Shongotolo Mashengete grew up in Malamalule, Limpopo province, where her constant questions about the functioning of the living world led her to science to find practical solutions to real problems. Ultimately, she found her true calling in agriculture.
Mashengete began her journey in this field by earning her first degree at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in 2019. Life in Ka-Ksitlelani in Malamalule allowed her to see both the difficulties and opportunities in agriculture, realizing how this sector supports livelihoods, ensures food security, and sustains rural communities.
She continued her studies, obtaining a postgraduate diploma in agronomy (cum laude) at TUT. She is currently pursuing a master's degree, conducting research in plant pathology at the Agricultural Research Council (ARC).
Mashengete's research focuses on plant disease diagnosis, molecular identification of pathogens, DNA marker technologies, post-harvest disease management, and the application of advanced technologies. She noted that during her studies, she gained experience in both laboratory and field research, including fungal cultivation and isolation, DNA extraction, PCR analysis, sequencing, pathogen identification, and disease characterization.
Mashengete aims to combine scientific research with practical solutions to increase productivity and sustainability in the industry. In addition to academic work, she founded Rich Earth Agriculture—an initiative aimed at combating food shortages and unemployment through agricultural development.
She told Food For Mzansi that the university helped her understand how complex and interdisciplinary the agricultural sector is compared to her initial perception. Previously, she viewed agriculture merely as the production of crops and livestock.
Through her studies, she saw the connection between the sector, science, economics, technology, sustainable development, policy, and rural development. The university also emphasized the importance of research and innovation for solving industry challenges. She deeply appreciated the opportunity to turn scientific discoveries into practical solutions that improve productivity, reduce losses, and strengthen food security.
Ultimately, she learned that agriculture does not just feed people; it creates income sources, supports the economy, and raises community standards of living. Recently, Mashengete joined the ARC-VIMP division for Root and Tuber Crops (RTB), where she will work during her master's studies.
A typical workday involves a combination of laboratory work, data analysis, and writing scientific papers. Depending on the project stage, she isolates and cultivates pathogens, conducts molecular analysis such as DNA extraction and PCR, studies disease symptoms, analyzes sequencing results, reviews literature, and prepares reports and proposals.
As part of her master's program, she focuses on crop protection. She explains that this is akin to protecting plants from ailments and threats so they can grow well and yield a good harvest. This work includes monitoring crops, early detection of problems, and applying management methods such as good agricultural practices, use of resilient varieties, biological control, and targeted pesticide application.
Without these measures, she notes, pests and diseases can seriously damage the harvest, negatively affecting both farmers' income and food supply. In the future, Mashengete plans to become a plant pathology researcher, focusing on developing practical, scientifically sound solutions to improve crop health and agricultural productivity.
The application period for the President AI Award 2026 continues in Uzbekistan—this is the country's first presidential competition focused exclusively on startups operating in the field of artificial intelligence. The deadline for submitting registration documents is set for August 15.
The competition includes a total investment fund of one million dollars. Support will be provided to fifteen AI startups whose solutions address areas such as public administration, industry and entrepreneurship, healthcare, education, green economy, and agritechnology.
The main requirement for participation is the existence of a functioning minimum viable product (MVP); projects that are only at the conceptual stage are not eligible to participate. To register, the team must provide a description and presentation of their project, as well as a video no longer than three minutes, a link to the prototype, and participant information.
Applying teams must consist of 3–8 people over eighteen years of age. Both citizens of Uzbekistan and stateless persons with permanent residence in the country are eligible to participate.
Three winners will be selected in each of the five thematic categories. The prize places include the following investment amounts: first place will receive $100,000, second place $60,000, and third place $40,000.
The investments will be provided by IT Park Ventures in two stages, contingent upon achieving predetermined performance indicators. Additionally, twenty-five of the most promising teams will participate in an acceleration program, the finalists of which will demonstrate their developments to investors at the Demo Day event scheduled for December.
Applications can be submitted free of charge until August 15 via the platform awards.gov.uz. Current information and important announcements about the competitions are published in the Telegram channels @PresidentTechAward and @president_ai_award. The media partner of the competition is the publication The Tech, and the entertainment partner is the mobile application OQ.
Celestial bodies known as rogue planets, which travel through space without orbiting a star, have always been studied by astronomy. However, there was uncertainty about what happens to the moons of these planets when they are ejected from their original systems. A new study sought to clarify this issue by conducting thousands of stellar encounter simulations.
Scientists from the Leiden Observatory, located in the Netherlands, examined approximately 34 thousand scenarios where a star passes near a planetary system, modifying its gravitational dynamics. The findings, published in the arXiv preprint repository, demonstrate that the survival of a moon is fundamentally linked to the distance at which it orbits its planet. Additionally, the characteristics of these orbits can help astronomers understand how the ejection of these systems occurred.
This work was conducted by Yannick Badoux and Simon Portegies Zwart, monitoring the fate of planets and their respective moons during close approaches with other stars. According to the simulations, the determining factor is the so-called Hill radius, which defines the area around a planet where its gravitational attraction is stronger than the influence of the host star. It is within this limit that a moon can maintain its orbit.
The researchers found that moons located up to about 40% of the Hill radius tend to follow the planet even after it is ejected from the system. Conversely, those located beyond this limit quickly lose their gravitational bond. From approximately 50% of the Hill radius, the separation between the planet and the moon becomes virtually inevitable.
The scientists suggest that this behavioral pattern may help distinguish rogue planets ejected after passing another star from those ejected by gravitational interactions with other planets, since each process tends to leave distinct signatures on the orbits of the surviving moons.
The conclusions obtained were applied to a well-known example from our own Solar System. The study points out that if Jupiter were removed from the Solar System by a nearby passing star, the moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto would continue to orbit the gas giant. This is because these four moons are very close to the planet, occupying less than 1% of Jupiter's Hill radius.
The authors emphasize that the gravitational encounter leaves different marks on the remaining moons. Those that remain in closer orbits tend to maintain nearly circular trajectories, while those that barely escape exhibit more inclined and elongated orbits.
Furthermore, the simulations indicate that in approximately 87% of ejection events, the distance between the planet and the moon varies by less than 10%. The researchers believe that this characteristic allows astronomers to reconstruct the history of these systems just by observing the moons' orbits.
The team also used the model on an object already identified through the gravitational microlensing technique, cataloged as MOA-2011-BLG-262L. This object could be a rogue planet accompanied by a moon smaller than Earth's, although current data still allow for other interpretations.
If this hypothesis is confirmed, the simulations suggest that the system probably originated between 1.3 and 5.9 astronomical units from its star, with a slight preference for about 5.2 astronomical units, a distance comparable to that separating Jupiter from the Sun.
The study also highlights a notable consequence of these moons remaining with their planets. Certain moons can generate internal heat due to the gravitational forces exerted by the planet they orbit, regardless of starlight. Europa, for example, has a subsurface ocean whose existence is attributed to this heating. Thus, if a planet is expelled taking its moons, this heating mechanism can continue even in interstellar space, keeping these satellites warm without the need for a star.
