Middle East North Africa Science Platform
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Fog harp makes water from air
'Fog nets have been for many decades in many parts of the world including Africa and the Middle East.
The largest fog collection project in the world is in Morocco, where over 600 square meters of nets provide drinking water to hundreds in a region severely hit by droughts induced by climate change. With water crises looming in many parts of the world, devising innovative and sustainable ways to gain access to clean water is essential. Now, researchers at Virginia Tech University have developed a new design that they say has three times the efficiency of regular fog nets. They call it a "harp," because its vertical pattern of wires makes it resemble the string instrument.' 
A schematic of the fog harp design, with the wires held under tension within a frame. Credit: Virgina Tech
" Look up at the stars and not down at your feet "
World renowned Hawking was known for his work with black holes and relativity. He was the first to set out a theory of cosmology as a union of relativity and quantum mechanics. He also discovered that black holes leak energy and fade to nothing - a phenomenon that would later become known as Hawking radiation.
He suffered from motor neurone disease which left him in a wheelchair and largely unable to speak. He became a great scientist and contributed to our understanding and knowledge of the universe. He cared about science in society nationally and internationally, a true champion and humanitarian. 
Earliest known human fossils found in Morocco
The 300,000-year-old skull segments carry insights into the origins of our species and connect Morocco with complex evolutionary changes taking place across Africa.
© Philipp Gunz, MPI EVA Leipzig
Extreme weather blamed on humans for the first timeNature editorial: Scientists clearly state that extreme weather phenomena wouldn’t have happened without global warming. The solution has been clear for more than two decades: governments need to take aggressive action to curb greenhouse-gas emissions.
This has implications for the MENA region. 
Sinai wild bees under threat
Scientists warn against the negative impact of honeybees’ introduction on wild bees and native plants in South Sinai.
Ancient stone structures
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MENA Science
Can rocks from Oman fight climate change?
A professor in Oman has come up with a discovery that promises a breakthrough solution to the issue of carbon emissions on a global level: a rock commonly found just under the crust of the earth could soak up the planet’s entire carbon dioxide emissions, even without being mined.
Credit: gulfnews
Palestine Museum of Natural History
The Palestine Institute of Biodiversity Research and its Palestine Museum of Natural History (PMNH) works to research, educate and conserve our natural world, culture and heritage and use knowledge to promote responsible human interactions with our environment.
© PMNH
Threat of 3C warming to Alexandria
The UN is warning that we are on course for 3C of global warming and the report will be published shortly. The impact of such a rise in global temperature is projected to be devastating to cities in coastal regions. The IPCC reported that Alexandria’s beaches would be submerged even with a 0.5-metre sea-level rise, while 8 million people would be displaced by flooding in Alexandria and the Nile Delta if no protective measures are taken. A 3C rise threatens far greater damage than that with added consequences for tourism.
Brilliant mathematician
Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win mathematics' Fields medal passes away. She is the first woman and the first Iranian to be honored with the award, known for her work in the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces. “Mirzakhani specialized in theoretical mathematics that read like a foreign language by those outside of mathematics: moduli spaces, Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry, Ergodic theory and symplectic geometry,” Stanford press announcement.
KACST to fund startup tech companies
Technology companies throughout Saudi Arabia will get startup funds up to $133.3 million from the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) during the first quarter of next year.
The initiative, launched by the Badir Program for Technology Incubators, one of KACST’s leading programs, aims to trigger the growth of Saudi startups for a positive impact on the national economy, increase productivity and create more job opportunities for Saudi youths. Hottest temperature in Iranian city
Ahvaz city in southwest Iran recorded the country’s hottest temperature , 53.7C, ever recorded on Thursday 29th June 2017.
If confirmed, this may match the world record for the most extreme high temperature in modern time. Gulf region predicted too hot if climate change is left uncheckedHot spots in the Gulf region and Arabian Peninsula are projected to endure heatwaves challenging human survival and adaptability if climate change is left unchecked.
MENA Sustainability
Solar Atlas
One Quarter of 1 % of Turkey’s Surface Area Is Sufficient to Meet All the Power Demand with PV by 2050!
Development of renewable energies: Algeria, EU sign funding agreement of EUR10 million
BRUSSELS- Algeria and the European Union (EU) signed Monday, in Brussels, an agreement on EU funding of a EUR10 million supporting programme for the development of renewable energies and the promotion of energy efficiency in Algeria.
MENA Action
Gender in Agribusiness Investments for Africa (GAIA) is now accepting applications from institutions and enterprises for the 2017 AWARD AgTech Innovation Challenge for West and North Africa. GAIA has been launched by African Women in Agricultural Research and Development to increase agribusiness investments in technological and business model innovations that help bridge the gender gap in African agriculture and particularly those that enhance the positive participation of African women in agricultural value chains across the continent.
MENA NetworksHigher Education Scholarship Palestine (HESPAL)
HESPAL aims to help create the next generation of senior academics who can maintain international quality standards at Palestinian universities .
EU collaboration projects
The Middle East Research and Innovation Dialogue MERID project is a coordination and support action funded by the EU framework programme for research and innovation to intensify and encourage R&I cooperation between the EU and the Middle East region, directly involving partners from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine.
Scientific projects targeting cooperation between MENA and EU scientists. EUROSUNMED focuses on the potential for plentiful solar power to adapt solar technology to the region's environment.
Have you ever written a grant?
I posed this question to a professor at a university in Jordan. The answer was no. This led me to start exploring the reasons behind
this and how to resolve them. 
MENA Sustainability
Solar hubAn increasing number of new solar energy technologies are invented every year, the successful development of which depends heavily on accurate measurements of performance, reliability, and durability.
UAE installs eight solar energy plants in Mauritania
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Underwater “dead zone” has been discovered by robots exploring the
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