Wearing full body clothing might not be the thing for everyone in the Middle East: but cover up the very young – especially those with light skin. Middle East sun exposure in the young leads to higher rates of skin cancer later in life.
Could woman’s best friend be the missing link in the diagnoses of agressive breast cancer types? Researchers at Ben Gurion University in Israel have conducted research proving that specially trained dogs can differentiate the smell of breast cancer cells from non-cancerous cells in cell cultures. The concept of using the sniffing ability of dogs to [...]
‘Greedy Lying Bastards’ opens with an image of environmental destruction, and a voiceover announces: “what if I told you all this was preventable?” This is a powerful opening for an in your face movie that is bound to win plaudits for its exposure of those who deny, and actually do their bit to cause, and [...]
Even if you didn’t give birth to the baby, you can still feed it to make it “yours” in Muslim communities. Here’s how. Under Islamic Sharia’a law, western adoption practices are frowned upon. When children are abandoned by their birth parents, they may become foster children of other families, but they are not allowed to [...]
About a decade ago Israelis were much better at green washing and consumerism than caring for our planet through social green action. That’s all changed. The country has leaped into putting environmental awareness at the top of people’s concerns. This year there are dozens of events going on around the country to celebrate April 22, [...]
There are many ways to fund terror, and one way is by consuming opium or heroin: Opium production in Afghanistan is seeing record increases for the third year straight, reports the United Nations. This is because foreign military have started leaving the country and as they do drop Afghani farmers back into the hands of the [...]
Egypt is not a country that is fond of reporting oil spills – whether they occur on the Red Sea, in the Suez Canal or the Nile. But it has managed to start clean up a worrying diesel spill into the Nile River, a spill which has leaked onto the shores of Lake Nasser, China.org is reporting. [...]
I recently spent a weekend in Istanbul, one of my most beloved cities. My hotel was based in Fatih, the run down section of the old town, and it overlooked the Little Aya Sofya mosque – also spelled Sophia, or Sofia. The morning before I flew, I thought it would be the perfect moment to [...]
These films shown below show the basics of the Estidama Pearl rating system unique to the Abu Dhabi region. We’ve collected a number of films from around the net on Estidama, a LEED-like sustainability rating for communities, villas and apartments in the United Arab Emirates. A system that makes sense for the challenges of the [...]
“This is not a romance story,” Daniella told me during a recent interview. I met the petite woman at her home on Lamu Island in northern Kenya to speak with her husband, Ali Lamu, whose name is synonymous with a brand of upcycled dhow sails or tangas that are now distributed throughout the world. Daniella [...]
Middle East city heads want to make their cities more sustainable. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is 60 percent urbanized compared to the global average of 52 percent and is home to one of the world’s most rapidly expanding populations. By 2030, a 45 percent increase of MENA’s urban population will add [...]
An ancient Christian wine press 1500-years-old was uncovered in Israel, telling more about the customs of the people in the Holy Land of days gone by. It may not have yielded a prize-winning bottle, but excavators in Israel are excited about uncovering an ancient wine press, probably used for making low quality wine and vinegar, [...]
Mediterranean sharks risk extinction while “serious implications” feared for marine ecosystems and beyond. Accidental catches and sharks for fin soup are to blame Shark populations in the Mediterranean and Black Sea have dropped dramatically over the last two centuries and now risk extinction, with serious implications for the region’s entire marine ecosystem and food chains, [...]
Tomato and potato soup being cooked on an open fire at Qah Camp for displaced Syrians. Camp officials say they are hoping they will receive the money needed to run electrical systems so that heaters can be used © Jodi Hilton/IRIN Residents of Syrian towns that have run out of heating oil say they are [...]
Water scarcity has already become a fact of daily life for Egyptians The world’s driest region, the Middle East* and North Africa (MENA), is getting drier at an alarming rate. And yet, despite massive population growth (the Middle East’s population grew 61 percent from 1990 to 2010 to 205 million people) predictions of so-called “water [...]
When you Twitter, Google, or just spend leisurely hours checking facebook updates, how does this affect the environment? And think about all that data from YouTube, cloud storage, and blogger’s sites. Where does it get stored and how much energy does it consume? Whoishostingthis provides a really handy infographic giving you the breakdown of the [...]
Before Green Prophet signed up for iContact, a fee-based email marketing email newsletter company, we tried to do it on our own. It was a mess and a dazzling disaster. Emails we sent out didn’t get delivered or were marked as spam; we lost formatting options using our own template, and basically it was just a [...]
Like in biblical times locust swarms threaten Egyptian crops. Scattered pockets of locusts in southern Egypt and northern Sudan are a threat to agricultural land, warns the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Countries along the Red Sea should remain on “high alert and make every effort to find and treat all infestations”, it says. [...]
Are you at risk? Get swine flu updates for the PA, Israel, Yemen, Iraq, Tunisia and Jordan. Health officials in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) are calling on residents to get vaccinated against the H1N1 virus (“swine flu”) after 25 deaths in recent weeks.Over 700 infections of H1N1 have been reported in the West Bank [...]
Taking irrigated water from the Nile, the Toshka pumping station in upper Egypt was supposed to help combat encroaching desert Political tension in Egypt in the aftermath of the revolution which began nearly two years ago, has hit tourism, led to high food prices, and caused an economic slowdown which is raising food security concerns. [...]
Tel Aviv University professors tell Green Prophet that it’s just a matter of time: Tel Aviv will flood again. It’s warming up again this week in Israel, just after a series of storms last week that began with major flooding on the Mediterranean Coast and ended with Jerusalem of Gold turned to white after a [...]
World powers be what they may have put a heavy hand on Iran and as the sanctions hit the people with economic woes, they are moving away from more expensive “pain relief” drugs such as opium to harder, synthetic stuff, the Financial Times reports. Iran’s national currency, called the rial, has fallen more than 50 [...]
The Arab Gulf emirates celebrates National Day at the zoo until Dec 3. Come for a picnic and see the animals. Al Ain Zoo presents visitors with an exciting programme of events and activities in celebration of the 41st United Arab Emirates National Day. Visitors can also learn about the core of the UAE’s heritage [...]
You can see the color white; you can hear white noise. Now, Weizmann Institute researchers from Israel show that you can also smell a “white” odor. Their research findings appear today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The white we see is actually a mixture of light waves of different wavelengths. [...]
Israel’s electric car company Better Place is going to experience an overhaul, and will manage its existing resources in a new way, according to Evan Thornley, the company’s new CEO who just moved to Israel from Australia. Instead of focusing on selling Renault-made cars and charge plans to keep them juiced, the company is going [...]
Egypt and sunshine. The two go hand in hand. Ask any tourist, or come to that, any solar panel maker pulling in the profits. Both are grateful for the sunshine. Even in December, Egypt enjoys an average 6.4 hours of sunshine a day. In June, the average jumps to an incredible 11.9 hours a day. [...]
Calling all windy Middle East and Mediterranean countries. German giant Siemens is looking for your offshore wind. The German industrial giant Siemens, a 165 year-old company, shocked us a bit with the news that it would be selling off its half billion dollar investment in Solel, an Israeli solar energy company that it bought in 2009. At [...]
Here’s what Lianna got up to on her carbon cutting voyage from London to Israel. You can find out why she wanted to avoid flying in How to get to Israel by boat – Part 1. Day 1: Departure Today, we sail! Confirmation came this morning that the Grande Europe freight ship will arrive at [...]
In a bid to reduce her carbon footprint, Londoner Lianna Etkind chose an unconventional summer holiday this year – a voyage to Israel over land and sea. “From London to Israel without flying? Is that even possible?” Mostly, telling people about my ambition to travel overland to Israel was met with incredulity. Crossing borders in [...]
Skiing in Israel or Iran might not be what you think of if you’ve ever skied the Rocky Mountains in Canada or the Alps in Switzerland, but as people look ahead to the winter, Green Prophet can show Middle East readers that skiers can stay close to home. While you be looking around for cheap ski [...]
Despite attending Egypt’s Bani-Suef University as a student of commerce, 24 year-old Mohamed Gooda’s passion has always been for science. Having pursued his interest in physics in his spare time, he’s come up with a theoretical method of improving upon the efficiency of the photovoltaic solar cells currently in use the world over. He believes [...]
Jerusalem’s water consumption during the First Temple period was not solely based on the output of a natural spring, but relied on public reservoirs. A large rock-hewn water reservoir dating to the First Temple period was recently discovered in the archaeological excavations that are being conducted in Jerusalem. The excavation, during the course of which [...]
Israel is part of the Levant region believed to be the cradle of civilization. New 9,500 year-old carvings found in Jerusalem reveal humanity’s Stone Age past and our reverence for the hunt. Two figurines found recently in Jerusalem are about 9,500 year old. One is the image of a ram and the second of a [...]
Cram for your exams while taking a cat nap? This Israeli study says you might be able to learn while you are asleep. Is sleep learning possible? A new Weizmann Institute study appearing today in Nature Neuroscience has found that if certain odors are presented after tones during sleep, people will start sniffing when they [...]
The drug du jour in Israel is khat, and the police are clamping down on its regulation. Unlike conventional addictive drugs like marijuana, hashish, and cocaine, there is a Middle Eastern drug that has slipped through the cracks of the authorities. Causing societal havoc in countries like Yemen, khat qat, gat or ghat, is a [...]
Rosé wine is gaining global popularity. Did you know that the Middle East with its long history of wine-making is producing some great rosés of its own? The summer heat is upon us and if you’ve been smart you’re perfecting those non-cook recipes to beat the heat. If you like a glass of wine here [...]
Do pregnant women who are fasting during the Holy Islamic month of Ramadan have a greater chance of experiencing a pre-term birth? A new study by Lebanese researchers rules out the half-day fast as cause for an earlier than expected birth. With Ramadan continuing until Friday, pregnant Muslim everywhere want to know if it’s safe [...]
Iron Pyrite or Fool’s Gold plays dominant role in the world’s sulfur cycle, new research shows As sulfur cycles through Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and land, it undergoes chemical changes that are often coupled to changes in other such elements as carbon and oxygen. Although this affects the concentration of free oxygen, sulfur has traditionally been [...]
He asks hundreds of thousands of people around the world to strip for his cause, but when naked activist photographer Spencer Tunick returns to Israel to help “save the Dead Sea” he’ll be floating clothed. The award-winning photographer from the US travels the world, and asks volunteers to strip as naked subjects in his art [...]
Soaring temperatures and low precipitation could not occur at a worse time for many farmers in the United States, and around the world. Intensifying drought conditions are affecting corn and soybean crops throughout the Midwest, raising grain prices as well as concerns about future food prices. The US Drought Monitor reports that 88 percent of [...]