Tag Archives: science

Why 14 years after government made sciences compulsory, failure rate remains high Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | Physics was the worst done subject in the recently released O’ Level examinations. Only 2,280 of the 326,212 students that sat the exams scored over 70%. Another 40,000 scored over 55%. The rest, …

Paris, France | AFP | Scientists have grown human egg cells to full maturity in the lab in a potential breakthrough for fertility treatment, they announced in a study published Friday. Researchers in New York and Edinburgh developed a new method to grow eggs from very early-stage cells obtained from …

Miami, United States | AFP | The oldest remains of a modern human outside Africa have been dug up in Israel, offering evidence of what genetic studies have already suggested — that humans migrated out of Africa some 50,000 years earlier than previously thought. Facial fragments, including a jawbone and …

  Paris, France | AFP |  Alcohol damages the DNA of stem cells responsible for producing new blood, according to a mouse study which may explain the link between drinking and cancer, scientists said on Wednesday. Health watchdogs have long warned that alcohol consumption contributes to seven types of cancer …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | A Japanese researcher has developed — by accident– a new type of glass that can be repaired simply by pressing it back together after it cracks. The discovery opens the way for super-durable glass that could triple the lifespan of everyday products like car windows, …

Paris, France | AFP | Adults who ate more than two tomatoes a day had a slower rate of natural lung function decline, with ex-smokers seeming to benefit most of all, scientists said Thursday. Similar benefits, they said, were observed for people who ate more than three portions of fresh fruit …

Sydney, Australia | AFP | The Tasmanian tiger was doomed long before humans began hunting the enigmatic marsupial, scientists said Tuesday, with DNA sequencing showing it was in poor genetic health for thousands of years before its extinction. Scientists genetically mapped the animal — also known as a thylacine — using …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The most complete skeleton ever found of an australopithecus, a forerunner to modern man, went on display for the first time in Johannesburg on Wednesday following a 20-year process to excavate and assemble the 3.67 million-year-old remains. Known as “Little Foot” because four small …

Miami, United States | AFP | Inspired by the folding technique of origami, US researchers said Monday they have crafted cheap, artificial muscles for robots that give them the power to lift up to 1,000 times their own weight. The advance offers a leap forward in the field of soft robotics, …

Bonn, Germany | AFP | As climate change drives up temperatures, Earth comes ever closer to dangerous ‘tipping points’ that could accelerate global warming beyond our capacity to reign it in, scientists warned at UN talks in Bonn Monday. “Climate change is here. It is dangerous. And it is about to …