My experience with the Turkish police was problematic. As a tourist I was accosted by a man on moped, but because the perpetrator didn’t rape me or manage to steal my bag, the police weren’t interested in my complaint. New infuriation with the police stirs: Istanbul police officer takes selfie as a man a man commits suicide this morning.
American photographer Peter Augustus has created a series of images that may change how you look at processed food and help you resist the siren call of snacking. Important images for the Middle East, where fast-food is one of the leading commercial growth sectors with junk-food-mad consumers ballooning apace with corporate profits.
The Dead Sea is an amazing place to float, meditate, and to heal your aching body. But some guys hanging out on its shores show it is an awesome place to discover natural phenomena. This artist grows the crystals, Dead Sea Diamonds and crafts them into jewels you can wear.
Check out the salt crystals that they collected at a recent trip to the Dead Sea in the video below.
If you are eager to “grow” your own salt crystals the video below shows how it’s done. Skip ahead to the second half of the video if you want to do it with ordinary table salt.
Isn’t nature mind blowing?
There seems to be a tremendous struggle happening in the Middle East – a fight between the good guys, like this 10-year-old Emirati wunderkid, and psychotic fundamentalists (along with a host of other corrupt elements.) The good maybe overwhelmed by the very worst bad guys there could be. And then there is the boy who already has seven scientific patents to his name.
Talk about being self-sufficient, but totally weird! Israeli student designer Naomi Kizhner has designed a collection of jewelry that harvests energy from veins in the human body. The project highlights in a beautiful and artful way how humanity is addicted to energy consumption.
It may be a thought experiment more than anything, but these jewels provoke a fascinating discussion about the ends to which humans will go in order to get the next hit of energy.
Are you allowed to ride a bicycle? For Afghan girls and women, that’s a no. If they dare, people may throw rocks at them or call them unspeakable names. The Global Ride for Solidarity coming up this weekend is designed to catalyze a new cultural paradigm in the country, one that finds riding a bicycle in Afghanistan as normal as walking.
Maybe we’d have a little more tolerance and understanding in this world if ISIS just smoked some of the plants instead. Or maybe the plan is to smoke some of the spoils. Watch the video above as ISIS burns alleged cannabis plant fields in Syria.
The ever increasing amount of space junk makes it dangerous to pass through Earth’s orbit. Space junk can intercept and hit satellites throwing them out of orbit. But wayward satellites still able to perform may get a tow back to position thanks to a new Israeli startup.
Need a lift?
The robotic space tow truck developed by Effective Space Solutions (an Israeli company) wants to create a tugboat or DeOrbiter microsatellite. The company expects to “launch” within two years. Fast forward to 2020 and they have!
Update December, 2020: Israeli startup bought by Japan’s Astroscale
Astroscale working for “long-term orbital sustainability”, was today awarded Grand Prix during the UNESCO Netexplo Innovation Forum 2020, out of 10 breakthrough digital innovations which were selected for their disruptive potential.
Netexplo, an independent observatory that studies the impact of digital tech on society and business, has been a UNESCO partner since 2011. This year’s UNESCO Netexplo Innovation Forum showcased 10 breakthrough digital innovations with the potential of profound and lasting impact on digital society.
Astroscale won Grand Prix for its innovative satellite technologies that will reduce orbital debris and support the long-term, sustainable use of space.
“We are truly honored to be named Netexplo Grand Prix 2020, and I share this win with everyone on our team working hard on the technology, policy and business case challenges of this complex, global issue,” said Nobu Okada, Founder & CEO of Astroscale.
“I am encouraged to see what’s happening in Earth’s orbits as having a profound and positive impact on society. Right now COVID-19 and countless environmental catastrophes are wreaking havoc all over the globe, and we’re committed to stopping another potential disaster from unfolding over our heads.”
The rise of large commercial satellite constellations in low Earth orbit (LEO) means that the threat of a potential collision or break-up in key orbits will escalate.
This increasing amounts of debris endangers current and future satellite missions and puts society’s reliance on data from space at risk. Astroscale will launch its End-of-Life Services mission later this year as part of its critical end-of-life services, which will safely remove defunct satellites from orbit and maintain the viability of LEO.
The aim of inventors is to help it reposition satellites if they’ve gone off course – or push them off course where they can effectively “die” in a satellite graveyard several hundred miles above their usual orbit of about 25,000 miles above our heads.
When we first wrote this article there were two stranded Galileo Project satellites, and the company says that their solution could bring them back on course and live out their days until the satellites run out of energy.
Effective Space Solutions (well now Astroscale) was founded in 2012 by veterans of the Israeli space industry and the company They raised a $1.5 million seed fund from Singulariteam and the Israel Space Agency.
Arie Halsband (goes to LinkedIn) is the company’s founder.
Astroscale US Inc., announced this summer that it plans to acquire intellectual property and other assets and to hire certain members of the staff of Israeli satellite life-extension and servicing company Effective Space Solutions R&D Ltd. (ESS).
This is the first acquisition of an Israeli space technology company by a foreign company, but also the end of Effective Space founder Arie Halsband’s dream of producing micro-satellites in Israel. Halsband founded the company in 2012 with the vision of the miniature satellites, or space drones, attaching on to older, existing satellites to propel them in space and thus extend their missions even after their fuel runs out.
Astroscale U.S is a subsidiary of Japan-based Astroscale Holdings Inc., and operates in the same field as Effective Space Solutions, focused on solutions for LEO, low-earth satellites (200 to 400 miles above the Earth’s surface) where surveillance and observations satellites orbit, while Effective Space’s solutions are meant for GEO, geostationary communication satellites (25,000 miles above the Earth’s surface).
Astroscale is scheduled to launch a satellite into orbit next March, 2021 on a test mission to remove space debris, according to the company’s officials. The satellite will be carried into space by a Russian Soyuz rocket lifting off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The Japanese are with Russia and Israel and the ESA with the Swiss, who plans to launch ClearSpace in 2025 as a commercial service to clean up space junk. They plan on rescuing Vespa, says Spacenews: The mission, dubbed ClearSpace-1, is slated to launch in 2025 to capture and deorbit a 100-kilogram Vespa payload adapter an Arianespace Vega left in orbit after deploying ESA’s Proba-V remote-sensing satellite.
According to the European Space Agency’s Space Debris Office, around 8,950 satellites have been launched into space. Out of that number, 5,000 satellites are still orbiting the earth, while 1,950 are operational satellites.
This invention reminds me of that 80s show What Will They Think of Next. Or maybe I need a new job title. Imagine being head of the Space Debris Office? Or, Space Janitor?
While many Muslims don’t drink alcohol, the people of Batroun, Lebanon love their beer. At least according to Jamil al-Haddad, the visionary behind Colonel beer and a new microbrewery built out of recycled materials.
Are you tired of seeing the same old giant wind turbines in a field or offshore? And do you worry about their impact on migrating birds? Hooman Tahvildar Akbary from Iran has a solution that is both super efficient and beautiful.
حذرت منظمة الأغذية و الصحة للأمم المتحدة من أن استمرار القتال في غزة أدى إلى شل حركة صيد السمك في سواحل القطاع، و إلى هجر المزارعين و الرعاة لأراضيهم، مما أدى إلى توقف تام في في الصناعات الغذائية المحلية، مضيفا بذلك إلى حجم التحديات الجسيمة التي يواجهها السكان هناك. و في حين توقف العدوان، سيحتاج قطاع الزراعة في غزة لمساعدات خارجية ضخمة على المدى البعيد، و هنا تكمن الفرصة لأصحاب الأراضي من مزارعين و عائلات لاستعمال أنظمة زراعة بديلة و محلية، كنظام الإستزراع المائي الذي من الممكن تطبيقه على أسطح المنازل، خاصة في بيئة شحيحة بالماء كتلك التي في غزة
و تقدر المنظمة حجم الدمار الذي خلفه العدوان على القطاع بما يفوق 17,000 هكتارا من الأراضي الزراعية ببنيتها التحتية، بما في ذلك بيوتها الحرارية و أنظمة الري و مزارع الحيوانات و مخزونات العلف و قوارب الصيد. و تقول آخر الإحصائيات الصادرة من غزة أن القطاع فقد أكثر من نصف طيوره الداجنة بسبب القصف المباشر على بيوتها أو بسبب النقص في المياه أو الأغذية أو الرعاية الناتج عن تقييد الحركة على المعابر. و تحتاج حوالي 64,000 من الحيوانات المجترة كالبقر و الماعز و الخراف الكلأ و الماء بشكل فوري لتجنب الهلاك و تجنب المزيد من تآكل التربة التي تشكل أصلا إنتاجيا أساسيا للرعاة. أما صناعة صيد السمك، فقد خسرت أكثر من 236 طن من السمك في الفترة ما بين 9 يوليو و 10 أغسطس، أو ما يعادل 9.3 بالمئة من الإنتاج السنوي
و قال سيرو فيوريلو، رئيس مكاتب المنظمة في الضفة الغربية و قطاع غزة: حتى هذه اللحظة لم نتمكن من إحصاء الخسائر التي لحقت بقطاع الزراعة في غزة بدقة، و ذلك بسبب العدوان العسكري المتواصل هناك
و يستورد قطاع غزة جل ما يحتاجه من أغذية، و تشكل الأغذية المنتجة محليا -على أي حال- مصدرا جيدا للغذاء بأسعار زهيدة، فيما يعتمد 19,000 شخصا على الزراعة لكسب عيشهم، و يقابل هذا العدد 6,000 شخصا في تربية المواشي و 3,600 شخصا في صيد السمك؛ أو ما مجموعه 28,600 من تعداد السكان في القطاع. و قال فيوريلو: في ظل آخر هدنة لوقف اطلاق النار تمكن عدد من المزارعين و الرعاة من العودة إلى أراضيهم، و لكن ما زال هنالك معوقات جسيمة لبدء إعادة إنتاج الغذاء كالدمار الذي لحق بأدوات الإنتاج، و شحة الماء و الكهرباء و المواد الأولية و الموارد المالية، عدى عن ذلك إحتمال العودة إلى النشاط العسكري
تقلب في أسعار الأغذية
شهدت أسعار الأغذية تقلبات حادة منذ بدأ العدوان على غزة، مسجلة بذلك ارتفاعا ملحوظا في أسعار بعض المنتوجات كالبيض و الخضراوات. فقد ارتفع سعر البيض بقدر 40 بالمئة، و 42 بالمئة للبطاطا، و 179 بالمئة للطماطم. و تلك الأخيرة يمكن زرعها بكل سهولة على الأسطح أو على رقع صغيرة من الأرض باستخدام نظام الإستزراع المائي. و مع توقف الانتاج المحلي للأغذية و تقلص الصادرات، فإن السواد الأعظم من سكان القطاع البالغ 1.8 مليون نسمة في اعتماد تام على المساعدات الخارجية للحصول على الغذاء. و لكن، فإنه بإمكان الغزيين مواجهة هذا الوضع الصعب من خلال شركات (كشركة فلاكس) التي توفر الأدوات اللازمة لجعل الإستزراع بالماء أكثر سهولة و تطبيقا
علف الطوارئ
صرحت منظمة الاغذية و الصحة عزمها توزيع العلف اللازم لتغذية 55,000 من المواشي حديثة السن في القطاع لمدة 45 يوم فور التوصل لاتفاق دائم لوقف إطلاق النار، و ذلك بدعم من كندا. وتنوي المنظمة أيضا توزيع 4,000 خزان مياه بحجم 1 متر مكعب على الرعاة لتسهيل توريد المياه للمواشي. و صرح عبد السلام ولد أحمد، ممثل منظمة الأغذية و الصحة للأمم المتحدة في الشرق الأدنى و شمال أفريقيا قائلا: لدينا برنامج لدعم مرونة أولئك الذين يعتمدون على الزراعة في كسب عيشهم في غزة، من صيادين و رعاة و مزارعين. و أضاف: يجب أن نعاود تفعيل هذا البرنامج فور انتهاء العدوان، لا لأجل ضمان صمود أهل غزة فحسب، بل لتعزيز اكتفائهم الذاتي و تنميتهم الاقتصادية
Sometimes, design really does change lives. Dr. Amit Goffer previously designed ReWalk, a device that gives paraplegics paralyzed from the waste down mobility again. But 90 percent of handicapped people are unable to use it. In order to give quadriplegics a similar new lease on life, the Israeli designer made a few modifications with UPnRIDE.
Most Gulf countries import up to 90 percent of their food, which neither bodes well for food security no climate change – since the food that is brought in from Europe and elsewhere has a lot of what are called “food miles.” True to their name, Forward Thinking Architecture proposes a solar-powered hydroponic food belt as a solution.
Here is a cautionary tale of two very different countries which once shared a similar water use philosophy and usage patterns. The right photo is in Jordan’s Wadi-Rum desert. The forest on the left is in Ireland.
A farmer in Al Ain, the very green, flowery emirate bordering Dubai, claims that after three years of impregnating legions of nannies on his farm, his billy goat suddenly sprouted udders. And then produced milk.
Mr. Nasser Al Alwi paid about $820 for his billy goat at a livestock show in the United Arab Emirates. It has since been used to breed, and has not disappointed his proud owner, who says he wouldn’t sell this goat for 10 times as much as he is worth.
There did not appear to have been any warning that the billy goat would essentially become a hermaphrodite. In addition to retaining his reproductive organs, “or the parts that make him male,” says Al Alwi, he also started to produce ‘milk’ from two new udders.
Related: Raising goats humanely in outback Israel
Although he is confident that his billy goat is producing delicious milk, Mr. Al Alwi has chosen a cautious path and sent the milk for laboratory testing to ensure there’s nothing too freaky about it – before he considers allowing others to have a taste.
“We are waiting for the lab test results to make sure the milk is of good quality and fit for human consumption and whether it could be used for medicinal purposes,” he told The National.
Mr. Alwi may be hoping that he has found his miracle meal ticket, his path to unlimited wealth and freedom – a hermaphrodite who makes powerful babies and then feeds them, but men and women of science might have burst his bubble.
“He is producing something else – but it is not milk,” Veterinarian Dr Ulrich Wernery told The National. “It is impossible, absolutely impossible. Because it is a male that is why. There are female organs and then there are male organs.”
“From my opinion it is ridiculous.”
Have news to share? Renewable energy news, architectural, artificial intelligence, biotech, sustainable design ideas, eco-architecture, green travel?
Email us: [email protected]
Get important news delivered directly to your inbox and stay connected!
© 2007 to 2026 Green Prophet, All Rights Reserved