Cape Argus 2021-12-06

Your knuckles are white, gripping the wheel so tightly you feel you’re about to rip it off. You don’t see the traffic in front of you. All you see is red, not a cheery, festive hue: the colour of pure rage. And you’re screaming at the top of your lungs: “If I have to tell you one more time to stop bickering, I swear by all the gods I am going to pull this car over right here, right now, and throw out every last present! Don’t make me do it!" Oh, the joy of a holiday road trip with the family. Thanks to the pandemic, you’ve spent almost two years in sometimes too-close-for-comfort quarters with the ones you love. Now it’s the holiday season, and you plan to drive…

The word diet originates from the Greek dieta, meaning to live normally. However, nowadays it mostly refers to restricting food to help weight loss rather than a way to enjoy food and health. Throughout history diets have come and gone. Celebrity diets are popular and often bizarre, but are not a new thing. The Daniel Fast, which resembles a vegan diet and has its roots in the Book of Daniel, is perhaps one of the earliest examples of a diet. Around 450BC Daniel apparently asked if his men were as strong as the Babylonians after a couple of weeks just eating vegetables. This highlights our deep cultural links to diet: for identity, spirituality and, of course, health. Fasting diets appear throughout our cultural history, seen in Muslim, Hindu and Christian…

Sally Frost THE common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is one of Africa’s most iconic mammalian species. Hippos play an important and understudied role as ecosystem engineers in their environment, on land and in water. Newly-capped Dr Camille Fritsch gained a PhD in Ecological Sciences from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) for his study on aspects of the behavioural ecology of the common hippopotamus, and the animals’ consequences in managed systems in South Africa. He was supervised by Professor Colleen Downs. “Camille used novel drone technology and radiotracking to obtain ecological and behavioural data on hippos,” said Downs. “Understanding the environmental requirements and drivers of hippos’ space use is important for their conservation, with climate change and loss of habitat.” Fritsch chose UKZN for his PhD because he was interested in…

EDUCATION activist Hendrick Makaneta has applauded the Cabinet for approving the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill, which seeks to release school managers from the accountability of absenteeism and poor attendance of learners. “This will certainly reduce the dropout rates in the schooling system, something which is a cause for great concern,” Makaneta said. According to research earlier this year, South Africa is experiencing the highest dropout rate in 20 years. | Harvest Thwala…

THE deadline for online placements for grades 1 and 8 has been extended, from November 30 to December 10. Gauteng Department of Education spokesperson Steve Mabona said the department had placed 213 313 (64%) of the 335 091 applications received. Applicants who missed the deadline to apply to Grade 1 or Grade 8 for the 2022 academic year could apply during the late application period that would begin on January 5. | Jonisayi Maromo…

TWO students studying in Cape Town are among the recipients of Green Economy bursaries covering their full study and accommodation costs. Energy company Baker Hughes worked with student crowdfunding platform Feenix to select students for the Green Economy Bursary and Internship for this year and 23 Recipients were announced during a virtual event recently. The programme supports students in engineering, accounting and sales. | Harvest Thwala…