A little Paleontology

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141127-lucy-fossil-revealed-our-origins

So for my last post, let's start at the beginning. The article above is about the importance of Lucy, the fossilized remains of an early hominid believed to be our ancestor. What I found most interesting is that she was not the first of her particular species found. In 1924, another skeleton was discovered in South Africa but that one was dismissed by the leading scientists at the time as 'just an ape' and not important to us trying to discover our evolutionary origins.

Lucy is special because she was accepted and encouraged scientists to search for more early human species. In 1974 when Lucy was discovered only seven early human species were known. Since then thirteen have been added.

Another thing that is very interesting is that scientists still don't know exactly where are evolutionary tree begins or how many of the hominids they are studying are 'dead ends' in that tree. They still have a lot to figure out about homo sapiens but they do know that our tree is not a straight line. We were built by experimentation and interspecies mingling of DNA.

Drylands

http://www.voanews.com/content/climate-drylands-21nov14/2529254.html

So this article is about the changes surrounding the dry lands, defined as places with a scarcity of water, which included deserts and savannah. The ecologist interviewed says the effects of climate change on the dry lands of Africa are not getting as much attention as they need from the global conscious.

He argues while the plants of the dry lands are hardy by nature, between the rising temperature and the increased number of grazing animals, they are under threat. He does have a quick fix called grazing management. The basic premise is to limit the amount of animals grazing and to pay the pastoralists for the lessened number of animals they get to graze.

Dry lands tend to do well in droughts. Africa has a severe one every century or so. The thing about dry lands is while they do well during droughts, much better than wetter lands, they don't bounce back as quickly as their wetter neighbors. Like every other renewable resource, it takes some time and nothing will change what hasn't changed in billions of years.

Eye Doctors and their Bikes

Basically, Mali has the coolest optometrists in the world. They have a group of doctors that ride around on motorbikes from village to village, performing ten minute surgeries that prevent trachoma, a bacterial disease, to lead to permanent blindness. Trachoma is more likely to affect children and the women watching them. It is also the leading cause of blindness among the rural people of Mali.

Health workers screen people first and then send their findings and pictures to a central system. They hope to eradicate the disease by next year. The amount of children affected has dropped below five percent. Those most likely to be affected, like many other diseases, are those with poor access to water.

The doctors don't seem to have too much trouble treating patients. There isn't much push-back to fixing people's eyes. People are coming out of the woodwork because of the recommendations of others for this procedure. There are about 25,000 people in Mali still needing this quick fix surgery.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28987319

West African Gold Mining

http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-29410298

Another piece of the news in pictures but given our chapter this week deals with South African gold mines, this was too relevant to pass up.

These are artisanal mines in Guinea, which everyone should be able to point out on a map. Like the situation in South Africa in the 80's, most of the workers are migrants from Mali and other West African countries. There are also many children and women laboring because there isn't a lot of work so the dangerous mines have no fear of a labor shortage.

The surrounding area has taken on a life of its own. Many of the migrants have set up camp and are visited by hawkers selling their wares. If this is anything like California during the Gold Rush, people are better off selling to the miners than doing any mining themselves.

The Apartheid in Photos

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/a-fighter-with-a-camera-in-apartheid-era-south-africa/?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A13%22%7D&_r=0

This is an article about a South African photographer in South Africa during the apartheid. He took photos of that time period, including thousands of women in protests, uprisings and a massacre when 69 Africans were shot by the police.

He discusses a few interesting things he's done to get the shot, including buying a piece of bread and sticking his camera in it while pretending to eat at a café. He's also been shot and imprisoned but neither of those things ever made him consider to stop taking pictures. He worked for a time as Nelson Mandela's photographer.

He's taking a break from photographing violence and death. Now he spends his time photographing the natural beauty of South Africa, particularly sunsets. But he isn't afraid to go back to photographing something if it matters and needs to be shown.

Ethiopian art and the Italian Renaissance

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29064625

It's mostly pictures! This is an article about an art gallery in Ethiopia that sells the art of around seventy artists. One of the arguments from an outsider artist who felt his art didn't fit with the overall complexion of the gallery is that the gallery has a particular taste that alienates 'more authentic' artists that depict more 'Ethiopian' art, because the people it sells to foreigners and tourists and then some wealthy Ethiopians. They tend to depict scenes of market squares, women, churches, monks, etc.

So I had an art history class my first semester of college on the Renaissance and Baroque periods. And one of the things that stuck out from me in this article is that there's a growing market, people are making the effort to spend money on art. Patronage of the arts was one of the main causes of the Renaissance, the reason things shifted in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Age of Reason. It's just fascinating that this could be a new Renaissance in our midst.

Nigeria and Senegal Ebola Free

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29685127

So Nigeria and Senegal have both been cleared, neither having new cases of Ebola for six weeks. Nigeria, in particular, is being applauded for responding quickly to the crisis.

In addition, the article discusses meetings of nations on pledging support to the remaining West African countries still stricken with the disease, mainly, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

The article's estimate of the death count is now over 4,500 and they believe 70% of those infected in those countries are dead from the viral disease.

The European Union has decided to send a lot of money to help with the over-stretched medical programs in the three West African countries.

I just thought some good news would be nice on a Monday.