Egypt's Zewail science city hit by universities' dispute

Ahmed Zewail proposed a science city for Egypt in 1999

Egypt's first science city — the Zewail City of Science and Technology — is set to open in September, but a dispute is raging over ownership of some of the facility's buildings.

The city was first proposed in 1999 by Nobel prize-winning chemist Ahmed Zewail , but work on the project became mired in delays due to political instability and bureaucracy, accordingNature News.  

In 2006, part of the site was allocated to Nile University, with a view to the site becoming Egypt's first research university.

Nile University began construction and its staff had begun moving in, when last year's revolution resulted in a change of government. 

The land allocation was reversed, and the Egyptian Foundation for Technology Education — which had established the university — signed its buildings and land over to the interim government in February 2011, and Nile University staff moved out.

"That was under pressure from the government, and it was illegal," Moustafa Ghanem, vice-president for research at Nile University, told Nature News

In May 2011 the buildings and land were signed over to Zewail City. In the meantime, Nile University are having to rent labs and research is "going at a snail's pace", according to Mohamed Abdel-Mottaleb, director of the university's nanotechnology programme.

"Nile University is now surviving hand to mouth. We'll survive one more term," Ghanem said.

Zewail said that they had signed an agreement to merge Nile University with the science city, but the talks broke down.

Ghanem told Nature News that the university reneged when it did not receive a guarantee that it would maintain an independent identity.

The government has heard Nile University's case and hopes to find a compromise, but so far negotiations have failed.  

Ghanem is hopeful that some action will be taken when Egypt's presidential elections are held later this month, and a new government is sworn in.  

Link to full article in Nature News

Fuente: Nature News

scidev.net

http://www.zewailcity.edu.eg/

Innovations can help us adapt to a new era — Anthropocene

We must adapt to a new era in the Earth's history by adopting a novel model of economic growth and investing more in technological innovations for the poor, argue Paul J. Crutzen and Christian Schwägerl.

After 10,000 years of the Holocene, the arrival of the Anthropocene — the human era — is an undeniable reality that should be recognised formally, they say.

Renaming our current geological epoch will stress humanity's responsibility as supervisors of the Earth, and highlight our immense intellectual power to shape our future.

This epoch describes humans' dominance of biological, chemical and geological processes on Earth.

By cutting down rainforests, moving mountains to access coal and acidifying coral reefs, we are not just changing the climate but also the biology and geology of the planet "from climate to DNA", say the authors.

Investments in science and technology must increase significantly so we can replace fossil fuels and move towards a sustainable 'bio-economy' to prevent resource wars, they argue.

We need innovations tailored to the needs of the poor — climate-proof crops for small-scale farmers, for example — while global agriculture becomes organic and high-tech.

And to maintain biodiversity, we need a 'green infrastructure' of large areas where organisms and genes can flow freely.

The strategic plans for global conservation and climate change mitigation agreed at the recent UN summits in Nagoya, Japan and Cancún, Mexico offered some hope, say the authors.

"After years of stalemate and the infamous Copenhagen collapse, there is now at least a glimmer of hope that humanity can act together.

Between now and 2020, however, the commitments on paper must be turned into real action," they conclude.

Link to full article in Yale Environment 360

Yale Environment 360

SciDev

Canada launches 'unique' Grand Challenges fund

Canada is putting 225 million Canadian dollars (US$220 million) into a fund that it says will uniquely help developing world scientists solve health problems facing their regions.

Grand Challenges Canada, launched last week (3 May), claims to break new ground with its approach, which includes seeking developing country scientists to lead its first raft of projects.

The scheme also claims to be the first in which a G8 government links an independent, not-for-profit organisation with its international assistance budget.

The fund seeks proposals for solving five "challenges". So far, only one has been launched — point-of-care diagnostics tools for use in remote developing world locations.

Principal investigators from low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) must lead research into this first challenge, although they are encouraged to collaborate with Canadian scientists.

The aim is "integrated innovation" in which scientific and technological enterprise combine with approaches from the philanthropic and business worlds ensuring outputs reach those who need them, according to Peter Singer, Director of the McLaughlin–Rotman Centre for Global Health at the University of Toronto, where Grand Challenges Canada will be based.

Singer said the programme is also soliciting research into implementation, adding: "This means the researchers will form a single community working together to address a specific challenge".

The approach provides a framework for international cooperation on global issues, he said.

Speaking at the launch, James Flaherty, Canada's minister of finance, said the commitment by the Canadian government would help the "world's best minds" find solutions to global health issues affecting the very poor.

Carel IJsselmuiden, director of the Switzerland-based Council on Health Research for Development, said the initiative "puts a global challenge ... to other countries and regions to redefine how development is being pursued".

"The Canadian government should be congratulated — it is a welcome shift towards a new definition of making development support work. It builds on resident capacity in LMICs."

"This first 'grand challenge' focuses on principal investigators from LMICs only. That is a welcome deviation from the Gates Grand Challenges and others, who recruit for global excellence rather than from LMICs."

He challenged the scheme to maintain this principle for the following Grand Challenges. Otherwise "the jury is still out on how much the overall programme will be able to support researchers from low and middle income countries".

He also queried the extent to which Canadian industry may become involved in the Challenges.

"It is not always clear how to differentiate between Canadian industrial interests and priorities in low and middle income countries. The fact that principal investigators in this call need to come from LMICs seems to be taken as adequate protection that it is LMICs that are mostly served — but with this call we don't see the whole picture."

Grand Challenges Canada fulfils a 2008 Canadian government pledge to set up a Development Innovation Fund. At the time, the federal budget allocated US$49 million, which has now been increased and will be spread over five years. The scheme will be a partnership between Canada's International Development Research Centre, the McLaughlin–Rotman Centre and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

The first Challenge will involve collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, whose own Grand Challenges in Global Health scheme is already funding research in point-of-care diagnostics.

Carol Campbell

SciDev

http://grandchallenges.ca/

Israeli company, NASA to work together on bio-fuel project

foto: NASA John Glenn Research Center
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In a move away from dependence on fossil fuels, Israeli company Seambiotic and NASA's John Glenn Research Center will jointly research the production of microalgae, which can be used a feedstock for bio-fuel.
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Seambiotic USA, a subsidiary of the Israeli company, entered into a Space Act Agreement with NASA in late March to combine the agency's expertise in computing models with the Israelis' knowledge of a cost-effective method for microalgae cultivation, according to Noam Menczel, director of investor relations and business development at Seambiotic.
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"This is a major achievement," he told The Jerusalem Post Monday.
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"Not many companies are recognized by NASA as a technology leader."
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Ashkelon-based Seambiotic, founded in 2003, was the first company to use flue gas from coal-burning power stations as a source for carbon dioxide to cultivate microalgae.
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The nearby Israel Electric Corporation in Ashkelon serves as the source for carbon dioxide and water, which the company uses to cool its turbine.
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Seambiotic uses these waste products as a raw material to cultivate the microalgae, making it the cheapest method to harvest the organism.
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The research was previously conducted on a pilot level, but is now transitioning to a large, industrial size.
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"The whole idea is to make the process cheap," Menczel said.
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"NASA will develop theoretical models and we will adapt them on the field [in Ashkelon] and make it workable."
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Other methods for creating bio-fuel use corn and sugar as the main substances, which are agriculture products that compete at food prices.
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However, algae does not face these same price fluctuations, making it a more cost-efficient choice.
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As a result of the combined technology from the two groups, Menczel said, a more efficient way for the production of bio-fuel and food additives through microalgae could be found.
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NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, is one of the governmental agency's 10 field centers, focused on conducting basic-level research.
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The center works to develop technology and advance scientific research
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Sthefanie Rubenstein
jpost.com

Obama vows to boost science ties with Muslim world

Barack Obama speaking at Cairo University
Flickr/The Official White House Photostream
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The United States' commitment to science diplomacy in parts of the developing world assumed a firmer shape yesterday (4 June) when its president, Barack Obama, outlined a science plan during his landmark speech at Cairo University in Egypt.
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Obama's speech, which tackled the United States' relationship with Muslim communities around the world, included several pledges to develop science and technology initiatives as part of his vision for promoting peaceful relations.
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He pledged to start a new fund to support science and technology development in Muslim-majority countries to help transfer ideas to the marketplace and create jobs.
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He said he would also open centres of scientific excellence in Africa, the Middle East and South-East Asia and appoint "science envoys" to collaborate on programmes to develop new sources of energy, create green jobs, digitise records, clean up water and grow new crops.
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Educational exchange will also play a role in what he called a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world".
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"On education, we will expand exchange programmes and increase scholarships, like the one that brought my father to America, while encouraging more Americans to study in Muslim communities," Obama said.
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Hassan Moawad Abdel Al, former president of the Mubarak City for Scientific Research and Technology Applications in Alexandria, Egypt, welcomed the plan as an "important step in the long road to establish a science-based US–Islamic world partnership".
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He said he hopes to see an easing of the "unprecedented" scrutiny faced by students from Muslim countries wanting to study in the United States.
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He added that since the attacks by al-Qaeda on New York City on September 11, 2001, many potential Muslim students and researchers have not been able to secure visas to study in the United States.
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Athar Osama, science innovation specialist and founder of Muslim-Science.Com, said:
"This is definitely an important step in the right direction but probably only half a step.
Those who know the US political appropriations and policy processes will know that these are only intentions at this point".
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"The US government now has the challenge to back this up with sincere will to implement, to do so without attaching it with excessive ideological baggage, and to appropriate the money to make it possible."
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"If and when that happens, it would be in the interest of Muslim-majority countries to reciprocate by working with the United States — and with each other — to maximise the impact these initiatives may have on the Muslim world."
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In Malaysia, Hassanuddeen Abdul Aziz, of the International Islamic University, said that a study of trends in international mathematics and science, published in December 2008, shows that Islamic states are lagging behind industrialised countries in the teaching of mathematics and science to young students.
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"The setting up of an online learning network within the new US-Islamic world educational partnership will have a positive effect on science education," he said.
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"Especially because the Arabian Gulf education sector appears to be eager to emulate the American model of science and technology higher education in pursuit of the observed success of knowledge economies."
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David Dickson's blog from the New Frontiers in Science Diplomacy 2009 conference
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Wagdy Sawahel
SciDev