Chinyere Opia 0:00Welcome to Nature Africa Highlights. In this episode, we'll review stories on our website and share some interesting facts in our ‘Did You Know’ segment. I am Chinyere Opia.
Chinyere Opia 0:19Water pollution is a 'time bomb ' threatening global health. According to Tafadzwa Mabhaudhi, who studies climate change and food security at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa, forecasts published in Nature Water offer "a temporal and spatial analysis of what was, until now, anecdotal evidence regarding water quality in sub-Saharan Africa.An article by Lily Tozer reveals that up to 5.5 billion people worldwide could be exposed to polluted water by 2100 with sub-Saharan Africa among the most affected regions.Joshua Edokpayi, a water quality management researcher at the University of Venda, in Thohoyandou, South Africa says without adequate investment in infrastructure or water treatment, "we are definitely sitting on a time bomb".So, how did they reach this conclusion?To predict this, the researchers modeled water quality in 20-year increments, from 2005 to 2100, using existing models of global water quality.And why should this be of interest to you? According to Edokpayi, pollution defies national borders, and cross-border collaborations will be crucial to preventing the worst predictions from coming true.To learn more about this prediction, the process and the effects, check out the article for more information.https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-023-00191-3
Chinyere Opia 1:44Have you ever wondered how disease-causing bacteria and other pathogens are building increased resistance to antibiotics and disinfectants?Well, some researchers are finding the source of certain bacterial superpowers.According to an article by Morgan Morris, researchers puzzled by a persistent and ever-present bacterium in their laboratory, despite their best cleaning efforts, eventually discovered its survival strategy. The culprit, known as Serratia sp. Strain HRI, had made itself at home inside the bottles of disinfectant.According to Samantha Mc Carlie, a doctoral student at the University of Free State, in South Africa, conducting research on the resistance that pathogens are building up to both antibiotics and disinfectants, “the more we cleaned everything, the more we were just spreading the bacterium”.Studies have found that some bacteria are not just able to survive in what should be hostile environments, like a bottle of disinfectant, but are also adapting the means to metabolise and feed on certain compounds in disinfectants.According to the researchers, this study is important in combating the rise of ‘superbugs’, strains of bacteria resistant to several types of antibiotics. The article has more on this study.https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-023-00196-y
Chinyere Opia 3:03Google Street View or GSV is a feature provided by Google Maps that allows users to virtually explore and navigate through panoramic, 360 degrees images of streets, roads and locations around the world. This imagery is revolutionizing scientists’ ability to record transformations in worldwide landscapes and societies.
Nevertheless, when contemplating the progression of street view applications in the present day, it's noteworthy that only a mere 20% of African nations possess partial access to these images, typically confined to a select few major urban centers.According to an article by Mette Bendixen, Tawanda Kanhema and Lars L. Iversen, this data gap limits the scientific community’s ability to conduct diverse and equitable research within a rapidly growing research field.While alternative mapping platforms like Mapillary and KartaView do exist, they rely heavily on crowdsourced image collection to build data, frequently resulting in uneven coverage and poor quality compared to commercially available street view data.Street view imagery is an emerging frontier in research, playing a key role in various capacities. Among its diverse applications, it aids epidemiologists in investigating the transmission risk of COVID-19 within communities and other constructed environments, as well as evaluating the aftermath of hurricane-induced damage. On a global scale, the imagery serves as a rich source of big data, fueling the advancement of machine learning algorithms for image recognition in data science.Check out the article for more on this story.https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-023-00204-1
Chinyere Opia 4:49According to an article by Elsabe Brits, early delivery can reduce death rates from pre-eclampsia.Findings from a study conducted and published in The Lancet by a research team from the University of Zambia, KLE Academy in India, and King’s College London, has found that delivery between the 34th and 36th week of pregnancy in women with pre-eclampsia can improve outcomes for mother and baby.Prior to this study, recommendations suggested that women diagnosed with pre-eclampsia should routinely undergo delivery at 37 weeks of gestation, except in cases of severe illness. The study confirmed that early delivery effectively mitigates the risk of dangerously elevated blood pressure in expectant mothers. Among infants delivered prematurely, there was a noteworthy reduction of 75% in stillbirths, and no difference in deaths after birth. Early delivery emerged as the preferred course of action for most outcomes, with no increase in the need for neonatal care.For more on this story, check out the article. https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-023-00214-z
Chinyere Opia 5:58If 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 6:16Did you know several ancient African cultures made significant contributions to the field of astronomy. Some were so advanced that their mode of discovery still cannot be understood. For instance, Egyptians meticulously charted the trajectories of the sun and constellations, as well as the lunar cycles. They divided the year into 12 parts and developed a year-long calendar system containing 365 ¼ days. They even engineered clocks with moving water and sundial-like clocks were used. Talk about discoveries!
Did you know many treatments we use today were employed by several ancient peoples throughout Africa? Prior to the European colonisation of Africa, the field of medicine in regions such as Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa boasted a level of advancement that exceeded that of Europe. Among the notable practices in these areas was the utilisation of plants containing salicylic acid for pain relief (this is similar to the use of aspirin). Kaolin was used for treating diarrhoea (this is similar to the use of Kaopectate). There was the extraction of substances that were later confirmed, in the 20th century, to possess the capability to combat Gram-positive bacteria. Indigenous medicinal knowledge included the identification of plants with anticancer properties, the induction of abortions, and the treatment of malaria—many of which have demonstrated efficacy that can be compared with numerous contemporary Western treatments.Still on medicine,Did you know ancient African medical practices predated their adoption in Europe and encompassed a wide range of procedures, including vaccination, autopsy, limb traction, setting of broken bones, bullet extraction, brain surgery, skin grafting, dental cavity fillings, false teeth implantation, what we now recognise as the Caesarean section, anesthesia administration, and tissue cauterisation? African cultures consistently conducted surgical interventions under antiseptic conditions, even before the concept of antiseptic surgery was gaining prominence in Europe. Now, talk about impressive!
Chinyere Opia 8:25And 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.