Lectures

Lecture

'Imaging Black Holes With An Earth-Sized Telescope'

On 10 April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration revealed the first image of a black hole. This required a large international effort by over 200 scientists spread across five continents.

The team uses a technique called radio interferometry, synthesising a virtual telescope with the effective diameter of the Earth. By using antennas with separations on inter-continental scales,...

Lecture

'World's first 3D-printed middle-ear transplant: Technological Advances in the 4IR'

On 13 March 2019, Professor Tshifularo performed three middleear transplants using 3D-printed ossicles (the hammer, anvil and stirrup). This procedure is significantly less risky than the use of prostheses and their associated surgical procedures and is hailed as the answer to conductive hearing loss, a middle-ear problem caused by congenital birth defects, infection, trauma or metabolic...

Lecture

"Theranostic:See it, treat it!"

The escalating medical economic burden is in part attributable to the gap between diagnostics and therapy. Nuclear Medicine is rapidly facilitating the shift from ‘trial and error’ medicine to personalised medicine and holds great promise for improved patient outcomes. The ‘see it, treat it’ approach increases the quality of clinical care and will ultimately save costs through helping...

Lecture

‘The drug everyone should take! Why, how, and what?’

Prof Martin Schwellnus, specialist sports and exercise medicine physician and Director of the Sport, Exercise Medicine and Lifestyle Institute at the University of Pretoria, presented a lecture titled 'The drug everyone should take! Why, how, and what?' as part of the University's popular Expert lecture series. According to Prof Schwellnus scientific studies have identified one 'drug' that...

Lecture

'Rise of an invisible epidemic – Fighting hearing loss with advances in technology and connectivity'

Hearing loss is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease and affects more than 360 million people. For most, early detection is inaccessible, which precludes timely treatment. Resulting sequelae include educational failure, unemployment, poverty, social isolation, depression and a threefold increased risk of dementia. Recent technological advances and the ubiquity of connectivity...

Lecture

'Sunny Places for Shady Characters'

South Africa’s industrial revolution occurred in a Calvinist-dominated and labour-repressive state linked via a strategic corridor to a Catholic regime in Mozambique that was markedly less morally repressive. Third parties used these disparities in state power to exploit the legitimate or illegitimate demand for certain products or services for private or public financial gain. The resulting...