Africa

German company Wingcopter has signed a deal to roll out 12,000 of its long-range, triple-drop delivery drones across Africa over the next five years, in what promises to be the largest commercial drone deployment ever attempted.

Diébédo Francis Kéré has won the 2022 Pritzker Prize. The judges highlighted the architect's ingenious approach to sustainability, which embraces passive techniques like natural ventilation to provide comfort in challenging conditions.

African startup Phractyl has shown us a concept unlike anything we've seen before – or are likely to see again, if we're honest. With tracked feet, bird legs, a tilting cabin and tilting wings, this avant-garde absurdity promises "near-VTOL" flight.

Back in January, Sweden's Cake joined with the Southern African Wildlife College and Goal Zero to develop a special electric motorcycle to aid anti-poaching measures in the African bush. Now the bikes have been delivered and are in use by rangers.

Project Loon may have been deflated, but its legacy lives on in Project Taara. The team has salvaged the technology to deliver internet connectivity with lasers, demonstrating the viability in a test between two cities separated by the Congo River.

Ghanian/British architect Sir David Adjaye has produced some large projects but his firm's latest work is on another scale entirely. It will involve transforming Ghana's healthcare facilities by creating 101 new hospitals in the country.

Following its unveiling last year, the Floating Music Hub, by architect Kunlé Adeyemi and his firm NLÉ, is now complete and open for business. The project provides a novel venue for visitors to Cape Verde to enjoy African music, dance and art.

An affordable housing venture in Africa named 14Trees has leveraged 3D printing technology to produce the world's first 3D-printed school in Malawi, where students started taking their first lessons late last month.

The World Health Organization is rapidly responding to a pair of new Ebola outbreaks in Africa. The two unrelated outbreaks, in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo, have both appeared in locations previously connected to Ebola flare-ups.

Scientists working in the West African country of Guinea have discovered a new orange-furred species of bat. The rare discovery came while conducting field surveys in the isolated Nimba Mountain range.

A long-lost species has been rediscovered alive and well. The Somali sengi, an insect-eating mammal that hasn’t been seen in over 40 years, has turned up in East Africa, with researchers snapping the first-ever photos and video of them in the wild.

Longtime readers may remember NLÉ’s floating school from 2013. The firm, led by architect Kunlé Adeyemi, is now working on another floating architecture project with a very similar design that will serve as a music and cultural venue.