As the search for knowledge and quests to explore yonder worlds stays part of human nature, Mars remains the first – and so far – biggest feat for space agencies around the world. The Muslim world is playing its part in this global challenge. UAE’s space agency is building up its mission ‘Al-Amal’ or Hope, which is planned to enter Mars’ orbit in the year 2021.

Ancient history of many cultures associated Mars with war and destruction due to its reddish appearance. In the Muslim world, Mars at times was an omen of triumph and divine blessing. In the 10^th century, the Fatimid Caliphate captured Egypt and moved their royal seat to a newly named city ‘Al-Qahir’ or City of Mars (Fatimid dialect), presently known as Cairo. Astrological connotations were gradually refuted by Muslim astronomers and a scientific approach with empirical arguments gave birth to astronomy and space sciences of the modern world.[i]

The space race between US and USSR led to plethora of missions beyond Earth’s orbit. In the 1960s, Pakistan, primarily due to its location, became a region of major interest for NASA and SUPARCO, the first space agency in the Muslim World was born. Many other Muslim nations have since established space agencies and are playing their part in the global space sector such as LAPAN (Indonesia), ANGKASA (Malaysia), ISA (Iran), MAKA (Azerbaijan), NSSA (Bahrain), UzbekCosmos(Uzbekistan), KazCosmos (Kazakhastan), ASA (Algeria), TSA (Turkey), TNSA (Turkmenistan) and SPARRSO (Bangladesh). Other Muslim countries are also either in the phase of establishing a space agency or joining hands with another.

The UAE Space Agency is the latest entrant in this galaxy.  It is investing $5.44 billion and spearheading the space sector in the Muslim world with its ambitious unmanned mission to Mars. Marking UAE as the ninth country working to explore Mars, Hope, the first Islamic probe to Mars, is planned to start its journey from the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan on a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA rocket in July 2020.

The Ruler of Dubai H.E Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum says, “this mission to Mars is really for the hope of the Arab world”.

According to H.E. Dr. Mohammad Al Ahbabi, Director General of UAE Space Agency, “Our vision is to launch space projects that will help the development of the UAE’s economy, support local, regional and international space study and technology and create exciting learning and career opportunities for our people.”

After launch, the probe will begin the seven to nine-month long journey.

Emirates mission to Mars is a science mission. The Emirati orbiter is aimed at providing an integrated model of the Red Planet’s atmosphere. Hope will be the first to study dynamic changes in Martian atmosphere throughout its daily and seasonal cycles. The space probe will be built from aluminum into a honeycomb-like compact structure weighing approximately 1,500 kg including fuel. It will collect planet-wide climate tracking because of its special orbit cycles. It is planned to orbit Mars till 2023 at least and may have an extended mission till 2025.

The mission will search for clues to better understand the ancient climate on Mars and today’s Martian weather. This will be done by tracking the escape of hydrogen and oxygen and their behavior as Mars loses its atmosphere to Space. With an onboard storage capacity of 20 GB, it will send back more than 1000 GB of invaluable data that will be made available for free to space specialists to study.

Hope is to be equipped with 600 watt solar panels for power, six 120-Newton Delta-V thrusters, eight 5-Newton Reaction Control System thrusters for navigation and control along with Star trackers for guidance and attitude correction. To stay in contact with Mission Control on Earth, a High-gain directional antenna producing narrow radio-wave will point at Earth. Once in orbit around Mars, the communication bandwidth may be as low as 250 kbps.

The scientific instruments to be carried by Hope include the Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI), Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS) and an Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS). The EXI will send back high-resolution color images and measure properties of water ice, dust aerosols and quantify ozone. The EMUS will measure the variability of the thermosphere and traces of oxygen and hydrogen coronae. The EMIRS will help examine temperature patterns and the thermal structure. It will also measure abundance of ice water vapor and dust in Martian atmosphere. [ii]

At approximately 54.6 million kilometers away from Earth with a communication delay of 13-20 minutes, Hope will have to maneuver into Mars’ orbit autonomously. Once in orbit, internal reaction wheels will be spun for attitude control and to point its solar panels towards the Sun while pointing its antenna towards Earth and on board scientific equipment towards Mars. [iii]

The first Muslim and royal in space, Prince Sultan bin Salman[iv] of Saudi Arabia who was part of the crew of Discovery STS-51G that went into orbit for seven days in 1985, has also endorsed active participation in space mission by nations of the MENA region noting that this would greatly benefit the Muslim world by developing technology and bringing hope and inspiration to a troubled region.

At a Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi in 2016, Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon exclaimed “I want to bring UAE into a small community which will be working, and I believe, living on the only other habitable planet in our solar system by 2040.”

The challenges that UAE Space Agency may face include completing the development of the space probe well in time for launch, securing measurable economic benefits, ensuring effective transfer of technology, and retaining the trained professional Emirati scientists and engineers for the mission to Mars who may seek other jobs. 

Dr Benton C Clark – Lockheed

The UAE Space Agency plans to maintain an ongoing engagement with academia.

Dr. Benton C. Clarke[v], Chief Scientist, Flight Systems, Lockheed Martin Astronautics at the launch of Emirates Mission to Mars in Abu Dhabi said, “We’d very much like to see them be successful, because it’s always good to have more science at Mars. These missions help each other. It has a lot of broad reaching implications for education. We found in the US when the Space programs first started especially when first astronauts went into space, that many students became interested in science and technology than they had before.”

The Emirates mission to Mars will set a precedent for other space agencies in the Muslim world. UAE government’s bold initiatives have put its space sector into overdrive and the ambitious Mission to Mars will move UAE far ahead of others in the Muslim World.

References:

[i] Daily Life in the Medieval Islamic World By James E. Lindsay (Page 103-4)

[ii] http://www.emiratesmarsmission.ae

[iii] http://www.space.gov.ae

[iv] First Arab in Space https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/the-first-arab-in-space-1.32633

[v] Video interview recorded by author at GSSF UAE

Despite being the unlikeliest of places for bibliophiles and literary enthusiasts, Iran is credited with organizing an annual book fair the Tehran International Book Fair. In 2004, the idea to establish the world’s largest book complex as an alternative to the yearly book fair was put forth. After more than a decade later the idea materialized in the form of the world’s largest book and scientific complex that spans over 100, 000 square meters and hosts multiple bookstores, a restaurant, an art gallery and 10 amphitheaters.

The facility that boasts of 400,000 books in 70,000 topics featuring writers from around the world also has quiet reading spaces for focused reading. This project – the first of its kind in the region is unique with respect to its scale and functionality.

The project was formally inaugurated in July marked by a ceremony attended by the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Ali Larijani, and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.  Speaking at the event the mayor remarked: “The opening of the Book Garden is a big cultural event in the country, so that our children can make better use of this cultural and academic opportunity.”

The Tehran Book Garden is divided into four separate blocks and each is accorded a unique Persian name. Block A, named after a popular Persian prose “Baharestan” houses a permanent book enclosure. Blocks B and C make up the main entrances along with the book gardens amphitheater, a cultural gallery and cultural artifacts that are displayed for sale. This section which features the country’s biggest art gallery covering an area of around 1700 square km has some of the best art installations on display, featuring paintings, ceramics, handmade artifacts and visual displays from different regions. Block D called “Sarvestan” is a more specialized section comprising an entire floor which is dedicated to a hands on and engaging scientific center for kids and young adults. This section is well stocked carrying more than 30,000 books on a host of subjects. The 12,000 square meter science amusement park is a popular sight for kids providing them with an opportunity to experience scientific concepts with the help of scientific models and interactive, inquiry based displays.

Another interesting aspect of the garden is its Robotic Club which offers courses in a range of areas including artificial intelligence[1]. In terms of design the complex with plenty of green spaces on its rooftops is conceptualized around ancient Persian architecture. The complex being hailed as an urban green space intervention has plenty of green spaces inside covering over 20,000 square meters, this is in addition to the massive 25,000-square-metre roof garden.

Sources:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/07/iran-world-biggest-bookstore/

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Space-to-Read-in-Iran-as-the-Worlds-Biggest-Book-Garden-Opens-20170706-0042.html

A group of scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed an environmentally friendly omni-phobic (liquid repellent) material, it was learnt today. This novel material is inspired by soil-dwelling insects – springtails which are omnivorous, free-living organisms that prefer moist conditions.

Working under the leadership of Himanshu Mishra at KAUST’s Water Desalination and Reuse Centre, these new materials can be used in a range of applications such as reducing biofouling and underwater drag to membrane distillation, oil-water separation, and waterproofing.

Himanshu Mishra is the Assistant Professor at KAUST in the Environmental Science and Engineering and Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Divisions with an interest in this particular discipline. Generally, the process of developing liquid repellent veneers relies heavily on the use of per-fluorinated coatings; even though this solution works, it is generally short-lived and is likely to corrode under harsh physical conditions. It also has adverse effects on environment as well as health. To counter this issue, Himanshu Mishra and his colleagues came up with a viable alternative by studying the surface coatings of springtails.

Using inspirations from naturally occurring materials, substances, and phenomena to create artificial materials and designs, generally known as biomimicry, is a highly popular mechanism to induce greater creativity in the scientific process and has been widely used in other instances such as conversing energy and improving communications and transportation.

Scientists draw inspiration from springtails for developing a liquid repellent material

In this particular instance, the scientists studied the surface properties of springtails. The patterns on the springtails exploit surface textures that contain a double layer of reentrant cavities, which keep them dry. By using photolithography and dry-etching tools at the KAUST Nanofabrication Core Lab, the researchers recreated these double layered reentrant micro cavities on silica surfaces. These micro cavities can trap air and prevent penetration of liquids, even under elevated pressures. The surface of the springtails also prevents any loss of omniphobicity in the presence of localized damage or defects or upon immersion in wetting liquids.

The team of scientists stated that the potential of this material is yet to be fully realized as it can be used to reduce hydrodynamic drag which is the force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding fluid and anti-fouling which refers to  specialized category of coatings applied as the outer surfaces of materials to slow the growth of subaquatic organisms.

References:

http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=177740&CultureCode=en

Cancer cells have been programmed back to normal by scientists in a breakthrough which could lead to new treatments and even reverse tumour growth.

                                                                            – Terrence Ward, Author of Searching for Hassan

The ‘secret’ only dawned on the leaders at Stanford University as they once realised that a large number of foreign students were beginning to do really well on some very hard PhD qualifying exams. Examining a bit further, they noticed that the disproportionate number of these students came not from one country in Asia but from a single university – The Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.

For Sharif University, this has been a culmination of several decades of hard work and the realisation of a dream from 50 years ago.

Creme de la creme

Sharif attracts, literally, the cream of Iranian society each year. Every year, 1.5 million young Iranians take a national university entrance exam, or “concours.” Of the 500,000 who pass and are entitled to free higher education, only the top 800 can attend Sharif – that is just over 5 students out of every 10,000. (1) This is a remarkable level of selectivity. Compare that with MIT, for instance, where the acceptance rate at the undergraduate level is about 8-10% of those who apply and one could begin to get a sense of whats happening here.

“The selection process [gives] universities like Sharif the smartest, most motivated and hardworking students” in the country, says Mohammad Mansouri, a Sharif alum (’97) who is now a professor in New York. (1)

Take into the account the fact that Iran’s education system at the school and college level is already quite competitive and, unlike many other countries, most Iranian parents prefer to send their sons and daughters to study sciences and engineering rather than law or business, for instance, adds all the more rigor to this already airtight process.

One testament of the Iranian schools system’s emphasis on STEM is the fact that Iran has become a major player in the international Science Olympiads taking home trophies in physics, mathematics, chemistry and robotics. As a testament to this newfound success, the Iranian city of Isfahan recently hosted the International Physics and Mathematics Olympiads —an honor no other Middle Eastern country has enjoyed.

No wonder then that Sharif University has produced some remarkably brilliant and prolific alums. Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman ever to have won the Fields Medal of Mathematics – often referred to as the Nobel Prize of Mathematics, but just an order of magnitude more prestigious – is an alum of Sharif University. Others include Behzad Razavi, Professor of Electronics at UCLA, Mohammad Shahidehpour, the Associate VP of Research at Illinois Institute of Technology, and Mehdi Setareh, the professor of architecture at Virginia Tech. (2)

In addition to those who have excelled in science and technology, Sharif also has been an alma mater to several political, social, and cultural figures such as Ali Akbar Salehi (a former President of the University and a Vice President of Iran), Morteza Alviri, former Mayor of Tehran, Ali Larijani, speaker of Majlis and former presidential candidate, Elshan Moradi (Chess Grandmaster), and Peyman Yazdanian (Music Composer). (2)

Today Sharif University has a student population of more than 9000 – of which 700 are pursuing doctrates – and 500 faculty members in 15 disciplines. It carries out a vast majority of the Industry-funded R&D in the country and is consistently ranked as No. 1 University nationally and among 500 top universities (between 250-350) around the world over the last 5 years.

Times Higher Education also ranked Sharif University 1st in the Middle East, 6th in Asia, and 27th in the world in top 100 universities under 50. (6)

However, Sharif was always not this utopia of scientific and technological prowess. It has had its fair share of ups and downs as well.

Ambitious Beginnings

Established in 1966 by Reza Shah Pahlavi – the West-aligned Shah of Iran – as The Aryamehr University of Technology (AMUT) with an idea and effort to steer the Iranian Higher Education Model towards the US tradition. Formed alongside several other schools established in collaboration with Harvard, Georgetown, and Columbia, AMUT was to become the technological powerhouse to drive Iran’s science and industry much like its inspiration, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had done for America. Much like MIT, it was to provide technical education where interdisciplinary research centers transcended traditional disciplinary departments. (3)

The Shah explained that he wanted an Iranian MIT, not an Iranian Harvard or Princeton, because Iran needed “a problem-solving type of education. (3) The final master plan of the University produced by Arthur D. Little and a number of consultants from the US clearly laid out the vision:

“The main idea in this organization of instruction is to organize the academic activities on the major technological problems of the country instead of the usual disciplines. The reality of the needs of Iranian society and the aspirations for Iran’s accelerated development requires that their educational system should not be a copy of the obsolete aspects of western systems by a lag of twenty years; instead, it must be based on Iranian culture and societal characteristics.”

And, herein lay the important twist.

At the Crossroads of Science and Religion

The Shah appointed Seyyed Hossein Nasr (the first Iranian to graduate from MIT) as AMUT’s chancellor in 1972 with the mandate to create an institution that created and built its own cultural identity within the Persian tradition. Nasr was the ideal man for the job. Having done his undergraduate from MIT in the sciences, he later moved to philosophy and history of science finishing his PhD from Harvard. (5)

As a condition of his acceptance, Nasr asked for the opportunity to develop a vigorous program in Islamic history, philosophy, and culture to complement the engineering training. “What I wanted to do as president of the university,” Nasr explained, “was to create an indigenous technology in Iran, and not simply keep copying from Western technology.” (3)

Nasr’s pioneering effort led Aryamehr to create one of the first graduate programs in the Islamic world in the philosophy of science based upon the Islamic philosophy of science. (5)

In addition, ambitious plans for a collaboration between MIT and AMUT were laid out. Nasr wrote to MIT President Jerome Wiesner (his batch mate from MIT days) and sought formal help and collaboration. (3) Plans were made of creating opportunities for AMUT faculty to take sabbaticals at MIT, for AMUT graduate students to complete their graduate training at MIT, and joint research programs between the two schools.

In a pattern that was to be repeated by US Universities many times over in the Persian Gulf later, MIT agreed to set up research centers at MIT that were ‘supported’ by Iran and supposed to engage in joint R&D with AMUT professors. Energy was high on the agenda in the 197os and Iran agreed to pay towards a $50 million Energy Research Center at MIT. (3) Flushed with oil wealth, Shah went on a buying spree. Plans were also discussed to entertain training in nuclear engineering for certain members (30 each year) of the Iranian Atomic Energy Commission.

Events would soon overtake these ambitious plans.

Politics trumps science trumps politics again

Nasr resigned in 1975 shortly before the overthrow of the Shah’s regime. Having opened their minds of philosophy, history, religion, and culture, AMUT’s students had become deeply engaged in the conversations that preceded and followed the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Nasr later reminisced on the dilemma he faced:

“Technology is not value free. It brings with it a kind of culture of its own. And so once you get into it on a high level you can become very easily alienated from your own culture and that creates a breeding ground for the worst kind of political activity. And that was also one of the reasons why the Shah paid so much attention to the new university. He said we must do everything possible to have our own scientists and engineering, to create our own technology, without this social and political explosion.”

After the revolution, a vast majority of the professors left AMUT – many went to the United States. The government of the Islamic Republic renamed the AMUT Sharif University after a Martyr of the revolution. It also separated the campus in Isfahan to create the Isfahan University of Technology. Gradually some of those who had left or were studying abroad at the time of the revolution returned – motivated to serve the revolution. (3)

While politics remained, though in a somewhat mellowed form, Sharif University has gradually become the kind of scientific and technological powerhouse that was the Shah’s vision. But it also became a lot more. As home to Iran’s best and brightest it also became a powerhouse of political ideas and the revolutionary ideology. Today, being a Sharif student is not only ones ticket abroad to the best Universities of Stanford, MIT, and Oxford but also to the corridors of power in Tehran as a substantial number of the student political leaders trained at Sharif gradually make their way to the very top of the echelons of power in Iran.

Iran’s dream of creating an MIT has been redeemed in both intended and unintended ways.

References:

1. http://www.newsweek.com/surprising-success-irans-universities-87853
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharif_University_of_Technology
3. http://www.cse.iitd.ernet.in/~arindamp/files/MIT.pdf
4. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/05/AR2008060503904.html
5. About Nasr: http://www.nasrfoundation.org/bios.html
6. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2014/one-hundred-under-fifty

By Dr. Yarub Al-Douri

The fear of science, though however common, is an unjustified one, especially when science is solely blamed for the world problems. Nevertheless, there are undeniable tensions between science and religion in some parts of the Islamic world that must be addressed. Anti-scientific attitudes are easy to find in Islamic countries and are now flourishing with thousands of elaborately designed Islamic resources which purport that the Quran Kareem predicts the big bang, black holes, and quantum mechanics. The problem is that many Muslims see modern science as a secular, even atheist, western construct and have forgotten the many wonderful contributions made by Muslim scholars over a thousand years ago. They are unable to separate science from religion and therefore, do not see modern science as indifferent or neutral with respect to the Islamic teachings. Many Muslims today completely reject the notion that science and religion are compatible. In fact, given the current climate of tension and polarization between the Islamic world and the West, it is not surprising that many Muslims feel indignant when accused of not being culturally or intellectually equipped to raise their game when it comes to scientific achievements. To remind both Muslims and non-Muslims of the time when Islam and science were not at odds in a very different world is crucial for science to flourish once again in that part of the world.

Currently, there are over billion Muslims in the world. They include some of the world’s wealthiest nations, some of the poorest, and some that are growing steadily in comparison to the West. The leaders of many of these countries understand that economic growth, military power, and national security intrinsically rely on technological advances. Even though we often hear the rhetoric of the need to have concerted efforts in scientific research, it was found that for the last two decades, the Islamic world spent less than 0.5% of their GDP on research and development compared with 2.5% of GDP spending on scientific research in the developed world. Islamic countries have fewer than 10 scientists, engineers and technicians per 1000 of the population compared to the world average of 40 and 140 for the developed world.[1]

In reminding the Muslim world today of the likes of al-Kindi, al-Khwarizmi, ibn Sina and ibn al-Haytham and their rich scientific and scholarly heritage, and how current understanding of the natural world has been due in no small part to the contributions of Arabic science, that sense of pride can be instilled which could propel the importance of scientific enquiry back to where it belongs. A renowned Pakistani physicist, Pervez Hoodbhoy, highlighted the current problem. He argued[2] at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, that the constraints he encountered are typical of those in many Pakistani public-sector institutions. Quaid-i-Azam University has several mosques on its campus but no bookshop. This is one of the leading research universities in the Islamic world. Contrast this with al-Mamun’s obsession with books and the many wonderful libraries in the medieval Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordoba.

It would be a gross mistake to single out religious conservatism alone for the lack of scientific progress in the Islamic world. Far more telling are the antiquated administrative and bureaucratic systems that many Islamic countries inherited from their colonial occupiers and that have still not been replaced due to a chronic lack of political will to reform, tackle corruption, and overhaul failing educational systems and institutions.

Scientific researchers require more than just the latest, shiniest equipment and political rhetoric. Simply spending vast amounts of money will not be enough to reignite and rebuild the scientific culture in the Islamic world. Additionally, a clear separation of science from theology must be ensured[3]. A scientific renaissance will not happen overnight and requires not only the political will but also understanding of meaning of both academic freedom and scientific method. But if the Islamic world managed to be the torch-bearers of science in the past, it can surely do so again.

Image (a): Credit © Islam.ru

Image (b): Credit © Museum of the History of Science

References:

[1]) M. A. Anwar, A. B. Abu Bakar, Current state of science and technology in the Muslim world, Scientometric 40 (1997) 23-44

[2]) Perves Amirali Hoodbhoy, Science and Islamic world – the quest for Islamic countries, Physics Today 49 (2007) 49-55

[3]) J. Al-Khalili, Pathfinders – the golden age of Arabic science, Penguin Books, London, (2010).

Across the Muslim world, water issues vary in their scope and severity. Writing from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States, Syeda Mariya Absar reminds us that “Muslim religious philosophy and the importance of water is … a potential linchpin that could influence future policies and begin to answer some of the water demand challenges these nations face in the 21st century.”

Flooding in countries such as Bangladesh and Indonesia can, and often does, contaminate the water table. Rising sea water threatens to submerge entire countries. Some scholars would argue however, that one of the most pertinent concerns to human survival – on parallel with climate change – is freshwater scarcity.

Despite its importance to survival, the perception of water as a human right, is an idea that was the subject of international debate as recently as 2010. In many parts of the world, freshwater is taken for granted. Hard rains, monsoons, and floods make it difficult to imagine water scarcity, as a global concern – or a question of political stability.

A pump on Lebanon’s Wazzani Spring, a tributary to the Jordan River. That pump project brought Lebanon and Israel to the brink of war in 2001

The freshwater challenges faced across the Muslim world vary greatly, from the rising sea levels that encroach on freshwater availability in Southeast Asia to water abundant states including Albania and Turkey, where water pollution is the primary concern. Nowhere in the Muslim world, is water a more pressing issue than in the conflict-riddled Middle East and North Africa, however. In this region, overtaxed underground aquifers and low yearly rainfall, create dry conditions unlike any other inhabited region on the globe.

In his quiet office, up two flights of stairs in an aging building on the Colorado School of Mines (USA) campus in scenic Golden, CO, Professor Hussein A. Amery sits working on his next book – Arab Water Security. Professor Amery is a political geographer with an in-depth knowledge of water and security. Lebanese by birth, he still sports a tan from his last trip to this country. Author of several books and articles, including Water in the Middle East: A geography of peace (with Aaron T. Wolf); for a successful academic, he is also a humble man.

Prof. Amery is one of a handful of academics, who are focusing on the study of political security and stability, as related to water in the Middle East. He is driven by concerns such as – in his words – “Water scarcity. Desalination is a superb technology, that provides fresh water to people in need, in dry regions, however, it remains an expensive solution. It is far beyond the reach of poor countries like Yemen, Bangladesh, and others. There’s not a cheaper solution on the horizon. Therefore, water security is THE upcoming issue. What would happen if someone were to blow up a mega desalination plant that provides freshwater to a large urban center?”

Amery is right to be concerned – according to Sidem, a company that produces desalination equipment, more than 230 million people depend on desalination for their daily fresh water provisions. The technology provides fresh water for a large portion of the Muslim World, particularly the Middle East. Yet, much of the region is entrenched in violent conflict.

The low-water level in Litani River, Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. Precipitation in the Fertile Crescent countries were very low this past winter and the people are feeling the brunt of that.

Desalination technology has allowed increased development in the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf Corporation Council Countries. The improved standard of living that oil wealth creates, comes with a price – population growth. Imported labor and internal migration to cities, places increased stress on already scant water resources – although the Middle East is home to 5% of the world’s population, it only has access to 1% of the world’s freshwater resources.

Desalination is an expensive endeavor. According to Bloomberg, most of the cost of a desalination plant is tied to the energy the plants consumes – an average of 15,000 kilowatt hours for every million gallons of desalinated water produced. Constructing a plant can cost as little as $21 million dollars, but often runs in the hundreds of millions. A plant recently constructed in California, cost nearly $1 billion USD. Water delivery costs must also be incorporated into calculations, as well as maintenance, upkeep, and the cost of the desalination process itself.

While desalination dependency poses a potential threat, this technology also allows for generosity. Prof. Amery reminds us that “The ruler of Dubai, His Eminence Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, started a water aid initiative, to coincide with the month of Ramadan. The name he chose for it is Suqia. Suqia is the Arabic/Islamic name for quenching one’s thirst. Outside of the United Arab Emirates, the program is known as UAE Water Aid.”

Following the Prophet’s teachings of charity as providing water to the poor, Dubai’s wealth – aided by the existence of desalination plants – is now helping to construct wells in poorer regions that will one day provide water to millions of people.

One challenge facing academics in the Muslim World, as pointed out by Prof. Amery, is finding funding for applied research in water. Beacons of hope exist, however. According to Prof. Amery, “A wonderful foundation that works with all scientists – Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF.net), based in Sharjah, UAE and headed by Dr. Abdalla Alnajjar, really does good work in this arena. It funds Arab scientists who have creative and innovative ideas; this obviously includes funding for projects that provide clean, fresh water to various communities. Funding for applied research in the Middle East and North Africa is very, very limited, so ASTF’s work is very important to the economic and social development of that region.”

The Red-Dead Canal project is an example of desalination as a force for peace in the region. Much of the water on the Jordan River is used by upstream riparians. When the watercourse reaches the Dead Sea, very little water remains. The result is, that the Dead Sea has steadily decreased in size over the past four decades.

Regarding this project, Prof. Amery stated that, “The World Bank and other groups collaborated to develop plans to move water from the

Professor Hussein A. Amery

Red Sea to the Dead Sea. As the water descends, it generates electricity that is used to desalinate water, providing fresh water that is in very short supply in that region. In addition to the obvious hydrological benefits, this science and technology project will ensure that the Dead Sea survives as a World Heritage Site.

The Dead Sea itself has religious value to the Christian community in particular – pilgrims to the Jordan and the Dead Sea can continue their worship with this body of water intact. Politically it is an example – a model project – for how Jews [Israelis] and Muslims [Jordanians] can work together to benefit their own communities, and humanity at large.”

In a future where climate change is expected to create an even more arid Middle East, desalination represents a vulnerable, expensive, and yet effective solution to the increasing water needs in the region. A potential target for terrorists, or a tool for peacebuilding, until something better emerges, desalination is the answer in the Middle East – and not just to the problems created by water scarcity.

For more information on water issues in the Muslim World, UAE Suqia, or water in the Middle East, please see these resources:

1. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122294630
2. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/analysis/2014/07/04/Humanitarian-hydro-aid-Confronting-water-scarcity-in-the-Mideast.html
3. http://islamicvoice.com/islamicvoice/water-scarcity-is-leading-to-conflicts/
4. http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/10/islam-water-scarcity/
5. http://www.natureasia.com/en/nmiddleeast/article/10.1038/nmiddleeast.2013.19
6. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/mar/20/jordan-water-red-sea-dead-sea-project
7. http://gulftoday.ae/portal/f562083a-d371-43a8-853d-e4ccebff19dc.aspx
8. http://www.emirates247.com/news/government/mohammed-launches-uae-suqia-clean-water-for-5-million-people-worldwide-2014-06-25-1.554162
9. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/07/06/How-UAE-Water-Aid-can-potentially-help-2-billion-Muslims-.html
10. http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspective/analysis/2014/07/04/Humanitarian-hydro-aid-Confronting-water-scarcity-in-the-Mideast.html
11. http://www.jfs.tku.edu.tw/17-3/A01.pdf
12. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2010/ga10967.doc.htm
13. http://www.academia.edu/6259498/Geopolitics_of_Water_Scarcity_Emirates_Center_for_Strategic_and_Security_Studies_Amery_2013_http_www.amazon.com_Water-Food-Security-Arabian-Gulf_dp_9948146239
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Christina Boyes is a professional writer who splits time living in Mexico and the United States. Her primary interests include seismology, geophysics, green technologies, climate change, water, and the intersection of these areas with geopolitics. 

*Image credits go to Professor Hussein A. Amery. The interviewee can be reached at hamery@mines.edu.

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Never before has anyone seen mummy hair, muscles and bone at such fine resolution.

It is enabling scientists for the first time to tell their age of the mummies, what they ate, the diseases they suffered from, and how they died. Each mummy was put into a state-of-the-art CT scanner. Researchers probed them layer by layer to build up a high-definition 3D picture of each one. Once digitised, British Museum staff were then able to peel away each layer, to see the face of the person underneath the bandages.

John Taylor, who is the museum’s curator of Ancient Egypt and Sudan said he was “stunned” when he saw the images. “It’s as if you switched a light on in a dark room and things jump out with a clarity where you are able to find out what the life experiences of these people really were,” he told BBC News.

The researchers were able to see muscles and even arteries. They noted some seemed clogged with fatty deposits, suggesting these particular people ate rich food and perhaps suffered and possibly died of coronary heart disease.

Peeling away the muscle, researchers were able to see the skeletons in unprecedented detail. They were able to estimate the age of the individuals from their pelvis and their dental structure. Many of them had bad teeth with signs of severe abscesses that must have been very painful on a daily basis.

One scan shows a spatula – shown in green – left inside the individual’s skull.

The tool was to be used to pull the brain out through the nostrils, but a large chunk of brain – shown in blue – was left inside, along with the tool. It is evidence perhaps of a slip-shod job that was covered up by the embalming practitioners.

The mummies for this project were selected from the British Museum’s collection. They cover a time span of 4,000 years, from 3,500 BC to AD 700. The individuals all lived in the Nile Valley.

Source: BBC NEWS