Archive by category | Roundup

NME’s weekly science dose (Sep 20 – 26)

The warning bells for obesity may have been ringing in the West for a while now, but they are quickly moving to the developing world. The Middle East and North Africa have one of the fastest growing rates of obesity in the world. While the epidemic is widespread between men, women and children, it would appear that women are disproportionately affected, with some countries in the region showing double the rate of obesity in women than in men.  Read more

NME’s weekly science dose (August 23-29)

The diversity of microbial species living in your gut may serve as markers to identify your likelihood of becoming obese. Researchers, including Jun Wang from King Abdulazziz University, Saudi Arabia, found significant differences in the composition of gut microbes in 169 obese and 123 non-obese Danish individuals.  Read more

NME’s weekly science dose (August 16-22)

Aid organizations are failing to address urgent the health needs of Syrians, domestically and of those driven from home. This conclusion is based on an UNHCR report that highlights the lack of long-term strategies and poor coordination to explain the agencies’ shortfalls.  Read more

NME’s weekly science dose (August 9-15)

The mystery of why the universe contains more matter than antimatter has long puzzled physicists. The standard model of physics predicts that an equal number of particles and antiparticles should have formed soon after the big bang, cancelling each other out and thereby stopping the “content” of the universe (galaxies, stars, planets, etc.) from forming.  Read more

NME’s weekly science dose (August 2-8)

When epidemiologist Diego Cuadros told fellow scientists that he was moving to Qatar, they looked at him in disbelief. What, they asked, did he hope to gain from doing research in a small Arab emirate, fabulously rich in oil and gas but with no noteworthy tradition in science?  Read more

NME’s weekly science dose (July 26- August 1)

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have been heading to Mecca in Saudi Arabia for Umrah during Ramadan and millions from around the world will converge on the city for Hajj in October. Could that be the fuel that the new coronavirus causing Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which was first discovered in Saudi Arabia, needs to spread into a pandemic?  Read more

NME’s weekly science dose (July 19-25)

Paleobiologist digging in Tunisia in 2011 have found the most complete dinosaur skeleton from Africa yet, belonging to a family of sauropods. The new species, Tataouinea hannibalis, probably had hollowed bones and probably large air sacs in its abdomen, morphological traits that are similar to birds and suggesting they may have a bird-like respiratory system. These dinosaurs were not small, however, with the remains suggesting they stood at about 14m in length when they were alive some 136 million years ago.    … Read more

NME’s weekly science dose (July 12-18)

It seems that young researchers from the Arab world are missing out on a big opportunity to mix with people from the highest echelons of science. At least that’s the suggestion when only two Arab researchers attended the Nobel Laureate Meeting at Lindau, Germany—an annual conference where Nobel winners present to and interact with young researchers from around the world.  Read more