Related topics: malaria · europe

Three new millisecond pulsars detected with MeerKAT

Using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, an international team of astronomers has detected three new millisecond pulsars in the globular cluster Messier 62 (also known as NGC 6266). The finding was detailed in a ...

Athens chokes in clouds of Sahara dust

Athenians are choking in clouds of thick dust blown in from the Sahara along with unseasonably warm weather, weather forecasters and doctors warned on Thursday.

What makes voatsiperifery the world's best pepper

The triple Michelin-starred chef Anne-Sophie Pic has long been raving about its "complex, woody, tangy and spicy nose." It goes particularly well with pigeon, she says, and also with rhubarb and grapefruit.

Why EU information campaigns are failing to deter migrants

It was everywhere on the news and social media. In September 2023, 10,000 migrants arrived on the island of Lampedusa, more than doubling the island's population of 6,000 and overwhelming its resources. The migrants—mostly ...

Researchers identify microbes that help plants thwart parasite

Bacteria that could help one of Africa's staple crops resist a major pest have been identified by researchers at the University of California, Davis. Their findings, published in Cell Reports, could improve yields of sorghum, ...

Astronomers discover 49 new galaxies in under three hours

An international team of astronomers has discovered 49 new gas-rich galaxies using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. Their research is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

page 1 from 40

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² (11.7 million sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people (as of 2009, see table) in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the World's human population. The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Not counting the disputed territory of Western Sahara, there are 53 countries, including Madagascar and various island groups, associated with the continent.

Africa, particularly central eastern Africa, is widely regarded within the scientific community to be the origin of humans and the Hominidae tree (great apes), as evidenced by the discovery of the earliest hominids and their ancestors, as well as later ones that have been dated to around seven million years ago – including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, Australopithecus africanus, A. afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens (human) found in Ethiopia being dated to ca. 200,000 years ago.

Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas; it is the only continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA