Science Archives - Think Africa

Understanding North African Skin Tones: Complex Factors Shaping Genetic Diversity and Historical Implications

Current North African skin tones are the result of various factors: geography, sexual selection, melanin production, multiple genes, polygenic inheritance, adaptation, human migrations, genetic continuity, shared ancestry, and genetic overlap. Today, I will explain all these factors. Surprisingly, skin tones don’t depend solely on Y-dna, Mt-dna and autosomal dna genes. Also, the changes in North […]

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Egypt: the 2,000 year wait to return to indigenous rule (332 BCE to 1953)

Egypt from 306 BC to Today Part I The impact of the Greeks Scholars in the ancient library of Alexandria Egypt was conquered by the Greeks in 332 BC, bringing an end to the Late Period of Ancient Egyptian civilization. The Greeks founded their own dynasty, the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which reigned for nearly 300 years

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How to teach children history

Philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952) once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it..”

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Scientists - Isaac Newton - thinkafrica.net

Scientists who benefitted from the slave trade and uncredited contributions of slaves

In the 1700’s, science in the western world exploded at a frantic space. There were huge advancements in science, and many new technologies were discovered. However, in work published by Sam Kean in Science magazine, we find out that a lot of these advancements were achieved in part due to slaves. We discover that scientists

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Iron technology started in Africa

In popular culture there is a common perception that Africa has always been on the periphery of world advancements, that Africa did not contribute anything. The stereotype is that in the past Africa offered the world slaves – through the Atlantic slave trade – while today it offers the world child labour, horrifying news headline,

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African Humid Period

Between 6,000 to 9,000 years ago, North Africa went through a humid phase in their climate. This was known as the African Humid period. A German explorer Heinrich Barth discovered paintings from that time depicting a very different African landscape, filled with elephants, antelopes, giraffe, and other wildlife, being pursued by hunters. The incongruence of

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Africa’s inventions: Medicine

Medicine, medical writing, medical schools, surgery, pharmacy and medical algorithms were first developed in Ancient Egypt Africa.

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Africa’s inventions: glass-making

We all know glass, that amorphous inorganic solid substance that is usually translucent or transparent. Although glass can occur naturally, as in the case of obsidian, it is still one of the oldest and most important man-made materials in the world. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of types of glass, with their different colours and

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African Writing (3200 BC – 1500 AD)

9 African writing systems which predate Latin; and 15 writing systems which predate Modern English.

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Food series: Africa’s domestication of 2000+ foods

During the history of mankind, there was a point when humans began planting and growing their foods, there was a shift from hunting animals and gathering food sources to farming and animal domestication. This period is referred to as the Neolithic revolution. With the Neolithic revolution came inevitable changes in the social life of humans.

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Story of the oldest Deep Impact: the Vredefort Crater

Impact craters are referred to the circular depression caused on the surface of the earth, planetary body, or other solid bodies in the solar system, by a hypervelocity impact of a smaller body or a meteorite. The energy released during this impact is usually very enormous as the velocity ranges between 11 and 72 Kilometers

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Tools of African History: 10 Methods

TOOLS OF AFRICAN HISTORY: 10 METHODS In the investigation and study of the history and life of earlier Africans and indeed humans generally, certain tools or techniques are employed without which most findings would be useless since nothing can be deduced from them. With the help of these techniques or tools, information can be obtained

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Myths about Africa: the Suez Canal was first built by France myth

Africa is an ancient and great continent, the first home of humans. A continent in which its ancient peoples through numerous foundational inventions opened the doors of advancement to the world. Over time a great many of her contributions to human development and advancement has been lost, forgotten or unjustly denied credit. Some of the

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Myths about African HISTORY

There are a few myths about African history and a few reasons why some European writers – not all – felt the need to malign brown-skinned people and claim Africans came from a continent without history. It probably gave them moral peace of mind to believe that they were not committing physical, mental and moral

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Tools of African History: Geological periods

Modern scientists believe the universe has been around for 13.8 billion years, the sun for 4.57 billion years, the earth for 4.56 billion years and the moon for 4.53 billion years. Anatomically modern humans however only occupy the last 340,000 years of that story of cosmogony and originated out of Africa. Homo erectus (bipedal Humans)

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Africa’s inventions: bread (11,600 BC)

Bread is one of the most common and widely consumed food across all parts of the globe. It comes in various forms, shapes, sizes and even composition. From ancient times up till present-day, it has continued to be a staple food source for many people. The reason bread is very popular apart from its nutritional

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Africa’s inventions: algorithms

“During the 19th century, many European writers, limited by ethnocentrism and racism, decided that black Africa could have had nothing to do with Europe’s rise to greatness,” wrote Gloria Dickson, A professor of African-American studies at The College of New Jersey.

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The Borana Calendar and How it works (Existing from 300 BC until Today)

Many non-Africans sometimes wonder, “Did Africa invent anything?” The unambiguous answer is yes: a lot of things. One of these inventions was a calendar system by Borana people of Ethiopia at a date as old as when Greece invented the Athenian calendar (an ancient calendar also known as the Attic Calendar). Unlike the Athenian calendar,

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History of Ancient Egypt (4,500 BCE to 664 BCE in 10 mins)

Ancient Egypt is known for many things: its monuments, its inventions, and its extensive historical records. Its historical records are among the oldest top 2 in the world. MONUMENTS Five of the most visited monuments in Egypt are: The Great Sphinx The great sphinx is carved out of limestone, believed to be built over 4,000

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Kola Nut, the untold African story behind Coke and Pepsi

Coca Cola is the most recognizable beverage brand in the world. Pepsi Co (a short form of Pepsi Cola) is the second most recognizable beverage brand in the world. Both Coke and Pepsi brands have their origins in soft drink recipes based on Kola nuts (the “Cola” in Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola). Although Western

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