Based in Allan, outside Amman, Jordan, SESAME aims to build scientific expertise in its member countries and bolster cultural ties between them. When completed, the $110-million machine would be the Middle East's only source of high-intensity synchrotron X-rays, which are used in fundamental research ranging from molecular biology to materials science.
The project mirrors the organization of CERN, but Amman is a long way from Geneva — metaphorically as well as literally. In recent years, SESAME has had to contend with the assassination of two members of its Iranian delegation and huge political upheavals in partner countries including Egypt.
Despite the tensions, scientists involved with the project say that SESAME is succeeding because it has something to offer all the participants. Israel, for example, gets a world-class research facility on its doorstep and an opportunity to show its willingness to collaborate with neighbours, says Eliezer Rabinovici, director of the Institute for Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a member of SESAME's council. Other member states see an opportunity to educate a young and rapidly growing science base. “Turkey is also interested in developing similar laboratories and SESAME would be a very good experience,” says Zehra Sayers, a physicist at Sabancı University in Istanbul and head of SESAME's scientific advisory committee.
Llewellyn Smith is optimistic that the remaining money can be found. Now that local partners have committed funding, the project is more likely to gain support from outsiders such as the United States and the European Union. And other partners in the Middle East, notably Egypt, may yet provide cash, although political turmoil could make commitments difficult.
One of the first steps taken by the collaborations was to form the International Programme on Stem Cell Science and Policy, charged with examining the ethical and religious issues involved in stem-cell science, relevant to Arab culture, and engaging with local communities. Five years on, the plan is bearing fruit.
Hamda Al-Thawadi, Halema Al-Farsi, Heba Al-Siddiqi and Sarah Abdullah joined the Qatar Science Leadership Program (QSLP), a QF initiative that aims to groom Qataris to take leading roles in Qatari science and one day steer its ambitious national programme of research.
The QSLP sends students to train at some of the best universities in the world. And 2011 saw Al-Thwadi and Al-Farsi go to one of France's largest universities, University Paris-Sud 11, Al-Siddiqi go to Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Massachusetts and Abdullah go to the University of Cambridge in the UK.
At the Qatar International Conference on Stem Cell Science and Policy held this past week in Doha, Al-Thawadi, Al-Farsi and Al-Siddiqi presented their research on ovarian cancer and obesity-related diseases. Al-Thawadi practiced medicine for two years before applying for the QSLP. "In the past there was only one path for a medical doctor, treating patients. But when QF started this programme, they created a new path for doctors or graduates interested in science," she says. "This is a perfect chance for Qatar to create home-grown researchers."
And Al-Siddiqi is a co-author on a paper published in Nature Cell Biology just this past month:The first research paper Al-Siddiqi's co-authored was published in Nature Cell Biology in February 2012. "It felt amazing, especially after all the hours of hard work," she says.This is actually pretty neat! Read the full article at Nature Middle East.
Al-Thawadi and Al-Farsi decided to work on ovarian cancer as it is highly prevalent in the Middle East. Al-Thawadi incubated cancer cells in culture with Protein C, a coagulation factor, to test its effect on thrombosis of ovarian cancer cells, which led to a significant increase in metastasis. "This gives us a clue to outline preventative measures for thrombosis in ovarian cancer patients," she explains.
Rank | Name | Country | Profession | Klout Score | Number of Followers |
1 | Sheikh Salman Alodah | KSA | Religious Scholar | 82 | 625,147 |
2 | Abdelaziz bin Fahd | KSA | Royalty | 82 | 224,400 |
3 | Faiz al-Maleki | KSA | Media | 81 | 235,457 |
4 | Dr. Mohammed Al-Arifi | KSA | Religious Scholar | 81 | 760,367 |
5 | Sheikh Dr. Ayid al-Qarnee | KSA | Religious Scholar | 80 | 551,076 |
6 | Battal Al-Goos | KSA | Media (Sports) | 79 | 293,107 |
7 | Nabil Al-Awadhy | Kuwait | Religious Scholar | 78 | 427,449 |
8 | Saad Hariri | Lebanon | Political Leader | 77 | 85,164 |
9 | Belal Fadl | Egypt | Media | 76 | 268,884 |
10 | Nawara Negm | Egypt | Media | 76 | 172,396 |
In the month since it performed an unsanctioned “punk prayer service” at Christ the Savior Cathedral, entreating the Virgin Mary to liberate Russia from Vladimir V. Putin, the feminist punk band Pussy Riot has stirred up a storm about the role of the church, art and women in Russian society.
The group has been accused of blasphemy; three of the women are in pre-trial detention and could face up to seven years in prison.But we also see some over the top reaction from some high-offical clergy and also some push-back on some of the crazier statements. But in this age, it is really difficulty to hide idiotic statements:
Top officials in the Russian Orthodox Church have called for the band’s members to be strictly punished — at times tempering this demand by saying that they do not insist on a long jail sentence.
Russian Orthodox nationalists called on national television for the women to be publicly flogged, while other Orthodox activists have condemned such calls as shameful, citing Jesus’ compassion for fallen women.
That Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, two of the three women jailed, are both mothers of young children has also been cited as a reason for minimal punishment and release from pretrial detention.
Moscow’s City Court last week rejected appeals for their release, jailing them until at least April 24 while police continue to investigate.
The mullah was astounded and a little angered to be asked why the accidental burning of Korans last month could provoke violence nationwide, while an intentional mass murder that included nine children last Sunday did not.
“How can you compare the dishonoring of the Holy Koran with the martyrdom of innocent civilians?” said an incredulous Mullah Khaliq Dad, a member of the council of religious leaders who investigated the Koran burnings. “The whole goal of our life is religion.”
That many Americans are just as surprised that what appears to be the massacre of 16 people at the hands of an American soldier has not led to mass protests or revenge killings speaks volumes about a fundamental disconnect with their Afghan partners, one that has undermined a longstanding objective to win the hearts and minds of the population. After more than 10 years, many deaths and billions of dollars invested, Americans still fail to grasp the Afghans’ basic values. Faith is paramount and a death can be compensated with blood money.
“To Muslims, and especially to Afghans, religion is much higher a concern than civilian or human casualties,” said Hafez Abdul Qayoom, a member of Afghanistan’s highest clerical body, the Ulema Council. “When something happens to their religion, they are much more sensitive and have much stronger reaction to it.”
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Mullah Qayoom is surprised that anyone is surprised.
“Humans were sent here to worship and protect religion,” he said. “That is what the purpose of a Muslim’s life is.”
Also, Afghans were very much aware that burning a Koran under American law normally would not be a crime, any more than burning a Bible would be — so those responsible were not going to suffer anything that Afghans would view as appropriate punishment.
In the case of murder, the military does have capital punishment, at least in theory — though no American soldier has ever been sentenced to death for acts committed in Afghanistan, including murders.
“In your laws there is the death penalty, so we are hopeful,” Mullah Qayoom said. “With the Koran burning, your people do not even respect your own books, so in the end they will say ‘sorry’ and the person will be released.”
That Afghans find Koran desecration more distressing does not mean they have been indifferent to the murders, particularly of the children. By now, any Afghan with a computer has seen the victims’ cherubic but lifeless visages on Facebook, and the images have been passed around on cellphones. Wrapped in blankets, some look as if they had just fallen asleep — the coverings hide gaping forehead wounds. A toddler in a blood-stained pinafore looks alive at first glance.
Researchers in Spain are tapping a new database in their search for historic climate patterns: medieval Arab history. Physicist Fernando Domínguez-Castro of the University of Extremadura in Badajoz, Spain, and his colleagues, including a historian of Arab culture, examined references to droughts, floods, and hail in ten Arab sources written between 816 C.E. and 1009 C.E.. One text told of nights during a Baghdad summer that were so cold that residents bundled up inside their homes rather than sleeping on roofs as was the custom, the team reported in Weather.
The texts, the team concluded, suggest that 10th century Baghdad had more cold spells than it does now. That conclusion agrees with previous hemisphere-wide temperature reconstructions by climate scientists—but it's the first time this has been demonstrated for Baghdad.
Understanding how global climate trends play out close to home is a priority for many climatologists. Yet extracting useful climate information from medieval records will require trust and cooperation between researchers with little in common. “People are reticent,” Domínguez-Castro says of the historians closest to medieval archives. “They think, ‘These crazy physicists are here to steal my job.’”
Still, the large geographic and historic span of Arab record-keeping is attracting funding from Spanish and German research organizations. Comparing historical records from German monasteries with those from Andalusian courts might also generate fresh insights. “Most climate reconstructions are from the north of the Mediterranean,” Domínguez-Castro explains. “The southern Mediterranean is climatically very interesting but also very little studied.”
The results of the new survey by Public Policy Polling reveal a lot of interesting things, but the question about Obama's religion is probably the most shocking.Now, the pollsters also asked a question about acceptance of evolution. So why would one ask a question about evolution when dealing with politics? Well...because we often find a correlation amongst Evangelical and Republican voters. This may point to the fact it is not necessarily about science - but rather about identity politics, i.e. there are a group of ideas that define a group (denial of global warming is also correlated with this). So what do we find about evolution:
In Alabama, 45 percent of Republicans said they thought Obama is a Muslim and 41 percent said they were not sure. Fifty-two percent of Republicans in Mississippi said they though Obama practiced Islam, while 36 percent said they weren't sure.
Twenty-six percent of survey-takers in Alabama said they believe in evolution, 60 percent said they did not and 13 percent said they weren't sure. In Mississippi, 66 percent of those polled said they do not believe in evolution, 22 percent said they do, and 11 percent said they are not sure.Okay - so that is more about science and politics. More entertaining (or you can call it more depressing) is the fact that 21% registered Republican voters believed that inter-racial marriages should be illegal.What? Yes, this is not a time warp.We are still living in the 21st century - despite these 21% of Alabaman Republicans.
