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Original broadcasts. Sources attached.24 stories · 54 min

Science & environment

Deep bed farming helps Malawi farmers more than double their yields

A BBC World Service report says deep bed farming has been taught to 40,000 Malawian farmers, with yields more than doubling and food security within a year.

“By the time it was growing, it was already making decisions to say, hey, I need a co-Isaac Chavula is a country director of TNE, the NGO behind Deep Bed Farming. It is so special because it makes the farmer become resilient to climate change and become food secure and income secure.”
As heard on Cape Talk

NamedMalawi TNE Isaac Chavula BBC World Service

Cape Talk

Aired 05 Nov, 01:14 SAST

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This method is now being promoted by the government across the country, and many more farmers are being trained on how to do it. The big size is quite big. By the time it was growing, it was already making decisions to say, hey, I need a co-Isaac Chavula is a country director of TNE, the NGO behind Deep Bed Farming. It is so special because it makes the farmer become resilient to climate change and become food secure and income secure.

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Health

Study of 100,000 scans links brown fat to better health, and a BP drug may activate it

A Rockefeller University cardiologist says brown fat, activated by cold, is linked to fewer health conditions, and losartan activated it in cells and mice.

“But new research examining the medical records and scans of more than 100,000 patients has found that if you have more brown fat, it could reduce your likelihood of having various health conditions…”
As heard on Cape Talk

Cape Talk

Aired 04 Nov, 01:20 SAST

Services & infrastructure

Private solar now outstrips any SA coal station, says energy expert

On Cape Talk, Michael Jordaan's tweet that private solar hit 5.2GW prompts an energy institute head to explain why distributed power matters.

“So he tweets this: Private installed solar of 5.2 gigawatts is now larger than any coal-fired power station in South Africa.”
As heard on Cape Talk

Cape Talk

Aired 03 Nov, 22:49 SAST

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Science & environmentLighter

Sniffer dog and soil DNA rediscover golden mole unseen since 1937

A Cape Talk guest describes using a detection dog and soil eDNA to rediscover De Winton's golden mole on the West Coast.

Cape Talk

Aired 03 Nov, 21:51 SAST

Services & infrastructure

Water expert: Premier's El Nino excuse 'disingenuous', crisis is infrastructure

Watercan's Dr Fariel Adam says civil society warned for years, and rejects the Joburg mayor's claim that there is no water crisis.

702 · 702 Breakfast

Aired 03 Nov, 06:54 SAST

Science & environmentLighter

Spider researcher retracted three papers, then won the Control-Z Award

Retraction Watch's Control-Z Award honoured Kate Laskowski, who retracted three papers after finding duplicated data.

Cape Talk

Aired 03 Nov, 01:35 SAST

Health

Almost all airborne bacteria at Joburg clinic were multi-drug resistant

A University of Johannesburg researcher says 97 to 100% of respiratory bacteria sampled in a clinic's air were multi-drug resistant.

702 · Early Breakfast

Aired 30 Oct, 05:20 SAST

Science & environment

Vets check a wild Amazon pink river dolphin and find she's pregnant

A reporter describes a team capturing a pink river dolphin in the Amazon for health checks, and vets discover she is pregnant.

Cape Talk

Aired 29 Oct, 01:14 SAST

Science & environment

Study: intelligent women seen as less warm and more hostile at work

A UCL management researcher says data from the US and China show intelligent women get less help and more mistreatment than intelligent men.

Cape Talk

Aired 28 Oct, 00:51 SAST

Health

AI reads old sleep-lab heart data to flag cardiac risk a decade ahead

Emory University researchers used deep learning on 16,000 overnight sleep recordings to link heart signals to outcomes over the next 10 years.

Cape Talk

Aired 28 Oct, 00:37 SAST

Science & environment

Beaked whale bones found on seabed reveal new species Pterocetus diamantini

A scientist on Cape Talk explains how a low-sedimentation funnel on the ocean floor preserved beaked whale skeletons and led to a new species.

Cape Talk

Aired 27 Oct, 23:33 SAST

Services & infrastructure

Study finds school phone use explains under 1% of academic performance

A researcher on 702 says strictly enforced school phone policies cut smartphone vigilance, but the effect on academic results is tiny.

702 · The Aubrey Masango Show

Aired 27 Oct, 22:31 SAST

Science & environmentLighter

Africa's moon mission to cost under $500,000 instead of $100 million

A South African-led team says its lunar radio antenna payload, built on volunteer time and local industry, will cost under half a million dollars.

BizNews Radio

Aired 27 Oct, 05:47 SAST

Health

Heat waves raise preterm birth odds 26% and perinatal deaths 34% in Africa

A Power FM presenter cites research linking heat waves to preterm birth and perinatal mortality, and WHO data on babies' heat exposure.

Power FM · POWER Up

Aired 27 Oct, 03:18 SAST

Health

Eight malaria cases in Frankfurt, none had travelled to a malaria region

On a BBC science show, Kai Kupperschmid explains that eight Frankfurt malaria cases, three fatal, involved no travel, with two theories.

Cape Talk

Aired 27 Oct, 01:30 SAST

Science & environment

200-million-year-old dinosaur embryo found curled up inside South African egg

A paleontologist explains how the first land eggs evolved and how Massospondylus eggs from South Africa preserved a complete dinosaur embryo.

Cape Talk

Aired 26 Oct, 01:42 SAST

Health

HIV infections stalled since 2019 as treatment gaps widen and older adults rise

A professor says new HIV infections in northern KwaZulu-Natal fell sharply to 2018 but have flatlined, as viral suppression drops and older groups see more cases.

SAfm · The Alternative Breakfast

Aired 25 Oct, 08:42 SAST

Science & environment

45% of migratory birds in decline; Arctic tern flies to the moon and back

BirdLife International's Dr Stuart Butchart says 200 migratory species face extinction, and describes the Arctic tern's epic journeys.

Cape Talk

Aired 25 Oct, 04:31 SAST

Science & environment

Eve's footprints: 117,000-year-old tracks point to where we all began

Paleontologist Charles Helm tells Cape Talk how a rescued slab of tracks and 24 Cape coast sites suggest modern humans began there.

Cape Talk

Aired 24 Oct, 00:38 SAST

Science & environmentLighter

South African-led lunar mission to cost under half a million dollars

Dr Carla Mitchell says Africa's payload on China's Chang'e lander will fly in 2029 for a fraction of the usual cost, thanks to volunteers.

BizNews Radio

Aired 23 Oct, 05:46 SAST

Health

Why SA struggles to turn medical science into biotech businesses

Altera Biosciences co-founder Michael Pepper says patient investment and the ecosystem hold back biotech, despite SA's unique genetic diversity.

Moneyweb@Midday

Aired 22 Oct, 13:09 SAST

Science & environment

Right whale mothers now take four to five years between calves

A University of Pretoria whale researcher says female right whales are thinner and calving much more slowly than 20 years ago.

Cape Talk

Aired 22 Oct, 03:20 SAST

Health

Weight-loss drug users four times likelier to suffer nail detachment

A study presented in Vienna compared GLP-1 users with non-users and found more nail detachment and discolouration; causation remains unclear.

Cape Talk

Aired 21 Oct, 01:25 SAST

Science & environment

Ranger shot injured elephant calf as herd gathered around it on rail line

Wildlife manager Mario Cesare tells Cape Talk how he put down a spined elephant calf on a railway line with its herd around it.

Cape Talk

Aired 20 Oct, 23:39 SAST

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