Hooked on Hookah? It’s Worse than Smokes, Says Iran

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A 45 minute shisha session is the equivalent of puffing 100 cigarettes. In a new study, Iranian researchers proved tobacco water pipes are as harmful as cigarettes, saying, “Our findings reveal profound effects of water pipe smoking on lung function, similar to the effects observed in deep inhalation cigarette smokers.” A student at Amman’s American Community School […]

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Turkey’s Pamukkale: Step into a Mixed-Culture Soup PHOTOS

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Pamukkale is the most sensual and surreal of Turkey’s eleven World Heritage sites. Seventeen natural hot springs pour a continual stream of mineral water down the enormous travertine steps of Turkey’s Pamukkale. It’s a Dali painting come alive.  Rock formations melt like liquid stairs dropping from hilltop Hierapolis towards the surrounding skirt of farmland. It’s […]

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King Abdullah: Israel is Disrupting Jordan’s Nuclear Plans

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Does placing Israel in the same camp as the anti-nuclear movement in Jordan have negative implications for the success and popularity of the campaign? Since 2009, when Jordan first announced its nuclear ambitions, the country has been through a parliamentary review of nuclear power, accusations of slander by the head of the Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission and dozens of  protests […]

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Film Review: ‘The Blessed Tree’ – An Interfaith Meeting Under The Shade of Nature

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Under a solitary tree in the desert, a young Prophet Muhammed met with the Christian monk Bahira. This documentary charts the importance of this chance meeting. The Blessed Tree is a short and beautifully-filmed documentary which tells the story of a chance encounter between a Christian monk named Bahira and the young Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) […]

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Camels for Milk and Look Who’s Buying

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Dubai’s dream of exporting fresh camel milk to the rest of the world will soon become reality. Green Prophet’s been doing alot of yakking about camels lately.  Prepare to hear a lot more as the camel products go commercially global. Camel milk is a healthy alternative to cow milk; Camel milk is for good for […]

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Blücher’s Wallpaper Cleans Sick Buildings

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Though wallpaper is not popular in the Middle East, this wallpaper can help repair sick building syndrome. I grew up in a duplex, my mom warned us that the walls have ears.  Now the walls can have lungs too. Germany-based Blücher Technologies has created a material called Saratech Permasorb Wallpaper that removes toxins embedded in wall […]

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How to Ward Off the Evil Eye

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Laurie attempts to explain Middle East evil eye superstition. Can a lingering look with a penetrating gaze cause catastrophe in another’s life? If you’re Jordanian, you might think so (and your grandmother certainly does): it’s the pseudoscience of the “evil eye”. In Turkey, people with Frida Kahlo unibrows or pale color eyes are considered prime candidates […]

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Green Miner Pulls Minerals from Desalination’s Seawater Brine

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This new approach uses bacteria to mine sulphur and magnesium from desalination’s polluting brine.  Desalination’s no golden ticket to creating water for the Middle East but it’s an approach that more and more countries are turning to as a last resort.  Desalination is energy intensive, and what to do with the toxic waste byproducts? Biomineralogist […]

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