When most people in the West think about Africa, we imagine its simplified and stereotypical version from the news media: violence and conflict, poverty and hunger, and a sea of deadly diseases.

 

That was why when characters in ‘Black Panther’ found out about the existence of Wakanda – a fictional country located in Sub-Saharan Africa and the most technologically advanced nation in the Marvel universe – they could hardly believe it.

 

Which brings up this question: in reality, how far-fetched is this idea of Africa being a leading continent in science and technology?

 

Last month, the Francis Crick Institute presented a public screening of ‘Black Panther’ and explored the themes of the film with Crick scientists Christina Dix, a lab research scientist, as well as Lucia Prieto-Godino, a neuroscientist promoting scientific research in Africa.

 

“Africa has a lot of scientific potential. It’s the continent with the highest percentage of young people and young people are the future. It has a lot of mineral resources, too. Most of the minerals that we use on a daily basis come from Africa, like our mobile phones,” says Prieto-Godino.

 

In the Marvel comics, Wakandan ancestors discovered the rare element vibranium from a meteorite that crashed into their soil; the metal absorbed, stored and released kinetic energy, making it the most powerful and valuable material on earth.

 

While vibranium is not on the cards, Dix says that the closest thing we have to that material is graphene. “Graphene is a substance that is made up of carbon atoms – a sheet of carbon atoms that is one atom thick arranged in a hexagon pattern. Until it was discovered in 2004, it was thought to be purely theoretical,” she says.

 

“It is the strongest material we have and it has a lot of useful properties. It is light, strong and conductive,” she adds.

 

In ‘Black Panther’, in order to protect their rare resources, T’Chaka, the previous king of Wakanda, hid the thriving nation from the rest of the world. However, in the real world, having precious resources alone will not make a country flourish.

 

Like in many other areas of research, science is cross disciplinary and cross-cultural, Dix explains: “Collaboration is so important. If you keep everything to yourself, then so many countries across the world are going to waste their resources trying to do the same things over and over again. We need to share our information, knowledge and techniques.”