[image via: robert_hornung] Sharm el-Sheikh, in the Sinai region of Egypt, has been a thriving tourist location for decades due to its incredible beaches and vast coral reefs. Its great attraction to tourists has also been its downfall, however. The reefs are currently under threat due to the dust caused by erosion. With tourism accounting […]
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[youtube width=”560″ height=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anjsDjPvsN8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] Trees tell stories. And it’s not just because you can see and measure their rings. In Israel there are thousands of old trees with history. Serious history. Some have “seen” great battles, heard prophets, witnessed the advent of new religions and the rise and fall of different empires through the ages. The […]
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Raw sewage seeping off Beirut coastline, and dump trucks heading straight for the sea, is the “catch of the day” in Lebanon. Marine pollution in Lebanon is becoming so severe these days that local fishermen are catching more garbage in their nets than fish. An article on thenews site Inter Press Service said that Lebanon’s […]
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Bats find no-man’s land makes a great “hang-out.” Image via Yuvalh. The song lyrics ask, “War — what’s it good for?” Well, conflicts between peoples may create new opportunities for displaced and endangered animals. Haaretz newspaper reports that Ph.D. student Eran Levin of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Zoology has discovered one of the most […]
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e-GEO satellite monitoring of Dubai’s Palm Island. Can technology protect the endangered Persian Gulf? Saudi Arabia’s fragile desert and coastal environments will now get “help from above,” thanks to an initiative by a group of Saudi Arabian and European partners (GAF AG and e-GEOS) who have completed a project to implement and provide satellite-based environmental information […]
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The rare and beautiful dugong inspired “tails” about mermaids. This strange creature faces extinction in the Middle East. Image via Christian Haugen. Can you believe that between six and seven thousand “mermaids” still live in the shallow, saline waters of the Persian Gulf? Better known as dugongs or sea cows, these slow moving, gentle herbivores […]
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Israeli-built wind farm on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israeli Syrian expert skeptical that nature Peace Park on Golan Heights would bring peace. We’d reported last month on the Peace Parks conference hosted by Tel Aviv University. The idea is to create a nature reserve out of the occupied Golan Heights now under Israel sovereignty, and […]
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Bats can eat their weight in mosquitos. Some, 1,200 mosquitos every night, making them man’s best night flying friend. Have you ever noticed those night flying creatures that seem to flitter endlessly among date palm trees in the Middle East at night while making distinctive clicking sounds? If you have, chances are these creatures are […]
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Getting close to his subject: marine biologist Prof. Zvy Dubinsky hopes to understand the changes global warming will cause to the world’s delicate coral reefs. A new EU grant will give the corals a chance. Israeli marine biologist Zvy Dubinksy is worried. Coral reefs all over the world – from the Great Barrier Reef in […]
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Some animals, it seems, are going on a diet, while others have expanding waistlines. It’s likely these are reactions to rapidly rising temperatures due to global climate change, speculates Prof. Yoram Yom-Tov of Tel Aviv University, who has been measuring the evolving body sizes of birds and animals in areas where climate change is most […]
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In a step towards preserve the wealth of its national animal and plant populations, Qatar will be setting up a gene bank of local species. Dr. Sheikh Faleh bin Nasser Al Thani, the Director General for Research and Agricultural Development of Qatar’s Environmental Ministry, said that “Qatar has a precious legacy of flora and fauna […]
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Dolphins “trawling” behind fishermen’s trawling nets are getting snared at sea. If you love fish, there is nothing like catch from the Mediterranean Sea. But extensive commercial fishing, a new study finds, is endanging the sea’ dolphin populations. This has been shown in a new study carried out at the University of Haifa’s Department of […]
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During the celebrations for Israel’s 50th anniversary in 1998, Israel’s senior publicists were polled to name the most effective public relations campaign in Israel’s history. The winner? A 1965 campaign to publicize the new law prohibiting picking wildflowers. Until the law was passed, families and groups of schoolchildren, along with their teachers, picked flowers as […]
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Tevel b’Tzedek, an Israeli-based non-governmental organization, defines itself as being “dedicated to creating a new generation of Israeli and international Jews engaged in social and environmental justice by offering them a direct experience of the developing world through study and service internships.” One of their most recent service internships, in the Dunwa Rai fishermen’s community […]
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Scorpions deliver a powerful, paralyzing venom — a complex cocktail of poisonous peptides — that immobilize animal prey on the spot. Some of the toxins in this cocktail damage only insects, which is why a Tel Aviv University researcher is harnessing them to create a safe and ecologically sound pesticide. Prof. Michael Gurevitz of Tel […]
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