Local scientists are making waves globally. Three weeks ago it was South Africa’s Covid detection scientists that alerted the world to omicron, potentially saving thousands of lives. Now they are investigating the “highly plausible hypothesis” that the emergence of new Covid-19 variants could be linked to mutations taking place inside infected people whose immune systems have already been compromised by other factors.
In Lesotho, the wisdom of a small team of determined fish scientists to save the last of the ‘Mohalicans’ in a mission impossible some 20 years ago has now been vindicated by recent research surveys. Leading the unusual and far-sighted rescue mission which entailed shifting special pressurised storage between unconventional modes of transport — from horseback, off-road scrambler motorbikes and 4×4 bakkies — was South Africa’s Dr Johannes Rall, whose team braced harsh weather conditions and the rough terrain in the kingdom entirely surrounded by South Africa to travel high up into the mountains to translocate the tiny Maloti minnow. This only endemic fish to Lesotho was threatened by distinction from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, a multi-billion rand engineering project that would entail capturing, storing and then transferring massive volumes of water from Lesotho to South Africa. Mission accomplished and another hail to South Africa’s scientists!
Meanwhile, 49 local scientists in the marine, biomedical, astronomy, maths and palaeo sciences are presented as superheroes in comic books, trading cards and posters in the SuperScientists project to encourage schoolchildren to look at the sciences as an exciting field of study — and one where they can excel irrespective of their skin colour or gender. Among them are Nitro (Kolisa Yola Sinyanya), an oceanographer and University of Cape Town PhD candidate who is exploring the role of marine microorganisms and through that, the ocean’s role in the carbon cycle and global climate change. And Cosmic Dawn (Mpho Kgoadi) whose superpower is observing the dark matter that makes up most of the universe and studying its influence in the early universe 12-billion years ago.
There are many others like them, and like the Wall Street Journal in a tribute video
inside the South African lab with the first omicron finding and Apolitical in its 100 Most Influential Academics in Government pay homage to our scientists, we salute them!
In the markets, the rand went into holiday mode in a somewhat subdued currency market “with daily trading volumes likely to decrease”, says TreasuryONE.
According to the forex trading house, the only real, impactful news remains the rapidly spreading Covid virus and the increasing number of restrictive measures being put in place in certain countries. “The local unit has opened a touch weaker this morning at R15.89 on the back of a slightly firmer dollar, but remains in the middle of its recent R15.75/R16.10 range.”
TreasuryONE says the inertia in markets is also evident in the commodity space, with metals and oil trading fairly flat this morning. Gold is currently at $1,789, platinum at $935 and palladium at $1,802, with Brent holding on to yesterday’s gains at $74.12.
Here’s a roundup of the world’s top and most interesting headlines:
SA Business
Ongoing travel bans could cost SA R25 billion and more than 200,000 jobs, says tourism group – Business Insider
Government is paying state CEOs millions of rands for maladministration, bad audits and missed targets: AA – BusinessTech
Starbucks thought it would have 30 stores in SA by 2022 – but it will hit 41 amid the pandemic – Business Insider
Global Business
Elon Musk’s R646 million controversial tweet fund under scrutiny – MyBroadband
Maersk nears deal to buy LF Logistics for about $3 billion – WSJ – Reuters
When the chips are down: McDonald’s rations fries in Japan – AFP
Markets
Asian markets build on world rally but Omicron casts shadow – AFP
Tesla sends S&P 500 crowd on a wild ride of surges and crashes – Bloomberg
South Africa’s record-busting stocks set for more gains in 2022 – Bloomberg
Opinion/In-depth
Analysis – After another torrid year, can emerging markets rediscover their mojo? – Reuters
How to solve the climate crisis: No longer accepting the things we cannot change, but changing the things we cannot accept – Daily Maverick
South African movie dives into the complexity of poaching – The Conversation
Video
Champagne-sellers toast record sales in 2021 – Reuters
WATCH | Sky’s the limit for Cape Town-based aerobatic team aiming to become the world’s best – News24
2021 in review with BizNews founder Alec Hogg – Biznews
Feature Image: Pixabay
