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 S22Meet the co-owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks: A casino mogul trying to bring gambling to a reluctant state  Dumont, the president of gambling giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. — and son-in-law of billionaire Miriam Adelson — bought a majority stake in the Mavs with his family late last year from Mark Cuban. The deal valued the franchise at $3.5 billion. Since then, he’s been a regular at the games and is warmly acclimating to his new home away from home. “I don’t think there are many cities in America where you can show up and everyone’s just warm and embracing,” Dumont said at the team’s practice facility ahead of Game 4 against the Boston Celtics, who have dominated the series and pushed Dallas to the brink of elimination. The Mavs ended up winning, 122-84, though no NBA team has ever come back from a 0-3 playoff deficit. “There’s a lot of pride about being a Texan, and it’s just a lot of fun to be part of.”
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S2Travelers are going to extreme lengths to avoid scrolling and notification anxiety on vacation | Business Insider India Six years ago, I spent ten days without my phone at a meditation retreat in Thailand. The experience was so refreshing that I felt like I had a new brain. I vowed to use my phone less, but unfortunately, the habit didn't stick. My phone usage has skyrocketed in the years since, sometimes clocking ten hours of screen time.Planning a wedding and buying an apartment in the same month brought my digital dependence to new heights. On a recent trip to a Scottish cabin advertised as somewhere to "stay where the world can't find you," I tried to go tech-free and reset. With an itinerary of fly fishing and hiking, I thought it would be easy to unplug.
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S3Mapped: Where Tesla and BYD Make Their Cars With no other company able to match their scale, these two automakers have found themselves locked in a competition for the global EV crown. In Q4 2023, BYD outsold Tesla for the first time ever by 41,000 vehicles (526,000 vs 485,000). In Q1 2024, however, their positions were switched after Tesla outsold BYD by 87,000 vehicles (387,000 vs 300,000).To gain insight into this rivalry, we’ve visualized the locations of both companies’ present and future EV factories, along with their estimated maximum annual output. Figures come from a variety of sources, and represent the latest information pertaining to planned production facilities (as of April 2024).
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S6Mapping the Darkness Excerpt: Sleep Spelunking When University of Chicago physiologist Nathaniel Kleitman told fellow faculty members he was seeking a locale for a month-long sleep experiment — someplace as isolated from the rhythms of day and night as the Arctic in summer — a colleague in the geology department said he knew just the spot.Between 10 million and 15 million years ago, in what is now south‑central Kentucky, trickles of groundwater began probing the cracks in a fossil seabed. Over the eons, the pockets grew and grew until they’d formed the most extensive cave system in North America — over 400 miles of underground chambers, canyons, tubes, shafts, and passageways, interwoven with Stygian rivers.
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S7Organizations Work to Reduce Animal Deaths With Relegated Passageways More than 4 million miles of public roads across the U.S. provide vital links for commerce, services, and travel, but they’re treacherous barriers for wildlife seeking food, water, and mates. Exposed and unsure about the noisy, unfamiliar terrain presented by an open road, an animal that hesitates or misjudges the speed of an approaching vehicle risks fatal consequences.Unfortunately, those encounters are all too common on busy roadways. According to the Federal Highway Administration, there are more than 1 million wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVCs) every year in the U.S. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of animals killed and maimed, WVCs also result in hundreds of human fatalities and tens of thousands of injuries.
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S8Everything to know about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro A sunrise ascent of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro while taking in panoramic views across the savanna is an unforgettable experience. Soaring upwards from the Tanzania-Kenya border, Kilimanjaro is Africa’s highest mountain at 19,340ft, one of the Seven Summits and the world’s highest standalone mountain. Also known as ‘the Roof of Africa’, the dormant volcano’s sheer scale combines with geological intrigue, natural beauty and a rich human history to attract 30,000-plus climbers annually.In 1887, Chagga tribe member Yohani Lauwo led an expedition that saw Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtscheller become the first Europeans to reach the summit. Lauwo lived to age 125 and became known as ‘The Old Man of Mount Kilimanjaro’. Today, his grandson Joshua Mlay follows in his footsteps as a guide for Intrepid Ventures. “I keep on practising my grandpa’s legacy, because every time I get up there I feel a sense of belonging,” he says.
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S9The perfect storm that led to the Jonestown massacre The Jonestown massacre remains one of the largest mass murders in American history. In a single day, 901 Americans and 8 Guyanese died from Jim Jones’ actions. Met with criticism rather than compassion, victims and survivors of the 1978 tragedy were often blamed and seen as “crazy” for joining the movement. The truth is that Jonestown’s leader, preacher Jim Jones, was successful in drawing in followers in the United States because his message resonated in an era of frustration and upheaval—and his views were legitimized by other civil rights leaders. In Guyana, Jones offered a utopia where followers could enact their vision of an equal, self-sufficient society.
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S10Why South Africa Won't Be Going Green In the months of debate culminating in South Africa’s May 29 election, there was one campaign issue that was conspicuously absent. Across the globe in this year of elections, climate change—and how to deal with its causes and effects—has featured prominently in many campaigns, from India to the European Union to Britain.In the months of debate culminating in South Africa’s May 29 election, there was one campaign issue that was conspicuously absent. Across the globe in this year of elections, climate change—and how to deal with its causes and effects—has featured prominently in many campaigns, from India to the European Union to Britain.
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S11Why Biden's Gaza Gambit Is Likely to Fail Woody Allen once quipped that 80 percent of success in life is just showing up. From a negotiator’s perspective, he was only half right; success more often than not depends on showing up at the right time. Anyone trying to make sense of U.S. President Joe Biden’s tortured attempt to sell Israel’s peace plan needs to take a hard look at time and timing and how each of the three major players calculate it.Woody Allen once quipped that 80 percent of success in life is just showing up. From a negotiator’s perspective, he was only half right; success more often than not depends on showing up at the right time. Anyone trying to make sense of U.S. President Joe Biden’s tortured attempt to sell Israel’s peace plan needs to take a hard look at time and timing and how each of the three major players calculate it.
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S12S13S14S15Boston Should Rename Its Airport for Bill Russell It’s a fun time to be a fan of the Boston Celtics. It is also a fraught time, given how polarizing the franchise—and the city—can be to everyone who doesn’t live there. I get it: No one wants to hear from us. New England sports teams have won entirely too much this century (sorry). Our fans can act like entitled dickheads (guilty).Though I haven’t lived in New England for 30 years, I still feel tribally connected to its teams. That’s how it tends to go for those of us who marinated in the Boston sports experience as kids. And so here we are again. The Celtics are playing for their record-breaking 18th championship against the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals. They lead the series 3–0, with Game 4 set for Friday in Dallas. The Celtics are poised to sweep. But if the Mavericks can force a Game 5 in Boston Monday night, and I can find a ticket without going broke, I’m planning to fly home for the occasion.
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S16Stingrays Are a Bigger Threat Than Sharks Stingray 12 is surprisingly calm for an animal that’s getting squeegeed. The ray, roughly the size of a dinner plate, is submerged in the sand of a tank about the size of a chest freezer; even the golden eyes on top of her head are buried in the sediment. She stays motionless as the researcher Ben Perlman, of California State University at Long Beach (CSULB), carefully pushes the sand from her mottled-brown body—the squeegee offering the scientist a little protection from the hazardous-looking barbs poking out halfway down Stingray 12’s tail.Perlman’s lab in Long Beach, California—aptly called STABB, for Stingray and Butterfly Biomechanics Lab (the butterfly project is currently paused)—explores how and why stingrays move and behave the way they do. Seal Beach, one of the area’s popular surf spots, about three miles from the lab, is colloquially known as Ray Bay. Stingrays love to congregate there in the calm, warm waters at the mouth of the San Gabriel River, and lifeguards document upwards of 500 painful stab injuries from rays each year. Studying the rays’ behavior and their stinging process can open a new window into human interactions with what the lab calls “danger pancakes,” Perlman says.
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S17Inside China's Massive Surveillance Operation It was 2011, and she was living in Hotan, an oasis town in Xinjiang, in northwest China. The 30-year-old, Nurjamal Atawula, loved to take pictures of her children and exchange strings of emoji with her husband while he was out. In 2013, Atawula downloaded WeChat, the Chinese social messaging app. Not long after, rumors circulated among her friends: The government could track your location through your phone. At first, she didn't believe them."The day I left, my husband was arrested," Atawula said. When she arrived in Turkey in June 2016, her phone stopped workingâand by the time she had it repaired, all her friends and relatives had deleted her from their WeChat accounts. They feared that the government would punish them for communicating with her.
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S18Musk Says a Thousand Tesla Androids Will Be Working in His Factories Next Year We know humanoid robots--androids--are moving from the realm of sci-fi into real- life usefulness. Every tech pundit from Bill Gates to Jeff Bezos seems excited about their promise, and Peter Diamandis, entrepreneur behind the technology-advancing X Prize, even imagines that "millions, then billions" of them are incoming. But will these future visions come true soon?Alongside dealing with other Tesla business, including the shareholder vote that saw a re-approval of his gigantic $56 billion pay package, Musk gushed about the promise of the humanoid robot market. The Optimus robot, which Tesla first revealed as a concept back in late 2021 and has steadily worked to develop since then, may actually become Tesla's key product, Musk thinks. To back up his words, Musk said that Tesla would be using about 1,000 of its own androids next year. The entrepreneur recently said that his company was already trialing two Optimuses on the factory floor.
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S19Apple Just Killed the Emoji and It's a Stroke of Genius Despite what is kind of a weird name (presumably, it's meant to combine "generative" with "emoji"), it's a pretty cool idea. It's also sure to be a highlight feature from Apple's WWDC this week. After all, people really like emoji. Like, they really like emoji. More than 92 percent of people say they use emoji on a daily basis. According to Emojipedia, more than five billion emojis are sent every day on Facebook Messenger alone. Still, emoji are part of the Unicode standard, and there are only 3,782 as of version 15.1. For years, a consortium--of which Apple is a member--decided which new emoji should be included, and that's that. The rest of us just get to choose from their list. That means that while there is almost always an emoji for every text or tweet, sometimes it's hard to find the perfect way to express whatever it is you're trying to say.
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S20S21A rare flesh-eating bacteria with a 'terrifying' mortality rate that can kill people in 48 hours is spreading in Japan Group A Streptococcus (GAS) typically causes swelling and sore throat in children known as “strep throat,” but some types of the bacteria can lead to symptoms developing rapidly, including limb pain and swelling, fever, low blood pressure, that can be followed by necrosis, breathing problems, organ failure and death. People over 50 are more prone to the disease.Other countries have experienced recent outbreaks. In late 2022 at least five European nations reported to the World Health Organization an increase in cases of invasive group A streptococcus (iGAS) disease, which includes STSS. The WHO said the rise in cases followed the end of Covid restrictions.
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S23These Luxurious NYC Apartments Are On The Market--From Katharine Hepburn's Former Home To Judge Judy's Penthouse (Photos) A famous director, A-list actor and a daytime TV show host are among the big names looking for luck in New York City's hit-or-miss luxury real estate market with a slew of recent high-dollar residential listings that feature original details, sprawling layouts and increasingly rare private outdoor space in the heart of Manhattan.Manhattan was the market with the highest median sales price for luxury homes in April, according the latest data available from the Institute of Luxury Home Marketing, with an average price of $4.02 million (Vail, Colorado was next with a $3.52 million median price, followed by Naples, Florida at $2.48 million).
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S24Liquor-License Loophole Or Another Trump Tall Tale? The State of New Jersey disclosed recently that its Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) is reviewing if Donald Trump’s convictions last month on 34 counts of business fraud violate a law barring convicted felons from holding liquor licenses. Forbes was the first to cover the state’s review of the liquor licenses at the former president’s three New Jersey golf clubs.The next day, spokespeople for the former president claimed that Trump had nothing to do with the licenses at the three clubs. “President Trump is not the holder of any liquor license in New Jersey, and he is not an officer or director of any entity that holds a liquor license in New Jersey—or anywhere in the United States for that matter,” according to a statement a spokesperson for the Trump Organization provided to media outlets.
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S25Can Apple Stock Go Much Higher? Analysts Don't Think So: Here's Why. The good news first: Apple stock closed at a week-ending record of $212.49 per share, its third-largest percentage-point weekly gain of the last two years and its second-largest dollar-per-share weekly rally of the last decade, coming after the technology company introduced its generative artificial intelligence offerings due later this year.Stock price targets, which can often be slow to move or react to previous movements, are an inexact science, but certainly indicate the prevailing notion that Apple stock has priced in much of its potential upside. The most glaring overhang on Apple's stock is its stagnant revenue growth, as consensus forecasts expect the company to report just 1% sales growth this year from its 2023 fiscal year and a 2% decline from 2022's record $394 billion of revenue. Though it can be expected that an established company like Apple would have weaker growth than a company in a more nascent industry like Nvidia, Apple's sales growth lag behind fellow tech bigshot Microsoft, which is expected to report 16% top line growth this fiscal year after growing its business by 7% last year. Apple's $383 billion in net income and $97 billion in revenue in its 2023 fiscal year overshadowed Microsoft's $212 billion and $73 billion, but consensus forecasts call for Microsoft to lap Apple in profits by 2026 and sales by 2028. In fact, analysts project Nvidia's net income to top Apple's by 2028, which would have been quite hard to believe two years ago, when Nvidia tallied about one-twentieth of Apple's annual profit. Remember, investors mostly pay for the prospect of future earnings, not past results.
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S26S27From Ancient Egypt to Roman Britain, brewers are reviving beers from the past Beer archaeologists are peering back millennia to recreate brews from ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome using ancient methods and ingredients.Some of the most interesting beers made in recent years provide a drinkable window into human history. These so-called "rebrews" of age-old ales were once savoured in places ranging from Ancient Egypt and Greece to Celtic and Viking Europe. Their drinkers liked a choice too, with 5,000-year-old Babylonian-carved stone tablets depicting recipes for nearly 20 different barley-based beers.
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S28Ancient Viruses Left Their DNA In Humans -- Some ancient viral DNA sequences play a role in susceptibility to psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and major depressive disorder.Around 8 percent of human DNA is made up of genetic sequences acquired from ancient viruses. These sequences, known as human endogenous retroviruses (or Hervs), date back hundreds of thousands to millions of years — with some even predating the emergence of Homo sapiens.
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S29S30The Gas From Cow Burps Could Be the Easiest Greenhouse Gas to Get Rid Of In the urgent quest for a more sustainable global food system, livestock are a mixed blessing. On the one hand, by converting fibrous plants that people can’t eat into protein-rich meat and milk, grazing animals like cows and sheep are an important source of human food. And for many of the world’s poorest, raising a cow or two — or a few sheep or goats — can be a key source of wealth.But those benefits come with an immense environmental cost. A study in 2013 showed that globally, livestock account for about 14.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the world’s cars and trucks combined. And about 40 percent of livestock’s global warming potential comes in the form of methane, a potent greenhouse gas formed as they digest their fibrous diet.
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S31Elephants Give Each Other Unique Names. It Gets Weirder People use unique names to address each other, but we’re one of only a handful of animal species known to do that, including bottlenose dolphins.What’s in a name? People use unique names to address each other, but we’re one of only a handful of animal species known to do that, including bottlenose dolphins. Finding more animals with names and investigating how they use them can improve scientists’ understanding of both other animals and ourselves.
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S32Does Evolution Even Matter Anymore -- Or Is Human Progress Just Too Fast for Biology? Research shows that many of our contemporary problems, such as the rising prevalence of mental health issues, are emerging from rapid technological advancement and modernization. A theory that can help explain why we respond poorly to modern conditions, despite the choices, safety, and other benefits they bring, is an evolutionary mismatch.A mismatch happens when an evolved adaptation, either physical or psychological, becomes misaligned with the environment. Take moths and some species of nocturnal flies, for example. Because they have to navigate in the dark, they evolved to use the moon for direction. However, due to the invention of artificial lighting, many moths and flies are drawn to street lamps and indoor lights instead.
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S33Awesome Things for Your Backyard on Amazon That Are So Freaking So Cheap If you’re looking to spend more time outside, a great source of encouragement is to spruce up your space so you look forward to chilling by the water, eating under an umbrella, grilling on the patio, or reading on the lounger. Luckily for you, there are plenty of things you can do that bring the awesome to your backyard without spending a small fortune. I found ways to make your space comfier, less buggy, and well lit. And who can forget your barbecue experience? So sit back, relax, and check out these 40 awesome things for your backyard that are so freaking cheap. Make grilling veggies, shrimp, and other smaller, more delicate items a breeze when you use these mesh pouches. They’re heat resistant up to 500 degrees, food safe, and feature a snap-button closure that keeps your food from falling through the grill’s grates. They’re nonstick and super easy to clean for a mess-free barbecue experience.
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S34This Bird Is Way Smarter Than Anyone Gives It Credit For The cycling infrastructure in the Netherlands is fantastic, and cyclists in my hometown of Utrecht would have been the happiest in the world if it weren’t for one thing: pigeons.One moment, you’re pedaling in the sun with a cool breeze on your face, and the next, you’re breaking and swerving. A pigeon casually strolled onto your path, seemingly oblivious to the danger it put itself in. Growing up, I often wondered just how stupid they must be to blindly walk into traffic. Many years later, I found myself once again puzzling over pigeon intellect, but this time in a new paper in the journal PLOS Biology on collective intelligence and flight paths.
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S35Hands Down, the 60 Strangest, Most Genius Things With Near-Perfect Amazon Reviews When it comes to life’s little problems, sometimes solutions take an unexpected shape. From creating better storage solutions to saving yourself time in the kitchen to efficiently nailing DIY repairs, products that may seem odd can, in actuality, be the answer. To see exactly what I’m talking about, browse this list of, hands down, the strangest, most genius things that will be sure to address all your pesky problems. Plus, they’re all backed up by near-perfect reviews on Amazon so you can rest easy knowing you’re firmly well-informed.Serve dishes laden with garlic and onions without smelling like them the rest of the night using this rub-a-way bar. Designed to be rubbed with your hands like a bar of soap, its stainless steel material helps to bond to the sulfuric compounds found in odoriferous (yet delicious) ingredients. Popular with over 14,000 five-star ratings, it can be used with or without water and popped into the dishwasher for easy cleaning.
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S36'House of the Dragon' Is Finally Back and Bloodier Than Ever The call to battle has sounded, and the House of the Dragon fandom is answering. Season 2 is finally here, and while the first season covered whole decades, the action is now slowing down as it moves into the struggle for succession that Season 1 built towards. Rhaenyra and Aegon both believe they’re the rightful ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, but there’s only room on the Iron Throne for one.Whether you’re on Team Green or Team Black, here’s everything you need to know about how to tune in and watch the Dance of Dragons unfold.
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S37Peacock Just Quietly Added the Best (and Bloodiest) Revenge Thriller of the Year The revenge thriller didn’t start with John Wick, but sometimes it seems like it ended with him. While Keanu Reeve’s hyperviolent murder sprees may have rejuvenated the genre, they’ve also led to a slew of middling imitators. An assembly line of fading celebrities looking to slaughter their way to the top of the box office quickly sprang up, subsequently watering down a genre that fans have loved ever since Charles Bronson murdered a bunch of dudes in 1974. But half a century later, one movie proved that the revenge thriller still has some juice.Written and directed by star Dev Patel, Monkey Man pushes the revenge thriller to delirious new highs by taking the movies that built the genre (in a Letterboxd interview, Patel cites everything from The Raid to Enter the Dragon to Oldboy) and injecting them with a timely warning about the rise of Indian nationalism. Combine all that with a first-time director showing incredible confidence and flair, and you get one of the best revenge thrillers ever made — and easily the best of 2024.
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S38Engineers Just Uncovered A Critical Discovery About Supercapacitors Modern life relies on electricity and electrical devices, from cars and buses to phones and laptops, to the electrical systems in homes. Behind many of these devices is a type of energy storage device, the supercapacitor. My team of engineers is working on making these supercapacitors even better at storing energy by studying how they store energy at the nanoscale.Supercapacitors, like batteries, are energy storage devices. They charge faster than batteries, often in a few seconds to a minute, but generally store less energy. They’re used in devices that require storing or supplying a burst of energy over a short span of time. In your car and in elevators, they can help recover energy during braking to slow down. They help meet fluctuating energy demand in laptops and cameras, and they stabilize the energy loads in electrical grids.
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S39The Longest-Running Sci-Fi Show Just Retconned Its Oldest Mystery Since the 2005 relaunch of Doctor Who, the Doctor has often been described as “the last of the Time Lords.” Initially, this was because the planet Gallifrey had been assumed destroyed in the Time War, and then trapped in a pocket universe in “The Day of the Doctor,” and then, after the events of “The Timeless Children,” all of Gallifrey was destroyed by the Master. So, from the 9th through 15th Doctors, other Time Lords — including the Doctor’s family — have been scarce.But, in “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” the latest Doctor Who season tackles the idea that the Doctor’s original companion, his granddaughter, Susan Foreman, might still be alive. And so, in exploring the mystery of Susan, this episode also seems to retcon the basic origin of Susan, too. In typical Doctor Who non-linear fashion, it would seem that the 1963 status quo of Doctor Who is oddly, somehow, still in the Doctor’s future.
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S40S4135 Years Ago, an Iconic Sci-Fi Franchise Expanded With a Misunderstood Masterpiece If the concept of mood slime existed in any movie other than 1989’s Ghostbusters II, it would be considered one of science fiction's most clever and compact conceits. If Douglas Adams had lifted the movie’s basic plot structure it would be quoted on bumper stickers. And yet the world-building notion that ectoplasm — the residue left by ghosts — can be weaponized for good or ill by our emotions simply isn’t treated with the reverence it should be, nor are the several other innovations introduced in Ghostbusters II.The sequel to 1984’s Ghostbusters was and is generally viewed as a less-than-stellar follow-up to a nearly perfect film. But while it’s fair to say Ghostbusters II is a less pure piece of art than Ghostbusters, that doesn’t mean Ghostbusters II is bad. For three decades, this sequel has been bad-mouthed so much that you have to wonder if people have bothered to actually watch it. Ghostbusters II may be inferior to its predecessor, but it’s still a misunderstood comedic sci-fi masterpiece.
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S4230 Years Ago, Nintendo Released Its Most Inventive Platformer -- And Changed Mario Forever You need hindsight to track evolution. In biology, it's all about poring over fossil records and DNA analysis to discover how yesterday’s T-rex became today’s chicken. In gaming, it means revisiting now-defunct platforms in search of hidden gems and hints about a franchise’s future. Nintendo is one of the easiest to track thanks to its deep bench, familiar faces, and longstanding ability to deliver innovative, joyful games. Its beloved mascot Mario has undergone a slew of changes since his first appearance in 1981’s Donkey Kong. So perhaps it's appropriate that the modern Mario we know and love got his start in a Donkey Kong game, too.According to legendary Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto, Donkey Kong ‘94 was conceived as a 10th anniversary project for the franchise. Unfortunately, the timing didn’t quite work out and Nintendo missed the 1981 release window by a few years, ultimately debuting the game on June 14, 1994 in Japan (and a month later in America). The extra attention was worth it. If you’ve never played it, Donkey Kong ‘94 might seem to be a simple collection of arcade-style stages. It’s not. It’s one of the most meta and innovative titles Nintendo ever produced.
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S43'The Acolyte's Most Controversial Star Wars Retcon Actually Happened 22 Years Ago Star Wars has built an entire universe around the idea of good versus evil, specifically the Jedi versus the Sith. Whether that’s the Empire fighting the Rebellion or the Resistance facing the First Order, that’s usually what the conflict boils down to. But The Acolyte is different. As Mother Aniseya says, it’s not about good and bad, but power and who’s allowed to use it.The Force is that power, and it ripples throughout the universe. But as The Acolyte proved, not everyone treats that power the same, and not everyone even calls it the Force. Fifteen years ago, Star Wars explored that same idea with a forgotten group of sages that introduced this concept and raised one of the fandom’s most beloved Jedi.
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S44Students on the frontline: South Africa and the US share a history of protest against white supremacy Apartheid was officially made policy in 1948 in South Africa, designating Africans to “bantustans”. These were the 10 undeveloped areas African people were deemed to belong in, where they could exercise nominal self-rule, separate from the minority white population.It became mandatory for Africans to carry passbooks – identity books that controlled their movements. Apartheid also institutionalised segregation in all public places, including schools and institutions of higher learning. Though some of these measures were in place before 1948, they were extended under apartheid.
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S45World's oldest termite mounds discovered in South Africa - and they've been storing precious carbon for thousands of years The landscape along the Buffels River in South Africa’s Namaqualand region is dotted with thousands of sandy mounds that occupy about 20% of the surface area. These heuweltjies, as the locals call them (the word means “little hills” in Afrikaans), are termite mounds, inhabited by an underground network of tunnels and nests of the southern harvester termite, Microhodotermes viator. I’m part of a group of earth scientists who, in 2021, set out to study why the groundwater in the area, around 530km from Cape Town, is saline. The groundwater salinity seemed to be specifically related to the location of these heuweltjies. We used radiocarbon dating; dating the mounds, we reasoned, would allow us to see when minerals that were stored in the mounds were flushed to the groundwater.
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S46Ghana's economic crisis was caused by government borrowing - the central bank did the best it could: economist Ghana is going through its worst economic crisis in a generation. The past two years have seen record high inflation in the country. Ghana’s central bank (the Bank of Ghana) has been criticised in some quarters for its role in the country’s economic malaise, which has hit the profitability of Ghanaian banks. The Conversation Africa’s Godfred Akoto Boafo speaks to economist Emmanuel Ameyaw about monetary policy decisions made by the central bank during this period.In 2002, Ghana’s parliament enacted the Bank of Ghana Act 612, Section 33(2), granting the central bank flexibility and autonomy in the use of monetary policy to tame inflation and promote economic growth. At the time, Ghana was struggling with high inflation and low economic growth. The inflation rate averaged 28% in the decade before 2002, and real GDP growth per capita hovered around 1.45%.
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S47How to avoid being hacked: start by upping your password game - '12345' doesn't cut it University of the Witwatersrand provides support as a hosting partner of The Conversation AFRICA.If you type the term “password cyberattack” into Google News, the results will show just how often cyber criminals are getting hold of important data belonging to companies and individuals. Weak passwords are a big part of the problem. For instance, in 2023 technology security firm Nordpass reported that “123456” was the most common password in Nigeria, and the second most common password in the whole world.
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S48Public service reflections: Why the role of civil servants must evolve to ensure public trust National Public Service Week has just wrapped up in Canada. The initiative is recognized both federally and in many provinces and celebrates public servants at all levels. It’s aimed at honouring the important work they do and their contribution to government in Canada. Throughout the week, political leaders, including the prime minister, issue statements thanking public servants for their dedication. Often, awards for excellence, innovation and long-term service are announced to recognize and profile outstanding achievements among the country’s public sector employees. This year was no exception.
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S49Too soon? Titan or Titanic, people always make weird jokes about rich people's tragedies It has been one year since the the Titan submersible imploded en route to the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people aboard. Yet, despite the Titan’s violent end, another billionaire is gearing up an attempt to reach the Titanic. In May, American real-estate investor Larry Connor announced he wants to take another submersible to the Titanic to prove the trip is safe.As we approach the first anniversary of the Titan’s implosion — and a potential second journey — now is an apt time to reflect on an event that captivated the public — and the flood of memes that followed.
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