Chinyere Opia 0:14Welcome to Nature Africa Highlights. In this episode of our podcast, we'll review stories on our website and Did You Know. I am Chinyere Opia.
Chinyere Opia 0:26In 2015 after the number of Masai giraffes fell by 50% to 35,000 in a period of just 30 years, the International Union for Conservation of Nature declared Masai giraffes an endangered species. Separated by the steep cliffs of the Great Rift Valley and by human settlements blocking their migration corridors, Masai giraffes have not interbred in more than 1000 years. This separation has split the giraffe into two populations, one west and another east of the Great Rift Escarpment or GRE.According to the article by Dann Okoth, the Masai giraffe, found only in Tanzania and Kenya, may be more endangered than previously thought.According to new research in the journal Ecology and Evolution, the few remaining natural corridors through the GRE are occupied by humans, limiting east-west animal dispersal and gene flow.The article gives more insight on this study.https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-023-00168-2
Chinyere Opia 1:29According to an article by Engela Duvenage, black rhinos are less social without their signature horn.A study conducted by researchers from the University of Neuchâtel (Nuchatel) in Switzerland and staff from various black rhino conservation groups and nature reserves in South Africa found that dehorning black rhinoceros to prevent poaching could have affected the behaviour and social lives of these endangered animals.The team who analysed data from 4,760 sightings of 368 black rhinoceros between 2005 to 2020, in 10 reserves in northeastern South Africa observed that once dehorned, black rhinos home ranges shrink by an average of 45%, and their social interactions reduce by an average of 37%. Black rhinos live within specific home ranges. They are solitary, but because neighbouring home ranges overlap, they connect with others of their species. The article has more on this study.https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-023-00170-8
Chinyere Opia 2:30According to an article by Elsabe Brits, misinformation and access to vaccines are contributing to confidence in vaccines waning, leading to a rapid fall in the uptake of routine shots.A study of 17,000 people across eight countries found that across sub-Saharan Africa since the COVID-19 pandemic, public confidence in vaccines has plunged. The research in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutic found that six million fewer children in Africa received routine shots for diseases including tetanus, polio, diphtheria and measles over the past two years.For Elizabeth Oduwole from the Vaccine Implementation Research Group at Cochrane, South Africa, misinformation has played a major role in eroding confidence in vaccines in general in sub-Saharan Africa, a situation made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.Check out the article for more on this story.https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-023-00172-6
Chinyere Opia 3:28Alcoholic beverages brewed at home are popular across Africa for their accessibility and affordability. But how can you detect the potentially dangerous ethanol levels in unregulated production processes? There might just be a cheap safety test for home brews.In a study published in Chemistry Africa, Botswanan scientists have demonstrated the efficacy of a simple, cheap and rapid method to detect potentially dangerous ethanol levels in alcoholic home-brews.In an article by Di Caelers, their results revealed concentrations ranging from 2.56% to 36%, with the highest ethanol content in Sekhokho, a gin distillate from sorghum-based beer. The lowest was for Setopoti, which is prepared from ripe watermelons.The authors sourced and sampled 26 different locally brewed alcoholic beverages collected from villages across Botswana in which 30 related deaths had been recorded since 2017. The researchers noted that although it is difficult to pinpoint the cause of these deaths, as the process of brewing such alcoholic beverages remains unmonitored, high ethanol content is widely believed to be a contributory factor.For more on this story, check out the article.https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-023-00177-1
Chinyere Opia 4:44If you're interested in these stories and other science-based articles, check out our Nature Africa website at nature.com/natafrica. Next on the show is Did You Know.
Chinyere Opia 5:03Did you know many modern high-school-level concepts in mathematics were first developed in Africa, as was the first method of counting? Yes! More than 35,000 years ago, Egyptians (who have been firsts in a lot of things), scripted textbooks about math which included division and multiplication of fractions and geometric formulas to calculate the area and volume of shapes. They also calculated distances and angles and solved algebraic equations. Mathematically based predictions were made of the size of floods of the Nile. They also considered a circle to be 360 degrees and estimated the value of Pi at 3.16.
Chinyere Opia 5:45Did you know eight thousand years ago, people in present-day Zaire developed their own numeration system, as did Yoruba people in what is now Nigeria? It is reported that the Yoruba system was based on units of 20 rather than units of 10. The system also required an extraordinary amount of subtraction to identify different numbers. This system has been lauded by scholars, as much abstract reasoning is required. Talk about being geniuses!
Chinyere Opia 6:15Did you know advances in Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago surpassed those of Europeans then and were astonishing to Europeans when they learned of them? Furnaces in ancient Tanzanian could reach 1,800 deg C — 200 to 400 deg C warmer than those of the Romans. To explain how hot that is, think about the temperature of magma inside a volcano — and of lava as it emerges. The basaltic magma ranges in temperature from about 1000 deg C to 1200 deg C. Wow! Talk about being hot!
Chinyere Opia 6:56And that’s our show for today. To learn more about the work of many African researchers, visit our website at nature.com/natafrica.I am Chinyere Opia. Thank you for listening.