Cram for your exams while taking a cat nap? This Israeli study says you might be able to learn while you are asleep. Is sleep learning possible? A new Weizmann Institute study appearing today in Nature Neuroscience has found that if certain odors are presented after tones during sleep, people will start sniffing when they […]
Release some inner and outer light at Jordan’s lantern festival in the desert. The Cosmic Love Sky Lantern Festival is sure to be a feast for the eyes this fall in Wadi Rum. As if the dramatic mountain scenery weren’t breathtaking enough, sky lanterns will rise like one thousand moons over the vast expanses of […]
Cash cows in a time of conflict smuggled between Syria and Jordan As Syria continues to be swept up in violence, Syrian farmers are smuggling their livestock (and themselves) into Jordan to sell the cattle before they can be killed in bombing raids. Traders near Jordan’s border with Syria estimate that tens of thousands of […]
Pig abuse makes the headlines in Israel, a place where pork is strictly off-limits to most people. A few years ago we covered the rampant Swine Flu that prompted Egypt’s cull of 300,000 pigs to “protect” people there against the virus. But the cull was likely just a matter of politics: The issues surrounding the raising […]
Activists gathered on the streets of Amman today to say ‘No’ to nuclear energy and ‘Yes’ to renewables Following years of anti-nuclear campaigning and (more recent) controversy surrounding Jordan’s nuclear programme, Greenpeace activists in Jordan are stepping up their protests. They gathered today to launch a public dialogue about the dangers of nuclear energy and to […]
With a bit of creativity and green spirit, old washing machine drums have been transformed into stunning seating by Xavier Baghdadi and Lea Kradokian From beautifully adorned tyres to trash theatres, Lebanon is really getting creative with its rubbish. Now, two green Lebanese designers have used old washing machine drums to make intricately decorated seats […]
Years of drought and mass displacement in Syria may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back and led to the ongoing uprising Following the eruption of revolts and riots in 2011 which later became the Arab Spring, the link between food prices and rising political opposition was a difficult one to ignore. The […]
New regulations will restrict fishermen in Turkey from catching juvenile fish and using dragnets in shallow waters. But environmentalists say the laws don’t go far enough. The new fishing season in Turkey will kick off in just a few days, on Sept. 1. In preparation, Turkey’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock has proposed new […]
More popular in the US than the Middle East, the Brazilian Blowout craze (with its chemicals) did make the headlines in Dubai. I’ve never understood the desire to chemically straighten one’s hair, perhaps because my wavy locks can go either way, and natural tricks for my hair type work just fine. Even so, many curly-haired […]
Among those sweet baby scents have lurked not so sweet ingredients like formaldehyde, claim activists. If there is a signature scent associated with babyhood, Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo could win that prize. It’s a longstanding favorite with parents around the globe and has been for decades. Though the consumer products giant shut down their […]
A beautiful image is making the rounds on social networks and news websites. It shows three bright planets, Mercury, Venus and Saturn with each poised directly over one of the three pyramids at Giza Egypt. According to the story, this conjunction will occur on December 3, 2012 for the first time in 2737 years. Skeptics […]
We’ve been talking about chronic water shortages in the Middle East and North Africa for a long time. But now a new and troubling trend is beginning to emerge in the region: municipal, regional and national governments are taking more drastic measures to police water consumption. Jordan broke out the big (security) guns to prevent […]
The drug du jour in Israel is khat, and the police are clamping down on its regulation. Unlike conventional addictive drugs like marijuana, hashish, and cocaine, there is a Middle Eastern drug that has slipped through the cracks of the authorities. Causing societal havoc in countries like Yemen, khat qat, gat or ghat, is a […]
A tourist attraction in northern Israel has fitted donkeys with WiFi collars so that passengers can surf the web while exploring the historical Galilee region. The Kfar Kedem park originally designed to give visitors an authentic introduction to life during biblical times has added a high-tech aspect to the tour in order to attract a younger […]
Tunisian flavors come together deliciously in a salad of charred, chopped vegetables.