September 17
Africa: Scientists Have Found Evidence of Past Extreme Solar Storms. Their Return Could Be Disastrous for Our Technology-Based Societies
In September 1859, the same year that Darwin published On the Origin of Species, telegraph systems across Europe and North America stopped working and started sparking, leading to… Read more »
September 12
West Africa: Hustle Academies - West Africa's Online Scammers Are Training Others in Fraud and Sextortion
As the world becomes increasingly connected, digital fraud has evolved from a local problem into a global one. West Africa, particularly Ghana and Nigeria, is witnessing the rise… Read more »
September 05
South Africa: Technology Classes At School Can Also Teach Skills for Business and Life - South African Teachers Share Ideas
Starting and running your own business takes hard work and a can-do attitude. Typically, entrepreneurs are the kinds of people who can identify and solve problems innovatively, are… Read more »
September 03
Africa: Mobile Phones Are Not Linked to Brain Cancer, According to a Major Review of 28 Years of Research
A systematic review into the potential health effects from radio wave exposure has shown mobile phones are not linked to brain cancer. The review was commissioned by the World… Read more »
August 28
South Africa: Playing Technology Games and Making Science Fun Helps Young Kids Solve Visual Problems and Grasp Ideas Better
As I watched my sons, Wavhudi and Rivhavhudi, play games on my phone before bedtime, I was captivated by their enthusiasm and how deeply they were engaged - especially when the… Read more »
August 26
Africa: A Third of the World's Population Lacks Internet Connectivity - Airborne Communications Stations Could Change That
About one-third of the global population, around 3 billion people, don't have access to the internet or have poor connections because of infrastructure limitations, economic… Read more »
August 27
Africa: Children and the Internet - Helping Kids Navigate This Modern Minefield
The United States' most senior public health official, surgeon-general Vivek Murthy, believes social media platforms should come with warning labels. The United Nations' education,… Read more »
August 21
Africa: Avalanches Can Grow 100 Times Larger Under the Sea Than On Land - Here's Why They're a Risk to the Internet
Underwater avalanches are powerful natural events that happen all the time under the surface of the ocean. They are impossible to see and extremely difficult to measure, which… Read more »
August 18
Africa: Generative Ai Hype Is Ending - and Now the Technology Might Actually Become Useful
Less than two years ago, the launch of ChatGPT started a generative AI frenzy. Some said the technology would trigger a fourth industrial revolution, completely reshaping the world… Read more »
August 15
Africa: Meta Just Closed a Vital Online Research Tool. It's Bad News for the Fight Against Misinformation
For more than a decade, researchers and journalists have relied on a digital tool called CrowdTangle to track and fight the spread of viral falsehoods online. Read more »
July 30
Africa: Verifying Facts in the Age of AI - Librarians Offer 5 Strategies
The phenomenal growth in artificial intelligence tools has made it easy to create a story quickly, complicating a reader's ability to determine if a news source or article is… Read more »
July 19
Africa: One Small Update Brought Down Millions of IT Systems Around the World. It's a Timely Warning
This weekend's global IT outage caused by a software update gone wrong highlights the interconnected and often fragile nature of modern IT infrastructure. It demonstrates how a… Read more »
Africa: What Is Crowdstrike Falcon and What Does It Do? Is My Computer Safe?
A massive IT outage is currently affecting computer systems worldwide. In Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, reports indicate computers at banks, media organisations, hospitals,… Read more »
July 15
Kenya: Kenya's Digital Divide - Pastoralists Are Key to the Country's Economy, but They're Being Left Behind
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) hold great potential to expand African economies. They include mobile banking platforms, internet-enabled communication devices… Read more »
Nigeria: Pregnant Nigerian Women Need Faster Access to Hospitals - Technology Helped Us Calculate Travel Times
Nigeria contributes 28% of the 280,000 maternal deaths and about 10% of almost two million stillbirths that occur annually across the globe. Read more »
July 09
Africa: Catching Online Scammers - Our Model Combines Data and Behavioural Science to Map the Psychological Games Cybercriminals Play
When fiction's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, needed to solve a crime, he turned to his sharp observational skills and deep understanding of human nature. He used this… Read more »
July 08
Africa: Power-Hungry AI Is Driving a Surge in Tech Giant Carbon Emissions. Nobody Knows What to Do About It
Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the world has seen an incredible surge in investment, development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. According to… Read more »
June 23
Africa: An Eerie 'Digital Afterlife' Is No Longer Science Fiction. So How Do We Navigate the Risks?
Imagine a future where your phone pings with a message that your dead father's "digital immortal" bot is ready. This promise of chatting with a virtual version of your loved one -… Read more »
June 25
South Africa: Technology Makes It Possible to Diagnose Diseases On the Spot
Digital technology has hugely improved healthcare in many ways. Read more »
June 16
Africa: How to Avoid Being Hacked - Start By Upping Your Password Game - '12345' Doesn't Cut It
If you type the term "password cyberattack" into Google News, the results will show just how often cyber criminals are getting hold of important data belonging to companies and… Read more »
May 28
Africa: Democracy in Africa - Digital Voting Technology and Social Media Can Be a Force for Good - and Bad
It's a bumper year for elections on the continent: by the end of 2024, 20 countries ought to have gone to the polls to vote in national elections. A handful of others are also… Read more »
May 07
Africa: Why Are Algorithms Called Algorithms? a Brief History of the Persian Polymath You've Likely Never Heard of
Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and… Read more »
April 15
Africa: 5 Questions Schools and Universities Should Ask Before They Purchase AI Tech Products
Every few years, an emerging technology shows up at the doorstep of schools and universities promising to transform education. The most recent? Technologies and apps that include… Read more »
April 18
Africa: Understanding AI Outputs - Study Shows Pro-Western Cultural Bias in the Way AI Decisions Are Explained
Humans are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to inform decisions about our lives. AI is, for instance, helping to make hiring choices and offer medical diagnoses. Read more »
April 22
South Africa: Meerkat - the South African Radio Telescope That's Transformed Our Understanding of the Cosmos
South Africa's Karoo region is a vast semi-arid area that stretches across four of the country's provinces. It is sparsely populated and renowned for its wide open spaces. Read more »