Science & Development Bulletin

Science & Development Bulletin monitors science development and highlights the role of science and technology in establishing knowledge-based economy in the Islamic world.

Issue No.49 – March 2009

Islamic scientific channel

Science and Business (Just for Fun, and learn!)

Islamic scientific channel

	Virtual tour in US $7.9 billion Qatar-based Sidra Medical and Research Center

Latest News

	First Iranian-made scientific satellite launched
	Iran launched into orbit its first domestically produced scientific satellite from within Iran making it the eighth to have independently launched a home-made satellite.

	Boost for science cooperation between central asian countries
	Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) has approved the establishment of ECO science and technology office in Kazakhstan in abid to promote science cooperation between ECO member countries.

Studies and Reports

	Education Under Attack: A global study on targeted political and military violence against education staff, students, teachers, union and government officials and institutions

	Coping with water scarcity: What role for biotechnologies?
	It focuses on the use of biotechnologies to increase the efficiency of water use in agriculture as well as water-related applications of micro-organisms, in wastewater treatment and in inoculation of crops and forest trees with mycorrhizal fungi.

The potential to exploit use of building-integrated photovoltaics in countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council

Feature

	Hopes and fears: Rebuilding science in Iraq
	Iraq is rebuilding its science base but fear of attack means refugee academics are slow to return, reports Brendan O'Malley.

Opinion

	Ideas, Not Money, Alleviate Poverty
	Philip Emeagwali, the father of the Internet and the winner of Gordon Bell Prize, the Nobel Prize of supercomputing, argues that the potential for progress and poverty alleviation in Africa relies on capital generated from the power within our minds, not from our ability to pick minerals from the ground or seek debt relief and foreign assistance.

Spotlight

Call for action…. Reconstruction campaign for Islamic university of Gaza, Palestine

The Prophet Mohamed said: "Seeking knowledge is a mandate for every Muslim (male and female)." (Sahih Bukhari)

Ranking of Universities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania, Europe, and USA

A 10-year action programme for science development in Islamic States (2005-2015)

Making the science work for the Ummah’s need

Simple and cheap method for turning raw biomass into biofuel developed

Researchers have developed a two-step method to convert the cellulose in raw biomass into a promising biofuel using a unique solvent system - not corrosive, dangerous, expensive or stinky.

	Simple and cheap method for strengthening buildings against earthquakes
	Civil engineers have developed an effective, practical, easy to do, simple, inexpensive method to strengthen buildings that have a flaw making them dangerously vulnerable to earthquakes.

	Neem seeds extracts could limit malaria spread in poor countries
	Scientists have showed that spreading ground up seeds from the neem tree, which grows locally, in the ponds twice a week, can reduce the mosquito population by about 50 percent