On 23 February the North-West University’s (NWU’s) Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences will be hosting a public lecture conducted by A-rated researcher and extraordinary professor, Prof Don Kurtz.

The topic of the lecture is “Venus – Earth’s Evil Twin”.

People often refer to Venus as the beautiful, bright “evening star”, but in fact it is a rocky planet that is a near twin to Earth in size.

“However, Venus is 30% closer to the Sun, and that makes all the difference,” says Prof Kurtz.

North-West University (NWU) academic in the African Centre for Disaster Studies, Prof Livhuwani Nemakonde says the heavy rainfall experienced in South Africa in recent weeks is due to a combination of factors.

“Climatologists have indicated that this is because of the La Niña phenomenon. La Niña (Spanish for little girl) is the opposite of an El Niño (little boy), which usually predicts low rainfall for South Africa.

On 27 January 2023 the North-West University (NWU) and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), representing the Potchefstroom College of Agriculture and the Taung Agricultural College, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the NWU's Potchefstroom Campus.

The North-West University (NWU) Business School hosted its third PITSO discussion for 2023 during which experts deliberated on the President’s State of the Nation Address on 9 February 2023. With 184 attendees, topics discussed included the current energy question, issues pertaining to the current energy crisis, economic growth and the reality of crime, corruption and renewal.

This month the North-West University (NWU) welcomes first years and returning students to its campuses. While various forums have been put in place to improve student safety, especially that of female students, rolling electricity blackouts are likely to create an environment conducive to crime flourishing.

We are fortunate that the late Prof Marilyn Setlalentoa, who was the NWU deputy vice-chancellor for Community Engagement and Mahikeng Campus Operations, was passionate about dealing with issues of crime affecting students and their safety at this university.

North-West University (NWU) senior IT technician Nico Kroucamp is brimming with pride as his sailing team, Albatross, won three regattas in the last three months.

The three regattas the four-member team won, were the SA Sailing 75th Anniversary Regatta, the King of the Vaal Regatta and the L26 Class 2023 Free State provincials. The team is now awaiting an invitation to compete for national honours in KwaZulu-Natal.

North-West University (NWU) Setswana lecturer and poet Ogodiseng Mokakale recently published an anthology of 60 Setswana poems, Tswina ya Poko.

Ogodiseng says teaching poetry at schools has lost its way, and that it is difficult to bring university students up to speed when they do not have a proper poetry background.

Fortunately, his passion for poetry motivates him to teach and instil a love and appreciation for poetry in his students.

Leané Naudé, an MSc Engineering student at the North-West University (NWU), will be packing her bags for Amsterdam in May to represent South Africa in the global finals of the Blue Sky science competition.

She earned this honour after coming second in last year’s national Blue Sky awards, a biennial competition acknowledging the work of students and young researchers in forest-based science product development.

The North-West University’s (NWU’s) School of Geo and Spatial Sciences, in collaboration with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (KZNDARD) and Wesgrow Potatoes, hosted three farmers’ days for smallholder farmers in Swayimane and Applesbosch in January 2023.

This was to show support to these farmers and to celebrate a successful 2022 summer planting season that led to high potato yields (40 t/ha).

The 2023 State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa to Parliament on 9 February gave a wide-ranging, candid and realistic appraisal of South Africa’s present tough and challenging economic landscape.