Insight & Opinion

Bioprinting – The 3D Printing Revolution

by Earl Prinsloo “Dude, print me a new liver?” may become a commonplace request in the not too distant future. Three dimensional bioprinting is the rapidly advancing "new biotech kid on the block" born from a method known as additive manufacturing technology or more commonly, 3D printing. The rapid growth in the open source "Maker" movement has spurred the incremental leaps in the potential printing of human tissues. "Computer, Tea, Earl Grey, Hot" Any fan of Star Trek - The Next Generation will tell you that the request above was often repeated by Captain Jean-Luc Picard aboard the Starship...

Meat species substitution: when what you see is not what you get

Food fraud is big business. Although the true extent is uncertain, such practices are calculated to cost the global food industry up to £25 billion (over ZAR 300 billion) per year and the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) estimates that up to 10% of commercial food products may be counterfeit

An emerging medicine to treat infectious diseases

Carlos Fioravanti Brazilian and American scientists have demonstrated that a compound known as P-Mapa is active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vivo . These results they say may pave the way for the use of this compound in the treatment of tuberculosis and other infectious diseases on humans. P-Mapa is the acronym for a compound chemically classified as the proteinaceous aggregate of ammonium and magnesium phospholinoleate-palmitoleate anhydride. It has been developed since the 1990s by a group of Brazilian, Chilean and American scientists led by the non-profit research network...

Cash in hand keeps HIV at bay

Giving young women small, regular cash payments can reduce their dependence on sexual relationships with older men, which also lowers their HIV risk, according to a new study by the World Bank. Malawi's southeastern Zomba district, where the survey took place, has high rates of poverty and HIV - up to 22 percent, compared to a national prevalence of about 12 percent - but the study found that 18 months of cash transfers, with or without conditions attached, decreased the participants' risk of HIV infection by 60 percent. "The study has shown that girls who have a modest amount of income .....

Uniquely African successes help counter Afro-pessimism

Economists explore technology driven success such as M-Pesa, a mobile based money transfer system bringing socio-economic change and highlighting a uniquely African success stor

Breast feeding and HIV

The debate about the safest and healthiest infant feeding choice for HIV-positive mothers in the developing world should be over, according to one of South Africa's leading HIV/AIDS researchers.

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