Gay genes

It is very likely that a certain reader or the occasional browser who reads the newspaper just to look important has just found out that their spouse, friend, sibling or neighbor is gay. I cannot blame the reader for asking what is wrong with that special person who has just dropped this bomb on you either by choice or by way of catching them.

A few months ago I came across an article that wrote on the biological basis of homosexuality in humans. This is all well and good until the writer warns of the danger of the study. Think about it, if the study concludes on a genetic malfunction or hormonal imbalances (note how both terms are negatives) than people would consider homosexuality as a disorder of some kind that can be "cured".

A concept of note I found particularly interesting is that of homosexual antagonism. The idea basically tries to explain how homosexuality in men has a prenatal cause. It can get very technical but the basic idea is this; men who have older brothers are more likely to be born gay.

The theory is that an antigen that makes unborn boys straight induces antibodies in the mother's immune system. This means that the mother's own immune system acts against the unborn boy's heterosexuality.After the pregnancy, the immune system is ready for another attack thereby increasing the chances of the next male sibling being gay.

I can already imagine the social uproar from gay-rights activists and sympathisers as expecting mothers start terminating or somehow altering their child's genetic sequence to prevent the child from being born gay.

Now, homosexuality will always be a touchy issue, but when homophobes have science in their arsenal, I foreseesexual apartheid. I know, that feels as weird as it sounds and when you have a homophobe in power, this just might be a possibility.

Homophobes aren't the only problem, as we have a history of pandemic deniers and the US has the unfortunate problem of climate-change deniers and those guys are just plain stupid and dangerous.

But back and closer to home, I think we really need to sit down and change the way we look at homosexuality and stop hiding behind religious and biological concepts and outright admit to senseless homophobia.

Historical misinformation may also play a role. Some people have this idea that homosexuality is only emerging now, as if it is a by-product of the times. A day at the history section at the local library might do a lot of us some good in this respect.

Some hide their staunch prejudices behind texts like the Holy Bible and say that it says this and that. Ah, and then there's the naturalist who claims how unnatural it is for a man to be romantically involved with another man.

I would personally think it unnatural if homosexuality never existed, I'd wonder how it is that we are hardwired to exclusively fall for only the opposite sex. Our intelligence and freewill distinguishes us from all the other creatures of this planet and part of that freewill compels us to challenge any conventions.

If this was not the case, science, art and even religion would not exist.

There would not be any need for these cultural traits. One flaw of the human race is our ways of settling differences and a misguided sense of self preservation. And history has
shown us how dangerous it is when segregation and the suppression of a group (be it racial, religious or sexual) are applied in an attempt to preserve a self elevated group.

Even Voldomort failed in his attempts to eradicate mud-bloods. We are more than our genes and I think we have evolved beyond the ideas and propaganda of old. If we don't like something, we should just out and say it, and engage like sane human beings in constructive debate and maybe we can all just try to get along.

I know history is against us but if one reader should apply an open mind toward homosexuality than I haven't wasted a good hour writing this.

Stay hungry. Stay curious. Keep an
open mind.

Why you should care about science

If you ask any scientist why they do what it is they do, you might get varying answers. For instance, an undergraduate might tell you something very different from a post doctorate student (who by this time would have asked themselves the same question with increasing frequency over the years).

SMBC

I could run out of op-ed space explaining to you the many reasons why science is important in our lives but for the purpose of this column, I will only tell you that it is to vanquish ignorance and exercise a healthy dose of skepticism. Too many of us are victims of pseudoscience, myths, misconceptions and incorrect use of science in marketing ploys.

Ignorance in its purity can be very easily overcome. Throw in a dash of ego into the mix and you’ve got yourself a misguided sense of self-preservation when it comes to “touchy” issues such as creationism, vaccination, evolution, alternative medicine and nutritional information.

Thankfully, all these can save one a big headache if you apply the simplest skills of science among which resonates “assume nothing and question everything”. Now, science journalism is there not only as a fact-checking tool but as a standard by which we practice healthy skepticism (not cynicism) to better ourselves intellectually.

It is unfortunate, in my opinion that science stories do not hold a lot of weight in terms of editorial space in many national (and indeed local and community) papers in South Africa. They have to compete with sports and politics, with the latter being in great supply.

As a science advocate, it is my duty to try to convince you why you should like (or at least care about science) but I have found out that it isn’t that simple. A sports journalist doesn’t need to convince sports fans (who cover most of the population) as to why they should like sports.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say that writing such stories is easy as being a journalist requires one to have a ridiculously hectic life and the non-existance of a stable social life. Those who are able to achieve the latter are overachievers or frauds or both.

I have to also admit that science on the surface for someone who is not initially interested is intimidating. I’d love to, more than anything, tell you that science is all about the discovery of some wonder material or newly discovered giant killer chicken or the advent of a space rock on a collision course with Richards Bay (I’d really love to) but I have learnt that this is not always the case.

Hey, don’t get me wrong, these stories are amazing and you can see a lot of them on reputable websites with a favorite being I Fucking Love Science and a few others such Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy and the best science journalists in the world at National Geographic's Phenomina (seriously, go check them out on your phone).

I think what we need is some dose of skepticism and do away with our fear of science. Yes, we need to fall in love with the wonder of science but be very careful not to turn into “bumper-sticker” science, as one of South Africa’s foremost science journalists (and author of Searching African Skies) once put it.

Science can be so much more than that, it’s clear that if we really apply ourselves to the scientific process and understand the scientific method, we can greatly improve (or install!) our bullshit-o-meters to protect ourselves from this pre-zombie-apocalypse era we find ourselves in.

First MeerKAT receptor launched

The receptor stands 19.5 meters and weighs 42 tons!

THE first MeerKAT antenna and high-tech center was launched two weeks ago (27 March) in the Karoo observation site 90 kilometres from Carnarvon in the Northern Cape.

The launch was that of the first of 64 dishes being constructed as part of the MeerKAT project, a pathfinder to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The SKA is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope with a collecting area of one million square metres. The launch also includes a new state-of-the-art data centre for the MeerKAT telescope which has been constructed in an underground bunker.

The inauguration was attended by the Minister of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) Derek Hanekom as well as various ministers from the many SKA partner countries. These included representatives from the Australia, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagasar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia.

“The relatively young science of radio astronomy has, to give you only one example, made a major and direct contribution to the development of wifi technology, which has become an everyday part of our existence. Intellectually, what can be more important than seeking a better understanding of our cosmic origins, understanding how the universe was born, how galaxies and stars were formed, how the Sun and the Earth were born, and how life originated?” said Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom at the inauguration.

The project has been met with excitement locally as Thulani Jili, a senior lecturer and researcher at the University of Zululand, is working on getting the university’s Physics Department involved. He sees the project as a great opportunity, having the most powerful scientific instrument in the world in “our backyard.”

“This is the biggest project that science has ever undertaken and we want to be involved with it.  That is why we want to introduce astronomy as a course and we hope this will go some way in contributing to the project,” said Jili.

The antenna stands at 19.5 metres tall and weighs 42 tons. Its design is based on the “Offset Gregorian” design which means each of the 64 antennae will have two reflectors- a main reflector with a 13.5 metre projected diameter and a smaller sub-reflector with a 3.8 metre diameter.

When completed, the MeerKAT array of 64 identical antennae will be connected by 170 km of underground fibre-optic cable. In this way all 64 receptors can operate as a single highly sensitive astronomical instrument, controlled and monitored remotely from the MeerKAT control room in Cape Town.

The full array of 64 receptors will be completed by the end of 2017, but astronomers from all over the world have already signed up to start using it as soon as 16 receptors have been commissioned (around June 2015).

A Taxi is No Place For A Bibliophile

Being a writer isn't easy. At least that's what I've read. But some say it comes naturally and they cannot believe they get paid to do something that they love so much. Yet still they take the money anyway. I'll let you know my own thoughts when I become a full fledged writer myself.

One thing I do know, however, is that any good writer has to be a bibliophile. Oh, that's just a fancy (and politically correct) term for a book worm. I am it, so I can safely say I'm well on my way to being the guy who sits on his veranda sipping on cold coffee, in my multi-colored gown, flip-flops, messy hair (my locks are nearing that) and jotting on my tablet (21st century stuff) how people's lives are playing out as I watch them pass by, reciting punchlines to myself for my next bestseller.

For now, however, I have to deal with a matter that affects me almost everyday. As a tutor, I commute quite a lot between Esikhawini and Richards Bay/ Empangeni (my autocorrect says Empanadas) and my expertise familiarity with the rolling landscape has eliminated the need to look out the window. Like any self-respecting bibliophile I bring a book along and hope to cover a chapter or two of Walter Isaacson's Einstein: His Life and Universe.

Alas, my fellow commuters do not share my passion for a good autobiography and this is evident in the weary stares I sometimes get (in this day and age nogal). Just the other day I was commuting to tutor a student in Empangeni in the late afternoon. So I found an almost empty Quantum ( a great coincidence if you happen to be reading Einstein) and took a seat as close as possible to the left-hand side of the vehicle having calculated that the sun would be on the other side of the vehicle for the most part of the trip.

As luck would have it, as I was discovering Einstein's extramarital relations with his cousin, the full taxi was finally Empangeni bound. As we sped down the picturesque N2 the hydrogen bomb that is our Sun shed some of it's rays through the sunroof (I noticed its existence then). Needless to say, the brightness of my book compelled me to read it in an awkward angle. At last I succeeded in placing the page in the shadow of the book, alas, the page itself was then out of view.

Still blinded by the book, and with a curious blue hue in my vision, I reluctantly returned my book in my backpack and looked up at the sunroof looming over our heads. And I asked myself the very constructive question;

"Who the f@3¥ puts a sunroof on a bloody taxi?". My question fell unanswered by long train of pondering and was put in the shelf of cold cases such as that of why seatbelts are locked away in taxis and why foreign owned shops are looted.

On the very same day as I entered the taxi that would take me home, I got some weird stares when I scanned the taxi's roof before asking: "J1?". Again I sat in a carefully chosen seat but this would not be my day as the geyser who chose to sit next to me had the whiff of a small brewery, and the people in the seat behind me didn't hesitate to ask me to keep changing  the air conditioning from the window (we call it i-weather in loxion slang).

It is clear to me now that my bibliophiliac tendencies will forever be under house arrest which is problematic in this day and age of mobility and convenience. You can't even read in the library these days, they play East Coast Radio in Richards Bay.

Of Hippos and Kwerekweres

I have never been good at satire. Whether it be reading or writing and I am not going to start now. It took much convincing to be sure that Animal Farm was based on actual historical events. And more convincing still on the fact that these so called events did not in fact involve sentient livestock. And even more convincing not to over compare the story with the current political platform of our beautiful country. All animals are equal, but some are more prominent than others.

Anyway, in my failed attempt at satire I thought I should contrast the plight of hippopotami with foreign tuck-shop owners. There is a place in Zululand where the view of the dawn horizon is bejeweled with a great necklace of rolling hills on the one side and plush plains that adorn its occupants with sheer awe ever single day of their existence.

Okay, I made up that last part. As I was saying, this is a tranquil place still nearly untouched by the scourge of urbanization. I mean, who needs running water anyway? It is situated near a wildlife reserve and the people of this place couldn't be any more in touch with Mother Nature. Fences are overrated anyways.

They couldn't be happier fetching water like the people of old. Nothing says you're alive more than the excruciating pain of a full 25 litre bucket over your head with the liquid rocking your neck in obtuse angles. Ah, yes, and the place they get to fetch the water makes one truly glad to be alive. The river/stream thing they get the water from (and do their laundry) is also home to the occasional man-eating crocodile and sometimes if one is lucky, you can spot a hippo some distance away.

Of course these waters are said to be "hippo infested". Maybe I shouldn't have put that in quotation marks as that would imply some sort of irony or a subliminal message that might imply that these humans are the invaders of these waters and I do not intend doing that. Dang it! Oh well, anyway, in their attempts at getting along with these majestic herbivores, the humans have decided to stay away from them.

Well, the few testosterone-intoxicated youths who have tested the standing-between-a-hippo-and-its-river theory didn't quite get the memo. God bless their inquisitive souls. This has undoubtedly dealt a great injury on the hippos' popularity polls in this community as of course these deaths are due to the hippos' vindictive and homicidal nature. Fowl creatures!

Now, if one of these mammals were to find themselves grazing a little too close to a paranoid homo sapiens, as is occasional, it would take some bad-mouthing from this individual to these other humans.

"They don't belong here. This is our land. You give them a little room to graze on and they'll kill you in your sleep."

"One of them looked me the wrong way just the other day. These things deserve to die!"

Peculiar creatures these ape men are. Now, these peoples gather around to hunt down and slaughter this animal on account of it being a (potential) danger the community.

As it turns out they find and loot, I mean, eat this animal in great merriment. Funny how so many people get their day off all at the same time. If I didn't know better I'd say they are lazy and unemployed people who are jealous of these creatures living their lives working hard to live for another day and these lazy asses find pleasure in free food, the meat which of course is at the expense of this innocent animal. But I know better.

And the people of this beautiful place live happily ever after...or until another hippopotamus makes a wrong turn. Anyway, I just went commando on this one (in more ways than one), so any references with the plight of certain peoples is purely coincidental. I just hope I'm not the next one to be stoned to death on account of a slightly weird accent

Ay cha, Black People!

Just so we're clear and on the same page. I am as black as they come. My parents experienced the struggle at it's nastiest, when blacks turned to each other to fight among themselves in the early 90's. I was too young to understand at the time, but I hear stories of how Esikhawini was a focal point of some of the violence and unrest.

My identity as an African spans more than my complexion, language, DNA or the place I was born, and the land of my forefathers. I am told, by my mother, though admittedly reluctantly, that she, therefore I, have Khoi/San blood in me. It is true that every human being on earth shares their genetic code with these amazing people, though for me, I am told is somewhat closer.

I have a brother/family friend who has Indian ancestry. My other siblings and I sometimes horse around when he exhibits somewhat 'Indian' behavior. What makes him an African? What makes any of us Africans? Where does our identity lie? The truth is, at the time I first drafted this column, I had no idea what the word Africa means or who named this great continent.

All that said, I understand the legacy left by the Apartheid regime, which has since been defeated and removed from power. It cannot be avoided that residual results of this era still remain with us today. But, we are all born to die, yet our ideas seem to have less predictable lifespans. The ideals we choose to leave to our children have unquestionably great consequences to the future of any nation.

Now, what troubles me most is not so much the ideas that live on long after the elders die off, but the nature of the ideas that do survive. It saddens me to watch on the news incidents of the looting of local and foreign owned establishments particularly by my own people, the blacks. This has been such common occurrence that when black people see these things being done by their brethren, they-we comment saying 'abantu abamnyama!' (black people!).

This to me seems like a justification of the behavior exhibited by these unruly individuals, that it is okay just 'cause they're black. What is being an African? We are the ones destroying libraries, burning clinics, throwing sh1t and stopping our children from going to school. That's us. Black people. What does it mean to be an African?

Nelson Mandela had an ideal that tried to act against the division of Africans and sought an African conglomeration by Africans for Africa. He went to prison still having not achieved this. He saw how if we would all organize ourselves, we could become formidable, a force to be reckoned with and be able to stand against our oppressors. We failed to do so for many more years.

Yet here we are today, fighting against our new oppressors; ourselves. But maybe I am looking at it too gloomily, if that is a word. Or maybe I am pussy-footing around a myriad of much more serious issues. The gist of all this, I guess...I actually do not know what the purpose of this column is, but I think we should look at ourselves and try to fix the kinks where it does not look so good.

Don't get me wrong. I am not here to judge or scold. If I have come across as such, I apologize. We are black, so they call us. But who are we really? And are we happy about what we see?

Climate Change Deniers Eat This!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF9LNuH3IpU&feature=youtube_gdata_player