About 30 million smallholder cassava farmers in East and Central Africa could benefit from a project that has mass-produced small plants of 19 varieties resistant to the crop’s two devastating viral diseases. Cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) cause losses estimated at US$1 billion every year worldwide, placing farmers at risk of […]
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Graduate unemployment rates have spiralled across Sub-Saharan Africa as too few graduates gain the skills needed to find work. In many countries employers complain of a lack of basic, technical and transferable skills, says a new report by the British Council. Preparing graduates for the workplace is an enormous challenge that needs different government departments, […]
Read More… from Higher education could help solve the job crisis – Report
When the 10th international conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST2014) opened last week in Salvador, we were reminded that the field began in earnest 25 years ago with an erstwhile paper from UNESCO. Since then, the community of practitioners and academics have called themselves different things and been subject to a shifting […]
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A network for Sudanese women researchers has been formed, to highlight the successes of women in science and to enhance their contribution to innovation and economic growth. The Sudanese women’s network for research and innovation was launched during the second Arab Women in Science and Technology for Sustainable Development conference held in the country’s capital Khartoum from […]
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For a while now, Argentina has seemed serious about science as a means for development. This week, at the 13th International Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference (PCST2014), there was fresh evidence of this. I learned that President Cristina Kirchner’s government is setting up a specialised agency within the science ministry to boost science communication in the country. This is part of the government’s strategic goals […]
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Despite nanotechnology’s huge potential to alleviate poverty, it is one of the least covered science topics in Nigerian newspapers, a study finds. The study, which is yet to be published, was presented by Herbert Batta, a communication lecturer at Nigeria’s University of Uyo, at the 13thInternational Public Communication of Science and Technology conference (PCST2014) in Brazil, this week (5-8 May). Read more […]
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I don’t exactly love videogames, but yesterday I found myself eager to play one at a conference where I was supposed to be acting like a responsible, grown-up journalist. I just couldn’t help myself: the game was so inviting and surprising. A team of artists in Singapore have developed the game to simultaneously entertain children […]
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Should the local communities in developing nations have a say in setting the research agenda of foreign scientists working there? There was a resounding ‘yes’ to this question at the opening ceremony and the first plenary session of the 13th International Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference (PCST2014) in Salvador, Brazil (5-8 May). Read more […]
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The negative consequences of climate change on agricultural production and productivity are with us and resolutions must be implemented to save West and Central Africa, said the Director General, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Dr Nteranya Sanginga. Addressing national and international researchers attending a conference on Biotic stresses, climate change and agricultural production in Cotonou, […]
Read More… from Climate change is with us and we must take action, an expert calls
Although use of mobile phones can help save lives of those who suddenly get heart attacks, only 3 in ten people in developing countries such as Kenya apply the device to text medics of their heart conditions. According to the experts attending the World Congress of Cardiology in Melbourne, Australia, widespread use of mobile phones […]
Read More… from Heart disease: Mobile Phones could be timely, prevent deaths