South Africa’s youth hack the continent’s biggest space project

South Africa is building the world’s largest radio telescope – the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). But once it is operational, the real work begins: the immense streams of data gathered from across the universe will have to be processed. Is this where young techies could come in?

---

Could the outrage over Cecil the Lion trigger more lion deaths?

The shooting of Cecil the Lion made game hunting headline news all over the world. But behind one lion’s death, there is a whole industry of breeding lions for sport. If canned hunting and cub petting is not regulated properly, it will be difficult for Africa’s wildlife to be worth more alive than dead.

---

What is Mos Def’s World Passport and can we all get one?

South Africa has put its foot down over accepting the world passport as a legal travel document – sorry Mos Def – but could using it actually help monitor and aid undocumented migrants and refugees across the continent?

---

Stopping Ebola is going to need more than a vaccine

The worst Ebola outbreak in recorded history has already claimed the lives of more than 11,000 people across West Africa. Many deaths could have been prevented: local communities did not know enough about the disease and how to stop its spread. An ambitious new programme aims to train local journalists how better to inform and educate their communities in order to keep them safe.

---

SA’s Homo Naledi skeleton has changed history — and triggered a weird race row

The watershed fossil discovery of Homo naledi is a breakthrough moment for South African science – why then are some prominent local politicians just so darned insulted by them?

---

Can the UN conference solve Africa’s catch-22 climate change dilemma?

African communities already feeling the pinch of global warming received a sharp reminder of the severity of their precarious predicament, when Pope Francis used his historic visit to Kenya as a platform highlighting the ‘catastrophic perils’ already inflicted by climate change on the continent.

---

Does dehorning rhinos actually keep them safe from poachers?

While rhinos and elephants are poached at devastating rates throughout Africa, one reserve in South Africa is taking drastic action to save its rhino herds by having them all dehorned – is this really what it takes to save a species?

---

Sustainable Solutions: Building sand houses in Cape Town

Are locally-built sandbag homes the simple answer to the practical challenges township residents face … fire, flood and planning permissions?

---

Black kids around the world want dolls that look like them

First Queens of Africa and now Momppy Mpoppy dolls are replacing Barbie as a sassy alternative for young African girls and boosting their self-esteem at the same time.