SCIENCE FOR SOUTH AFRICA
VOLUME 13 | NUMBER 2 | 2017 ISSN 1729-830X
Sea squirt city Port Elizabeth’s PLANET tunicate treasure trove EARTH FEATURE AN EVOLVING GLOBAL JIGSAW PUZZLE
OUR COSMIC TIME MACHINE
HOMININ New discoveries at Wits University suggest NEIGHBOURS that Homo sapiens was not alone
ACADEMY OF SCIENCE OF SOUTH AFRICA The Universe is right next door The South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) brings the Universe closer to home.
We work with leading astronomers and scientists to unwrap the mysteries of the cosmos and continue to play an important role in new discoveries.
We also operate some amazing technologies such as SALT, the biggest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.
If you are thinking of a career in astronomy, the technology behind it or just interested in what goes on in the Universe, why not visit us? Tours and visits to SALT and the Cape Town Observatory Astronomical information Science resources and activities for schools Astronomy career information In-service technical training Scholarships National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme
Website: www.saao.ac.za Telephone: 021 447 0025 Email: [email protected] Fax: 021 447 3639 Address: P.O. Box 9, Observatory, 7935 Observatory Road, Observatory, Cape Town VOLUME 13 | NUMBER 2 | 2017
COVER STORIES FEATURES
OUR COSMIC 10 Sea squirt city – Port 16 06 TIME MACHINE Elizabeth’s tunicate treasure trove Mike Davies-Coleman, Shirley Rosalind Skelton explains Parker-Nance and Jodie Watt how SALT is our cosmic explain how sea squirts survive in time machine polluted marine environments
18 Bernoulli’s Law 22 A GLOBAL Jan Smit and Ashleigh Pieterse JIGSAW PUZZLE 14 explain how one of the Geoffrey Grantham and fundamental laws of physics is Michael Knoper tell us how important in our everyday life our planet is an evolving jigsaw puzzle 22 Astronomy and sustainable development Karabo Makola shows how HOMININ development-centred astronomy 34NEIGHBOURS can lead to sustainable New discoveries at development Wits University suggest that Homo sapiens was 30 Midlands magic Megan Jooste describes the not alone excitement of doing research, with Lize Joubert-van der Merwe
32 Decolonising social sciences Jess Auerbach shows us what a new university in Africa is doing to decolonise social sciences NEWS
26 SANSA's Eye in the sky
28 Researchers use ‘Fitbits’ to track elephant sleep in the wild 34 29 A kiss of death – mammals were the first to produce venom REGULARS
39 Books 40 Back page science 13 41 Maths puzzle 42 Subscription Editor EDITOR'S NOTE Dr Bridget Farham
Editorial Board Roseanne Diab (EO: ASSAf) (Chair) John Butler-Adam (South African Journal of Science) Debra Meyer (University of Johannesburg) Neil Eddy (Wynberg Boys High School) Kevin Govender (SAAO) Himla Soodyall (University of Witwatersrand) Penny Vinjevold (Western Cape Education Department)
Correspondence MARCHING and enquiries The Editor FOR PO Box 663, Noordhoek 7979 Tel.: (021) 789 2331 Fax: 0866 718022 SCIENCE e-mail: [email protected] e-copies: http://research.assaf.org.za/ @QuestSa1 - Twitter h e March for Science was a series of Quest: Science For South Africa - Facebook rallies and marches held in Washington,
DC in the United States and in more Advertising enquiries than 600 cities across the world on Barbara Spence Avenue Advertising Earth Day, 22 April this year. Why did PO Box 71308 it happen? Probably the main reason is Bryanston 2021 Tel.: (011) 463 7940 US President Trump’s complete denial Fax: (011) 463 7939 of climate change as being a result of our Cell: 082 881 3454 e-mail: [email protected] activities and so something that we can do something about. h e US is one of the Subscription enquiries main signatories to a number of climate and back issues Tsepo Majake change resolutions passed in the last few Tel.: (012) 349 6645 years, which are now being overturned e-mail: [email protected] by changes in environmental legislation Copyright in the USA, taking the country back to © 2013 Academy of Science of South Africa the dark days of heavy carbon footprints, which caused the problems in the i rst place. As well as this, he has cut Published by the funding to most of the US government Anti-science is also evident in the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) science agencies, putting major research PO Box 72135, Lynnwood Ridge 0040, South Africa rise of anti-vaccination campaigns in programmes at risk – from those on Western countries and in the ‘Western’ Do you want to be a top reasearcher in the fi eld of Permissions climate change, to space science and sectors of the developing world, leading Fax: 0866 718022 e-mail: [email protected] medicine. to outbreaks of dangerous and easily But there is more to the ‘anti- Subscription rates preventable disease such as measles. (4 issues and postage) science’ stance that the US government Lack of coni dence in western medicine (For other countries, see subscription form) appears to be taking than denial of generally is another example of anti- Individuals/Institutions – R130.00 Students/schoolgoers – R65.00 climate change and it is not coni ned science. to the US. Various political events in So, next time you read something that Design and layout SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein Europe, such as Britain’s decision to asks you to reject conventional science leave the European Union and the rise ask yourself, ‘how did I use science Printing of right wing politics across the West, Red-Pencil Group today?’ Science is all around us – in the are in the face of increasing dislike way that we eat, the way we get to school of ‘experts’ and dismissal of statistics or work, the way that we communicate that show anything against a populist and the way that we protect our planet. approach. A good example is the rising Enjoy the variety of articles in this intolerance of immigrants in general and issue of Quest that show just how refugees in particular. h ere is plenty interesting, important and above all, of evidence to show that immigration exciting, science is. and diversii cation improves economies, aids education and leads to innovation and employment – in the form of sound statistics showing the ef ect of immigrant All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. Reproduction without permission is communities on dif erent countries. forbidden. Every care is taken in compiling the But ordinary people are rejecting those contents of this publication, but we assume no responsibility for effects arising therefrom. statistics, instead believing rousing Bridget Farham The views expressed in this magazine are not speeches by politicians saying the Editor – QUEST: necessarily those of the publisher. immigration is bad. Science for South Africa
4 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 BECOME A SCIENTIST Change the world! Ok, too much pressure! But scientists do change the way we live and understand our world.
Will you be the next leading banker? What is BIG DATA? Can we cure the big diseases? What is Materials Science? Is it possible to develop a South African solution to clean water and energy? Do you want to be a top reasearcher in the fi eld of Astronomy and Astro-physics? Is nuclear energy safe? Can the environment be saved? Why is Mathematics important? Would you like to join a leading Actuarial Science programme? Choose from an exciting mix of cutting-edge degrees at Wits www.wits.ac.za/science
Find out more ON THE COVER ASTRONOMY Our cosmic time machine
THE ORIGINS OF Rosalind Skelton explains how THE UNIVERSE SALT is our cosmic time machine Observations of galaxies are interpreted within a cosmological framework, that is, a theory for the origin and evolution On a clear dark night, the view of the time was thought to make up the whole of the Universe as a whole. Our current night sky from Sutherland is spectacular. Universe. With the irst deinitive measure understanding is that the Universe is An arch of light known as the Milky of the distance to Andromeda made by expanding, having started out in a very Way stretches overhead. his is the light Edwin Hubble, it became clear that there hot, dense phase at the beginning of time, from thousands of stars in our galaxy, were objects much further away than the the Big Bang. Tiny luctuations in the seen from our unique perspective within Milky Way was big, and suddenly the distribution of matter in the early Universe the galaxy’s stellar disk. Our Milky Way Universe had vastly expanded to human caused some regions to be slightly denser is a spiral galaxy that contains billions eyes. Today we have the technology to than others. Where there is more mass, of stars like the Sun, as well as gas, dust observe very distant galaxies in detail there is a stronger gravitational pull, so and an unknown substance that doesn’t using telescopes like the Southern African these overdensities attracted even more produce any light of its own, simply Large Telescope (SALT). Astronomers material, drawing together more and more called ‘dark matter’. From our vantage use the collected data, oten interpreted dark matter and gas into clumps. Larger point in the Southern Hemisphere, the together with computer simulations, to structures formed as these clumps collided Magellanic Clouds, our two nearest unravel how the wide variety of galaxies and merged together under the inluence neighbouring galaxies, are also prominent we see formed and evolved. of gravity. Within the densest parts of features of the night sky. Each of these these structures, gas began to cool down small companions to the Milky Way and collapse together to form stars, the has millions of stars. Andromeda, a seeds of the galaxies we see today. Over large spiral galaxy not dissimilar to our time, as gravity continued to pull matter own galaxy, may just be visible to the together, groups and clusters consisting of naked eye, although it’s much harder to tens or even hundreds of galaxies formed. see. With binoculars or a telescope, the he galaxies themselves grew by pulling Universe beyond the Milky Way opens in fresh gas, material for new stars, from even further to us. he deeper we look in the cosmic web and by merging with any direction, the more galaxies we see. other galaxies. As two merging galaxies spiral together to eventually form a single A nearby galaxy, NCG613, observed larger galaxy, their shapes are distorted OBSERVING GALAXIES with SALT on 22 September 2016. The bright white/blueish star at the edge and streams of stars are lung far beyond It wasn’t until 1923 that astronomers of the upper spiral arm, above the their original disks. Many of the curiously realised that many of the fuzzy objects yellow nucleus of the galaxy, is a shaped galaxies we observe are probably new supernova that was discovered they saw through their telescopes were by the ‘All Sky Automated Survey for mergers, caught in the act. Our own other galaxies outside of our own galaxy, SuperNovae’ using a small telescope galaxy is no stranger to this process – and began to understand what galaxies in Chile the previous night. The prompt streams of stars found in its outer reaches really are. Measuring distances to far-away follow-up by SALT conirmed what type show that we have cannibalised many of supernova it is. It will slowly fade objects like stars and nebulae (as galaxies away again over the next few months. dwarf galaxies in the past, and the same were then known) was a challenging NGC613 is a spiral disk galaxy located fate awaits the Magellanic clouds. Over the task for astronomers of the early 20th about 68 million light-years from Earth next few billion years we will edge closer in the constellation of Sculptor. The century. he large uncertainties in the to Andromeda before eventually colliding image was made by combining three measurements lead to heated debates on short images taken with the SALTICAM with it to become one massive galaxy. the size of the Milky Way, which at that camera. Image by Vaisanen/van Wyk (SALT) he story of galaxy formation is then
6 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 ON THE COVER ASTRONOMY
Examples of merging galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The sequence shows pairs of galaxies at different distances from each other, forming a sequence that shows how the different stages of a galaxy merger could look. Mergers are probably responsible for the unusual shapes of many of the peculiar galaxies we observe. NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University) K. Noll (STScI), and J. Westphal (Caltech) largely a story of gravity counteracting the what it looks like today, but rather what observing faint objects. We use images of expansion of space itself. it looked like when the light was emitted, galaxies to measure how much light they Dark matter is a key ingredient in this 2.5 million years ago. Because we observe emit, study their shape and structure, and process. Like seeing only the tip of an galaxies at diferent distances from us as look for surrounding objects that might iceberg above water, there is much more they were at diferent times, we can piece have inluenced how they formed. With to every galaxy than the light we see. together how populations of galaxies have images of galaxies we are only able to see Most of the mass in galaxies does not changed over time, like ordering random two dimensions, however. Spectroscopy emit any radiation so we infer its presence snapshots of people of all ages to igure out is crucial for providing the third, allowing from its gravitational signatures rather how humans mature from babies to adults. us to measure distances to astronomical than any direct evidence. Because dark Light we capture with telescopes like SALT objects and motion. When we do matter is only afected by gravity, and today may have been produced very early spectroscopy, the light passes through an we have a good understanding of how on in the Universe’s history, allowing us instrument called a spectrograph before gravity works, we can straightforwardly to travel back in time from right here in reaching the camera, separating it out into simulate how the Universe would evolve South Africa’s Karoo to explore the history its diferent wavelengths, just like a prism with dark matter alone, but adding gas of our Cosmos. of glass produces a rainbow when white adds huge complexity to the physics. As he two main observational techniques light passes through it. Rather than an stars evolve, they clear material from their we use in optical and near infrared image of the object, we record a spectrum, surroundings through powerful winds astronomy are imaging and spectroscopy. which provides powerful additional and supernovae explosions. Gas may be We photograph the sky with very long information, allowing us to measure how driven completely out of the galaxy, where exposures to record the light coming from much light comes from diferent parts of it can no longer form new stars. Active distant galaxies and other objects. he the electromagnetic spectrum. Even with black holes at the centres of galaxies also bigger the mirror of our telescope, the SALT’s large mirror, we usually need to produce vast amounts of energy that more light we are able to collect. SALT’s observe distant galaxies for an hour or may afect the gas throughout the galaxy. 11-m mirror, the largest in the Southern more to receive enough light across the Galaxies in highly populated areas are Hemisphere, makes it very eicient for whole spectrum. likely to have a very diferent history to isolated galaxies. hey are afected by the The principle of spectroscopy. tidal forces of the galaxies nearby, and by Light is dispersed the hot gas that surrounds galaxies in large by passing groups. To form a complete picture of it through a galaxy evolution, then, we need to explore prism inside a spectrograph. all of these aspects, from star formation Depending on the and black holes to galaxy mergers and temperature and the largest structures in the Universe. makeup of the star Although that sounds like a daunting or the gas emitting the light, and gas task, astronomers aren’t easily deterred by in the foreground, problems on an enormous scale! we see emission or absorption lines at speciic SPECTROSCOPY wavelengths. These signatures of As light does not travel ininitely fast, it the elements allow takes time to travel from where it’s emitted us to determine the composition to where we receive it on Earth. he of astronomical further away the object is, the longer this objects, while shifts takes. Although nearby in cosmic terms, in the wavelengths light from Andromeda takes 2.5 million tell us about the motion of the light years to reach us, for example. When object. WH Freeman we look at Andromeda, we don’t see and Company
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h e main instrument used for breakthrough in our understanding of tell us whether the galaxies are all part observing galaxies on SALT is the galaxies back in the 1920s, the i rst step of the same group, rather than in the Robert Stobie Spectrograph (RSS), which to interpreting data on distant galaxies foreground or background. One such disperses optical or visible light from today is to estimate how far away they project, led by scientists at the University about 400 to 800 nanometers. h is is the are. Unless one knows how intrinsically of KwaZulu-Natal, coni rmed that there part of the electromagnetic spectrum that luminous something is, it can be dii cult are rich clusters already in the process of our eyes are sensitive to, because stars like to tell whether it is faint and nearby or forming when the Universe was less than our sun produce most of their light in this far away but bright. Similarly, it is hard half its age. SALT is also used to observe range. At these wavelengths we i nd many to tell how big an object is when you close pairs of galaxies out to these very interesting features in the spectra of stars don’t know how far away it is. Once we large distances, to i gure out if they are and galaxies, produced by the elements know the distance to a galaxy, we can likely to merge together. Here again, in the stars or by intervening gas. Gas in i gure out its true brightness and size, the third dimension is essential. With front of the source of light may absorb which allows us to infer many of its other these measurements we obtain a better radiation at particular wavelengths, characteristics. Knowing the properties understanding of how common mergers causing a drop in the amount of light of galaxies at dif erent distances, we can were in the past and how they have we receive (an absorption line in the then put together a timeline for how they af ected the galaxies involved. h ese very spectrum), while at other wavelengths we have evolved. distant galaxies appear only as tiny fuzzy might see an excess of light (an emission h e most distant objects that SALT blobs in our images, but the observations line). h e light we receive from a galaxy observes are called quasars, active black nevertheless tell us a great deal. is the combined light of all its stars. holes at the centres of galaxies that When we look at more nearby galaxies, By looking at the features in a galaxy’s release so much energy that we can see we start to resolve the structure within spectrum we can infer what kind of them more than 10 billion years later. them. We measure how the stars move stars are in it and how old they are, but Quasars ot en completely outshine their within a galaxy, rather than the motion importantly, the spectrum also allows host galaxies, so we see only the point of of the whole galaxy, and see how the us to measure the distance to the galaxy light coming from the centre. h e most populations of stars dif er from one part by precisely measuring the wavelengths distant galaxies we can see with SALT of the galaxy to another, rather than of the spectral features and comparing are about 7 billion years in look-back estimating average properties of all the them to the expected wavelengths from time from us. SALT’s very ei cient stars. h ese detailed studies of individual laboratory measurements on Earth. h e ‘multi-object spectroscopy’ mode can systems complement the statistical dif erence between the two tells us how be used to obtain spectra for about approach of tracking how many galaxies long the light has taken to reach us and 20 galaxies at the same time, which is change over time. With this wide range hence how far away the galaxy is. particularly useful for measuring the of galaxy observations from SALT, we are Just as the distance measurement distances to multiple galaxies in a group i lling in crucial pieces of the puzzle of of Andromeda was essential for the or cluster. h e distance measurements galaxy formation.
A distant cluster of galaxies observed with the multi-object spectroscopic mode on SALT, from the work of Kirk et al. (2015). The SALT observations coni rm that the galaxies circled in cyan are all members of the cluster, while the objects with red squares are foreground or background galaxies. The right panel shows some examples of the SALT spectra for the cluster galaxies. Each of them has absorption features (labelled ‘K’, ‘H’) at similar wavelengths, showing that they are the same distance from earth. Kirk et al., MNRAS
8 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 ON THE COVER ##ASTRONOMY
As space expands, the galaxies in it move apart, so from our perspective on Earth, distant galaxies are all receding. The speed at which they move away from us is related to their distance from us. This is known as Hubble’s Law, after Edwin Hubble’s work in the 1920s. Features like absorption lines in the spectra of galaxies, of known wavelength here on Earth, are found to be ‘red-shifted’, that is at longer, redder wavelengths. By measuring the shift in wavelength we can determine the speed at which the galaxy is moving away from us and therefore estimate its distance to Earth. JPL/Caltech/Planck
CURRICULUM CORNER
GRADE 10 PHYSICAL SCIENCES ► Constructive and Dr Ros Skelton is an astronomer on the SALT team at the South African Astronomical destructive Interference Observatory (SAAO). After completing her undergraduate and Master's degrees ► Infrared Spectroscopy at the University of Cape Town with the National Astrophysics and Space Science (EM Spectrum) Programme, she moved to Germany where she did a PhD on galaxy formation and evolution through the International Max Planck Research School at the University of GRADE 7-9 NATURAL SCIENCES Heidelberg. For her postdoctoral research at Yale University in the USA she joined a large international team working on a Hubble Space Telescope project called 3D-HST, Radiation of light before returning to South Africa for a postdoctoral fellowship at the SAAO. She explores Spectrum of visible light – the history of the Universe by studying populations of distant galaxies, with the aim of opaque and transparent understanding how collisions between galaxies affect their evolution. ON THE COVER FEATURE
The colonial sea squirt Pycnoclavella narcissus
commonly known as ‘choir boys’. Shirley Parker-Nance
SEA SQUIRT CITY PORT ELIZABETH’S TUNICATE TREASURE TROVE
Mike Davies-Coleman, Shirley Parker-Nance and Jodie Watt explain how sea squirts survive in polluted marine environments
With two bustling ports and a large from this region as part of marine his ability might give sea squirts a motor industry, Port Elizabeth is South biodiversity studies by researchers at territorial advantage, enabling them to Africa’s ith biggest city and reputedly Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University out-compete other reef ilter feeders the windiest too – not the sort of place and Rhodes University. hese studies such as sponges and sot corals that that you would expect to ind diverse and have revealed that there are more than are possibly less able to cope with the unique marine life crowding the reefs 50 known species and at least 80 new inevitable pollution emanating from just ofshore. Seemingly unafected by species of sea squirts living on the reefs an industrial city. As ilter feeders, sea Port Elizabeth’s close proximity, sub-tidal of Port Elizabeth – many of which are squirts are capable of iltering vast reefs with exotic names like ‘Devil’s reef’ thought to be endemic to Algoa Bay. volumes of seawater – a sea squirt that and ‘hunderbolt reef’ on the western can it into the palm of your hand can rim of Algoa Bay, lie only a short boat HOW SEA SQUIRTS SURVIVE ilter 3 - 4 L of seawater in just under ride from Port Elizabeth’s crowded POLLUTION an hour. South African rock and surf beaches. Despite having to cope with anglers may sometimes come into the constant threat of pollution, regular So how does a rather polluted and contact with this iltered seawater. If anchor damage from sheltering ishing heavily traicked bay become home to accidentally stood upon, the sea squirt boats and unpredictable sea conditions, such a healthy and varied population Pyura stolonifera (commonly known to these inshore reefs are covered with a of sea squirts? It comes down to their anglers as ‘red bait’) will typically squirt a colourful carpet of marine invertebrates. ability to survive in polluted marine jet of water from their cloacal or exhalent Large numbers of sea squirt species live environments across the globe. siphon – hence the name ‘sea squirt’. alongside delicate sot corals and their Sea squirts are able to concentrate medusa-like sea fan cousins, multi- hydrocarbon chemicals and some toxic WHAT IS A SEA SQUIRT? coloured sponges and their attendant sea heavy metals to levels tens of thousands slugs, sea pens and a galaxy of starish. times higher than the surrounding sea To the untrained eye, many sea squirts In fact, sea squirts have made up to water, amazingly with apparently little or are seemingly similar to sponges in 40% of the marine invertebrate collected no adverse efects to themselves. terms of their body shape and ecological
10 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 ON THE COVER FEATURE function. So how do you distinguish a sea squirt from a sponge? hey are both irmly ixed to the reef and are also both ilter feeders sucking in sea water through an oral siphon (sea squirt) or through a series of pores called ostia (sponge), extracting food particles and oxygen from the inhaled sea water and exhaling the clean wastewater through a cloacal siphon in sea squirts or an osculum in sponges. Whereas sponges push the water through an internal maze of interlinked channels, sea squirts pump the water through a distinctive, primitive pharangeal basket. his basket contains numerous little holes or stigmata lined with cilia that move the water from the An intricate colony of the didemnid seas squirt interior of the basket to a cavity on the Trididemnum cerebriforme. Shirley Parker-Nance outside of the basket connected to the cloacal opening. he internal surface of the basket is lined with a mucus net secreted by a rod-shaped structure, the name tunicate comes from the thick of Manchester have shown that very ine endostyle, situated on the side of the tunic of cellulose that protects a sea slivers of sea squirt tunic (called ‘nano- basket. he mucus net captures food squirt’s internal organs. A sea squirt’s whiskers’) can cause human muscle ibres particles, which are rolled up inside tunic contains a simple yet extensive to realign and fuse together, leading to the the net like a rope and drawn into a nervous system, which allows the animal regeneration of damaged muscles. stomach, which forms part of the gut to contract its tunic when exposed he link between sea squirts and that is ultimately linked to the cloacal or to sudden changes – either in light, humans extends beyond this. he exhalent siphon. chemical and temperature stimuli or second alternative name for a sea squirt, A more technical term for a sea even a diver’s touch. ascidian, arose from the taxonomic squirt is a tunicate or an ascidian. he Sea squirts can live in colonies sharing class, Ascidiacea, into which sea squirts a common tunic (e.g. Didemnidae spp) were eventually placed by biologists. or as solitary individuals (e.g. Pyura Where the enigmatic sea squirt actually and Clavelina spp). Sea squirt tunics its into the animal kingdom has been a are highly variable and can either be as challenge for philosophers and scientists tough as leather or sot and very fragile; since the time of Aristotle. It was only transparent as glass or highly pigmented; at the end of the 19th century, when drab or brilliantly coloured. Individual the Russian biologist Kowalevsky found members of the colony may either similarities between sea squirt larvae retain their individual oral and cloacal and frog tadpoles, that these organisms siphons (e.g. Pseudodistoma africanum were placed with some certainty into and Pynoclavella narcissus) or keep the new Phylum Protochordata (Class their individual oral siphons and share Ascidiacea). he presence of a primitive A grey Pseudodistoma spp on Philip’s a common cloacal siphon (e.g. Aplidium backbone (notochord) in sea squirt reef Algoa bay, South Africa. lavolineatum and Sycozoa arborescens). Shirley Parker-Nance larvae, however, resulted in lively debates he variations in colonial sea squirt body for many years around the status of sea structure appear to be inexhaustible squirts as the possible evolutionary link and are fascinating to observe up close between vertebrates and invertebrates. underwater. Unlike sponges, sea squirts possess simple circulatory systems spread SEA SQUIRT throughout the tunic in addition to their CLASSIFICATION AND BIOLOGY neural system. Adult sea squirts have a simple heart and circulatory system, he presence of such an external cellulose which completely reverses the low of body structure (exoskeleton) in an animal the sea squirt’s colourless, vanadium Four colonial sea squirt species; is extremely rare and is one of the many enriched ‘blood’ every few minutes. his peach and pink Didemnum and unique characteristics that make sea is another distinctive sea squirt trait not a small sandy Alpidium colony (middle left margin) and an orange squirts such fascinating animals to study. found in any other animal. Symplegma sp. Shirley Parker-Nance Interestingly, researchers at the University However, it is in their reproductive
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biology that sea squirts are the most called budding or strobilation. he A few years ago the anti-cancer drug interesting. Sea squirts are able to ability to switch between the two forms trabectidin (marketed as Yondelis®), the reproduce both sexually and asexually – of reproduction ensures that sea squirts irst drug of its kind in over a decade, either way, sea squirt adults are simpler are able to overcome most reproductive was approved for the treatment of animals than their larval ofspring, an boundaries, and provides them with cancers of the sot tissues (i.e. muscles, entirely unique characteristic in the another competitive advantage in the tendons and blood vessels). Originally animal kingdom. Once hatched from ongoing battle for the rapid utilisation of obtained from the Caribbean sea squirt an egg, the free-swimming, tadpole-like available space on a crowded reef. Ecteinascidia turbinata, the initial larvae will swim vigorously upwards supplies of trabectidin for clinical towards the light. Ater a few minutes, ANTI-CANCER DRUGS trials were obtained from extensive in possible response to chemical cues aquaculture of Ecteinascidia turbinata. produced by adult sea squirts of the And just when you thought a simple Regrettably, neither sustainable harvest same species, the larvae return to the sea squirt could not possibly be more from wild populations nor aquaculture sea bed and settle head irst on a suitable intriguing, they may also have a role are ever suicient to meet the annual vacant surface on the reef. to play in providing us with the next global demand (1-5 kgs) of a marine During development, the larval tail generation of anti-cancer drugs. Sea natural product derived drug, once that is quickly reabsorbed into the tunic of squirts, in common with many other drug is approved for use in treating the developing adult sea squirt. In the marine invertebrates, are reservoirs of cancer. Fortunately, using a combination process, the animal rotates 90º within the toxic, organic, small-molecule natural of bacterial fermentation processes and newly forming tunic so that the oral and products that are produced either laboratory chemistry the pharmaceutical cloacal siphons point away from the reef by the sea squirts themselves, or the company Pharmamar was able to bring towards the surface, thus providing the symbiotic microorganisms that live a synthetic version of this natural anti- adult sea squirt with the best opportunity inside, or on the surface of, sea squirts. cancer compound to market. to ilter food from the currents passing Numerous roles have been proposed he trabectidin story is an important overhead. All evidence of the larva’s for these marine natural products, lesson for us all. Who knows what other notochord is lost in the adult sea squirt. including chemical defence against both possible wonder drugs are still awaiting Interestingly, many sea squirt species can invertebrate and vertebrate predators discovery from the many sea squirts living also reproduce asexually, in a process and chemical cues for larval settlement. on the unexplored reefs lining Algoa Bay
A solitary yellow Phallusia sp. with siphons visible
as it protrudes from a crevice. Shirley Parker-Nance
12 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 ON THE COVER FEATURE and the rest of Africa’s coastline? Recently chemistry researchers from Oregon State University in the USA and Rhodes University in Grahamstown discovered a group of new natural products in very low concentrations (< 1 mg) from an endemic sea squirt, Lissoclinum sp., which they named the mandelalides ater the Nelson Mandela Metropole which borders Algoa Bay. he complex chemical structure of the mandelalides, coupled with an ability to kill certain cancer cells in an apparently diferent way to other anti-cancer chemicals, has made these natural products particularly interesting to their discoverers. he success story of trabectidin, and the ongoing excitement around the recent discovery of the mandelalides (see reference), must make us question whether we are doing enough to protect vulnerable marine invertebrate species from extinction before it is too late – before nature’s templates for life-saving drugs are lost forever? he next time you ind yourself in Port Elizabeth and about to step on a sea squirt washed up on the beach, take a minute to have a closer look – not only are you gazing upon a vertebrate/ invertebrate taxonomic conundrum, you’re also looking at a toxic sink for man-made pollutants and a possible cure for cancer. And like us, their tentatively long-lost human relatives, sea squirts A fan-shaped colonial sea squirt undoubtedly fulill a crucial role in Sycozoa arborescens. Shirley Parker-Nance keeping Algoa Bay clean.
Reference: Davies-Coleman, MT, Veale, CGL. 2015 Recent advances in drug discovery from South African marine invertebrates. Marine Drugs (13):6366-6383.
Professor Mike Davies-Coleman is a marine natural products chemist and Dean of Natural Sciences at the University of the Western Cape. His daughter, Jodie, is a freelance writer and designer based in Ballito, KwaZulu- Natal. Both father and daughter share a love for the ocean and Africa’s wild places and wild life in all its forms. Dr Shirley Parker-Nance is an ascidian taxonomist, accomplished underwater photographer and a recognised expert on the endemic marine invertebrate The Lissoclinum sp. from which the fauna of Algoa Bay’s proliic benthic reef systems. She is based at SAEON mandelalides were isolated. Shirley Parker-Nance Elwandle Coastal Node in Port Elizabeth.
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 13 FEATURE GEOSCIENCES A GLOBAL JIGSAW PUZZLE
Geoffrey Grantham and Michael Knoper tell us how planet Earth is an evolving global jigsaw puzzle
Imagine attempting to piece together a GONDWANA – were obscured by collisions between jigsaw puzzle where the shape of some of A SUPERCONTINENT continents. Fortunately, geological the pieces is continually changing in time processes commonly occur on large and the detail on some pieces has been Gondwana formed approximately 550 Ma scales, ef ectively limiting the number hidden or removed. h is is the problem ago and started breaking up about 200 Ma of signii cant jigsaw pieces making up facing geologists concerned with the ago. Gondwana itself is ot en considered Gondwana to less than ten. h e precursor reconstruction of supercontinents which a supercontinent, and our understanding supercontinent to Gondwana was Rodinia have formed and then broken up during of the coni guration of Gondwana is now – identii cation of the pieces making the evolution of the planet Earth. It is now broadly accepted although dei nition up Rodinia is still the source of much recognised that the evolution of Earth, of the exact i ts of the pieces remains debate and research. h ere is geological since its formation ~4 600 Ma (million hard to dei ne. h ere are several reasons evidence that suggests that Rodinia was years) ago, has involved processes that for this. h e margins of some of the put together about 1 000 Ma ago. h is caused the continual formation and continents are locally submerged under then broke up, starting about 800 to 700 breaking up of supercontinents. h e most the sea; there has been later deposition Ma ago, and was followed by the assembly recent of these was Pangaea, which in part of younger sediments on some continent of Gondwana from various continental consisted of the two very large continental margins; younger collisions have resulted fragments between 700 and 550 Ma ago landmasses of Laurentia and Gondwana. in the shapes of some pieces being during the Proterozoic eon. h e jigsaw pieces of Gondwana changed, and parts of some continents comprised the continents and islands of Proterozoic felsic gneiss Africa, Australia, India, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, South America, Falkland Islands and Antarctica (Fig. 1).
Fig. 2. A group of research geologists from the Department of Geology at the University of Johannesburg examining an outcrop of Proterozoic felsic gneiss during the 2016/17
summer i eld season. M Knoper
14 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 1 | 2017 FEATURE GEOSCIENCES
PROTEROZOIC EON
h is is the younger of the two divisions of Precambrian time – the older is the Archean Eon. h e Proterozoic Eon extended from 2.5 billion to 541 million years ago.
Jurassic mai c dyke RECONSTRUCTING GONDWANA AND RODINIA
Reconstructing the history of the jigsaw pieces of Gondwana and Rodinia is part of the work of researchers in the Department of Geology at the University of Johannesburg who have been involved in mapping the geology in western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, intermittently since 1991. Current research is focusing not only on the assembly of Gondwana but also on the breakup of Gondwana (Fig. 2). In Antarctica, the geologists can see Fig. 1. Hochlinfjellet Mülig-Hofmannfjella. The large landmass of less than 2% of the underlying rock Gondwana, a supercontinent that was in existence for about because the remaining 98% is covered 350 million years, from 550 to 200 Ma ago. Illustration by G Grantham by ice, which in some areas, has been found to be more than 4 km thick. h e comparisons of the geology of western 4 - 6 cm per year and rarely up to 11 cm shape of Antarctica is also largely masked Dronning Maud Land with the geology per year. h ese centres are commonly by the ice sheet which, in some areas, of southeastern Africa. We know that located at (or close to) the middle of extends hundreds of kilometres beyond Antarctica was next to southeastern Africa the oceans. h e rocks produced at these the sea level position of rock, resulting before the breakup of Gondwana that centres display patterns of normal and in l oating ice shelves. Although the ice started about 200 Ma ago. reversed polarities, which are mirrored cover severely restricts the amount of rock An important method used in symmetrically on both sides of the exposed, the rocks, when exposed, are reconstructing the distribution of spreading centres. generally fresh, and the age relationships continents involves studying the magnetic between dif erent rocks types are clear. polarity of rocks that formed over time, AFRICA SPLITS FROM Even though the areas available for combined with accurate determinations ANTARCTICA data collection are greatly restricted, of the age of such rocks. h ese studies the data gathered from such untouched focus both on volcanic rocks, which Approximately 190 Ma ago, during the rock exposures are sui cient to permit form the ocean l oors, as well as igneous Jurassic period, when it is thought that rocks (volcanic and intrusions) on the Africa and Antarctica parted company, continents. h e ocean l oor studies are the magnetic reversals were undergoing a At the moment, the north magnetic particularly valuable when considering ‘quiet period’ which has made it dii cult pole can be found near the Earth’s the extent of the ocean l oor and its to use the reversed polarity in rocks of north pole. h is is called normal continuous growth, because the polarity that age on the ocean l oor. Also, younger polarity. When the north magnetic of the Earth’s magnetic i eld undergoes pole is found near the Earth’s south irregular periodic reversals. pole, this is called reverse polarity. h e magnetic polarity as well as FELSIC GNEISS We can use this to show how the the preserved magnetic inclination ocean l oor has spread because we are faithfully recorded by iron-rich Gneiss is a common distributed can see the polarity of the Earth’s minerals in igneous rocks. h e preserved type of rock formed by high- magnetic i eld in rocks, which inclination gives information on how grade metamorphic processes results in alternating strips of ocean far the rock crystallised away from the from pre-existing formations that l oor showing normal and reversed magnetic pole prevailing at the time. were originally either igneous or polarity. As magma cools, particles h e rocks on the ocean l oor are formed sedimentary rocks. Felsic means that in it are ‘frozen’ in the direction of continuously by submarine eruptions at the gneiss contains dominantly light- the magnetic i eld at the time. ‘spreading centres’ at rates typically of coloured silicate minerals.
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 15 FEATURE GEOSCIENCES
Fig. 3. Gordonnuten H.U. Sverdrupfjella. A dolerite dyke in Antarctica that intruded the surrounding Proterozoic felsic gneiss during the Jurassic period about 190 Ma ago, when Africa separated from Antarctica and
drifted northwards. M Knoper Jurassic mai c dyke
sediments deposited along continent and geological histories might help during the breakup of Rodinia ~700 – 800 margins mask the strength of magnetic us to work out how the continent of Ma. h is suggests that this grouping of signals, making it dii cult to work out Gondwana looked. parts of these continental blocks remained the shape of coastlines at the time of Part of the current research is studying as a unit or jigsaw piece which formed Gondwana breakup. On the continent, the age, chemistry and paleomagnetic part of Rodinia. rocks formed from the breakup of signatures of the dykes (Fig. 3). Much Gondwana consist of intrusive dykes, is known about these rocks on other Geoffrey Grantham completed his large igneous complexes and basaltic continents, but because Antarctica is so PhD studies at the University of Natal on the geology of part of western lavas. h ese basaltic lavas are extensions remote and dii cult to get to, there is Dronning Maud Land in 1993. After of the basalts that form the Drakensberg limited information on similar rocks on lecturing at the University of Pretoria mountains in South Africa and Lesotho. that continent. h is is one of the main for about 10 years and working at the If we are to compare rocks of these ages, parts of our research. Council for Geoscience for about 17 we need to also study the rocks exposed h ere is a ‘belt’ of rocks that extends years he moved to the University of Johannesburg to continue research into on land to see if their distributions from the west coast in Namaqualand to the geological evolution of southern the east coast of Natal in South Africa, Africa, Antarctica and other fragments continued through western Dronning of Gondwana. He has had 12 i eld Maud Land, Antarctica and northward seasons in Antarctica, as well as doing DEFINITIONS into Mozambique and eastwards through extensive i eld work in Namaqualand, Natal and Mozambique. Dyke: a type of later typically Sri Lanka and probably back into eastern vertical rock intruding older rock. Dronning Maud Land. h ese rocks have Michael Knoper studied at the University Igneous complex: A large intrusion been dated at between 1 000 and 1 200 Ma of Washington in Seattle (USA). He has lectured at the University of of igneous rocks with varying old and are thought to have contributed to the formation of the supercontinent of Johannesburg since it was established rock types, which has crystallised in 2004. When he isn’t busy with and forms a complex structure, Rodinia. In addition, some of the rocks lectures, Mike’s research is focused frequently with layering. in the belt have been made of the types on the evolution of the continental Basaltic lava: this is molten of rock that are typical of the edge of crust, the assembly and breakup of supercontinents through geological rock that is enriched in iron and continents or the margins of continenal plates. h is suggests that the block time, and the occurrence of ore magnesium and low in silica – when deposits. He i rst went to Antarctica as it cools on the Earth’s surface it comprising at least most of southern a member of the South African National forms basalt. Africa, most of Antarctica, Australia and Antarctic Programme in 1992 to map part of Sri Lanka was not fragmented the geology of the Kirwanveggen.
16 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 FEATURE GEOSCIENCES
An Antarctic i eld camp. M Knoper
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www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 17 www.wsu.ac.za ON THE COVER EVERYDAY SCIENCE Bernoulli’s Law Jan Smit and Ashleigh Pieterse explain how one of the fundamental laws of physics is important in our everyday life
Daniel Bernoulli came from the famous Bernoulli family. He was an able mathematician and physicist. We remember Bernoulli for his famous law of physics, in everyday language known as Bernoulli’s Law. What does this law say and where is it applicable?
BERNOULLI’S LAW
To explain this law let’s start with a very simple example. Bernoulli’s Law states An illustration showing how air l ows over an aeroplane wing. North-West University that where a gas such as air l ows fast the pressure is low and where the gas l ows slowly the pressure is high. It is easy to moving ball change direction? Why does ► How does the wind blow a roof off? remember Bernoulli’s Law. a stove burn better on a windy day? Why Slow l ow – high pressure, fast l ow – Look at a house with a l at roof. On are house roofs blown of in strong winds? low pressure. a windy day you close the doors and And i nally, how does the creepy crawly Let’s look at applications of Bernoulli’s windows to keep dust and leaves out. move around a swimming pool? Law. Consider a cross-section through an h is means that inside the house there Let’s answer these questions. aeroplane wing. h e top is curved (has a is little or no movement of air. So, hump). h e lower side is l at. ► Why does a page turn by itself? according to Bernoulli the air pressure When air passes over the wing it l ows According to Bernoulli the pressure inside the house is high. fast and the pressure is low. is low where air moves fast. If you are Outside where the wind blows, the At the lower l at side of the wing air studying and a book lies open on the pressure is low. It blows fast over the l ows more slowly and the pressure is table in front of you and wind blows from roof. What is the situation now? High high according to Bernoulli’s Law. h e an open door or window over the book pressure inside the house and low result is that the higher pressure at the the pressure over the top page is low and pressure outside. As the area of a roof lower end pushes the wing upwards. h is between the pages where there is no wind is large, the pressure dif erence causes pressure dif erence over the entire wing the pressure is high. h e high pressure a large upward force on the roof. If the is sui cient to carry the aeroplane, its then pushes the page up and the pages roof is not well secured with nails and crew and passengers with their luggage in seem to turn by themselves. screws it lit s easily and blows of . the air. h e pressure dif erence between the lower and upper sides of the wing is dependent on the speed of the plane. h e faster it moves the greater the dif erence. Later in this article we will give a simple mathematical formula to calculate this dif erence.
MORE APPLICATIONS OF THE LAW
Bernoulli’s Law has many more applications. For example, why does a book page turn by itself in wind from How a page turns in the wind. How the wind blows a roof off a house. an open door or window? Why does a North-West University North-West University
18 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 ON THE COVER EVERYDAY SCIENCE
► Why does a stove burn ► How does a creepy crawly work? better on a windy day? A creepy crawly is used in a swimming We assume that the top of the chimney pool to suck up dirt and leaves. outside is higher than the rest of the house. h e creepy crawly consists of a pipe Inside the chimney there is no wind and connected to the pool’s pump and a sot according to Bernoulli, there is high rubber mouth under water, usually at the pressure. h e outside smoke is blown away bottom. When the pump sucks water by the wind and according to Bernoulli its through the pipe the pressure pressure is low. h e air inside then moves inside the pipe is low. Outside up to the lower pressure outside and new the rubber mouth the l ow is fresh air is sucked over the coal or wood in very slow and according to the stove and it burns well. Bernoulli the pressure is high. h e high pressure outside causes the mouth to close and the creepy jumps slightly forwards. h e whole process A creepy crawly at work. Original photograph: Ebay. 2017. http://www. then repeats and the result is that dirt is ebay.com.au/itm/Deluxe-Automatic-Swimming- sucked in with the water going through Pool-Cleaner-Above-In-Ground-Large-Leaf- Technology-/162397335847. the pipe to the i lters. Edited by Ashleigh Pieterse. It is worth knowing that the creepy crawly is a South African invention, now BERNOULLI’S LAW IN used across the world. MATHEMATICAL FORM h ese examples illustrate a few of the How the wind makes a stove burn In simple mathematics the expression for better. North-West University many applications of Bernoulli’s Law. Bernoulli’s Law is: ρv2 + P = constant Where: WHY DOES A BALL CURL? ρ = the density of the medium e.g. air v = the velocity of the medium and Consider a soccer ball kicked towards the goal keeper. h e kicker kicks it in P = the pressure in the medium. such a way that it rotates. h e one side rotates towards the kicker and the other From the equation it is clear that if the side away from the kicker. velocity v increases the pressure P would h e side rotating towards the kicker tends to pull the air towards the kicker. decrease. More: the pressure decreases h is results in a higher speed of air on that side. On the other side of the ball with the square of the velocity. If for the air is pulled towards the direction that the ball moves. h is causes lower air example v doubles then P would decrease velocity. h e end result is high pressure of air on one side and low pressure on the fourfold. h is equation makes it clear why other side. h e ball then curls in l ight towards the low pressure. In soccer, goal the pressure depends so strongly on the keepers are ot en deceived. h ey think that theArtwork ball will created miss the bygoal SAAO but the based curl velocity of the gas or liquid. brings it in. on stories about stars told by From the above it is clear that southern African people SAAO Bernoulli’s Law can be stated in a quantitative and a qualitative way. h e quantitative way gives a means to calculate the magnitude of the forces involved. Mathematics is involved. h e qualitative way is usually verbal. It provides a way to understand the Law. h at is how we explained the aeroplane, creepy crawly and other applications of Bernoulli’s Law.
Jan Smit is Manager of the Science Centre at Potchefstroom, North-West University. He holds a DSc in Nuclear Physics.
Ashleigh Pieterse is the Senior Liaison Ofi cer for the Faculty of Natural How a soccer ball curves. North-West University Sciences, Dean’s Ofi ce, North-West University, Potchefstroom.
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 19
ON THE COVER ##ASTRONOMY OUTREACH
ASTRONOMY & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Karabo Makola shows how development-centred astronomy can lead to sustainable development
Groups of learners wait to use a travelling telescope. SAAO
22 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 ON THE COVER ASTRONOMY OUTREACH
Most people would think that astronomy "Astronomy provides an inspirational and unique is ‘just another science discipline’, that is only focused on research and gateway to technology, science and culture [...] by propping up or repudiating scientiic mobilising large numbers of talented and creative theories. he International Astronomical Union’s (IAU’s) Oice of Astronomy scientists, engineers and teachers in the service of for Development, however, may prove international development. The plan will be a cost- otherwise. his discipline can also be a development tool that can be used effective spinoff of one of the most profound adventures to bridge the knowledge gap between astronomers and laypeople with a focus to of our civilisation-the exploration of the Universe." inspire and excite them about the wonders of the universe. Astronomy is a ield that combines science and technology with inspiration capital development. he skills related ‘KNOWLEDGE DIVIDE’: and excitement. It evokes curiosity about to the ield of astronomy can also be WHAT IS IT? the universe and our place in it. According used to further sustainable development to the IAU ‘It is a discipline that opens our throughout the world. Astronomy has he ‘knowledge divide’ exists, just eyes, that gives context to our place in the contributed immensely to knowledge like the concept of the ‘digital divide’. Universe, and that can reshape how we see acquisition and to science in general. It he digital divide can be loosely the world’. As such, it can play a pivotal can serve as a bridge between the sciences deined as the social and economic role in facilitating education and human due to its natural interdisciplinary nature. inequality in access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) between the elite haves and the impoverished have-nots. here currently exists a huge knowledge divide between astronomers and society. his divide is due to inefective or lack of communication between the two. Unfortunately, as much as there is a huge divide in access to astronomy between the elite and impoverished communities, it does not necessarily end there. here is a secondary divide between men and women in astronomy. he gender inequality is quite signiicant, especially in developing countries where you will ind few or no female astronomers or scientists generally. he IAU strategic Plan 2010 - 2020 recognises that astronomy is a ield that can be used to develop societies across the globe. With this in mind, it maintains that, by using astronomy to educate and inspire societies, positive changes will occur. In other words, the IAU sets out to bridge the knowledge divide as a way of developing societies.
THE INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
he IAU is the largest body of professional astronomers across the world. It was founded in 1919 with the goal of advocating and safeguarding the science of astronomy through Dr Wanda Diaz-Merced. SAAO international cooperation. he IAU has 12 391 members. he individual members’
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 23 ON THE COVER ASTRONOMY OUTREACH
directory contains 10 175 names in and strategically coordinating Regional Chinese Language Expertise Centre is 98 countries worldwide. Of those, 74 Oices and Language Expertise Centres jointly hosted by the Kavli Institute for countries are National Members. In across the world, as well as initiating, Astrophysics, Beijing Planetarium and addition, the IAU collaborates with supporting and funding programmes Yunnan Observatory in China various scientiic organisations globally. in three core areas: Astronomy for ■ he Andean Regional Oice at three Its individual members – structured into Universities and Research, Astronomy collaborating institutions across two divisions, commissions and working for Children and Schools, and countries (Colombia and Chile): groups – are professional astronomers Astronomy for the Public. Universidad de Los Andes, Parque from all over the world, at the PhD Explora-Planetario de Medellín and level and beyond. hey are all active REGIONAL OFFICES Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía in professional research and education in astronomy. he OAD has led the establishment of ■ he East African Regional Oice nine regional oices around the world. is jointly hosted by the Ethiopian WHAT IS THE OAD? Some focus on a particular geographic Ministries of Science and Technology region (these are known as Regional and Education, the Ethiopian Space he Oice of Astronomy for Oices of Astronomy for Development Science Society, and Addis Ababa Development (OAD) is a global oice or ROADs) while others focus on a University in Ethiopia that is mandated to use astronomy to speciic language or cultural region ■ he Arab Regional Oice and Arabic drive positive developmental change. (these are known as Language Expertise Language Oice is hosted by the Arab his oice was established through a Centres of the OAD or LOADs). hese Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences joint partnership between the IAU and oices were established on the principle and located at the United Nations the South African National Research that a single oice cannot suiciently Regional Centre for Space Science and Foundation (NRF). It was inaugurated cater for all the speciic cultural and Technology Education in Jordan on 16 April 2011 at its location in language needs of all regions of the ■ he West African Regional Oice the South African Astronomical world. In each of these regional oices at the Centre for Basic Space Science Observatory. he purpose of the OAD there is at least the equivalent of one full- (CBSS), National Space Research and is to implement the IAU’s strategic plan time person to coordinate activities. Development Agency (NASRDA) at the 2010-2020 ‘Astronomy for Development’. Since 2012, nine regional ofices have University of Nigeria in Nigeria his plan describes the potential of been established (listed below in astronomy to contribute to sustainable alphabetical order of host country): ■ he Portuguese Language Oice development. he OAD was established at Núcleo Interativo de Astronomia ■ he South West and Central to mobilise the necessary human and (NUCLIO), in collaboration with the inancial resources in order to realise Asian Regional Oice at Byurakan Institute of Astrophysics and Space the ield’s scientiic, technological and Astrophysical Observatory (BAO) Sciences in Portugal in Armenia cultural beneits to society. ■ he South East Asian Regional Oice he OAD is tasked with establishing ■ he East Asian Regional Oice and is hosted by the National Astronomy Research Institute of hailand (NARIT) in hailand ■ he Southern African Regional Oice is hosted by Copperbelt University in Zambia.
ELEMENTS OF ASTRONOMY FOR DEVELOPMENT
he OAD uses astronomy to drive sustainable development by fostering education in three focus areas or task forces (universities and research, children and schools, and general public). To date, the OAD has funded 86 projects around the world, as well as ad hoc pilot projects in South Africa. Task Force 1 focuses on using astronomy to develop any aspect Learners using one of the travelling of research, teaching or learning at telescopes at the SAAO. SAAO tertiary level. Universities and research projects include university twinning
24 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 ON THE COVER ##ASTRONOMY OUTREACH
Visually impaired learners making
sense of the Universe. SAAO
programmes, workshops on astronomy, to development. he IAU earmarks provide course and tutorial resources coding or data reduction, as well as approximately €110 000 per year for each for mathematics and physics lecturers developing open-access course materials call, with individual grants generally at undergraduate level in order to use for tertiary education. Task Force ranging between €500 and €15 000, astronomy to enhance science teaching. 2 is aimed at pre-primary, primary depending on the scope of the project. Even with the oice providing funding In addition to the annual call for and secondary education, as well as to astronomy-for-development projects, proposals, the OAD also funds ad children and youth outside the formal the demand still surpasses the supply. hoc projects that use astronomy for education systems. he excitement of he oice receives quite a number of astronomy can be used to inspire and sustainable development. Some of the applications each year but usually does interest young people in science and previously funded ad hoc projects or not have enough funds to propel those technology. Astronomy can also support programmes include: projects. Such unfunded projects are science, technology, engineering, and ► Astrocomputing placed on a recommended list on the mathematics (STEM) education both his was a project aimed at exploring OAD website, with the intention of formally and informally. Task Force 3 ways in which computing skills in attracting other sources of funding. focuses on providing astronomy access astronomy can be applied to other ields. to everyone, regardless of age, class, Should you wish to get involved in some ► AstroEDU gender, educational background, etc. of the OAD’s work, please do get in touch. his task force includes public outreach, his was a project aimed at allowing Volunteers, interns and visiting fellows scientiic literacy, and inclusion in educators and astronomers to submit are always welcome and have contributed science as well as interactions between activities in a standard format which immensely in the past. history, art, culture and astronomy. allows for eicient distribution and use ‘Astronomy is a unique and cost- by teachers around the world. efective tool for furthering sustainable CALL TO ACTION ► AstroSense global development, because of his is a project led by Dr Wanda its technological, scientiic and A key part of the implementation of Diaz-Merced, a blind astrophysicist cultural dimensions.’ the IAU Strategic Plan is carried out by and computer scientist who develops means of an annual call for proposals. sotware to analyse astronomical data Mangakane Karabo Makola is a During the call, individuals and through sound. Additionally, the OAD communications intern at the IAU- Ofice of Astronomy for Development. organisations that aim to use astronomy supports initiatives in the development Her interests include marketing for societal beneit can apply for funding of tactile astronomy resources, such as communication, public relations, for their project ideas. he proposed the 3D moon developed by the ‘Touch of strategic organisational communication projects are judged on merit in terms the Universe’ OAD-sponsored project. and journalism. She graduated from the of their potential of using astronomy to ► AstroVARSITY University of Limpopo with a BA Honours in address problems or challenges related his is a project which intends to Media Studies.
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 25 NEWS EXTRA! Another eye towards the sky – unveiling South Africa’s Optical Space Research Laboratory
ANSA’s robust endeavours to Munsami. Aligned with SANSA’s human radio quiet and of ers the optically dark, strengthen the country’s role capacity development imperative, the clear seeing conditions that make it an Sin multinational space science OSR Laboratory will also be used by ideal location for the laboratory. research, this time specii cally in upper- space science students nationally and SANSA has a partnership agreement atmosphere studies, came to fruition internationally for research projects. with the German Aerospace Centre with the unveiling of the Optical Space SANSA’s hosting agreement with (DLR), to host a space debris tracking Research (OSR) Laboratory at the South the SAAO facilitated the construction station within the OSR Laboratory. African Astronomical Observatory of the OSR Laboratory in 2016. h e h e facility will include a space debris (SAAO) in Sutherland on 6 April unique location of the observatory in tracking telescope as part of SMARTnet™ this year. Sutherland, which enables optical and (Small Aperture Robotic Telescope h is state-of-the-art facility will be radio research of the atmosphere, is Network), a dedicated sensory network used solely for research and to host based on telescope systems. ‘Satellite space monitoring projects with national safety and reliability depend on and international partners. identifying threats, such as collisions, ‘Space science research is and using countermeasures to deal complex and requires signii cant with hazardous situations,’ says Dr multinational collaboration. Hauke Fiedler, Team Leader of Space h e unique capabilities of this Situational Awareness at DLR. facility will provide crucial h e space debris tracking space science data to meet telescope will be operated remotely national and international by the DLR German Space obligations, as well as Operation Centre together with raise the standard of the Astronomical Institute of the South African research University of Bern, according and supply information to a SMARTnet™ observation about unanswered scientii c plan, to identify non-star objects questions to enhance that could pose a collision hazard. scientii c development,’ ‘h is will enable the research team to says SANSA CEO, Dr Val activate collision avoidance measures
DLR, SAAO and SANSA team with the space debris tracking telescope. SANSA
26 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 NEWS EXTRA! to ensure the safe operation of satellites,’ an ELF (extremely low frequency) enable SANSA to leverage the benei ts of says Dr Fiedler. h e collaboration will receiver to observe lightning and sprites space science and technology for socio- also provide a knowledge exchange in the ELF spectrum; a mesospheric economic development, environmental partnership that will initiate space debris temperature mapper to estimate conservation and space asset tracking know-how in South Africa. mesospheric temperature and a SBAS ‘Research of the Earth’s atmosphere (satellite-based augmentation system) management in service of humanity,’ says and ionosphere is crucial for receiver for aircrat navigation. SANSA MD, Dr Lee-Anne McKinnell. understanding our near-Earth space and ‘h ere is no doubt that this facility will the interconnected processes that govern add signii cantly to our knowledge about Issued by: SANSA, Catherine Webster, our natural environment and impact the the Earth’s upper atmosphere and further Communication Practitioner technology we rely on daily. We will use the OSR initially to study atmospheric gravity waves to gain greater insight into the dynamics of the Earth’s middle atmosphere,’ says Prof. Kosch, Chief Scientist at SANSA’s Hermanus facility in the Western Cape. ‘Such knowledge is important because the middle atmosphere couples space weather from above with terrestrial weather below’. SANSA will also use the laboratory to record a phenomenon called ‘sprites’, following its recording of the i rst images of sprites over Africa from Sutherland on 11 January 2016. Triggered by large cloud-to-ground lightning strikes during major thunderstorms, sprites are optical gas discharges from the top of convective thunderstorm clouds that appear as brief l ashes of very bright light, lasting between 1 - 10 milliseconds, at an altitude of 50 – 100 km. Given the millions of lightning strikes that occur annually, the rarity of the reported sightings is surprising. ‘Our Prof. Kosch and students with the OSR Lab. SANSA observations of sprites pave the way for more comprehensive observations at multiple wavelengths to improve our understanding of how sprites are triggered and their ef ects on the upper atmosphere,’ says Kosch. h e camera in the OSR Laboratory can detect sprites as far away as Bloemfontein, Lesotho and Port Elizabeth, covering a large section of the summer lightning activity area. It can also detect sprites over the ocean near Port Elizabeth and East London, where South Africa has the relatively rare feature of lightning over the ocean. h is will enable the SANSA scientists to determine whether sprites also occur over the ocean. h e laboratory houses specialised research equipment, including an airglow imager to observe atmospheric gravity waves in the mesosphere through a variety of wavelengths; night-vision video cameras to observe sprites in SANSA CEO, Dr Munsami and white-light and multiple wavelengths; Dr Hauke Fiedler, Head of Space SANSA CEO and SANSA MD unveiling Situational Awareness at DLR. SANSA the OSR Lab. SANSA
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 27 NEWS EXTRA! Researchers use ‘Fitbits’ to track elephant sleep in the wild
hy we sleep is one of the enduring unanswered he main inding of the study, recently published in the journal mysteries of modern science. Along with such PlosOne, was that the two matriarch elephants slept only two Wactivities as eating, protecting yourself and hours per day on average, and this sleep occurred mostly in the reproducing, sleep is common to all animals. early hours of the morning, well before dawn. Some, like whales, dolphins, seals and certain birds, do it in a ‘he data also indicated that environmental conditions very unusual manner, sleeping with only half their brain at a time, (temperature and humidity, but not sunlight) are related to when some sleep a lot and other animals need less sleep. the elephants fell asleep and when they woke up (which happens ‘While there are many hypotheses regarding the function of well before dawn),’ says Manger. ‘his inding is the irst that sleep, the ultimate purpose of sleep is yet to be discovered,’ says indicates that sleep in wild animals is likely not to be related to Prof. Paul Manger, from the School of Anatomical Sciences at sunrise and sunset, but that other environmental factors are more University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). crucial to the timing of sleep.’ Lack of sleep (in some animals) can – even over a relatively he team also found that the wild elephants could sleep while short term – lead to brain damage, and in the longer term death, standing up, or while lying down. Lying down to sleep only which can be seen in the human conditions fatal familial insomnia happened every three or four days and for about an hour, and it and sporadic fatal insomnia. is likely that these were the only times the elephants could go into Generally, larger animals tend to sleep less than smaller animals, REM, or dreaming sleep, suggesting that elephants may dream but do elephants it this trend? only every few days. Behavioural studies of elephant sleep in zoos show that they ‘REM sleep (or dreaming) is thought to be important for sleep for around four hours per day and can sleep standing up or consolidating memories, but our indings are not consistent with lying down – but how much do they sleep and how do they sleep this hypothesis of the function of REM sleep, as the elephant has in their natural environment? well-documented long-term memories, but does not need REM Working in the Chobe National Park in Botswana, Manger, Dr sleep every day to form these memories,’ says Manger. Nadine Gravett, and Dr Adhil Bhagwandin from Wits, along with Lastly, they found that the two elephants, when disturbed by colleagues from the NGO, Elephants Without Borders, Botswana, predators, poachers, or a bull elephant in musth, could go without and the University of California, Los Angeles, used small activity sleep for up to 48 hours, and would walk up to 30 km to get away data loggers, scientiic versions of the well-known consumer from perceived danger. his put a great deal of distance between itness and wellness tracker, Fitbit, to study the sleeping patterns of the elephant herd and any source of danger, but at the expense of a elephants in the wild. night’s sleep. ‘We reasoned that measuring the activity of the trunk, the most ‘Understanding how diferent animals sleep is important for two mobile and active appendage of the elephant, would be crucial, reasons. First, it helps us to understand the animals themselves making the reasonable assumption that if the trunk is still for ive and discover new information that may aid the development of minutes or more, the elephant is likely to be asleep,’ says Manger. better management and conservation strategies, and, second, he team outitted two matriarch elephants with an activity data knowing how diferent animals sleep and why they do so in their logger and a GPS collar with gyroscope, noting when they used own particular way, helps us to understand how humans sleep, their trunk, when they moved around and where and when they why we do, and how we might get a better night’s sleep.’ were lying down to sleep. Issued by: Schalk Mouton Senior Communications Oficer, Wits Communications
Prof. Paul Manger and his team insert an activity data logger An elephant wearing a gyroscope around her neck and a into the trunk of an elephant during the study. Wits University data logger in her trunk. Wits University
28 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 NEWS EXTRA! A kiss of death – mammals were the first to produce venom
T scans of fossils of the pre-mammalian reptile, CEuchambersia, show anatomical features designed for venom production. Africa is a tough place. It always has been. Especially if you have to fend of gigantic predators like sabre-toothed carnivores in order to survive. And, when you’re a small, dog-sized pre- mammalian reptile, sometimes the only way to protect yourself against these monsters is to turn your saliva into a The skull of the Euchambersia fossil shows the large space deadly venomous cocktail. for the venom glands, in the top jaw, right behind the front teeth h at is exactly what a distant, pre- (just to the right of Dr Julien Benoit’s index i nger). - Wits University mammalian reptile, the therapsid Euchambersia, did about 260 million years ago, in order to survive the rough very i rst snake was even born.’ l owed directly into its mouth, and the conditions of ered by the deadly South As venom glands don’t fossilise, venom was passively introduced into its African environment. Living in the Benoit and his colleagues from Wits victim through ridges on the outside of its Karoo, near Colesberg in South Africa, University, in association with the canine teeth. the Euchambersia developed a deep and Natural History Museum of London, ‘Euchambersia could have used its circular fossa (a space in the skull), just used cutting-edge CT scanning and venom for protection or hunting. Most behind its canine teeth in the upper jaw, 3D imagery techniques to analyse the venomous species today use their in which a deadly venomous cocktail was only two available fossilised skulls venom for hunting, so I would rather produced, and delivered directly into the of the Euchambersia, and discovered go for this option. In addition, animals mouth through a i ne network of bony stunning anatomical adaptions that are at that time were not all insectivorous, grooves and canals. compatible with venom production. particularly among therapsids, which ‘h is is the i rst evidence of the oldest h eir results were published in the open were very diverse.’ venomous vertebrate ever found, and what access journal, PlosOne, in February. Issued by: Schalk Mouton, is even more surprising is that it is not in ‘First, a wide, deep and circular fossa to accommodate a venom gland Senior Communications Ofi cer a species that we expected it to be,’ says Wits Communications Dr Julien Benoit, researcher at the Bernard was present on the upper jaw and was Price Institute for Palaeontological connected to the canine and the mouth Research at the University of the by a i ne network of bony grooves and Witwatersrand in South Africa. canals,’ says Benoit. ‘Moreover, we ‘Today, snakes are notorious for their discovered previously undescribed teeth venomous bite, but their fossil record hidden in the vicinity of the bones and vanishes in the depth of geological times rock: two incisors with preserved crowns at about 167 million years ago, so, at 260 and a pair of large canines, that all had million years ago, they evolved venom a sharp ridge. Such a ridged dentition more than a 100 million years before the would have helped the injection of venom inside a prey.’ Unlike snakes like vipers or cobras, which actively inject their prey with venom through needle-like grooves in their teeth, the Euchambersia's venom
Dr Julien Benoit with the skull of the Euchambersia fossil that was found near Colesberg, in the Eastern Cape Province An artist’s impression of the Euchambersia. Wits University of South Africa, in 1966. Wits University
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 29 FEATURE magicMIDLANDS Afromontane Megan Jooste describes grasslands occur the excitement of doing research, at relatively high with Lize Joubert-van der Merwe altitudes in Africa. Megan Jooste
My irst experience as a research assistant species. hree species that let a lasting grasslands. hese butterlies tell us about was working in the KwaZulu-Natal impression were the Pineapple Lily habitat quality since they have a smaller (KZN) Midlands with Dr Lize Joubert- (Fig. 1), a unique orchid species (Fig. 2) home range. his rule also applied to the van der Merwe, who is a postdoctoral and the Drakensberg Sugarbush (Fig. 10). small, wingless Lentulidae grasshoppers student at Stellenbosch University. that we collected. A variety of other We were surveying biodiversity in FROM FLORA TO FAUNA insects also drew my attention, such as the Afromontane grassland biome to the exquisite Flower mantid (Fig. 5) and determine the conservation status of these he local fauna was not forgotten. Cool Blister beetles that are well known garden habitats. and misty days were spent taking close-up pests (Fig. 6). In preparation for spending a month photographs of insects, as they move in the Midlands (a place I don’t know), less in this weather. he dragonlies and AND DON’T I went through several ield guides antlions sitting peacefully in the long, wet FORGET THE BIRDS and books to get a better idea of the grass were relatively easy to admire (Fig. local lora and fauna. Even so, I was 3), while other insects took shelter from When we irst heard cranes calling we not prepared for the endless luscious the thick mist and rain. We spent sunny mistakenly assumed that they were the greenery covering the rolling hillsides days catching grasshoppers (Fig. 11) and more common Blue Cranes, but much – a spectacular contrast to the drought- butterlies with nets … or at least trying to our surprise, ater following their calls stricken Western Cape. to. his is always a tricky task so simply and seeing their distinctive large size and catching one is an achievement. On the white necks, we realised that the calls THE AFROMONTANE last day of our trip I was lucky enough to were coming from a pair of critically GRASSLANDS catch a Green-banded Swallowtail (Fig. endangered Wattled Cranes. Our next 8) and a Mocker Swallowtail. hey are encounters were slightly unsettling as Lize Joubert-van der Merwe is developing lightning fast and nimble and you are they challenged a particular phobia of an easy-to-use index to determine the lucky to see one, let alone catch one! his mine. We came across a Puf Adder and conservation value of the Afromontane was a momentous occasion as we could two Rinkhals within a short stretch of grasslands in the Midlands. his conirm previous sightings and add them road. Needless to say, we called it quits requires a thorough understanding of to our collection of species. that morning, as that patch of unburned the biodiversity of the area, as well as I should mention that like most people I grassland clearly did not want us poking the primary drivers and threats to this was under the impression that the biggest around. Regardless, I made a point of diversity. Lize’s project emphasises unique and most glamorous butterlies would be learning more about these particular species within her sampling sites, which considered a notable ind, but this was snakes and realised that we were actually included rare geophytes, indicator plant not the case. It turns out that the smaller fortunate to have seen them in their species and some large bird species. and more plainly coloured Lycaenidae natural habitat. hroughout the month I During the month of ieldwork, my butterlies (Fig. 4) were more ecologically also saw Black-backed jackals, bushpigs, identiication skills improved daily and important since they are typically Southern Ground Hornbills, waterbuck I enjoyed inding new and unfamiliar classiied as indicator species in the and a Crowned Eagle – species that I had
30 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 FEATURE hoped to see during the ieldwork. he the landscape, we came across numerous magical Midlands inspired me to try and variety of animals and plants that we came holes where endemic medicinal plants capture the beauty of the diverse plants across were much more abundant than I (Fig. 7) had been harvested. Unsustainable and insects with a series of scientiic could ever have imagined. harvesting has led to a noticeable decline illustrations. I hope that my account of in natural population sizes. assisting with ieldwork will inspire others THREATS TO DIVERSITY and assist with preserving this spectacular JOURNEY’S END ecosystem for future generations. Unfortunately, we also came across various factors that threaten the pristine Ater surveying 70 study sites over the Megan Jooste is a third year grasslands habitat. he magniicent Nguni, course of our visit, our mission was Conservation Ecology student at Bonsmara and Brahman cattle graze on complete and it was time to head back to Stellenbosch University. She has a passion for the outdoors and loves a bit of both some of the best grass varieties. However, prepare for the start of the 2017 academic worlds – terrestrial and aquatic ecology. as beautiful as these creatures may be, the year. In the meantime, Lize Joubert- She is looking forward to pursuing a reality is that their overgrazing is causing a van der Merwe’s research continues career in conservation ecology and decline in biodiversity as well as changing and is steadily making its way into hopes to aid with the advance of the appearance of entire landscapes. he management guidelines, which will aid in environmental education and scientiic ‘dongas’ (erosion gulleys where water the conservation of grasslands. Ater this communication by uniting her research interests with a passion for illustration. gathers and cuts away into the poorly eventful month I have a clear idea of what vegetated hillsides) that scar some of the ieldwork entails and have gained valuable Lize Joubert-van der Merwe is passionate slopes are tell-tale signs of the long-term insight into how research is conducted. about research that has practical value impacts of overgrazing. Apart from these When it comes to choosing a dissertation for the commercial sectors of agriculture animal-mediated disturbances, certain topic, I will certainly use this ieldtrip as and forestry. She is also a mentor invasive plants such as the introduced a point of reference. Lize was an amazing within the Teaching and Development Programme of the Faculty of AgriScience, Scottish histle (Cirsium vulgare) mentor. Her passion for her research is Stellenbosch University, which places dominate parts of the landscape. Sadly, contagious and her work ethic sets a great her in the position to help students work it’s not just the cattle or thistles that are example. On a slightly diferent and more on their talents, and develop their skills threatening diversity, but as we explored colourful note, the month spent in the outside curricular activities.
Figure 5 Figure 4 Figure 3 Figure 1 Figure 2
Figure 6 Figure 10 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9
• Figure 1: The Pineapple lily (Eucomis autumnalis) is one of • Figure 6: Blister beetles are a common sight on lowers. the major species of the Afromontane grasslands. iSpot link: iSpot link: http://www.ispotnature.org/node/866545 http://www.ispotnature.org/node/867189 • Figure 7: Gifbol (Boophone disticha) is a well-known Figure 2: What a joy it was to ind a bright yellow Eulophia grassland species that is highly sought-after in the medicinal leontoglossa lower among the tall grass! iSpot link: http:// trade. iSpot link: http://www.ispotnature.org/node/751162 www.ispotnature.org/node/867619 • Figure 8: The elusive Green-banded Swallowtail. iSpot link: • Figure 3: We found many dragonlies along waterways. http://www.ispotnature.org/node/866875 iSpot link: http://www.ispotnasture.org/node/866959 • Figure 9: The Drakensberg Sugarbush (Protea roupelliae • Figure 4: The Marsh Blue is part of a family of butterlies subsp. roupelliae). iSpot link: http://www.ispotnature.org/ that are sensitive to environmental disturbances due to their node/867210 relatively small size. iSpot link: http://www.ispotnature.org/ • Figure 10: A Rooibaadjie (Dictyophorus spumans) is usually node/881571 black and red; however, the varieties in the KZN Midlands • Figure 5: Flower mantids are expertly camoulaged among are either green and red, or blue and red. iSpot link: http:// the lowers of their host plants while waiting for their prey. www.ispotnature.org/node/867606 iSpot link: https://www.ispotnature.org/node/781540 All illustrations by Megan Jooste
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 31 FEATURE Decolonising social sciences What a new university in Africa is doing to decolonise social sciences. By Jess Auerbach
It’s not oten that you get to create a new will be open source. his will be achieved reminded how much they don’t know. university from scratch: space, staf – and by building relationships with publishers, As we grow, students will also be curriculum. But that’s exactly what we’re writers and industry leaders, and expected to learn languages from the doing in Mauritius, at one of Africa’s negotiating partnerships for equitable continent: both those that originated newest higher education institutions. access to knowledge. his will ensure that in colonialism (Arabic, English, And decoloniality is central to our work. a new generation of thinkers is equipped French, Portuguese), and those that I am a member of the Social Science with the analytic tools they need. are indigenous such as isiZulu, Wolof, Faculty at the African Leadership It will also move towards undoing or Amharic. University (ALU). Part of our task is to centuries of knowledge extraction from build a canon, knowledge, and a way Africa to the world that has too oten 1:1 Student exchange ratio of knowing. his is happening against taken place with little beneit to the #3 Having cross-cultural the backdrop of a movement by South continent itself. experiences, particularly as an African students to decolonise their undergraduate, has become an important universities; Black Lives Matter protests Language beyond English part of demonstrating work readiness in the United States; and in the context #2 Students who read, write and social competency in a ‘globalised’ of a much deeper history of national and think in English oten forget that world. But scholars have shown that reimagination across Africa and knowledge is produced, consumed, and globalisation is oten uneven. Strong the world. tested in other tongues. currencies enable such experiences, so With this history in mind our We commit to assigning students at those who beneit usually come from faculty is working towards what we least one non-English text per week. Europe and North America. consider a decolonial social science his will be summarised and discussed his has had huge implications curriculum. We’ve adopted seven in class, even when students are unable for higher education, where ‘student commitments to help us meet this goal, to read it themselves. Our current class exchange’ usually takes place at a ratio and which we hope will shit educational comprises of students from 16 countries of 10:1 – ten Americans or Norwegians, discourse in a more equitable and who between them speak 29 languages. for instance, exploring South African representative direction. English is the only language they all townships, for one Ghanaian who might share. Exposing students to scholarly, make it to the Eifel Tower. SEVEN COMMITMENTS policy, and real-world work that’s not In Social Sciences the body is the in English means they are constantly research tool and the mind the laboratory By 2019, everything we assign in which experiments are undertaken. #1 our students will be open source We support as much exchange as Like most institutions of higher possible across the broader institution. education in Africa (and across But our commitment when it comes to much of the world) ALU’s library is We don’t want to train student exchange is strictly 1:1 – one limited. Students oten deal with this our students to become ALU student goes abroad for every by louting copyright and piracy laws and one exchange student we welcome into illegally downloading material. We don’t habitual law breakers. our classroom. want to train our students to become Nor do we want them habitual law breakers. Nor do we want Text is not enough them to accept second-tier access to to accept second-tier #4 Africa’s long intellectual history commodiied knowledge. has only recently begun to be recorded Our aspiration is that by 2019 access to commodified and stored through text. If students are everything we assign in our programme knowledge. exposed only to written sources, their
32 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 FEATURE
An old map of Africa. princeton.edu
knowledge is largely constrained to the with our legal, policy, and learning then, is committed to the principle of eras of colonisation and post-coloniality. teams to write the university’s statement ‘do no harm’, and also to be an impetus To instil a much deeper knowledge and on diversity. for good. more sensitive awareness to context and Students will learn to think and act to content, we are committed to assigning Producers, not only the highest ethical standards, and to feel non-textual sources of history, culture, #6 consumers coni dent in asking the same of others and belief: studying artefacts, music, h e students who choose to come to the working with them. h is is essential in advertising, architecture, food, and more. university bring with them tremendous bringing into being a world in which Each week students engage with at least insight and experience. h ese are ot en Africa’s place is both central – as it has one such source to attend to the world developed and augmented by spending arguably always been to global capitalism around them in a more careful way. time in the quintessential multi-cultural – and also respected. environment of the campus and We cannot work alone dormitories. h at allows certain fusions, COLLABORATION #5 Social scientists ot en assign tensions and commonalities to emerge themselves the role of deconstructor: much more clearly than they might in It’s early days at ALU. h ere’s a lot we unpacking power, race, capitalism and other places. still need to do, and it will take time consumption with glorious self-righteous Working and living within this for us to build the institution into abandon. My colleagues and I recognise environment, it’s essential that students what we collectively envision. h ese that we cannot work alone, and require start contributing to discourses seven commitments are an important our students to play a central role in surrounding Africa as early as possible. foundation for the Social Sciences. contributing to the university’s outputs. It might take years to know how to write We’re inviting responses and We design our curricula in such a way a publishable scholarly article – but an collaborations through our blog, through that students are compelled to create, op-ed, podcast or YouTube video is not email or through collaborations with iterate, work with feedback, apply that quite so demanding. h is allows students our students. feedback, and critically appraise it. We to get accustomed to their voices want them to collaborate with as wide contributing to and shaping public a range of other people as possible, dialogue in and about Africa. Jess Auerbach teaches Social Sciences stretching them to use language and the at the African Leadership University, Mauritius. tools of analysis that they acquire in their Ethics above all training with real-world implication. #7 Social Sciences both rel ect This article was i rst published in The For example, students recently worked and shape the world. Our programme, Conversation.
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 33 FEATURE Hominin neighbours Homo naledi: living alongside Homo sapiens. Breaking news from Wits University
Scientists recently announced that the partial skeleton of an adult male with a A RECENT SPECIES Rising Star Cave system has revealed yet remarkably well-preserved skull. more important discoveries, only a year h e new discovery and subsequent h e H. naledi date is surprisingly recent. and a half at er it was announced that the research was done by a large team of h e fossil remains have primitive features richest fossil hominin site in Africa had researchers from the University of the that are shared with some of the earliest been discovered, and that it contained a Witwatersrand (Wits), James Cook known fossil members of our genus, such new hominin species named Homo naledi University, Australia, the University as H. rudolfensis and H. habilis, species by the scientists who described it. of Wisconsin, Madison, United that lived nearly two million years ago. h e age of the original H. naledi States, and more than 30 additional On the other hand, however, it also shares remains from the Dinaledi Chamber has international institutions. some features with modern humans. been revealed to be startlingly young. h e team was led by Professor Lee At er the description of the new species H. naledi, whose discovery was i rst Berger of Wits in Johannesburg, South in 2015, experts had predicted that the announced in September 2015, was Africa, and a National Geographic fossils should be around the age of these alive some time between 335 and 236 Explorer in Residence. h e discovery other primitive species. Instead, the fossils thousand years ago. h is places this of the second chamber with abundant from the Dinaledi Chamber are barely population of primitive small-brained H. naledi fossils includes one of the most more than one-tenth that age. hominins at a time and place that makes complete skeletons of a hominin ever ‘h e dating of H. naledi was extremely it likely that they lived alongside discovered, as well as the remains of at challenging,’ noted Dirks, who worked H. sapiens. h is is the i rst time that it least one child and another adult. h e with 19 other scientists from laboratories has been demonstrated that another discovery of a second chamber has led the and institutions around the world, species of hominin survived alongside team to argue that there is more support including labs in South Africa and the i rst humans in Africa. for the controversial hypothesis that Australia, to establish the age of the h e research, published recently H. naledi deliberately disposed of its dead fossils. ‘Eventually, six independent dating in three papers in the journal eLife in these remote, hard to reach caverns. methods allowed us to constrain the age (elifesciences.org), presents the long- h e dating of H. naledi is the of this population of H. naledi to a period awaited age of the H. naledi fossils from conclusion of the multi-authored paper: known as the late Middle Pleistocene.’ the Dinaledi Chamber and announces h e age of Homo naledi and associated h e age for this population of hominins the new discovery of a second chamber sediments in the Rising Star Cave, shows that H. naledi may have survived in the Rising Star cave system, South Africa, led by Professor Paul for as long as two million years alongside containing additional specimens of Dirks of James Cook University and other species of hominins in Africa. At H. naledi. h ese include a child and a Wits University. such a young age, in a period known
Rising Star property in 2017 showing
viewing deck and dam. Wits University/Marina Elliott
34 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 FEATURE as the late Middle Pleistocene, it was previously thought that only H. sapiens (modern humans) existed in Africa. More critically, it is at precisely this time that we see the rise of what has been called ‘modern human behaviour’ in southern Africa – behaviour attributed, until now, to the rise of modern humans and thought to represent the origins of complex modern human activities such as burial of the dead, self-adornment and complex tools.
THE DATING GAME he team used a combination of optically stimulated luminescence dating of sediments with uranium-thorium dating and palaeomagnetic analyses of Left to right: Marina Elliott, Maropeng Ramalepa and Mpume Hlophe. lowstones to establish how the sediments Wits University/Wayne Crichton relate to the geological timescale in the wide constraints of the entrance chute. ‘We can no longer assume that we Dinaledi Chamber. Dr Marina Elliott, Exploration know which species made which tools, or Direct dating of the teeth of H. naledi, Scientist at Wits and one of the original even assume that it was modern humans using uranium series dating (U-series) ‘underground astronauts’ on the 2013 that were the innovators of some of these and electron spin resonance dating (ESR), Rising Star Expedition, says she had critical technological and behavioural provided the inal age range. ‘We used always felt that the naledi fossils were breakthroughs in the archaeological double blinds wherever possible,’ says ‘young’. ‘I’ve excavated hundreds of record of Africa,’ says Berger. ‘If there is Professor Jan Kramers of the University of the bones of H. naledi, and from the one other species out there that shared the Johannesburg, a uranium dating specialist. irst one I touched, I realised that world with “modern humans” in Africa, Dr Hannah Hilbert-Wolf, a geologist there was something diferent about it is very likely there are others. We just from James Cook University who also the preservation, that they appeared need to ind them.’ worked on the Dinaledi Chamber, hardly fossilised.’ John Hawks of the University of noted that it was crucial to igure out Wisconsin-Madison and Wits University, how the sediments within the Dinaledi HOMO NALEDI’S an author on all three papers, says: ‘I Chamber are layered, in order to build a SIGNIFICANT IMPACT think some scientists assumed they framework for understanding all of the knew how human evolution happened, dates obtained. In an accompanying paper, led by Berger, but these new fossil discoveries, plus ‘Of course we were surprised at the entitled Homo naledi and Pleistocene what we know from genetics, tell us that young age, but as we realised that all the hominin evolution in subequatorial Africa, the southern half of Africa was home geological formations in the chamber the team discuss the importance of to a diversity that we’ve never seen were young, the U-series and ESR results inding such a primitive species at such anywhere else’. were perhaps less of a surprise in the end,’ a time and place. hey noted that the ‘Recently, the fossil hominin record has added Professor Eric Roberts, from James discovery will have a signiicant impact been full of surprises, and the age of H. Cook University and Wits, who is one of on our interpretation of archaeological naledi is not going to be the last surprise the few geologists to have ever entered the assemblages and our understanding of that comes out of these caves I suspect,’ Dinaledi Chamber, due to the tight 18 cm- which species made them. adds Berger.
Homo naledi may have lived at the same time as the irst modern humans. Left: ‘Neo’ skull of Homo naledi. Middle: Kabwe skull from Zambia, an archaic human. Right: Omo 2 skull, one of the earliest modern humans. Wits University/John Hawks
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 35 FEATURE
A NEW CHAMBER AND SKELETON
In a third paper published at the same time in eLife, entitled New fossil remains of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber, South Africa, the team announces the discovery of a second chamber, within the Rising Star cave system, which contains more remains of H. naledi. ‘he chamber, which we have named the Lesedi Chamber, is more than a hundred meters from the Dinaledi Chamber. It is almost as diicult to access, and also contains spectacular fossils of H. naledi, including a partial skeleton with ‘Neo’ skull from Lesedi Chamber a wonderfully complete skull,’ says Hawks, (left) with DH1 Homo naledi skull from ‘Neo’ skull of Homo naledi from the Dinaledi Chamber (right). lead author on the paper describing the Lesedi Chamber. Wits University/John Hawks Wits University/John Hawks new discovery. Fossil remains were irst recognised in the chamber by Rick Hunter Dinaledi Chamber, the term is relative. more than 130 hominin specimens from and Steven Tucker in 2013, as ieldwork ‘I have never been inside either of the the Lesedi Chamber. he bones belong was underway in the Dinaledi Chamber. chambers, and never will be. In fact, I to at least three individuals, but Elliot he name ‘Lesedi’ means ‘light’ in the watched Lee Berger being stuck for almost believes that there are more fossils yet to Setswana language. Excavations in the an hour, trying to get out of the narrow be discovered. Among the individuals are Lesedi Chamber began later, and would underground squeeze of the Lesedi the skeletal remains of two adults and at take nearly three years. Chamber.’ Berger eventually had to be least one child. he child is represented extracted using ropes tied to his wrists. by bones of the head and body and NO EASY ACCESS he presence of a second chamber, would likely have been under ive years of distant from the irst, containing multiple age. Of the two adults, one is represented ‘To access the Lesedi Chamber is only individuals of H. naledi and almost as by only a jaw and leg elements, but the slightly easier than the Dinaledi Chamber,’ diicult to reach as the Dinaledi Chamber, other is represented by a partial skeleton, says Elliott, who was lead excavator of gives an idea of the extraordinary efort it including a mostly complete skull. the fossils from the new locality. ‘Ater took for H. naledi to reach these hard-to- passing through a squeeze of about get-to places, says Hilbert-Wolf. MEETING HOMO NALEDI 25 cm, you have to descend along vertical ‘his likely adds weight to the shats before reaching the chamber. hypothesis that H. naledi was using dark, he team describes the skull of the While slightly easier to get to, the Lesedi remote places to cache its dead,’ says skeleton as ‘spectacularly complete’. Chamber is, if anything, more diicult to Hawks. ‘What are the odds of a second, ‘We inally get a look at the face of work in due to the tight spaces involved.’ almost identical occurrence happening H. naledi,’ says Peter Schmid of Wits Hawks points out that while the Lesedi by chance?’ and the University of Zurich, who Chamber is ‘easier’ to get into than the So far, the scientists have uncovered spent hundreds of hours painstakingly
Geologist Dr Hannah Hilbert-Wolf studying dificult to reach Dr Marina Elliott inside the Rising Star cave system. lowstones in a small side passage in the Dinaledi Chamber. Dirk van Rooyen/ Wits University Dirk van Rooyen/ Wits University
36 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 FEATURE reconstructing the fragile bones to Lesedi and Dinaledi Chambers, there PUBLIC DISPLAY complete the reconstruction. are decades of research potential. ‘We he skeleton was nicknamed ‘Neo’ are going to treat ongoing extraction of The original fossils of this exciting new by the team, chosen for the Sesotho material from both of these chambers discovery, as well as H. naledi fossils word meaning ‘a git’. ‘he skeleton with extreme care and thoughtfulness from the irst Rising Star Expedition of Neo is one the most complete ever and with the full knowledge that we will be put on public display at discovered, and technically even more need to conserve material for future Maropeng, the Oicial Visitor Centre complete than the famous Lucy fossil, generations of scientists, and future for the Cradle of Humankind World given the preservation of the skull and technological innovations,’ he says. Heritage Site from 25 May 2017. This mandible,’ says Berger. Fity-two scientists from 35 exhibit of the largest display of original he specimens from the Lesedi departments and institutions were fossil hominin material in history, Chamber are nearly identical in involved in the research. form part of an exhibition called every way to those from the Dinaledi Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, ‘Almost Human’. Chamber, a remarkable inding in itself. Professor Adam Habib said: ‘he search his exhibition will be housed in ‘here is no doubt that they belong for human origins on the continent ‘he Gallery’. his state of the art to the same species,’ says Hawks. he of Africa began at Wits and it is exhibition space was built as part of the Lesedi Chamber fossils have not been wonderful to see this legacy continue Gauteng Government Infrastructure dated yet, as dating would require with such important discoveries’. Upgrade Project. destruction of some of the hominin ‘he National Geographic Society Maropeng is getting ready to receive material. ‘Once described, we will look has a long history of investing in bold thousands of visitors wanting to the at the way forward for establishing people and transformative ideas,’ said see the exhibition and the new fossils. the age of these particular fossils,’ says Gary E. Knell, president and CEO In 2015, when H. naledi was irst put Dirks. Elliot adds, however, that as the of the National Geographic Society, on display, some 3 500 visitors per day preservation and condition of the inds a funder of the expeditions that made their way to Maropeng. ‘It was an are practically identical to that of the recovered the fossils and established extraordinary thing to experience,’ says H. naledi specimens from the Dinaledi their age. Michael Worsnip, Managing Director Chamber the team hypothesises that ‘he continued discoveries from Lee of Maropeng. ‘It was something like a their age will fall roughly within the Berger and his colleagues showcase pilgrimage – a wonderful celebration of same time period. why it is critical to support the study of our heritage as a country, a continent Berger believes that with thousands our human origins and other pressing and a planet.’ Issued by Schalk Mouton, Senior Communications of fossils likely remaining in both the scientiic questions.’ Oficer, Wits University
Schematic of the Rising Star cave system. Marina Elliott/Wits University
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 37 Faculty of Engineering and the Tshwane University Built Environment of Technology We empower people
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment Departments of Building Sciences, Geomatics, Chemical Engineering, The introduction of the HEQSF in the Higher Education sector required all Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Engineering continue to present public and private Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), including Tshwane the current NATED151 qualiication during 2018. The new HEQSF aligned University of Technology (TUT), to revise all its qualiications to ensure qualiication will start to phase in during 2019. Please consult the Prospectus alignment with the HEQSF. of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (www.tut.ac.za) for more information. B Eng Tech Note 1* Admission requirements for the Diploma in Building A minimum score of (4) in English, (3) in Mathematics and (3) in Physical Science. Total APS score:25. Admission is subject to available space.
Higher Certiicate Admission requirements for the Diploma in Industrial Design A National Senior Certiicate or an equivalent qualiication with at least an adequate achievement of (4) for English. Total APS score: 21. In order to be considered for admission to this qualiication, you must irst meet the minimum academic requirements. All applications should be supplemented APS APS with a portfolio. 22 - 27 > 28 Admission requirements for the National Diploma: Surveying A National Senior Certiicate with an endorsement of a bachelor’s degree Entrance requirements: NSC, NCV, etc. or a diploma, or an equivalent qualiication, with an achievement level of Consult the brochure for 2018 of the at least 4 for English (home language or irst additional language), 4 for Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment Mathematics/Technical Mathematics and 3 for Physical Science/Physical for detailed entrance requirements (www.tut.ac.za) Science. A total APS of 23 may be considered
*Note 1: Students who performed well in the Higher Certiicate (HC) may be admitted into Admission requirements for the Bachelors of Architecture the B Eng Tech. A minimum score of (4) in English is required with a minimum APS score of 25. Admission is subject to the completion of a Potential Assessment Test (a 6 hour written test) and availability of space. The purpose and intention of The following new HEQSF aligned qualiications are presented from the assessment is to select only students who are likely to be successful in 2018: their studies in Architecture. The University reserves the right to select the best candidates for this programme. • Higher Certiicate in Construction Engineering (Civil) • Higher Certiicate in Electrical Engineering B Arch meets the educational requirements for registration as a Professional • Higher Certiicate in Industrial Engineering Architectural Technologist with SACAP. • Higher Certiicate in Mechanical Engineering Admission requirements for Postgraduate Qualiications • Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Civil Engineering A Baccalaureus Technologiae in Engineering, Bachelor of Engineering • Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Electrical Engineering Technology Honours, Bachelor of Engineering or a Bachelor of Science • Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Industrial Engineering in Engineering (in any related ield), or an NQF level 8 qualiication in • Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Mechanical Engineering Engineering (or any related ield), with an aggregate of 60 % for the inal • Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Mechatronics year of study obtained from an accredited South African university. The • Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Polymer postgraduate programmes involve a research project with a dissertation and speciied subjects. The candidates should prove that they understand a Admission requirements for the Higher Certiicate in Engineering particular problem in industry to which their research applies and are able to A National Senior Certiicate or an equivalent qualiication, with at least a analyse it, arrive at logical conclusions or a diagnosis and make proposals (4) for English, (4) for Mathematics and (4) for Physical Science. Total APS for improvement or elimination of the problems. Please consult the score: 24. This is the general requirement for the Faculty and it may differ for Prospectus available on the web site (www.tut.ac.za) for more information. individual Higher Certiicates programmes. This is a one-year qualiication. The Faculty phased in the Master of Engineering (M Eng) and Doctor of Admission requirements for the Bachelor of Engineering Technology Engineering (D Eng) qualiications in 2017. The B Eng Tech (Hons) leads (B Eng Tech) to a Masters of Engineering in Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, A National Senior Certiicate (NSC – completed Grade 12 in and after 2008), Metallurgical and Polymer Technology. M Arch meets the educational with an endorsement of a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent qualiication, requirements for registration as a Professional Architect with SACAP. with at least a substantial achievement of (5) for English, (5) for Mathematics and (5) for Physical Science. Total APS score: 28. This is a three-year For more information: qualiication (integrated theory and practical). Faculty Marketer: Ms Zelda Janse van Rensburg Email: [email protected] The B Eng Tech meets the educational requirements for registration as a Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TUTengineeringfaculty Professional Engineering Technologist with ECSA. Twitter: http://twitter.com/TUTEngineering BOOKS REVIEW
Departments of Building Sciences, Geomatics, Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Engineering continue to present the current NATED151 qualiication during 2018. The new HEQSF aligned University of Technology (TUT), to revise all its qualiications to ensure qualiication will start to phase in during 2019. Please consult the Prospectus ) for BOOK
Note 1* Admission requirements for the Diploma in Building A minimum score of (4) in English, (3) in Mathematics and (3) in Physical
Higher Certiicate Admission requirements for the Diploma in Industrial Design A National Senior Certiicate or an equivalent qualiication with at least an REVIEWS adequate achievement of (4) for English. Total APS score: 21. In order to be considered for admission to this qualiication, you must irst meet the THE KRUGER’S BIRDS 22 - 27 28 Guide to the Birds of the Admission requirements for the National Diploma: Surveying Kruger National Park. By A National Senior Certiicate with an endorsement of a bachelor’s degree Warwick Tarboton and Peter Entrance requirements: NSC, NCV, etc. or a diploma, or an equivalent qualiication, with an achievement level of Ryan. (Cape Town. Struik Consult the brochure for 2018 of the at least 4 for English (home language or irst additional language), 4 for Nature. 2016) Mathematics/Technical Mathematics and 3 for Physical Science/Physical h e Kruger National Park is probably better known for the Admission requirements for the Bachelors of Architecture *Note 1: Students who performed well in the Higher Certiicate (HC) may be admitted into ‘big i ve’ – and these mammal the B Eng Tech. of est species will undoubtably be of the main reason that many The following new HEQSF aligned qualiications are presented from be successful in visitors go to the park. However, select the the bird life in the Kruger is • Higher Certiicate in Construction Engineering (Civil) outstanding and abundant in • Higher Certiicate in Electrical Engineering as a Professional a relatively unchanged high- • Higher Certiicate in Industrial Engineering veld environment. • Higher Certiicate in Mechanical Engineering h e Kruger is known as one of Admission requirements for Postgraduate Qualiications the best ‘birding’ experiences in Bachelor of Engineering of Science the world, with something like in Engineering (in any related ield), or an NQF level 8 qualiication in 500 species recorded in its range, • Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Mechanical Engineering Engineering (or any related ield), with an aggregate of 60 % for the inal representing more than half the • Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Mechatronics The number of species found across involve a research project with a dissertation southern Africa. h e sheer size of and speciied subjects. The candidates should prove that they understand a the park and its accessibility and Admission requirements for the Higher Certiicate in Engineering to A National Senior Certiicate or an equivalent qualiication, with at least a proposals infrastructure make it a premier (4) for English, (4) for Mathematics and (4) for Physical Science. Total APS consult the OUR OCEANS EXPLORED destination for the dedicated group of birdwatchers who travel Two Oceans: A guide to the marine life of southern Africa 4ed. By individual Higher Certiicates programmes. This is a one-year qualiication. the globe to expand their ‘life list’. The Faculty phased in the Master of Engineering (M Eng) and Doctor of George Branch, Charles Grifi ths, Margo Branch and Lynnath Beckley. h is book is authored by two of Admission requirements for the Bachelor of Engineering Technology Engineering (D Eng) qualiications in 2017. The B Eng Tech (Hons) leads (Cape Town. Struik Nature. 2016) to a Masters of Engineering in Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Mechanical, South Africa’s best-known experts A National Senior Certiicate (NSC – completed Grade 12 in and after 2008), Metallurgical and Polymer Technology. M Arch meets the educational Earlier editions of this book have been the major reference that scientists, students, in ornithology and starts with an with an endorsement of a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent qualiication, divers and beachcombers have used to identify and learn about marine life in all excellent introduction to the park, of (5) for English, (5) for Mathematics its forms for many decades. Our local shores and seas contain abundant life – from its ecology and its avifauna in and (5) for Physical Science. Total APS score: 28. This is a three-year general. h e relationship between qualiication (integrated theory and practical). Faculty Marketer: Ms Zelda Janse van Rensburg sponges to whales and seaweeds, to dune forests and beach habitats. [email protected] h is fully revised and expanded fourth edition contains accounts for over 2 000 geology, climate and birdlife http://www.facebook.com/TUTengineeringfaculty species, with many updates and new photographs. h e introduction to the book makes this a useful addition to http://twitter.com/TUTEngineering covers the coasts of southern Africa, showing the two main currents that meet to any ecology library. provide the rich environment that gives life to the abundance of species of our h ere are informative species shores. Currents and tides are explained, as is the exploitation and conservation of accounts, full-colour photographs species. An understanding of classii cation is vital to any identii cation guide and and distribution maps that show there is a concise and useful introduction to this, with a detailed description of actual sightings, making this classii cation of marine groups. book an invaluable guide for h e dif erent generic grouping are in separate sections and each species is easy identii cation. illustrated with a colour photograph, a short species account and a distribution map.
www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 39 BACK PAGE SCIENCE
This illustration shows the possible
surface of TRAPPIST-1f. NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA TELESCOPE in the habitable zone, the area around the with the three in the habitable zone. REVEALS LARGEST parent star where a rocky planet is most However, we will not be visiting the BATCH OF EARTH-SIZE, likely to have liquid water. planets any time soon … they are about 40 HABITABLE-ZONE PLANETS he discovery sets a new record for light-years (376 trillion kilometres) from AROUND SINGLE STAR greatest number of habitable-zone planets Earth (about nine billion four hundred found around a single star outside our million times around the Earth). NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has solar system. All of these seven planets his exoplanet system is called revealed the irst known system of seven could have liquid water – key to life as we TRAPPIST-1, named for he Transiting Earth-size planets around a single star. know it – under the right atmospheric Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope hree of these planets are irmly located conditions, but the chances are highest (TRAPPIST) in Chile. NASA
HYENAS SAID TO JOIN WOLF PACKS IN UNUSUAL ALLIANCE
Courtesy of University of Tennessee at people, too,’ says Dinets. of canyons in the southern part of the Knoxville and World Science staf. Hyenas and wolves are generally not Negev Desert. Animals of diferent species friendly toward other carnivores so Dinets theorises that both predators sometimes lean on each other in times Dinets and Eligulashvili were surprised tolerated each other because they of adversity – just as humans do, when they saw striped hyenas – little beneit from being together. Wolves according to a new study. known, mostly solitary relatives of are more agile and can chase and take Vladimir Dinets of the University the better-known spotted hyenas of down all large animals of the region, of Tennessee, Knoxville, working Africa – in the middle of grey wolf while hyenas have an acute sense of with Israel-based zoologist Beniamin packs, moving together through a maze smell and can locate carrion from many Eligulashvili, examined an unlikely kilometres away. Hyenas also are better friendship between striped hyenas and at digging out buried garbage and grey wolves in the southern Negev cracking open large bones and tin cans. Desert, Israel. Both the grey wolf (Canis lupus) and Dinets suspects the extreme desert’s the striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) are particularly inhospitable conditions found in many geographic areas and – and a need for food – might have overlap in many parts of Asia. However, pushed the two enemies into an the southern Negev is the most arid unusual alliance. place where both species are known ‘When necessary, animals can to occur. abandon their usual strategies and A striped hyena at the Gir Forest he study appears in the journal learn something completely new and National Park in India. Dr Shamshad Zoology in the Middle East. Alam – Department of Wildlife Sciences, Aligarh unexpected. It’s a very useful skill for Muslim University, India. CC BY-SA 3.0 World Science, http://www.world-science.net
40 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017 BACK PAGE SCIENCE
COLD PLASMA: GET STARTED WITH THE DISC JET QUEST MATHS Plasmas have long been used in industry low at 30 to 60ºC – which is ideal for the PUZZLE NO. 41 to clean surfaces or to process them so treatment of heat-sensitive materials, such that materials like paints or glues stick to as plastics or wood. them more ef ectively. h e problem was h e plasma jet, which also detects that only l at surfaces could be treated; cavities, recesses and undercuts, works not the plasma simply slid over recesses, only physically by roughening the surface cavities or undercuts. Now researchers slightly (which makes it easier for applied at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface substances to adhere) but also chemically. Engineering and h in Films (IST) have h is occurs because the unstable atoms combined two plasma processes – the and molecules of the plasma are highly There are 10 plasma jet and the glide discharge reactive. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft people in a house. – in order to be able to process three- Everyone wants to dimensional components ef ectively. Inside the plasma jet, which essentially shake hands only consists of an electrode and a nozzle, a with people who cold plasma is generated with the help of are shorter than alternating voltage but because the plus they are. Assuming and minus poles of the electrode change constantly, the ions hardly move and everyone is a release little energy in the form of heat, different height, how while only shaking back and forth a little. The Disc Jet can also be used to many handshakes In this way, the temperature can be kept process cavities. HAWK are made?
Answer to Maths Puzzle no. 40: It’s shadow! Winner: Nia Viljoen Luke Mostert with his solar-powered lights John Vande Wege/UCLA WIN A PRIZE! Send us your answer (fax, e-mail or snail-mail) together with your name and contact details by 15:00 on Friday 7 July 2017.
THE FIRST CORRECT ENTRY THAT WE OPEN WILL BE THE LUCKY WINNER. WE’LL SEND YOU A COOL TRULY SCIENTIFIC CALCULATOR!
STUDENT ENTREPRENEUR BRINGS LIGHT ► Mark your answer TO SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLCHILDREN ‘Quest Maths Puzzle no. 41’ and send it to: Quest Maths UCLA sophomore Luke Mostert would schoolchildren to prevent the deadly Puzzle, Living Maths, P.O. Box like to own his own business someday, parai n-lantern i res that can destroy 195, Bergvliet, 7864, Cape like many enterprising 20-year-olds. the informal shack-settlements where Town, South Africa . What sets him apart from other they live. Fax: 0866 710 953. motivated students is that he already Together, the i ve friends built a owns 20% of the company he helped company and attracted funding to help launch, SOSA Investments. them both donate the solar lanterns, For the South African native and and to sell them to others as a way to his partners business is not just about raise money for more donations. h ey money. It is also about doing good. launched their awareness campaign in h at is why SOSA’s i rst initiative November last year, and made their is donating solar-powered lights i rst donation of 47 lights to a children’s Email: [email protected]. For more on Living Maths phone (083) 308 3883 to impoverished South African home in December. UCLA and visit www.livingmaths.com.
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42 www.assaf.org.za | Volume 13 | Number 2 | 2017
UJ_ActuarialScience_Ad_CMYK_210x297mm.indd 1 UJ_ActuarialScience_Ad_CMYK_210x297mm.indd 1 2017/03/30 12:12 PM DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS ®
It is like trying to infer something about a musical instrument from the sounds it Why Study Physics? makes. Some of our group members use telescopes like the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) to study these pulsating stars, others use computers to model the A degree in physics provides a deep understanding of the most fundamental waves inside stars. Furthermore, our group has purchased a 40 cm - diameter phenomena in the universe while developing modes of thought and approaches to problem-solving that are valued in academia, industry, and beyond. These skills telescope at the Mafikeng campus. Once operational it will be used for research and empower physics graduates to succeed in a wide range of careers, such as medicine, for educational purposes. Another area of research in the Astrophysics group is law, public policy, financial services, education, engineering and sciences such as cosmology, in which the large-scale structure of the Universe and relativistic laws of physics, astronomy, chemistry, and mathematics. gravitation are studied.
Our program boasts excellent student to teacher ratios, with a median class size of 20 in upper level courses. Introductory courses have 40-250 students in lectures, but break into groups of less than 50 for tutorials and labs. All of our courses are taught by experienced physicists.
Material Science group focuses on heritage artifacts analysis. It boast of a state-of-the art Raman spectrometer, PLM and a stereomicroscope. It has part of the Material Science Innovation and Modeling (MaSIM) focus area. The group therefore has access to a lot of analytical instruments that are housed in the Chemistry department. Electronic Instrument Design group focuses on the design and development Research of new sensors and microprocessor based instruments. Research is an important component of our program, and most of Mafikeng Opportunities abound for being involved in our community. Our students give to Campus physics postgraduate students collaborate with other graduate students on the broader community through outreach activities, and have the opportunity to world-class research. Research in the Physics department is in Solar Thermal, develop their teaching skills through our Undergraduate Teaching Assistant program. Astrophysics, Material Science and Electronics Instrument Design. We host colloquia, technical seminars, and public lectures, bringing several world experts to campus frequently.frequently Solar Thermal The future and current research of the solar thermal energy research group falls into three main categories:
A. Small thermal energy storage systems for domestic applications. The group researches on small scale solar thermal energy storage systems for domestic applications like solar cooking and solar water heating
B. Solar domestic receivers and discharging heat exchangers. Investigations on the optimal design of suitable receivers for domestic parabolic dish concentrators in terms of the energy and the exergy are being carried out.
C. Solar resource measurement The group in the near future will measure the weekly, monthly and yearly global and direct solar energy irradiation in Mafikeng to provide a database of the solar resource which may be used to develop models for solar resource forecasting. Physics at Mafikeng Campus Astrophysics. The main thrust of our research is in using seismic waves found in A and B stars to infer conditions within stars. This field of study is The Physics Major at Mafikeng Campus is flexible, with the option to take courses of called Astero-seismology. Much of a star is opaque to light, hence, by normal varying areas of specialisation. Students choose to concentrate in an area of interest: interpretation of stellar spectra and photometry one can mostly learn about the shallow outer layers of a star where starlight comes from. However, stars with either Physics, or Electronics. The program of is customized for each student. seismic waves, also called pulsating stars, allow astronomers to use the waves to perform seismology on them. These waves travel to most parts of a star, hence, the Contact more we can detect these waves, the more we can infer properties of the whole star. Private Bag X2046 Mmabatho 2735 Tel: 018 389 2127 Web nwu.ac.za Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) ASSAf Research Repository http://research.assaf.org.za/
A. Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) Publications D. Quest: Science for South Africa
2017 Quest Volume 13 Number 2 2017
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Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), (2017). Quest: Science for South Africa, 13(2). [Online] Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11911/64 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11911/64 Downloaded from ASSAf Research Repository, Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)