Uncategorized – Page 5 – Next Einstein Forum

June 3, 2014

Nanotechnology takes on diabetes

A sensor which can be used to screen for diabetes in resource-poor settings have been developed by researchers and tested in diabetic patients, and will soon be field tested in sub-Saharan Africa. Read more A low-cost, reusable sensor which uses nanotechnology to screen for and monitor diabetes and other conditions, has been developed by an interdisciplinary […]

June 3, 2014

Bold education action to drive economic transformation

Africa has achieved exceptional economic growth over the past decade, averaging 4.5% a year and underpinned by prudent macroeconomic management. Now we must achieve economic growth that is accompanied by poverty reduction and greater value addition on the continent. Read more […]

May 30, 2014

Mobile offers brighter future for Africa’s rural homes

John Kibet’s home in rural Kenya is not linked to the country’s electricity grid. The only way he could generate power was by using a kerosene-powered generator. This was dirty, smelly and dangerous. But now things are different. Read more […]

May 27, 2014

Interview with Alex Pentland: Can We Use Big Data to Make Society Better?

Alex Pentland, 62, heads the Human Dynamics Lab at the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is considered one of the world’s leading data scientists. In his new book, “Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread — The Lessons from a New Science,” he argues that human communication behaviors follow the rules of […]

May 26, 2014

Smallholder farmers ‘remain left out of most R&D’

Smallholder farmers must be more involved in the research process to meet farmers’ needs and maximise its development impact, a meeting has heard. Individual subsistence farmers and farm organisations that represent their interests are a vital but underused link in the research and development(R&D) chain, experts said earlier this month (5-8 May) at the first meeting of Agrinatura, […]

May 23, 2014

Africa in 50 years: what African women want for the future of their continent

This week, more than 3000 delegates are at the annual meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Kigali discussing new strategies to tackle poverty, underdevelopment, and put their weight behind global schemes that ensure Africa’s progress. To mark the occasion, UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, published an OpEd today titled Women’s Role in the Next 50 Years – the […]

May 23, 2014

Health and agriculture innovations win top prizes

An injectable product made from bone growth proteins for treating bone injuries has won the 2014 Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA). South African scientists Nicolaas Duneas and Nuno Peres — who created the Altis Osteogenic Bone Matrix (OBM) — say the product is “the world’s first injectable regenerating bone graft substitute” derived from pig. Read more […]

May 22, 2014

Africa: the coming revolution

Africa’s fastest growing economies could offer a radical alternative to the West’s current reliance on national capitalism according to an academic who helped coin the term “informal economy”. Read more […]

May 21, 2014

Government ‘satisfied’ with reforms, despite delays

The Senegalese government is satisfied with progress in carrying out its reforms under the Presidential Council on the Future of Higher Education and Research, or CNEAS. But there are delays in accomplishing some important measures, according to press reports. The rate of carrying out the reforms according to the schedule was ‘very satisfactory’, according to […]

May 21, 2014

Research turns oil into market hit, empowers women

For centuries, the drought-tolerant argan tree, endemic to Morocco, has acted as a ‘green curtain’ against desertification by the encroaching Sahara. Argan oil is the tree’s most valuable product. Known for its light, nutty flavour, the oil is used for salad dressing and cooking, and is also reputed to have medicinal and cosmetic properties. But over the twentieth […]