africa – Page 5 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Dr. Livingstone’s Lost 1871 ‘Massacre’ Diary Recovered; Discovery Rewrites History

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2011Culture, General1874, account of a massacre, adrian wisnicki, africa, arab slavers, birkbeck, british academy, british government, central africa, congolese village, david livingstone, doug emery, east african slave trade, eastern democratic republic of congo, evening standard, expedition, henry m stanley, horace waller, imperialist in africa, indiana university of pennsylvania, ink from berry seeds, keith knox, livingstone 1871 field diary, london standard, mike toth, national hero, new york herald, nyangwe, original diary, roger l easton jr, slave trade, spectral imaging, the last journals of david livingstone, the unspeakable horror, ucla, united states, university of london, victorian explorer

In Africa 140 years ago, David Livingstone, the Victorian explorer, met Henry M. Stanley of the New York Herald and gave him a harrowing account of a massacre he witnessed, in which slave traders slaughtered 400 innocent people. Stanley’s press reports prompted the British government to close the East African slave trade, secured Livingstone’s place in history and launched Stanley’s own career as an imperialist in Africa.

Today, an international team of scholars and scientists led by Dr. Adrian Wisnicki of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, publishes the results of an 18-month project to recover Livingstone’s original account of the massacre. The story, found in a diary that was illegible until it was restored with advanced digital imaging, offers a unique insight into Livingstone’s mind during the greatest crisis of his last expedition, on which he would die in 1873. (more…)

CT Study of Early Humans Reveals Evolutionary Relationships

By Guest PostSeptember 20, 2011Sciencea africanus, a boisei, a robustus, africa, anatomy of the face, anterior pillars, australopithecus, bony columns, brian villmoare, classic evolutionary puzzle, convergence, ct scans, east africa, facial features, fossil skull, hollow columns of bone, key ancestor of modern humans, parallel evolution, South Africa, william kimbel

CT scans of fossil skull fragments may help researchers settle a long-standing debate about the evolution of Africa’s Australopithecus, a key ancestor of modern humans that died out some 1.4 million years ago.

The study, to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, explains how CT scans shed new light on a classic evolutionary puzzle by providing crucial information about the internal anatomy of the face. (more…)

Hyenas’ Ability to Count Helps Them Decide to Fight or Flee

By Guest PostAugust 23, 2011Nature, Scienceafrica, animal behaviour, beacon researcher, chimpanzees, evolution of big brains, kay holekamp, Kenya, lions, michigan state university, sarah benson amram, sean dryer, spotted hyenas, study of evolution in action, virginia heinen, zoology

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Being able to count helps spotted hyenas decide to fight or flee, according to research at Michigan State University.

When animals fight, the larger group tends to win. In the current issue of Animal Behaviour, Sarah Benson-Amram, an MSU graduate student studying zoology, showed that hyenas listen to the sound of intruders’ voices to determine who has the advantage. (more…)

UA Public Health Students Blogging From Across Globe

By Guest PostJuly 22, 2011Cultureacross the globe, africa, blogging, city of maseru, deirdre demers, department of food safety and zoonoses, geneva, hiv prevention education program, internship experiences, jaclyn pierson, karen dreisbach, Kingdom of Lesotho, mph coursework, southern africa, students, summer internships, switzerland, unicef, university of arizona, world health organization, zuckerman college of public health

*Students are blogging about their internship experiences from destinations as far away as Switzerland and Africa.*

At the University of Arizona, summer internships matter.

Three graduate students from the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health are working as interns across the globe this summer. (more…)

Eva Longoria Asks You to Vote for a Brighter Future

By Guest PostJune 20, 2011Technologyactivist, actor, africa, american, author, China, eva longoria, german, global humanitarian issues, imagine cup 2011, longoria, microsoft corp., new york city, philanthropist, student technology competition, Technology, united nations millennium development goals, worldwide finals

*Voting opens for Microsoft Imagine Cup 2011 People’s Choice Award.*

NEW YORK — June 20, 2011 — Today, activist, actor, author and philanthropist Eva Longoria asked people around the world to celebrate the amazing work of student humanitarians by voting for the Imagine Cup 2011 People’s Choice Award at https://www.imaginecup.com/pca. Imagine Cup by Microsoft Corp. is the world’s premier student technology competition, challenging students from around the globe to use technology to tackle social issues, such as helping with disaster recovery, improving access to clean water, and expanding rural education and health care.

In an online video, Longoria spoke about how students can make a difference by using technology to address the world’s toughest problems, and she encouraged people to vote for the People’s Choice Award, in which the public chooses their favorite projects from this year’s Imagine Cup. Voting begins today and runs through July 12. (more…)

Evolution of Human ‘Super-Brain’ Tied To Development of Bipedalism, Tool-Making

By Guest PostApril 22, 2011Scienceafrica, ants, archaeological evidence, archaeologist, Arctic, bees, bipedalism, don river, Europe, evolution of human mind, fossil, france, Germany, honeybees, human ancestors, human brain, human mind, john hoffecker, kostenk, lucy, modern mind, moscow, russia, social insects, stone tools, super brain, university of colorado boulder, waggle dance

Scientists seeking to understand the origin of the human mind may want to look to honeybees — not ancestral apes — for at least some of the answers, according to a University of Colorado Boulder archaeologist.

CU-Boulder Research Associate John Hoffecker said there is abundant fossil and archaeological evidence for the evolution of the human mind, including its unique power to create a potentially infinite variety of thoughts expressed in the form of sentences, art and technologies. He attributes the evolving power of the mind to the formation of what he calls the “super-brain,” or collective mind, an event that took place in Africa no later than 75,000 years ago. (more…)

Got Product Questions? Microsoft Has Answers – More Than 500,000 per Day

By Guest PostApril 4, 2011Technologyafrica, barbara winter, community stars, emea, Europe, florian eichinger, internet explorer, microsoft answers, microsoft answers site, microsoft consumer products, microsoft most valuable professional, microsoft product, middle east, mvp, office, ronnie vernon, windows, windows 7

*Every day more than half a million people visit Microsoft Answers to get their burning Microsoft product questions answered. The company’s recently refreshed question-and-answer forum brings together consumers, experts and technical enthusiasts into a single online community.*

REDMOND, Wash. – April 4, 2011 – Ever since he retired in 2005, Ronnie Vernon’s time has been his own. The former heavy equipment instructor gets to spend his days doing exactly what he likes to do. So each morning he fires up his computer, heads to the Microsoft Answers site, and settles in for a long day answering questions about Windows.

Vernon can’t quite explain why he spends up to 12 hours a day offering strangers tech support. “Over the years I’ve tried to figure out why people do what they do with volunteering, but I never came up with a good explanation,” said Vernon, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) community leader recognized by Microsoft for actively sharing his real world technical expertise with consumers. “Basically, you have some knowledge, you see some people who have problems, and you just like to help.” (more…)

Microsoft Vice President Margo Day Helps Build Girls’ School, Safe Haven in Kenya

By Guest PostDecember 18, 2010Technologyafrica, africans at microsoft, female genital mutilation, microsoft employee, school project, secondary school

An encounter with 35 young girls in Kenya prompted Margo Day to start a secondary school there. The school will also be a refuge for girls who fled their homes to avoid the traditional practice of female genital mutilation

REDMOND, Wash. — When Margo Day went on a safari last year in Africa, she more or less knew what to expect. She had traveled in Kenya and Tanzania 16 years earlier, where she had what she calls a life-changing experience watching lions, elephants and wildebeests roam the plains. She returned to Kenya last fall to share that experience with her 19-year-old niece, Gail. (more…)

Tag Archives: africa