The Atacama large millimeter/submillimeter array is, well, awesome. In the old sense of the word. One engineer who helped to build the array has called it “The Pyramids of the 21st century. It’s the largest, most complex telescope ever built. And in this edition of the tech podcast, the BBC’s Pallab Ghosh takes you to a spot near the Chile/Bolivia border to give you a tour of the telescope. You’ll hear about how this giant array of radio antennas can help astronomers look back at events that happened billions of years ago, at the time just after the first stars were born.

Also in this podcast, we’ll take a look back at the life and work of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who passed away this week at the age of 56. You’ll hear how his work has influenced Africans, and we’ll assess the environmental cost of a world filled with iPods, iPhones, and all their clones.

Finally, we’ll tell you about Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, a NASA roboticist who is teaching students in Ghana about the theory and practice of building ‘bots.

A reminder that you can ignore us equally on Twitter, Facebook, and now Google +.

DDT Controversy in Uganda: The U.S. government and the World Health Organization are encouraging African countries to spray DDT to kill malarial mosquitoes. But in some countries, this plan to protect the public has caused a public backlash.
Report: By Alison Hawkes in northern Uganda.

DDT: Poison or Protector? How toxic is DDT for humans? And how effective is it at killing mosquitoes? Is it possible to balance concern for the environment with the desire to fight malaria?
Guest: Entomologist May Berenbaum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Berenbaum is also our guest in The World’s interactive science forum. Join us for an online conversation about DDT, malaria, and the delicate balance between competing risks. Ask questions, and share your views and ideas.

Traditional Healing in Senegal: Throughout Africa, many people rely on traditional healers. Western medical care is often unavailable or too expensive, and many Africans don’t believe that Western medicine works.
Report: By Jori Lewis in Senegal.

Reforesting Ghana: Over the past century, Ghana has lost 80 percent of its forest. Now, a British firm is launching a project to plant 24 million trees in that West African nation. The idea: to get big polluters to pay for the forests as part of a carbon trading scheme.
Report: By BBC environment correspondent David Shukman, in Ghana.

Elsa’s weekly favorites:

• A new HIV strain jumps from gorillas to humans. (The study.)
• Malaria came to us from the great apes, too– from chimpanzees, to be precise. (The study.)
• Four-thousand-year-old gourds bear traces of a prehistoric Peruvian feast. (The study.) (Here’s a recipe for modern algarrobina cocktails– but you might have to make your own carob syrup.)
• Orchids imitate bees to dupe wasps. (The study.)
  Photo by Song Xi-qiang

Music:
Africa Must Be Free By 1983, by Hugh Mundell
Gossando, Star Band de Dakar