Africa

Scientists have uncovered what they’re calling the oldest colors on Earth. Dating back more than a billion years, the bright pink pigments are the remains of some of the earliest microscopic organisms that once inhabited an ancient ocean, and their discovery helps fill a gap in the fossil record.

Paleontologists have discovered a new species in the Sahara Desert. Mansourasaurus shahinae, a school-bus-sized sauropod that plodded around Africa about 80 million years ago, which is helping scientists piece together the geology and evolutionary situation of the Late Cretaceous.

The origin story for modern humans basically goes that Homo Sapiens first arose several hundred thousand years ago in Ethiopia, before migrating out of Africa about 100,000 years ago. Now, a jawbone discovered in a cave in Israel pushes back the date of our African exodus by at least 50,000 years.

​Jaundice can cause death if left untreated. In sub-Saharan Africa, where doctors often don't have access to expensive diagnostic equipment, babies are 100 times more likely to die of the condition than are infants in the US. A new device, however, could drastically reduce that number.

Nowadays lions, leopards and cheetahs may be the dominant carnivores of Lesotho, Africa, but they all pale in comparison to what might have been the largest predator to ever stalk the continent.

Researchers has uncovered an interesting technique packs of wild African dogs use to make collective decisions. Observing these creatures in the wild, the team found that they use their sneezes to vote on whether or not the pack should move off and start hunting its next target.

Zipline is looking to build on its success in Rwanda, today announcing plans to expand its blood-by-drone delivery service to Tanzania. The venture is billed as the world's largest drone delivery service, and will bring medical supplies to over one thousand health facilities around the nation.

​​Mobility is a challenging concept in Africa. Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have been working on a solution that could prove just valuable to remote communities by offering a low-cost, modular and emission-free vehicle built to handle rough terrain. ​

It's generally accepted that humans originated in Africa, but new studies may paint a different picture. By examining fossils of early homini​ns, researchers have found that humans and chimpanzees may have split earlier than previously thought, and this may have happened in Europe, not Africa.

There are a number of trials being conducted to investigate how small aerial surveillance aircraft can be used to combat poaching. The latest effort involves the use of AI software to quickly identify poachers and animals in drone footage, in an attempt to better protect elephants and rhinos.

They may give us an almost endless supply of eggs and nuggets, but industrial chicken farming comes with a tradeoff: it produces a lot of poop. To turn a con into a pro, researchers have developed a process that mixes chicken manure with an invasive weed to create a feedstock for making biofuel.

Masrasector nananubis might have been no bigger than a skunk, but that didn't prevent it from becoming top dog after the dinosaurs died out. Named after the Egyptian god of mummification​, its rise and fall is part of an epic evolutionary tale of climate change and continental drift.​​