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Surprising Reason Big Butts Are Healthy

Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates have all ranked among the world’s top 10 fattest nations with ballooning obesity rates and an explosion of associated diseases. But there’s an upside to oversize:scientists from Britain’s University of Oxford have discovered that – no buts about it! – women with larger than average backsides are […]

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Flying Sushi iTrays First Step to Flying Carpets

America’s bumbling fictional super spy Maxwell Smart had a good point when he would say of the villain, “If only he had used his evil genius for niceness.” We’ve heard far too many tragic stories of drones being used as weapons of war. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone figured out how to beat this […]

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Export Oil, Import Water = Risky Economics for Middle East

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 […]

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Bahrain’s Temporary Market 338 Beats Out Glitzy Shopping Malls

Despite the many stereotypes about residents of Gulf countries, many people prefer creative, sustainable boutiques to shopping in big glitzy malls, though their options are typically fairly limited. Which might explain why Bahrain’s Market 338 has become such a popular destination. Inaugurated by Al Riwaq Art Space, the temporary souq in Manama’s Adliya district started with […]

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Eco-Art Gift Ideas for Sandy Claus

Whether your sandy reminiscences are wet or dry, two artists have devised ways to make your memories tangible. My brain inextricably links sand to sea thanks to 25 summers spent on a New Jersey barrier island. Middle East experiences have me now connecting the grainy stuff to locations and memories largely devoid of water, such […]

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The Arab Youth Climate Movement Is Born

Established in the lead up to the COP18 Doha negotiations, the Arab Youth Climate Movement brings together over 20 campaigners from 15 Middle East/North Africa countries As the saying goes, there is power in numbers. So it’s great to see environmental organisations across MENA come together to “create a more sustainable, prosperous, meaningful, just, and […]

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Google Street View Goes Under Sea

If you can’t afford your own private submarine, or are afraid of diving, there’s always Google:  Google has already taken their street view maps to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and many other places in many lands. Now they are venturing out into that other seventy percent of the earth, the sea.