Science

Saudi Arabia confirmed its first case of the Omicron COVID-19 variant coming from a north African country, state news agency SPA reported on Wednesday. SPA, quoting a statement from the kingdom’s health ministry, said authorities had isolated the person and people who were in contact with them. It is the …

After talking the climate talk at U.N. negotiations in Scotland, the Biden administration now tests whether a divided United States can walk the climate walk: push a massive investment for a new era of clean energy through the narrowest of margins in the Senate. The House passed a roughly $2 …

Russia’s defense ministry on Tuesday admitted to destroying one of its satellites during a missile test but rejected U.S. accusations that it had endangered the International Space Station.  U.S. officials on Monday accused Russia of a “dangerous and irresponsible” strike on a satellite that had created a cloud of debris …

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla was arrested at his home in the affluent suburb of Scarsdale, New York Friday morning by the FBI and charged with multiple counts of fraud. Bourla is being held while he awaits a bail hearing. Federal agents are in the process of executing a search warrant at his home and …

France has successfully launched a state-of-the-art satellite into orbit, designed to allow all of France’s armed forces across the globe to communicate swiftly and securely.  Paris created a space force command in July 2019, amongst concerns that rival countries were heavily investing in space technology, seen as a new military …

The current spike in oil and gas prices could not have come at a worse time. On the eve of the UN COP26 global climate conference in Scotland this month, soaring energy prices are resulting in increased investor interest in fossil fuel companies. The S&P 500 energy sector is up …

China on Saturday launched a rocket carrying three astronauts — two men and one woman — to the core module of a future space station where they will live and work for six months, the longest orbit for Chinese astronauts. A Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft, which means …

Doctors in Daraa have warned of the outbreak of the coronavirus throughout most of the province, saying that the southern Syrian region was witnessing an unprecedented rise in the number of infections. Speaking on condition of anonymity for security considerations, a doctor in Daraa told Asharq Al-Awsat that the province …

Pre-marital addiction tests have become a public demand in Saudi Arabia after two homicides committed by men against their young wives in August. The Saudi Public Prosecution announced the arrest of the perpetrators, adding that the necessary legal actions were taken against them. But these incidents have sparked discussions across …

The world’s first autonomous, fully automated leaf-cutting robot for tomato crops will be revealed during the Greentech Live & Online Exhibition in Amsterdam next week. The so-called Kompano is the first robot on the market that can move around a greenhouse independently alongside employees, explained its creator Priva. A Dutch …

The Saudi Space Commission has announced the opening of registration for the Space Hackathon. The event aims to attract innovators and developers to qualify for the NASA International Space Apps Challenge next month and to participate in providing developmental and innovative solutions to the challenges facing Earth and space. The …

Defense spending in Saudi Arabia is to focus on acquisitions as well as research and development (R&D) over the next decade to ensure that the local military industry will create around 100,000 jobs for Saudis, the governor of the Kingdom’s General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) said. Speaking in an exclusive interview …

Cloning is in high demand in the competitive world of camel beauty pageants, leaving scientists at a Dubai clinic working round the clock to produce carbon-copy beasts. Not every animal is blessed with sought-after drooping lips and a tall, elegant neck, but technology now allows wealthy clients to replace their …

Friends and family initially mocked one Jordanian family’s new venture making soap from donkey milk. But now, a year on, the company is cleaning up as customers bray for more. Atan Donkey Milk Soaps produces 100 percent natural soaps from its farm in Madaba, 35 km southwest of Amman, where …

Riyadh-based non-profit investment arm Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute has invested $500,000 in Interstellar Lab, a space technology company working to sustain agriculture beyond Earth.  The French company is designing closed loop biodomes for sustaining life on Earth, the moon, and Mars, as a response to climate change.  “Climate change is a …

 Space agencies of the UAE and the Philippines met on Sunday to discuss possible collaborations between them, as the two countries marked 47 years of bilateral relations. Ibrahim Al-Qasim, the space science advisor of the UAE Space Agency hosted the Philippine Ambassador to the UAE Hjayceelyn Quintana. The pair talked …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     Before I say anything at all I have to highlight that this movie, Mousa (2021), is to be commended just for the fact that it’s an Egyptian (and Arabic SF) production, something almost unheard of and inexcusably neglected nowadays in the world of …

INDONESIA will go ahead with a controversial tourist attraction dubbed “Jurassic Park”, despite pleas from UNESCO to halt the project. The £3.46million ($4.8million) scheme is on track to be built around the Komodo National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Founded in 1980, the national park is home to the …

Drone technology has more applications than most people imagine, including manipulating the weather. In the UAE, scientists are planning to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles to penetrate clouds and generate rainfall using electrical charges — a process that builds on the success of “cloud seeding.” In common with other Gulf countries, …

Saudi officials in charge of developing the country’s space program are now traveling around Europe seeking partnerships with leading companies in a sign that the Kingdom is putting the program up on its agenda. The chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Space Commission, Abdullah Alswaha, met in …

A preponderance of evidence proves the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a Chinese research facility, said a report by U.S. Republicans released on Monday, a conclusion that U.S. intelligence agencies have not reached. The report also cited “ample evidence” that Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) scientists – …

Saudi Arabia is aiming to use Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technology to fundamentally transform the energy sector, enhance the security of its water and food resources, and fight climate change, senior ministers announced. “Our vision is to transform the energy sector through the application of data and technology,” Saudi Energy …

The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) has described the Delta variant of the coronavirus as being as transmissible as chickenpox and cautioned it may trigger extreme illness, the Washington Publish stated, citing an inside CDC doc. The variant was additionally extra prone to break by protections afforded by the vaccines, however the well …

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is set on Tuesday to recommend fully vaccinated Americans wear masks indoors in at least some instances, as the more highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus has led to a surge in infections, sources said. That would mark a reversal …

Last week, the UAE introduced Nora Al-Matrooshi as the first Arab woman to start training to be an astronaut as she could play a pivotal role in the country’s upcoming space missions. The UAE, considered a newcomer to the world of space exploration, sent the first Emirati into space as …

A Saudi citizen infected with COVID-19 has been transferred from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to Riyadh, the Kingdom’s defense ministry said on Saturday. The transfer was done by the ministry’s Air Medical Evacuation Department in implementation of the directives of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The air medical evacuation plane …

Scientists said on Thursday they had discovered a new kind of early human after studying pieces of fossilised bone dug up at a site used by a cement plant in central Israel. The fragments of a skull and a lower jaw with teeth were about 130,000 years old and could …

America is back. That was the message Joe Biden wanted to drive home during his first foreign foray as US president — an eight-day Europe tour in June. The soft-power offensive has been welcomed by America’s European allies after four years of turbulence in transatlantic ties. But it has also brought …

Iran likely conducted a failed launch of a satellite-carrying rocket in recent days and now appears to be preparing to try again, the country’s latest effort to advance its space program amid tensions with the West over its tattered nuclear deal. Satellite images, a US official and a rocket expert …

The Philippine president has threatened to order the arrest of Filipinos who refuse COVID-19 vaccination and told them to leave the country if they would not cooperate with the efforts to contain the pandemic. President Rodrigo Duterte, who is known for his public outbursts and brash rhetoric, said in televised …

Israel’s Defence Ministry and defence contractor Elbit Systems Ltd ESLT.TA are developing an airborne laser weapon to shoot down drones and other flying targets, officials said on Monday, predicting a prototype would be ready by 2025. They said the as-yet unnamed laser weapon could be incorporated in Israel’s multi-tier air defences, which …

Iran has made 6.5 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent, the government said on Tuesday, detailing a move that rattled the country’s nuclear talks with world powers by taking the fissile material closer to the nuclear weapons-grade of 90 percent. State media reported that government spokesman Ali …

People, in their human nature, tend to find stability. In biology, this is referred to as the term “Homeostasis”. Homeostasis is the tendency towards a relatively stable equilibrium between the interdependent elements especially as maintained by a physiological processes. By Diana Mahmoud In that perspective change is always perceived by …

Solar panels against an alien landscape, ramps and rods pointing at the Martian horizon — China’s first probe on the Red Planet has beamed back its first “selfies” after its history-making landing last week. The Zhurong rover was carried into the Martian atmosphere in a lander on Saturday, in the …

A second Nuremberg tribunal is being prepared under the aegis of thousands of lawyers worldwide behind the German lawyer Reiner Fuellmich. The German attorney is prosecuting all those responsible for the Covid-19 scandal used by the Davos Forum. Global officials will be prosecuted under the pretense that COVID 19 is …

Researchers and collaborators from the Salk Institute collaborators show how the spike protein damages cells, confirming COVID-19 as a primarily vascular disease.Scientists have known for a while that SARS-CoV-2’s distinctive “spike” proteins help the virus infect its host by latching on to healthy cells. Now, a major new study shows …

An electronics engineer from Gaza, Loay Elbasyouni, had worked with the NASA team that made history this month by launching an experimental helicopter from the surface of Mars. But he says an expedition to his hometown in the Gaza Strip, where posters celebrate his achievement, feels even farther away because …

Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) has launched a robo-advisory investment application, as demand for online trading grows. The bank worked with Belgium-based wealthtech company InvestSuite to develop “CBD Investr,” a mobile application that uses smart algorithms to actively manage investment portfolios. “CBD Investr offers customers convenient access to globally diversified …

The arrival of locust swarms in Lebanon has caused panic among the country’s farmers. Videos showing the insects flying over farmland in the towns of Ersal and Ras Baalbek in Bekaa circulated on social media, with the hashtag #locust trending in Lebanon on Friday as people made sarcastic comments about the …

We’ve all been there … you order a meal in a restaurant, and the waiter arrives with a pasta salad instead of a chicken biryani. There are no such issues at Restaurant Robot in Jazan. As the name suggests, the waiters are not fallible human beings, but robots powered by …

Dubai’s port company DP World is exploring quantum computing technology to optimize its operations, the company said in a statement. It said it was working with D-Wave Systems, a Canadian quantum computing company, to look at how the advanced technology can be applied to DP World’s logistics and trade business. …

The United States and China, the world’s two biggest carbon polluters, have agreed to cooperate with other countries to curb climate change, just days before President Joe Biden hosts a virtual summit of world leaders to discuss the issue. The agreement was reached by US special envoy for climate John …

Lunar exploration company ispace will transport a United Arab Emirates rover to the moon in 2022, the company said on Wednesday, as the UAE pushes for rapid expansion in the space exploration business to diversify its economy. The UAE is using its space programme to develop its scientific and technological …

The United Arab Emirates has selected the first Arab woman to train as an astronaut, as the Gulf country rapidly expands into the space sector to diversify its economy. Emirati national Nora al-Matrooshi, a 27-year-old mechanical engineering graduate currently working at Abu Dhabi’s National Petroleum Construction Company, will join NASA’s …