Source : Arab News / 1 Feb 2014

Muslim Science, a UK-based online magazine, has named two Saudis in its top 20 list of most influential Muslim women in the scientific field.

The two women are Samera Ibrahim Islam and Hayat Sindi. Samera Islam, the drug safety advocate, is a board member of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation and head of the medicine unit at King Fahd Center for Medical Research at King Abdul Aziz University.

Source : Dailyrecord.co.uk / 30 Jan 2014

People who regularly drink alcohol raise their risk of skin cancer by a fifth, research reveals.

Experts found drinkers have a 20 per cent increased chance of melanoma compared with non-drinkers or occasional tipplers.

Source : Reuters / 30 Jan 2014

Abu Dhabi's state-owned carrier Etihad Airways is joining with French energy firm Total and U.S. aircraft maker Boeing to develop biofuels in the emirate, company officials announced on Sunday.

With its huge oil reserves, Abu Dhabi has ample access to cheap jet fuel, but it has said it wants to develop sustainable energy sources to diversify its economy. Biofuels could also help Etihad meet targets in the aviation industry for curbing emissions of greenhouse gases.

Source : Trust.org / 29 Jan 2014

Iraq is losing between 5 and 8 percent of its gross domestic product to environmental degradation each year, while the amount of water available per person has dropped by more than half since the late 1970s, according to a new government study.

Backed by the United Nations and the World Bank, the report found that Iraq’s environment has suffered severe decline in recent years due to decades of war, a growing population and increasing pressure on natural resources.

Source : Al Arabiya News / 31 Dec 2013

The United Arab Emirates plans to launch the first Arab-built satellite into orbit in 2017, according to the state news agency WAM.

The ‘Khalifa Sat’ is set to be the fifth satellite owned by the UAE, but the first to be wholly manufactured in the country.

Source : IINA / 28 Dec 2013

Several renewable energy experts in the Kingdom have said the country could start exporting solar energy by 2015.

They said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which receives ample sunlight, is in a good position to be one of the largest providers of solar energy in the world, if the industry is developed commercially. According to a solar energy expert in Baden, Switzerland, the development of solar energy in the Kingdom has retracted slightly.

Source : World Bulletin / 19 Dec 2013

The European Commission on Wednesday again proposed a ban on food and products from cloned animals, two years after failing to block their use.

EU governments and lawmakers rejected the first move in 2011 because of a dispute over labelling. If approved, the latest draft rules would ban the use of cloning in commercial farming within the 28-nation bloc for five years, and prohibit the sale and import of food such as meat or milk from cloned animals.

Source : IINA / 10 Dec 2013

Scientists from Saudi Arabia and China said yesterday they have completed mapping the genome of the date-palm tree, whose fruit is a staple food in many regions.

Scientists from Riyadh’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology and China’s Shenzhen-based BGI have been working on the project since 2008. The sequencing could help increase productivity as well as prevent and help in the treatment of diseases affecting date palms, Saudi research institute head Mohammed Al-Suwail told reporters.

Source : Plosone.org / 5 Dec 2013

An internationally agreed target to limit rises in global average temperatures to within 2 degrees Celsius is around double the threshold that would avoid catastrophic climate change, a study by 18 eminent scientists said.

Source : Buyuyenturkiye.com / 30 Nov 2013

A new species of scorpion was discovered in Antalya and Muğla province of southwest Turkey.

A new species of scorpion was discovered in Antalya and Muğla province of southwest Turkey, in an area that was once known as Lycia. The scorpion was named Euscorpius lycius, because of its location.