2016: Editor’s choice
Extracts from selected news and feature articles published this year. Read more
Extracts from selected news and feature articles published this year. Read more
Conflict and wars have continued to bend the region out of shape in 2016, with health infrastructure in Syria and Yemen continuing to crumble and fall, and the exodus of people out of dangerous zones affecting neighboring populations. The following are some of the most critical situations borne out of the flow of people as a result of infighting in 2016. Read more
In the Arab world, and worldwide, one of the most affected countries when it comes to hepatitis C virus (HCV) is Egypt – in fact, it’s estimated that 14.7% of the North African country’s population is carrying the virus and up to 100,000 new infections occur each year. Read more
In retrospect, 2014 was a mixed bag for the region – with some significant research produced on one hand, but on the other, in some countries, education, health and sectors in academia received some hard blows as a result of conflict and war. Read more
For Nature Middle East, 2013 has been an exciting year–with wider coverage of science and research news across the region, and the beta-launch of monthly special editions of the online magazine in April, and regularly starting October. Read more
Looking back, 2013 carried as much good news as it did bad news for the Middle East, especially so in the fields of science, technology and health. Read more
If there is one thing that the Middle East has an abundance of (besides oil), it would be conflicts. We start our weekly update with a visit to two of these conflict zones: Iraq and Syria. Read more
Cancer – this is our focus this week. In a special report (the first of several) at Nature Middle East, this week we are putting cancer in the Arab World under the spotlight. Our editorial will set you off on where the problem lies: we have a serious problem, but there’s little we actually know about it. Doctors are basically stumbling in the dark trying to fend off an unseen enemy. For example, some researchers suspect that Arab women may be getting a more aggressive form of breast cancer than their Western counterparts. But without proper registries in Arab states, we cannot really be sure. Genetic studies are already showing links between cancer and common diseases in the region, such as diabetes. Read more
Have you heard of reptiles that swim? Such animals used to exist back in the Late Cretaceous period (that is, 98–66 million years ago). Mosasaurs were discovered back in 1764 and it became clear quite quickly that they were actually marine predators, but the debate still continues on how exactly they swam. A part of the scientific community argues they moved like snakes. Bringing robust analysis and proofs, a recent study demonstrates that Mosasaurs were actually skilled swimmers, achieving swim speed comparable to sharks. Read more
Lebanon steals the limelight this week on our science roundup, and with good reason too. Archaeologists excavating a site in the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon looking for an archaeological mound got more than they bargained for when they hit an ancient Phonetician temple built somewhere between the 6th and 6th centuries BCE. The temple, however, had already been excavated and then well-hidden. Some four decades ago, Emir Maurice Chehab , Lebanon’s director of antiques, made the discovery but hid the temple when civil war erupted in the country to protect it. Read more
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