Hippo Poo Is Suffocating Fish in East Africa
Usually, dumping fish-killing garbage into rivers is a human’s job. But hippos seem to be doing it, too, through their routine mass pooping events.
Tanzania Orders Bloggers to Pay $920 Fee to Register with the Government, Risk Jail for 'Obscene' Content
Tanzania issued a warning over the weekend that all online media creators, including everything from online radio providers to bloggers, have just two weeks to register with the government. Registration and license fees add up to about $920, roughly what the average Tanzanian earns in an entire year.
Ryan Coogler Reiterates That Black Panther Is His Most Personal Film
For Ryan Coogler, Black Panther was an opportunity to wrestle with questions he’s been dealing with his entire life.
DNA Evidence Reveals True Identity of Elusive Bird Species
Ornithologist Wulf Gatter spent six days a week observing birds in the forest of Liberia, the West African country. He spotted one seen nowhere else, a medium-sized yellow songbird, on nine occasions during the county’s annual dry season lasting from November to February. It looked quite similar to another species,…
Ethiopian Coffee Is Screwed Unless We Do Something About It
Climate change might not feel that important if you’re living far away from a coastline. But that doesn’t mean your life won’t change. Lots of the items people love will likely be influenced by the changing climate in some way, and the popular Ethiopian coffee is a prime example.
Incredible Discovery Pushes Back Origin of Homo Sapiens By 100,000 Years
The remains of five early Homo sapiens have been unearthed at a site in northwest Africa. At around 300,000 years old, the fossils are a whopping 100,000 years older than the previous record, pushing back the origin of our species by a significant margin. And because the fossils were uncovered in Morocco—far from the…
When Will the Great Human-Elephant War End?
Humans are at war. They’re at war with each other, they’re at war with themselves, and some are at war with elephants. Researchers want to know how humans and the long-snooted aggressors can live in peace.
An Old Satellite Dish Found on Google Maps Is Becoming West Africa's First Radio Telescope
Astronomy needs expensive things, and lots of them. You might remember that astronomers almost literally turned the Earth into a telescope just to see a black hole, by combining lots of existing radio telescope dishes.
Why Did These Lions Eat So Many People?
In 1898, a pair of lions feasted on the most fearsome of predators: humans. Some think they could have killed 135 people constructing a railroad bridge over the Tsavo River in Kenya, though research lowered that number down to 35 human lunches between the pair.
Miner Finds Enormous 706-Carat Diamond, Promptly Hands It Over to the Government
A pastor and independent miner in Sierra Leone has unearthed an uncut 706-carat diamond estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars. The pastor turned the diamond over to the government in hopes that the proceeds from its sale will help the impoverished country. But given the history of this former…
A War Is On to Destroy the Fall Armyworm in Africa
A coalition of officials met in Zimbabwe this month to discuss a little pest that has become a big problem. The fall armyworm has spread through Africa over the course of the last year and it has had devastating effects on crops. Experts fear that globalization and climate change are setting the caterpillar up to…
A Mind-Boggling Carbon Deposit Was Just Discovered in the Congo
A newly-discovered peatland in the Congo Basin of central Africa contains an estimated 30.6 billion tons of carbon in its waterlogged soils—equivalent to three times the total annual carbon emissions of every human being alive today.
13 Sensational Camera Trap Photos of African Animals At Night
Will Burrard-Lucas likes to photograph unsuspecting African animals with strategically placed camera traps. For his latest project, the wildlife photographer sought to capture images of nocturnal animals as they conduct their affairs at night, and the results are spectacular.
Stunning 7,000-Image Satellite Mosaic of Africa Doesn't Have a Single Cloud
If you like jigsaws, you’d love to be on the team at the European Space Agency that created this image. Made up of 7,000 separate files—totalling 32 TB of data—the picture provides a completely cloud-free view of the whole of Africa.
Extreme Heat Will Make Parts of the Middle East and Africa Uninhabitable by 2050
New research shows that temperatures are set to skyrocket in parts of the Middle East and Africa, making human habitation next to impossible. In a region that’s home to 500 million people, that could trigger a climate-exodus of epic proportions.
Today, Kenya Is Torching 5 Percent of the World's Stockpiled Ivory
Earlier today, Kenya set ablaze 105 tons of stockpiled ivory in a measure designed to discourage the poaching of elephants and rhinoceros in the country. The blaze is the biggest of its kind in history.
Plane Debris Found in Africa Could Be the Second Recovered Piece of MH370
CNN reports that a piece of plane wreckage found off Mozambique in southeastern Africa likely belongs to lost plane Malaysia Airlines 370.
A Simple Vaginal Ring Can Reduce the Risk of HIV Infection
This plain-looking silicone ring is more useful than it looks. Doped with an experimental antiretroviral drug, when worn in the vagina by women in sub-Saharan Africa it was shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection by as much as 61 percent.
Ugandan Government Blocks Facebook, Twitter on Election Day to Stop 'Lies'
Ugandans are voting in a presidential election today. They’re also dealing with a social media blackout orchestrated by the government. For President Yoweri Museveni, nothing says “democracy” like sweeping censorship of the electorate. Here’s hoping he fucking loses.
Earth Looks Downright Alien in This New Photo From the Space Station
This photograph, snapped by NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, looks like it may have been taken over some Martian canyon or Jovian moon, but it was captured as the International Space Station coasted far above strange rocky features in Africa.