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Taking Tech to the streets to combat COVID-19 in Shanghai Shanghai has taken their COVID-19 preventative measures and monitoring to a whole other level by capitalizing on technology in its various forms. Most notably of course, is by using a robot dog whose job it is to patrol the streets and remind the city’s citizens to abide by the mandated COVID protocols. The robodog does this through the loudspeaker that is attached to its back that issues reminders such as “wear a mask”; “wash hands frequently” and “check your temperature”. These ‘reminders’ are currently directed at the residents of Jiading district in Shanghai in alignment with the current lockdown measures imposed due to the most recent wave believed to be driven mainly by [...]

NRF-SAASTA invites VUT Senior Lecturer Dr Tozama Qwebani-Ogunleye to Facilitate Webinar on the Role of Traditional Medicine in Modern Healthcare Systems Selina Rapulane The Vaal University of Technology (VUT) is proud to announce that one of its own innovators, Dr Tozama Qwebani-Ogunleye has been identified by the National Research Foundation-South African Agency for Science Technology Advancement (NRF-SAASTA), as facilitator of a webinar on the Role of Traditional Medicine in Modern Healthcare Systems, scheduled to take place during the first week of April 2022. Dr Qwebani- Ogunleye, fondly known as Dr T, is a Senior Lecturer in the Biotechnology and Chemistry Department. She also serves as the Project Manager - VUT Traditional Medicine Unit. The primary purpose of the webinar is to contribute to [...]

International Women’s Day 2022 On the 8th of March annually, we celebrate International Women’s Day, it is a day when we pay homage and celebrate the “social, political and economic achievements of women” worldwide. The idea is that women around the world come together on this day in order to acknowledge how far we’ve come and how far there still is to go in order to achieve equal treatment and representation.  Each year there is a different theme that is representative of certain ideals or ideologies as well as collective goals that the community strives towards in order to close the gap. This year’s theme was “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow” which took the shape and form of hash tag #BreakTheBias [...]

The role tech will play in the Ukrainian war On the 24th of February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine after President Putin announced that Russia could not feel “"safe, develop and exist because of what he claimed was a constant threat from modern Ukraine.” This latest invasion of Ukraine stems off the back of years of on-going tension between the two countries, and when looking at Russia’s most recent actions, the conflict that began almost a decade ago in February 2014 absolutely needs to be factored in. However, experts weigh in that this dates back much further, potentially even to the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) in 1991. Russia’s President Putin has always been vocal about the problematic ‘extremists’ ever [...]

SmartWater, a new way to keep women safe? Gender Based violence is prevalent worldwide and is certainly more pervasive in South African society than in others. This level of prevalence necessitates that women take preventative measures  wherever possible in order to keep themselves safe, whether that is carrying pepper spray, a Taser or stun gun, holding their keys strategically between their fingers so that if they have to strike, it’s likely to cause more damage, send pin to a family friend or loved one when travelling alone, not running or walking with any jewellery so as not to make themselves a target, not wearing anything too revealing in case it attracts the wrong kind of attention – the list is long and exhausting, [...]

Big Mac Attack – where SA stands on the index in 2022 The Big Mac Index sounds like it’s about a burger, right? Well, you would be half right in thinking that because the ‘Big Mac’ part does indeed refer to one of the fast-food giant’s signature offerings – the Big Mac burger, however it has since taken on a more significant role and as not only a form of food, but also as an economic indicator. The Big Mac Index was invented in 1986 by the well-known international newspaper The Economist as a different or more “light-hearted” means of determining whether or not currencies are their correct level. The theory behind the index is known as the purchasing-power parity (PPP) which essentially [...]