Here are five African inventions which may take off in 2017.
Problem : A total of 1.3 billion people worldwide currently don’t have electricity, according to Yale Environment 360. Getting people in rural areas onto the national grid is proving too difficult and traditional solar panels generate meagre amounts of energy.
Solution : Steamaco makes solar and battery micro-grids which can work for a whole village. They are small electricity generation and distribution systems that operate independently of larger grids.
How it works: Micro-grids are nothing new. The new part is that Steamaco’s technology automates the regulation of electricity.
So, if the system detects there will be a surge in demand for electricity, for example on a Saturday night when people want to start playing music for a party, or they see a dip in supply, like when the sun has gone down and so the grid is not collecting solar energy, then the grid automatically stops electricity for people it won’t affect too badly.
The system sends an automatic text to all customers on the grid saying that the electricity in houses it about to be cut off so that the hospital can keep on going.
Who is talking about this? In June the Kenyan company won awards from the clean energy charity Ashden, reports the Guardian .
Problem : Pneumonia kills 27,000 Ugandan children under the age of five every year. Most of these cases are due to pneumonia being misdiagnosed as malaria.
Solution : Ugandan engineer Brian Turyabagye has designed a biomedical «smart jacket» to quickly and accurately diagnose pneumonia. The Mamaope jacket measures a sick child’s temperature and breathing rate. It can diagnose pneumonia three to four times faster than a doctor and eliminates most possibility for human error.
How it works: A modified stethoscope is put in a vest. It is linked to a mobile phone app which records the audio of the patient’s chest. Analysis of that audio can detect lung crackles, and can lead to preliminary diagnoses.
Who is talking about this : It is shortlisted for the 2017 Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize.
Problem: It is difficult for people in rural areas to travel to the cities to see heart specialists. There are just 50 cardiologists in Cameroon, which has a population of 20 million people.
Solution: Arthur Zang invented the Cardio Pad — a handheld medical computer tablet which healthcare workers in rural areas use to send the results of cardiac tests to specialists via a mobile phone connection.
How it works: Cardiopads are distributed to hospitals and clinics in Cameroon free of charge, and patients pay $29 (£20) yearly subscriptions. It takes a digitised reading of the patient’s heart function. In a few seconds the results of a heart test are sent to a specialist clinic in the capital.
Who is talking about this: It won the Royal Society award for African engineering in 2016 and the Rolex award for Entreprise in 2014. But Mr Zang told BBC Africa that these things take time to develop and it only got approval from the Cameroon authorities in October 2016.
So, it is more likely that people will actually see it in their clinics in 2017.
Problem: A lack of accurate information about how to achieve certain hairstyles and where to find a high quality stylist.
Solution: Three software engineers — Priscilla Hazel, Esther Olatunde and Cassandra Sarfo — invented Tress, an app to share ideas about hairstyles.
How it works: It is described by Okay Africa as a kind of pinterest or Instagram for hair. Once you have downloaded the app, you can follow other people who are sharing their hairstyle. You can search specifically by place, price range and the type of hairstyle your want, from relaxed hair to cornrow:
You can then scroll until your heart’s content through people who have uploaded pictures of themselves with that style, tell them how much you like their style, ask how long it took, and even arrange to meet up with someone to style your hair.
Who is talking about this: The three software engineers behind this are graduates of the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in Accra, Ghana.
They were then selected for the Y Combinator eight-week fellowship programme for start-up companies.
Y Combinator is prestigious — Business news website Fast company called it «the world’s most powerful start-up incubator». In other words, the school is thought of as really good at finding the next Mark Zuckerberg.
Problem : There are online workers, specifically web developers, in Africa that people outside the continent would like to employ but it is difficult or prohibitively expensive to get their wages to them. Some don’t have passports, and so don’t have bank accounts either.
Solution : Bitpesa uses Bitcoin to significantly lower the time and cost of remittances and business payments to and from sub-Saharan Africa.
How it works : Bitpesa uses the crypto-currency bitcoin as a medium to transfer cash across borders. Bitcoin is a system of digitally created and traded tokens and people keep their tokens in online wallets.
It then takes the Bitcoin tokens and exchanges them into money in mobile money wallets — a popular way of paying for things in places like Kenya and Tanzania.
BitPesa is already used to pay online workers — a company called Tunga is using it as a way of getting wages from clients abroad to web developers in Uganda.
Who is talking about it : It won an award for the best apps across Africa in November.
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President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter again on Monday evening to promise North Korea would not develop a nuclear missile capable of reaching US territory.
His comments come a day after the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un, appeared to try to put pressure on Trump by announcing his country is in the «final stages» of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
«North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US,» Trump tweeted. «It won’t happen! »
Although Washington has repeatedly vowed that it would never accept North Korea as a nuclear state, Trump has not previously clearly stated his policy on the isolated Stalinist state.
The Republican billionaire has already upended precedent by routinely taking to Twitter since his election last month to lambast critics and issue statements — sometimes about the most serious national security issues — sending analysts scrambling to divine what they may mean for US policy once he takes office on January 20.
He launched a solo bid to restart the Cold War arms race last month, tweeting that the United States must «greatly strengthen and expand» its nuclear capabilities.
He has also angered China by tweeting accusations of military expansionism and currency manipulation.
But he will need Beijing, Pyongyang’s closest ally, to deal with North Korea’s mounting confrontation.
However, he appeared to complicate that prospect with his latest criticism on Monday evening following his vow about North Korea.
«China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the US in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea,» he tweeted. «Nice! »
In a 30-minute televised New Year’s speech on Sunday, Kim said Pyongyang had «soared as a nuclear power,» adding that it is now a «military power of the East that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy. »
Although he did not make a specific reference to the incoming Trump administration, he called on Washington to make a «resolute decision to withdraw its anachronistic hostile North Korea policy. »
Analysts are divided over how close Pyongyang is to realizing its full nuclear ambitions, especially as it has never successfully test-fired an ICBM.
However, North Korea carried out two nuclear tests and numerous missile launches last year in pursuit of its oft-stated goal — developing a weapons system capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead.
Thae Yong-Ho, North Korea’s former deputy ambassador to Britain who defected to the South in August, has said Kim was planning a «prime time» nuclear weapons push in 2017 to take advantage of leadership transitions in Washington and Seoul.

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A 17-year-old was found dead at the scene and three other children were transported to an area hospital where they later died, the Amarillo Globe-News reported.
The pesticide that was used contained aluminum phosphide, a chemical that, when mixed with water, creates phosphine gas, the newspaper said, citing local fire officials.
«This family may have been exposed to this for several days,» Amarillo Fire Department Captain Larry Davis told local TV station KDFA.
Names of the victims were not released, and Amarillo fire officials were not immediately available for comment.
There were five other people exposed to the gas who were in stable condition at an Amarillo hospital, the newspaper said citing fire officials. One other patient was transferred to a hospital in the Texas Panhandle city of Lubbock, and there was no information on the status of that person.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by David Gregorio)

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January 2, 2017, 6:02 p.m. — 1 mile east of Lower Lake, CaliforniaJanuary 2, 2017, 3:19 p.m. — 3 miles northwest of The Geysers, CaliforniaJanuary 1, 2017, 5:46 a.m. — 2 miles west of Cobb, CaliforniaDecember 29, 2016, 10:31 p.m. — 1 mile southwest of Kenwood, CaliforniaDecember 29, 2016, 7:28 p.m. — 4 miles northwest of Cobb, CaliforniaDecember 22, 2016, 9:26 a.m. — 2 miles west of Cobb, CaliforniaDecember 22, 2016, 2:27 a.m. — 4 miles south of The Geysers, CaliforniaDecember 21, 2016, 11:48 p.m. — 1 miles north of Castro Valley, CaliforniaDecember 21, 2016, 8:34 p.m. — 2 miles north of Castro Valley, CaliforniaDecember 21, 2016, 5:48 a.m. — 4 miles northeast of Alum Rock, CaliforniaDecember 19, 2016, 6:52 a.m. — 1 mile west of The Geysers, CaliforniaDecember 18, 2016, 5:36 p.m. — 3 miles northwest of The Geysers, CaliforniaDecember 17, 2016, 11:09 a.m. — 11 miles southwest of Clearlake, CaliforniaDecember 17, 2016, 11:09 a.m. — 11 miles southwest of Clearlake, CaliforniaJanuary 2, 2017, 5:05 a.m. — 14 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 31, 2016, 3:06 p.m. — 1 mile northwest of Brawley, CaliforniaDecember 31, 2016, 2:21 p.m. — 1 mile west of Brawley, CaliforniaDecember 28, 2016, 2:00 p.m. — 16 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 28, 2016, 9:57 a.m. — 9 miles northwest of Morongo Valley, CaliforniaDecember 28, 2016, 8:28 a.m. — 18 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 28, 2016, 6:40 a.m. — 17 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 28, 2016, 1:33 a.m. — 17 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 28, 2016, 1:17 a.m. — 17 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 28, 2016, 12:22 a.m. — 12 miles southwest of Hawthorne, NevadaDecember 26, 2016, 7:29 a.m. — 7 miles northeast of Anza, CaliforniaDecember, 4 2016 at 10:33 a.m. — 37 miles south of Eureka, CaliforniaNovember 15, 2016, 9:46 a.m. — 8 miles northwest of Rio Dell, CaliforniaOctober 18, 2016, 3:09 p.m. — 10 miles southeast of Hollister, California>> NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center January 2, 2017, 5:14 a.m. — 223 miles southwest of Ndoi Island, FijiDecember 29, 2016, 2:30 p.m. — 20 miles south of Tolotangga, IndonesiaDecember 20, 2016, 3:21 p.m. — 49 miles west of Kirakira, Solomon IslandsDecember 18, 2016, 8:30 a.m. — 128 miles south of Tarauaca, BrazilDecember 18, 2016, 4:46 p.m. — 51 miles west of Kirakira, Solomon IslandsDecember 17, 2016, 9:27 p.m. — 115 miles west northwest of Arawa, Papua New Guinea>> USGS World Seismicity Maps Experts believe that the Northern California area is one of the most seismically active areas of the state. Find out how you can PrepareNorcal.

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DEL RIO, Texas — A fossil found in limestone along a remote South Texas riverbed could be that of a dolphin-like reptile that swam in oceans 90 million years ago, according to paleontologists.
The discovery was made two years ago by petroleum geologist James Harcourt, who works for the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry. It went largely unnoticed until a photo of the fossil appeared on the cover of the commission’s 2016 annual report.
The find is unique because it appears to be a nearly complete fossil of an ichthyosaur, which grew to about 6 feet long and had the sleek body of a dolphin and long, toothy jaws of a dinosaur, the Houston Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/2ilbe3c ).
The fossil was found on private land near the border town of Del Rio as Harcourt and some colleagues were studying the Eagle Ford formation, which is one of the state’s most productive shale oil basins. Harcourt spotted a row of bones imprinted on rock. When the surface dirt was cleared away, Harcourt and his colleagues realized the limestone held a large skull, long spine and ribs.
“Very rarely do we get really complete skeletons out of the Eagle Ford,” said Josh Lively, a doctoral candidate specializing in marine reptile fossils at the University of Texas. “Whenever you have an associated skeleton like this, when you have multiple parts of the animal, it’s a really an important find.”
Ichthyosaurs were disappearing from the seas when the Eagle Ford formed, some 88 million to 96 million years ago. Lively said there’s a chance it could be a plesiosaur, a much larger underwater reptile, and paleontologists won’t know for sure until the bones are exhumed, which can only happen with the property owner’s permission.
Fossils can’t be studied, and their contributions to science can’t be measured, until they are out of the ground, said Matt Brown, the director of vertebrate paleontology collections at UT Austin.
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