An Octopus Goal Keeper for the Next World Cup?

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Looking to our octopus friends will help scientists build robots, maybe even goal keepers, for tomorrow. In case you thought that octopuses were smart only in guessing the outcome of soccer matches (remember the late Paul the octopus in Germany who picked all the right winners in last year’s world cup matches in Johannesburg?), scientists […]

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Turkey Possibly Facing Its Worst Environmental Crisis Ever

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When two embankments collapsed at the dam of a silver refinery in the Turkish province of Kütahya, workers began scrambling to keep the cyanide-contaminated water from leaking out of the dam. If it does, environmentalists warn, the accident could become “the most dangerous environmental crisis Turkey has faced thus far.” A silver mining and refining […]

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Tourists Not Terrorists: The Middle East Can Capitalize on World Eco-Travel Trends

The three winners from the Middle East/MENA region are Tunisia, Bahrain and Qatar in new survey on tourism trends. The recently released 2011 “Travel and Tourism Competitiveness”report by the World Economic Forum, in co-operation with Booz & Company, reveals some interesting dynamics in the global tourism industry, including a shift to the East, with Central and […]

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An Ant In Dubai

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A greenie examines her soul at the foot of hundreds of Dubai towers. Dubai is nothing at all like Las Vegas. Though both are unlikely cities in waterless environs and full of people eager to divest visitors of both their souls and their money, that is where their likeness ends. As a tour leader for […]

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Nature Iraq Promotes World Migratory Bird Day

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Iraq is rife with environmental woes, as Arwa points out in her survey. And some of the most endangered animals are migratory birds: the Basra Reed Warbler (found in the southern Marshlands) and the Egyptian Vulture (found in the Kurdistan-Iraq Mountains) are especially at risk. To honor World Migratory Bird Day May 14-15 this year, […]

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Climbing God’s Mountain for EcoTourism in Egypt

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Sunrise from summit of Mt. Sinai – some say “God’s Mountain”.  The peninsula offers more than just pristine beaches. Following Egypt’s recent revolution resulting in the Mubarek family being ousted from power,  the country’s lucrative tourism industry has been struggling to find ways to entice foreign tourists to return. One Egyptian Hisham Nessim, a businessman […]

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Hope Amidst Dubai’s Marine Destruction

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Mostly concerned expatriates snag bean bags ahead of The End of the Line screening outside the Pavilion Dive Center in Dubai. A dead dugong was found floating in the Gulf waters near the artificial island development Palm Jebel Ali in Dubai on 2 May, 2011. Listed as vulnerable on the International Union of Conservation’s (IUCN) […]

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Israel Animals Killed By Economic Development

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Once common, animals and porcupines like this one are now becoming rare in Israel as development surges, and open spaces diminish. Israel’s birds and other wildlife are threatened with extinction due to over development of the country’s open spaces, according to an article in Haaretz. According to a new study on Israel’s nature situation, it […]

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Trees In Jordan’s Ajloun Forest Still At Risk

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Despite a campaign by environmentalists to protect the Ajloun forest in Jordan, 300 trees will be uprooted to make way for a military academy Back in January 2011, Jordanian environmentalists launched a campaign to help protect Ajloun forest from a development project which would have seen 2,200 trees cut down across 45 dunums of land. […]

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