Thanks to a new moon, the Perseid meteor shower on Wednesday and Thursday nights was one of the best in years. Although the view of the meteor shower was best in the northern hemisphere, skywatchers in South Africa caught a glimpse of it as well. The Perseids have been observed for at least 2 000 years and are associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years.
South Africa may be suffering currently, but glimmers of hope are starting to emerge that undermine the more negative perceptions plaguing the local economy. This is according to Johann Els, senior economist for Old Mutual Investment Group, explaining in the company’s quarterly investment briefing that, while local growth is struggling under the burden of issues, such as electricity shortages, commodities under pressure and a weak rand, positive signs, such as an improving trade deficit and inflation figures, could be slightly buoying the economic outlook.
The six astronauts currently living on the International Space Station (ISS) have become the first people to eat food grown in space – but the fresh red romaine lettuce that accompanied the crew’s usual freeze-dried fare is far from the first crop grown on a space station. For decades, NASA and other agencies have experimented with plants in space, but the results were always sent to Earth for examination, rather than eaten.
Check Point Software Technologies has uncovered a vulnerability in Android that affects devices made by major manufacturers including LG, Samsung, HTC and ZTE. The team disclosed its findings during a briefing session at Black Hat USA 2015 in Las Vegas this week. “Certifi-gate” is a vulnerability that allows applications to gain illegitimate privileged access rights which are typically used by remote support applications that are either pre-installed or personally installed on the device.
