Congo's coltan miners dig for world's tech — and struggle regardless of who is in charge
RUBAYA, Congo — Nestled in the green hills of Masisi territory in Congo , the artisanal Rubaya mining site hums with the sound of generators, as hundreds of men labor by hand to extract coltan, a key mineral crucial for producing modern electronics and defense technology — and fiercely sought after worldwide.
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Washington Post
18-05-2025
- Washington Post
Congo's coltan miners dig for world's tech — and struggle regardless of who is in charge
RUBAYA, Congo — Nestled in the green hills of Masisi territory in Congo , the artisanal Rubaya mining site hums with the sound of generators, as hundreds of men labor by hand to extract coltan, a key mineral crucial for producing modern electronics and defense technology — and fiercely sought after worldwide.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Yahoo
When was math invented?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Mathematics is the basis of all science and has come a long way since humans started counting. But when did people start doing math? The answer is complicated because abstract mathematics is thought to be different from counting — although counting is the foundation of math — and because many advanced types of mathematics, such as calculus, were developed only within the past few hundred years. Humans couldn't have mastered complex and abstract math without figuring out how to count first, and evidence suggests our species was counting tens of thousands of years ago. The Ishango bone from Africa's Congo region indicates that Homo sapiens have been making "tallies" — a kind of counting — for at least 20,000 years. The 4-inch-long (10 centimeters) bone, probably from a baboon or a bobcat, was found in the 1950s. Researchers think the dozens of parallel notches cut into its surface were a "tally" — a recorded count of some unknown item — and in 1970, archaeologist Alexander Marshack argued it was a six-month lunar calendar. There's also the Lebombo bone, which was unearthed in southern Africa in the 1970s and was made about 43,000 years ago. It, too, is covered with cut notches and may have been a tally for the 29 days of a lunar month or for a human menstrual cycle. Danish historian of mathematics Jens Høyrup told Live Science that the very ancient origins of counting could never be known but that it might have been inspired by observations of the night sky by early Homo sapiens, before our species left Africa. "There was no artificial light then, only the fires within caves," he said. "And when you have no light pollution, the moon and the stars are a wonder to look at." Related: When did humans discover how to use fire? The next major step in mathematics came with the ancient Sumerians, who are also credited — perhaps coincidently — with inventing cuneiform, the earliest known type of writing. The Sumerians were one of the first Mesopotamian civilizations, and their city-states thrived in what's now southern Iraq from about 4500 to 1900 B.C. Among their key contributions were numerals that could be written on clay tablets in cuneiform's wedge-shaped marks, and the sexagesimal number system, which is the traditional base-60 system still used today for trigonometry, navigation and timekeeping. Mathematics, as opposed to simple counting, is the study of patterns and relationships using logical reasoning and abstract concepts. The ancient Sumerians developed the concepts of arithmetic — including tables for multiplication and division — and algebra, where unknown quantities were represented by symbols. They also developed formulas to calculate the areas of triangles, rectangles and irregular shapes, with which they measured land and designed irrigation systems. St. Lawrence University mathematician Duncan Melville told Live Science these developments were driven by the growing Sumerian bureaucracy. "Record-keepers needed to know not just what came into or left their stores, but how much or how many," he said in an email. Different mathematical notations were used depending on what was measured, and Sumerian scribes converted between these systems in tasks such as finding the area of a field from its measurements. "In this way we see the beginnings of arithmetic and computational geometry," he said. In addition to the developments of the Sumerians and their Mesopotamian successors, especially the Babylonians, early mathematical expertise and innovations came from ancient Egypt, Greece, India and China, and later from the Islamic civilization. Mathematics flourished in early modern Europe, where two scientists both claimed to have invented calculus — a way to determine the geometric area enclosed by any curve and an important advance in mathematics that underpins much of modern engineering and science. RELATED MYSTERIES —What was the longest-lasting civilization? —What was the first alphabet in the world? —When was steel invented? One was Isaac Newton, who said he'd invented calculus for his 1687 work "Principia Mathematica" (although he called his calculus "the method of fluxions"), and the other was the German polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who had published a mathematical system of differentials and integrals a few years earlier. (His notation is still used today.) The two men and their supporters engaged in a bitter dispute about who deserved recognition for the invention, which included allegations that Leibniz had snuck a look at Newton's unpublished manuscript. But historians now think Newton and Leibniz developed calculus independently of each other.
Yahoo
15-11-2024
- Yahoo
Five ways that climate change threatens human health
As the UN's climate summit, Cop29, gets underway in Azerbaijan this week, the effect of climate change on human health is high on the agenda. And rightly so, amid some alarming emerging statistics. By the end of this century, climate change could be the cause of more than 3 million deaths per year (around five times as many annual deaths globally of HIV and Aids). A new report from a scientific review committee of experts called the Lancet Countdown highlights how globally people are facing 'record-breaking threats' to their health as a consequence of climate change. The major climate risks include negative effects on food security (including production), spread of diseases, ecosystems, infrastructure and the economy. Despite having contributed the least to global emissions, Africa will be most affected by climate change. This is due to the fragile economics and exposure to extreme weather events across much of the continent. But all continents, including Europe, will be negatively affected. Everyone working in health needs to prepare for and be equipped to respond to the health consequences of the climate crisis. The Lancet highlights the opportunity 'to redefine the social and environmental determinants of health'. These are the top five priorities when it comes to climate change and human health: 1. New and emerging infectious diseases Drastic environmental change increases the risk of catching deadly infectious diseases such as malaria, dengue and West Nile virus in new areas. Modelling shows that mosquito populations could move into different regions of Africa and South America, and into Europe. The parasitic ticks that transmit the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus may move north from Africa into Europe as climate change takes hold. The threat of outbreaks of new and emerging infections, and pandemics, is increasing. In 2022, the World Health Organization warned that Ebola outbreaks around Africa are becoming more frequent due to climate change, as bats – the likely source of the virus – migrate and seek new habitats to breed. Infectious diseases are predicted to spread more easily due to climate change, and thus increase the risk of pandemics. This threat includes Lassa fever, a virus thought to be transmitted by rats. Modelling has indicated that the rats may flee fire and flood, find new habitats and thus expose greater numbers of humans to new or different viruses. 2. Food security and nutrition Climate change exacerbates food insecurity. In Ghana, West Africa, inconsistent rainfall during the 2024 rainy season has left an estimated 1.05 million people acutely food insecure. This is the case particularly in the north of the country, an area already with a high level of food insecurity and hunger. The UN predicts that more than 600 million people will be living in hunger by 2030, due to the impact of climate shocks and lack of aid and government action thus far. Climate change worsens food insecurity from many different angles; from rural farmers in Ghana losing their crops due to unexpected changes in rainfall, to the impact of affordability of imports in the UK, there won't be just hunger hotspots. As food insecurity deteriorates, so will malnutrition globally. By 2030, between 570,000 and 1 million children under five years old will suffer from stunted growth due to climate change, also exacerbating their vulnerability to infectious diseases such as malaria. 3. Access to healthcare Extreme weather can physically prevent people from accessing healthcare. Between 2014 and 2023, 61% of land globally experienced an increase in the number of days of extreme rainfall, compared to 1961-1990. Flash floods have devastated Valencia in Spain, with health services anticipating increases in diarrhoea, skin infections and hepatitis A. Evidence from Ghana shows that physical access to healthcare is restricted, with patients and sometimes health workers unable to reach local health centres, and emergency referrals unable to reach hospitals. The Lancet report also found that only two-thirds of countries had high or very high implementation of legally required health emergency plans. This number needs to be 100% to protect population health as extreme weather events become more frequent, unpredictable and severe. Delays to reduce carbon emissions and attempt to rectify the situation are only adding to the issue. Global energy-related carbon emissions reached a new high in 2023, showing little signs of slowing down. In a 2023 study conducted in Mion (northern Ghana), nearly all participants reported not being able to access a healthcare facility when they needed to at least once, due to climatic conditions. Similarly, in the Volta region in Ghana, many residents lost all their belongings during unexpected flooding in 2023 including health insurance documents. This means people cannot access vital medications or services such as insulin if diabetic, or emergency care. 4. Air quality Air quality is one of the most locally-felt impacts of climate change, especially in heavily industrialised countries. The UK Health Security Agency estimates that around 36,000 deaths annually are attributable to air pollution in the UK, with this number jumping to 2 million in China. This is in part due to causing new, or exacerbating existing, chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which one in five people suffer with in the UK. It also reduces life expectancy through prolonged exposure, causing diseases such as coronary heart disease and lung cancer. 5. Extreme heat In 2023, increased heat exposure put those engaged in outdoor physical activity (which includes everything from agricultural labour to recreational running) at risk of heat stress for 28% more hours than two decades ago. Heat stress has been associated with debilitating issues such as kidney stones, exhaustion, asthma and heart attacks. Any amount of activity or movement in rising temperatures will put individuals at great risk of these conditions. This will compromise income if labour is based outdoors, population health if we can do less outside, and the ability to enjoy the outdoor world. Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation's environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 40,000+ readers who've subscribed so far. Michael Head has previously received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Research England and the UK Department for International Development, and currently receives funding from the UK Medical Research Foundation. Jessica Boxall receives funding from The Sustainability & Resilience Institute, University of Southampton.
