Brighton Sewer circa 1874

The single most important contribution to improving aspects of public health in most cities of the southern hemisphere is to install proper sewage and sanitation systems. With sewers human waste is removed and stagnant water is drained. And with that go the diarrhoea, malaria and all of the other bacterial and parasitic diseases that compromise human lives.

We are not talking of science big or little here, for there are no science problems to be solved in these instances. We are not even talking about high-level engineering issues either, for these too pose no to little difficulty. We are talking about tried and tested pedestrian engineering that simply has to be tweaked to work in local circumstances.

Step 1: Book via the link in the email that was sent to you (if you did not receive an email invitation then you may still participate but it will cost you R1,000)

The following two steps are optional but do add to your experience of your geographic ancestry understanding.

Step 2: Register on this website (NOTE: registration on this website is NOT registration for the Ancestry project, only for the website)

Step 3: Login and write a short (2 - 3 sentence) submission on what you believe your geographic ancestry to be in the Ancestry 300 Forum

The first 300 people who respond to their email invitation (at AGEI's discretion) will be invited to get a free ancestry evaluation as part of this project.

In this way we wish to develop an ancestry map which draws from the indigenous people of Southern Africa, namely the former hunters or San groups, the pastoral Khoikhoi who are thought to have migrated to the Cape in the last 2,000 years introducing sheep and cattle to the region, and people originating from the Niger-Congo area speaking Nguni-languages who migrated south in the last 1,200 years. In addition, sea-borne immigrants from Western Europe (largely from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany and France), indentured labourers from India and slaves from the Malaysian Archipelago, Madagascar and other parts of Africa, have also contributed to the gene pool.

proudly sponsored by

Dr Wilmot James and Prof Michael Cherry

Professor Michael Cherry delivered the keynote Darwin Lecture on Monday, 6 August, to a large crowd of academics and interested members of the general public.

"It is essential for us to ensure that science is made more approachable for the layman," said Professor Raj Ramesar, head of the UCT Division of Human Genetics. Professor Cherry spoke engagingly on the nature of secondary sexual characteristics as they effect evolutionary biology.

Darwin disliked Robert Fitzroy, the Captain of the HMS Beagle. The feeling was mutual. Without that candid belligerence it may be that Darwin may never spent as much time on land, running away from the ship during their five year voyage. And without his diligent collections he may never have spotted his evolutionary theory.

From ostrich plumage to sun-bird tail length to beach captaining elephant seals; Professor Cherry took us on a journey of discovery.

His full presentation is available here.

Scotland, the land of the red

Redheads are also to be found in Wales, the USA, in North and West European countries – and Russia. The Berber and Kabylie populations of northern Algeria and Morocco have redheads, as do Northern India and Pakistan. Red hair is found commonly among the Pushtuns of Iran.