As a result of the Libyan and American scientific cooperation
in the last decade, an agreement have been reached to
work together on a number of issues including health
care issues, seismic monitoring, remote sensing, water management, and solar
power technologies. On the 29th of March 2006, NASA's scientists travelled to
the Libyan Sahara to study the total solar eclipse.
Researchers worldwide, aided by Nasa and the United
Nations, are also working with Libyan scientists through
the International Heliophysical Year 2007, to study the
Solar System, and particularly the interaction and the
working of the different heavenly bodies as one system.
The scientists are also working to place
space physics and geophysics instruments in local institutions.
As part of Libya's renewed interest in science and scientific
research, Libya requested from the French company
Sagem to provide the country with a $13 million robotic telescope,
which will be dedicated
to astronomy and education. The telescope, which
will be set up in Libya’s southeastern deserts, will
have a 2-meter-diameter mirror, most suitable for
studying variable stars that require continuous observation.
The telescope will be protected by a network of four
weather stations deployed around the centre to warn
of approaching sandstorms that could damage its delicate
optics.
The
Libyan government has also renewed interest in archaeological
research and called for steps to be taken to document
and preserve Libya's archaeological heritage. This includes
the study and preservation of prehistoric art sites across the Libyan portion
of the Sahara, like Germa for example.
National Agency for Scientific Research
(الهيئة الوطنية للبحث العلمي)
Website: www.nasr.ly
The 2006 Total Sun Eclipse over
Libya: 4 minutes 7 seconds
Actual photo of the eclipse. Wednesday 29 March
2006.
The Moon passed before the face of the glorious and majestic
sun during the 4th total solar eclipse of this century; turning the bright desert
sky into a twilight zone for a short period of four minutes and seven seconds.
The path of totality started in Brazil, then crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Ivory
Coast, then Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Libya, Egypt, Turkey, then
crossed Asia to end over Mongolia.
The maximum duration of the eclipse occurred over
Libya: 4 minutes and 7 seconds, at 10:11:18 UT at location 23.14°N 16.75°E.
Earth Science Society
of Libya (ESSL)
The Earth Science Society of Libya
was registered in 1974, in place of the Petroleum Exploration
Society of Libya (PESL -
established in 1958).
The Society has organised
many geological expeditions to Fezzan, Southeast Libya,
Jabal al Qarqaf and other geological sites in Libya,
as well as to Egypt, Chad, Tunisia, Turkey, Greece, Italy,
Sicily, Spain and Morocco.
In November 2003 the Society was re-registered with
the National Scientific Research Authority as a non-profit
scientific society.
Reynolds, J.E et al. 1995,
Planning
for aquaculture development In Libya: A review
Tripoli/Rome.
FAO. 94p. Fl: DP/LIB/88/009 -
Fl: GCP/LIB/021/lsDB,
Field Document 9 (En).
Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations
(FAO).
The Libyan Centre for Remote Sensing and Space Science
(LCRSSS)
Address: P.O.
Box 82819
Tripoli
Libya
Phone: +218 21 607004 - 14
Website:
lcrss.org/
The centre was established
in 1989, in Tripoli, and currently has 5 research
centres and nearly 300 workers.
The centre conducts research relating to remote
sensing and space technologies, and provides
information and guidelines for other organisation.
The centre also runs an Earthquake Centre, which
aims to study the entire country and produce
a complete map of the active and inactive regions,
which will be then used for planning and building
new projects, like power stations and other important
projects.
The centre's objectives include:
Locating underground
water reserves.
Studying the possible locations for
dams and the study of all other water resources.
Preparing geographical and topographical maps.
Mapping the locations
of underground mineral resources like mines and oil.
Studying the properties of soil and agricultural produce.
Observation and control of urban developments and expansion of cities.
Planning and determining the locations of new roads, railways and pipelines.
Studying water pollution.
Studying desertification.
Studying the sky and observing the heavenly bodies.
Mapping the active and inactive earthquake regions in Libya.
The International Energy Foundation is an independent,
non governmental and non profit-making organisation,
established in 1989 to research new and better
ways to transmit and conserve energy and the
environment; to disseminate knowledge through
symposia, publications and other media; and to
recommend and promote standards for energy
consumption and production.
International Energy Foundation
Tripoli,
Libya.
P.O. Box: 83617.
Telephone: +218 - 21 - 3331832 / 3331833 / 3331834
Fax: +218 - 21 - 3331831
Libyan Society of Science
Tripoli University
Physics Department
Tripoli
Libya
Environmental General Authority (EGA)
Researching, protecting and preserving the environment
Tripoli
Libya
Phone: +218 21 4872188 / 4873763
Tajoura Nuclear Research Centre
Address:
P.O. BOX 30878
Tripoli
Libya
Phone:
+218 21 607021 / 607025
Agricultural Research Centre (ARC)
Contact: Dr. Fawzi A. Taher
Address:
P.
O. Box 2480
Tripoli
Libya
Phone: +218 21 3616866
Arab Development Institute
P.O. BOX 12312
Tripoli
Libya
Science Humanities
Environmental General Authority - EGA
Tripoli
Libya
Scientific controlling and consulting body concern.
Industrial Research Centre (IRC)
Tajoura P.O. BOX 3633
Tripoli
Libya
Research Science IRC
The Sedimentary Basins of Libya project was
launched in 1990 as a joint project between
the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and the Earth Science Society
of Libya (ESSL). The fourth symposium will
be
dedicated to the
Geology of Southern Libya, including Al-Kufrah
Basin, Murzuq Basin, southern Sirt Basin,
Al Qarqaf Arch and the Jabal Bin
Ghanimah-Dur al Qussah areas.
The Final Report of UNESCO
(United Nations Educational, Scientific And Cultural
Organisation) - 20 March 1961 to 31 July
1964, by Ali Nashat.
UNESCO's suggestions to improving science teaching in
Libya.
The HIV infection of children at
the Al-Fateh Hospital in 1997-1998-99 was thought
to have been originated from the use of injection
material contaminated by blood from an infected
child. All the
samples from these children (1997-1998-1999)
were found to belong to a similar viral
subtype, strongly indicating a common origin.
By Khalifa Sifaw Ghenghesh (PhD,
Department of Microbiology and Immunology,
Faculty of Medicine);
Halima Nashnoush (MSc,
Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences);
Amal Shaker (BSc,
Department of Botany, Faculty of Sciences);
Hussam Enaami, MBBS,
Department of Microbiology and Immunology,
Faculty of Medicine); and
Abdualaziz Zorgani (PhD, Department of Microbiology and Immunology,
Faculty of Medicine, Tripoli Univeristy [previously Al-Fateh University], Tripoli,
Libya).
"Our findings show that, at least in our region, rental
DVDs carry multiple antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, including MRSA, and may play a role in the transmission of these organisms in the community."
By
Amal Khalifa Abougrain, Mohamed Hadi Nahaisi, Nuri Sahli Madi, Mohamed Mohamed Saied, and
Khalifa Sifaw Ghenghesh.
The study aims to determine the parasitological
contamination of salad vegetables sold at wholesale and retail markets in Tripoli, Libya. Results showed the presence of eggs of Ascaris spp., eggs of Toxocara cati, eggs
of Toxocara canis, and eggs of Taenia/Echinococcus spp. in the samples examined. The conclusion was that "Parasitological contamination of raw salad vegetables sold in wholesale and retail markets in
Tripoli may pose a health risk to consumers of such products."
The NewScientist has recommended that the best way to wash vegetable and fruits is to soak them in water with plenty of vinegar: just fill your kitchen sink with water, add a generous quantity of vinegar, then put the vegetable and fruits in and leave to soak for about 15 minutes. This has the added benefit of removing most of the water-resistent pesticides and insecticides sprayed over the produce while still growing.
By Khalifa Sifaw Ghenghesh, Khalifa Belhaj,
Amna Algaui,
Enas Alturki,
Amal Rahouma, and Salaheddin Abeid. (The Libyan Journal Of Infectious Diseases, Vol. 1 No.1 Jan-2007).
The aim of this study was to investigate the bacteriological quality of drinking water provided for worshipers by Mosques in Tripoli. The presence of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria in drinking water which may pose a health hazard to users, particularly the aged and the immunocompromised, was confirmed. The types of bacteria investigated include coliform, Escherichia coli, Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas sp., fecal streptococci, Aeromonas sp., Klebsiella sp. and Pseudomonas sp.
Nummulites
Department of Geology And Paleontology:
Modelling of Ypresian carbonate reservoirs
from Libya
Nummulite accumulations form important hydrocarbon reservoirs
in North Africa were
first developed in the Late Palaeocene, spread over the
Tethyan margins during the Eocene and vanished during
the Middle Oligocene. Nummulites are a unicellular
shelled protozoa with large, coin-shaped, fossil
foraminifer, up to 12 cm in diameter. They were widely
distributed in limestone formations from the Eocene Epoch
to the Miocene Epoch of the Cenozoic. They lived in warm,
shallow, marine waters, and are numerous enough to be
major rock formers in early Tertiary strata of the circum-Mediterranean
region.
The pyramids of Egypt were built
of blocks of nummulitic limestone.
Libya Before The Sahara
Screenshot from Libya Before The Sahara (http://issuu.com/ICSM/docs/libyabeforesahara-online)
Libya Before The Sahara, by Professor Noel T. Boaz, of Benghazi's Libyan International Medical University, published by the International Institute for human Evolutionary Research Integrative Centres for Science and Medicine, 2009. The following cover photograph is of As-Sahabi Locality P28 and the Petrified Forest fronting Garet Makada ("Elephant Hill"), west of Sebkhat al-Qunnayyin, Libya.
The site of As-Sahabi, in North Central Libya, is one of the
greatest fossil sites in Africa; apparently so because a great river once flowed
through this region. The Eo-Sahabi River was rich in marine wildlife including
large widehead catfish, Nile perch, sea turtles, sea
cows, river dolphins, bream and white sharks, and was surrounded by lush-green
trees and many wild animals, chattering birds, bears, hyenas, pigs, monkeys,
antelopes, three-toed horses, four-tusked elephants, six-fore-toothed hippos
and many more exotic species; all of which have since disappeared into the corridors
of history, leaving behind a sea of fossils for the world to see. According
to Professor Boaz: "The
site of As-Sahabi first became known not as a window to the past, but for window
panes."
In a paper titled
"BOOMERanG and the Sound of the Big
Bang", John G. Cramer
has succeeded in simulating the sound of the
Big Bang.
The sound, he writes:
"Sounds rather like a large
jet plane 100 feet off the ground flying
over your house in the middle of the
night . . . It's what you might
hear if you could
"listen"
to the cosmic background radiation during
the first 760,000 years of the birth of the
universe ."
Please
click
here
to read the full paper at:
http://staff.washington.edu/seymour/altvw104.html.
Sending emails from one star to another, or browsing
web pages from other worlds would definitely make
the Internet more interesting than it is today.
NASA has successfully tested the first deep space
communications network modeled on the Internet. NASA's
engineers used software called Disruption-Tolerant
Networking (DTN) to transmit dozens of space images
to and from a NASA spacecraft located about 20 million
miles from Earth.
More
3-D Printers: Machines
That Can Print More Machines
Fabbers (3D printers or rapid prototyping machines) are
a new generation of machines that can build 3D objects,
including electronic components like TV remote controls,
by depositing materials drop by drop and layer by
layer according to a set of instructions programmed
into their internal memory. The materials used
will be stored in special compartments just like
ink cartridges in ordinary printers. Normal printers
print out one layer of ink, while 3-D printers
carry on printing more layers until the print out
becomes a solid 3-D object.
The technology is set to revolutionise the world
because it allows ordinary people the ability
to print and thus manufacture complex objects
and devices that would normally take special
resources, tools and skills and would cost a
lot of money.
A fabber can allow you
to share your designs with other
fabber owners, and therefore the potential to build
a global database of designs that other users can
use. These designs are the software programs needed
for the machine in order to print the desired product.
Picture this: you go to the shop and buy a cartridge
of plastic, a cartridge of silicon, a cartridge of
copper, and a cartridge of glass, then go to the
internet and download your favourite design for a
particular iPod or MP3 player and print your own,
free of charge: you only pay for the cartridges (and
the printer of course). Do
it yourself
(DIY) has finally become: make it yourself
(MIY).
If you find this dangerous knowledge interesting, or if you find this interesting knowledge dangerous,
then you can find out more about it at:
Fab@Home
The cave of Haua Fteah, the largest cave
in the Mediterranean basin and one of the largest caves in the world, remains
one of the best evidences that humans have existed continuously in one site
in Libya for 100,000 years, and hence today's archaeologists rightly believe
the cave to hold the key to when and how our species first emerged in North Africa.
