon

New pre-human species offers evolutionary clues

Friday, 09 April 2010 09:59

Two partial skeletons unearthed in a South African cave belong to a previously unclassified species of pre-human dating back almost 2 million years and may shed new light on human evolution, scientists said on Thursday.

(3 Votes)

Tags: Australopithecus sediba - Lee Berger - University of the Witwatersrand - Cradle of Humankind - Paul Dirks - South Africa

Malawi could be the cradle of humankind: Researcher

Monday, 26 October 2009 13:22

The latest discovery of pre-historic tools and remains of hominids in Malawi's remote northern district of Karonga provides further proof that the area could be the cradle of humankind, a leading German researcher said.

(4 Votes)

Tags: hominids - pre-historic tools - Karonga - Friedemann Schrenk - Malawi

African leaders adopt landmark refugee convention

Friday, 23 October 2009 13:59

African leaders on Friday adopted a convention - billed as the first of its kind worldwide - on the protection of the 17 million people on the continent who have fled their homes.

(2 Votes)

Tags: leaders - worldwide - refugees - protection - AU - Ramtane Lamamra - convention - Jakob Kellenberger - Jean Ping - Africa

2 African activists awarded ‘Alternate Nobel Prize'

Tuesday, 13 October 2009 15:42

Two African activists, Rene Ngongo and Catherine Hamlin, on Tuesday won the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize". Each winner will receive €50,000 ($74,000) to help them continue the work they are doing.

(3 Votes)

Tags: Right Livelihood Award - Rene Ngongo - Catherine Hamlin - Alternative Nobel Prize - Jakob von Uexkull - Democratic Republic of Congo - Ethiopia

No nukes in Africa

Tuesday, 01 September 2009 11:22

The continent of Africa is now officially free of nuclear weapons, after a 14-year-old treaty banning their development, production, testing or acquisition finally came into force in July.

(5 Votes)

Tags: nuclear weapons - Algeria - Benin - Botswana - Burkina Faso - Equatorial Guinea - Ethiopia - Gabon - Gambia - Guinea - Ivory Coast - Kenya - Libya - Lesotho - Madagascar - Malawi - Mali - Mauritania - Mauritius - Mozambique - Nigeria - Rwanda - Senegal - South Africa - Swaziland - Tanzania - Togo - Zimbabwe - Burundi

Ethiopian scientist named World Food Prize laureate

Friday, 12 June 2009 15:59

Dr. Gebisa Ejeta, of Ethiopia, has been named winner of the $250,000 World Food Prize for his development of a drought and weed-resistant sorghum.

(3 Votes)

Tags: Dr. Gebisa Ejeta - World Food Prize - sorghum - US Secretary of State - Hillary Clinton - U.S. State Department - Tom Vilsack - US secretary of agriculture - Ethiopia

Google Earth aids in the discovery of African fossils

Wednesday, 27 May 2009 17:27

Sahara

Google Earth has once again proved to be a boon to academia - the search engine has played an important role in the discovery of a treasure trove of African fossils that could shed light on the movement of mammals from Asia into Africa.

In fact, the researchers concluded that they could be amongst the oldest known mammal fossils from that period and, as such, an important clue to the dispersal of species between Africa and Asia, and between North Africa and the rest of the continent.

(2 Votes)

Tags: fossil - Google Earth - mammals - Asia - Philip Gingerich - Greg Gunnell - Wiliam Sanders - Sahara Desert - Egypt

Historic lake landscape found in Egyptian desert

Monday, 25 May 2009 16:20

Researchers have mapped the ice age landscape of Egypt's extremely dry Western Desert and found proof that it was covered with lakes and lush vegetation.

This landscape may have provided early man a route of passage out of Africa into the Mediterranean.