Begryp: ‘n Afrikaanse Gedig / Realise: an Afrikaans Poem

  Begryp In die feëwoude Raak dit al hoe benouder Want voëlneste word verwyder En hoeveelheid inwoners al hoe kleiner Is daar geen verligting? Aan die oprigting? Daar is geen meer bome Vir die beeldskone Woudgeeste om onder te dans Deur die dag en saans Niemand gee om Want die mensdom is stom Hul kinders …

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Writing Journal of a Scientist: Run The Ink Dry (Drabble)

No piece of writing is worthy of destruction - yes, it may be cringe worthy, but half-formed ideas hide between the bad grammar and spelling mistakes. These precious little insights will be nourished when the water of the muses flow. Crumbs of inspiration quickly transform into beautifully composed pieces. Never throw away any article of …

We are Borg: How Ticks Assimilate Genetic Adaptation

To most people parasites are gruesome creatures, likely the feature of nightmares. Yet, they are fascinating organisms from an evolutionary perspective (read more about Tick Origins and the Fossil Record). They are prime examples of the evolutionary arms-race, where parasite and host try to outwit one another through biological adaptation. Unlike plant ectoparasites, animal parasites …

Writing Journal of a Scientist: Whose Drabble Is It Anyway?

  A fitting lighthearted post to start the new year. A drabble is a 100-word writing piece, which explains a concept fully. So, for my own amusement I decided to take up the challenge, maybe even dabble in a bit of drabble more regularly on this blog. Drabbling is quite appealing to me, because I think …

1st First Author Article: Key microbial taxa in the rhizosphere of sorghum and sunflower grown in crop rotation

This is my 1st first author article, which is part of my PhD requirement (other than submitting a thesis which is already with the examiners) - One step closer to graduation !     Tanzelle Oberholster, Surendra Vikram, Don Cowan, Angel Valverde. 2018.  Key microbial taxa in the rhizosphere of sorghum and sunflower grown in crop …

Ticks in the Fossil Record: How the cousin of the Spider became a Blood-sucking Vampire

Ticks are blood-feeding external parasites. Truly disgusting creatures and I still say this even after I had studied them for four years. How did they become such repulsive organisms? To glimpse an answer, let's take a walk down the earth's memory lane and explore the ancestral fossils from which they came.     Fossils are …

HUMPTY DUMPTY

  “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less”. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. by Peter Dawe.   I am endlessly fascinated by words and nuances. As a lawyer, I am part scientist, part artist …

Writing Journal of a Scientist: Absolute Nonsense Comes From Ignorance

These five words are what popped into my head during a creative writing exercise back in high-school during English class. It has been sitting in my writing journal ever since, but I always wondered as to the validity of such a statement. Is it not rather a statement of half-truth (or for that matter a …

The Dialectic of Innovation

A practical tool for innovation by Sarel Oberholster   Hegelian dialectic, usually presented in a threefold manner, was stated by Heinrich Moritz Chalybäus [35] as comprising three dialectical stages of development: a thesis, giving rise to its reaction, an antithesis, which contradicts or negates the thesis, and the tension between the two being resolved by means of a synthesis. In more …

Origins of Domestic Cattle: Migration patterns & Speciation events

During my masters, I studied the blue cattle tick, Rhipicepahlus microplus (REF 1). I was interested in the movement of cattle as a factor of human migration and trade through Africa. Additionally domestication and selective breeding affected the genetic make-up of cattle, which influences resistance against parasites. Since host geographical distribution and genetic inheritance are …