“We’ve had a major breakthrough in the Rising Star cave system,” says Professor Lee Berger, one of the world’s most prolific human fossil finders. “We’ve been on an expedition for the last six weeks,” he says, and he is about to go back for a week as we do the interview. His Twitter post makes it clear he’s bursting with enthusiasm: “it’s as exciting as 2008, 2013, 2020 and the last 5 weeks!” For a palaeonthologist who has made some of the most significant fossil finds of the last three decades, including Australopithecus sediba in 2008, something extraordinary has clearly happened. “The discoveries we’ve made were right in front of our eyes, they’re extraordinary”, but he’s not letting on yet what he’s found or what it means. “I’d have to kill you if I do,” he jokes.
People – nature relationships
Elephants have killed about 60 people and injured 50 in Zimbabwe this year alone, and the need to find ways of reducing or eliminating human-animal conflict is intensifying.
The six finalists who are in line to win this year’s $150 000 USD Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Research Grant have been selected. The top three will be announced on August 31, during the OGRC Tipping Points webinar which will host a discussion between the finalists on their research objectives in the context of the range of pressing environmental issues facing Africa. Register here to join the webinar.
The use of artificial lights to trick malaria-transmitting mosquito species that feed nocturnally into behaving as if it’s daytime
How do we steer a path towards Africanfuturism, away from colonial narratives of what is fit for Africa? Laura Pereira (with insight from her colleagues) argues that retrieving indigenous knowledge through storytelling and exploring transdisciplinary visioning in Africa allow for a more radical way of thinking about possible sustainable futures.
We live in the age of the Anthropocene – a period during which human activity is having to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. In this era we have seen many flourish, but at great cost to the environment and the species we share the planet with.
The University of Pretoria has commemorated two research chairs funded by the Oppenheimer Generations Research & Conservation and the Benjamin Raymond Oppenheimer Trust (BRO Trust). The University’s partnership with Nicky, Strilli and Jonathan Oppenheimer to promote underfunded research areas has resulted in one research chair in non-invasive wildlife research and another in molecular archaeology receiving funding.
Wild plants are of fundamental importance to the wildlife economy, it was emphasised at a dialogue on how to protect and grow the sector, held in Stellenbosch in early March.
If Barry Lovegrove’s life demonstrated one thing, it is that science and art are not mutually exclusive realms. Friend and colleague, Robert Inglis, considers the legacy of an extraordinary scientist.
The fragility of business models for Africa’s protected areas has been exposed by continent-wide closure of the tourism sector in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. These areas have traditionally relied on three sources of funding – subsidies from national governments, tourism-related revenues such as entrance fees and leasing fees for lodges, and international aid. National funding for African protected areas has always been modest. During the lockdown, tourism revenue disappeared, and multilateral aid flows were redirected to Covid-related priorities.