Science and Technology

Friday, 03 June 2022 06:24

Vietnam develops 'world's first' African swine fever vaccine for commercial use

Vietnam said on Wednesday it had successfully developed a vaccine to administer to pigs to fight African swine fever, with the aim of becoming the first country to commercially produce and export it. African swine fever, one of the most devastating livestock diseases, was first detected in Vietnam in February 2019 and forced the country to cull around 20% of its hog herd last year. It originated in Africa before spreading to Europe and Asia and has killed hundreds of millions of pigs globally. African swine fever is harmless to humans. "This is a milestone of the veterinary industry," deputy…

Saturday, 28 May 2022 06:27

Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service gets FG’s approval to roll out in Nigeria

Elon Musk, SpaceX founder, says Starlink, the company’s satellite internet service, has been approved in Nigeria. Musk said this on Friday via his verified Twitter page. In 2021, TheCable reported that the company, which saw Nigeria as a critical market, was in talks with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to secure licences needed to launch Starlink. On Tuesday, Musk had hinted at rolling out the satellite internet service in Africa on his Twitter account after a user asked about his plans for Africa. Consequently, the billionaire, who is also the founder of Tesla Inc. announced the approval of the internet…

Thursday, 19 May 2022 06:25

Russia launches new generation of laser weapons in Ukraine

Russia on Wednesday said it was using a new generation of powerful laser weapons in Ukraine to burn up drones, deploying some of Moscow’s secret weapons to counter a flood of Western arms supplied to its former Soviet neighbour. President Vladimir Putin in 2018 unveiled an array of new weapons including a new intercontinental ballistic missile, underwater nuclear drones, a supersonic weapon and a new laser weapon. Little is known about the specifics of the new laser weapons. Putin mentioned one called Peresvet, named after a medieval Orthodox warrior monk Alexander Peresvet who perished in mortal combat. Yury Borisov, the…

Tuesday, 17 May 2022 06:37

University drop-out builds electric mini-buses in Nigeria’s first

A 30-year old University drop-out Mustapha Gajibo has been converting petrol mini-buses into electric vehicles at his workshop, but he is now going a step further to build solar battery-powered buses from scratch in a push to promote clean energy and curb pollution. Africa's top producer and exporter of crude oil has heavily-subsidised gasoline and a patchy supply of electricity -- a combination that might discourage anyone from investing in electric vehicles. But the entrepreneur who is a resident of Maiduguri city in Nigeria's northeast, is undaunted. He says rising global oil prices and pollution make electric vehicles a worthwhile…

Tuesday, 10 May 2022 06:19

Looty seeks to digitally reclaim artworks looted from Africa by colonial powers

What if Africans somehow managed to access museums across the Western world, gather all the artwork looted from their territories during the colonial era, and take them back home? A young Nigerian man is attempting to do just that. But rather than physically breaking into museums and carting away the works of art, he wants to repatriate them digitally. "This is the first digital repatriation of stolen artwork," said 34-year-old Chidi, a Nigerian creative designer and founder of Looty, who declined to give his surname because, he said, he wants people to focus on his project and not his person.…

Sunday, 08 May 2022 05:59

He was 5'7". After surgery, he’ll be 5'10"

When I first met Scott — not his real name — in early March, he was gently pushing a walker ahead of him. I had gotten lost trying to find the door to his apartment, so he had to come find me. Leaning against the door frame in a fitted T-shirt and shorts, he waved me over and then steadied himself. On a picture-perfect Los Angeles day like this one, had the circumstances been different, we probably would have met outside and enjoyed the sunshine. But he’s still getting used to his new legs. A few weeks earlier, Scott had…

Friday, 22 April 2022 06:50

Google’s undersea internet cable lands in Lagos, promises to create 1.6m jobs in 3 years

Google Africa has announced the arrival of its Equiano submarine cable in Lagos, Nigeria, the second city in Africa. Juliet Ehimuan, director, Google West Africa, disclosed this in a note on Thursday. Last month, the subsea cable landed in Togo, and it is expected to run from Portugal along the West Coast of Africa connecting Europe to Togo, Nigeria, Namibia, South Africa, and Saint. Helena. Ehimuan said the Equiano cable has a special resonance for Nigeria, as it is named after Olaudah Equiano, a Nigerian-born writer and abolitionist. Equiano went through slavery as an African child. He was taken to…

Thursday, 21 April 2022 06:20

Russia tests nuclear-capable missile that Putin says will give enemies ‘food for thought’

Russia said Wednesday it had successfully conducted the first test launch of its new intercontinental ballistic missile as Russian President Vladimir Putin said it would give countries that "threaten" Moscow something to think about. Appearing on Russian television, Putin boasted that the missile, which has been under development for years, is capable of overcoming Western anti-missile defense systems. "This truly unique weapon will strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces, reliably ensure Russia's security from external threats and provide food for thought for those who, in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country," Putin said,…

Friday, 15 April 2022 06:29

How this App is transforming education in Nigeria

Boye Oshinaga, Founder and CEO of Gradely, believes that now is a perfect time to start your own business in Africa. “There’s so much in just starting. You don’t know your journey, it may be two months like mine to build the minimum viable product – or it could be two years – but it doesn’t matter.” “We are playing the global landscape now so there are no local champions. Africa’s products can compete globally,” he adds. The genesis of his business idea came when he was visiting a school. He overheard a parent complaining about her child failing twice…

Thursday, 07 April 2022 06:17

Can computers learn common sense?

A.I. researchers are making progress on a long-term goal: giving their programs the kind of knowledge we take for granted. A few years ago, a computer scientist named Yejin Choi gave a presentation at an artificial-intelligence conference in New Orleans. On a screen, she projected a frame from a newscast where two anchors appeared before the headline “CHEESEBURGER STABBING.” Choi explained that human beings find it easy to discern the outlines of the story from those two words alone. Had someone stabbed a cheeseburger? Probably not. Had a cheeseburger been used to stab a person? Also unlikely. Had a cheeseburger…

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Tuesday, 05 April 2022 06:00

Apple made a list of Apps everyone should have on their iPhone. Facebook isn’t on it

It's clear the companies aren't friends, but there's a bigger lesson. Imagine you bought a new iPhone and decided to set it up from scratch instead of restoring an old backup. What's the first app you download? For many people, it's probably Gmail, or Amazon, or Netflix. Beyond that, it would seem logical to look for suggestions in the App Store, right? Apple, in fact, has a list of "must-have" apps in the App Store. If you're just getting started or are looking for apps that Apple thinks will add value to your experience on an iPhone, there's a list…

Thursday, 24 March 2022 06:17

Microsoft opens its first Africa development centre in Nigeria

Microsoft has launched its first Africa development centre in Lagos Nigeria, two and a half years after announcing it. The project cost the tech giant about $100 million to put together, according to information gathered by Business Insider Africa. In the meantime, another Microsoft African development centre is expected to be launched in Kenya soon. On Monday March 21st, 2022, Microsoft finally launched its much anticipated Africa Development Centre (ADC) in Lagos, Nigeria. Business Insider Africa gathered that the tech giant spent a total of $100 million on the project. The aim of the centre is to facilitate the creation…

Friday, 18 March 2022 06:19

Russians to launch 'Rossgram' photo-share app after Instagram blocked

Russian tech entrepreneurs are set to launch a picture-sharing application on the domestic market to help fill the void left by Instagram, which the authorities blocked this week. The new service, known as Rossgram, will launch on March 28 and have additional functions such as crowdfunding and paid access for some content, its website said on Wednesday. "My partner Kirill Filimonov and our group of developers were already ready for this turn of events and decided not to miss the opportunity to create a Russian analogue of a popular social network beloved by our compatriots," Alexander Zobov, the initiative's public…

Friday, 11 March 2022 06:13

Ukraine's answer to Russian tanks involves a classic tactic: Metal 'hedgehogs'

When Russia launched its war on Ukraine on February 24, it did so with missiles and helicopters. Not far beyond, stretching for miles, was the slower work of armored vehicles. Tanks and artillery, brought to staging areas near the border over several months, rolled into Ukraine. With them the war moved from an attack to an invasion, and some people in Ukraine set to work building defenses against the advancing army. In Lviv in western Ukraine, locals started assembling anti-tank metal barriers, Agence France-Presse reported. The form, which looks like a child’s toy jack made out of steel I-beams, is…

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