South African medical engineering group Lodox Systems soon release its latest version of its digital X-ray screening technology, dubbed the Xmplar-dr, which the company says is “unrivalled” as the world’s only high-speed full-body digital scanning device. CEO Pieter de Beer explained that the exceptional feature of the Xmplar-dr is that it takes only 13 seconds [...]
William Bond FRSSAf, the Harry Bolus Professor of Botany in the Department of Biological Sciences, has been elected as a foreign associate of the United States’ National Academy of Sciences (NAS), which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Bond, an A-rated researcher with South Africa’s National Research Foundation, is an ecologist with an interest in [...]
Is the title of a talk by Professor Roy Maartens of the Department of Astrophysics at University of the Western Cape which will be presented on Wednesday, 19th June at 5pm at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) Auditorium,* Abstract: The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the biggest ever radio telescope array, able to reach even deeper [...]
The use of stem cells to develop ‘disease-in-a-dish’ models, for studying disease aetiology and for drug screening, is gaining popularity worldwide. The UCT Stem Cell Initiative, headed by Professors Sue Kidson and Jacquie Greenberg (Royal Society of SA Member) and comprising scientists and students from the departments of cell biology, human genetics, neurology and other [...]
A paper published recently in Open Biology, has pinpointed a particular protein as the transporter of vitamin B12 in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium which causes tuberculosis. RSSAf Fellow Professor Val Mizrahi and RSSAf Member Dr Digby Warner of the IIDMM (UCT’s Institute for Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine ) were the Principal Investigator and Team [...]
New radio telescope in SA will also shed new light on the earliest moments of the universe: The South African C-BASS dish being installed at the Klerefontein within the astronomical geographic advantage area of South Africa’s SKA site. In the week that saw the release of the first results from the European Space Agency’s Planck [...]
Strengthening the governance and development of astronomy in South Africa Astronomy is a national flagship initiative aligned with the “Areas of Geographic Advantage” approach, contained in the 2002 National Research and Development Strategy of the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The continuous development and strengthening of astronomy in South Africa remains a high priority [...]
Prof Mike Wingfield, Director of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded the prestigious African Union (AU) Continental Scientific Award in the Life and Earth Sciences category. The AU Scientific Award Programme is a symbol of the commitment of AU heads of state and [...]
Vincent Carruthers, Royal Society member, has been awarded the highest possible honour from North-West University – the Chancellor’s Medal Award – in recognition of his outstanding contributions to environmental sciences in the North-West Province and nationally, his authorship of excellent field guides and other books on wildlife, and for his contribution using natural history to [...]
