24 February 2017 From the section Science & Environment Share Image copyright GETTY IMAGES Image caption Millions of people across Africa depend on hand pumps for their water supplies The simple up-and-down motion of hand pumps could help scientists secure a key water source for 200 million people in Africa. Growing demand for groundwater is putting pressure on the resource while researchers struggle to accurately estimate the future supply. But a team from Oxford University says that low-cost mobile sensors attached to pumps could solve the problem. Their study shows that pump vibrations record the true depth of well water. While fresh water from Africa's rivers and lakes is hugely important for people, it is dwarfed by the amount of groundwater available, estimated to be 100 times greater than the annual renewable fresh resource. Groundwater lies in aquifers under the surface of the earth and is often extracted from wells by pumps...
From the section Technology 33 comments Share Image copyright A huge tech initial public offering raises billions. More money for super-rich investors and bankers, right? Well that's not the whole story. Not this time. If you're a parent, a letter home from school is common. But today, Simon Chiu, the president of Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California, wrote to parents to share some "monumental news" . In 2012, he began, the school invested $15,000 in a cool new app that was being used incessantly by Andrew and Natalie Eggers, two siblings who attended the school. Their father Barry was a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, a local investment firm. After seeing how excited his children were to be using the app , and learning that their friends were as obsessed as they were, he decided to get involved. It was, of course, Snapchat. He met with co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, who today are multi-m...
43 minutes ago From the section Europe Share Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Hollande's speech was briefly interrupted by the gunshot A French police sniper has accidentally shot and injured two people during a speech by President Francois Hollande in western France. The shot was fired as the officer moved position on a roof about 100m (328ft) from a tent where Mr Hollande was speaking in the town of Villognon. The bullet went through the canvas of the tent, where drinks were being made. It passed through a waiter's thigh and lodged in another person's calf. The injuries were not life-threatening. Mr Hollande was inaugurating a new stretch of railway when a loud noise like a gunshot was heard. He interrupted his speech for a few moments, but reports said there was no panic. "I hope it's nothing serious. I think not," Mr Hollande said as he paused his address to ask whether anyone had been hurt. The president later visi...
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