Science

UN Says 70% Chance that 2025-2029 Average Warming will Top 1.5C

This is Beirut 28/05 10:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

United Nations Europe European Union WMO

The United Nations warned Wednesday there is a 70 percent chance that average warming from 2025 to 2029 will exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius international benchmark. The planet is therefore expected to remain at historic levels of warming after the two hottest years ever recorded in 2023 and 2024, according to an annual climate report published by ...

Tobacco in Lebanon: Laws Going Up in Smoke, Teens Vaping, TFI Takes the Fight Forward

Makram Haddad 27/05 20:25 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

TFI No Tobacco Day Elsa Yazbek Ghazi Zaatari WHO

Every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) dedicates the end of May to global awareness of the dangers of tobacco. But in Lebanon, despite Law 174, a committed NGO and decades of warnings, the scourge keeps spreading, especially among the youth. Journalist and President of the Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) Elsa Yazbek Charabati gave This is ...

Ancient Bread Rises Again as Turkey Recreates 5,000-Year-Old Loaf

This is Beirut 27/05 09:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Turkey USA Bread Ancient Recipe

In the early Bronze Age, a piece of bread was buried beneath the threshold of a newly built house in what is today central Turkey. Now, more than 5,000 years later, archaeologists have unearthed it, and helped a local bakery to recreate the recipe -- with customers lining up to buy it. Round and flat like a pancake, 12 centimetres (five inches) ...

SpotlightTurtle Populations Thrive Again in Lebanese Waters

Karl Hajj Moussa 25/05 09:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Lebanon wildlife environment

Every summer, a rare spectacle unfolds on the beaches of southern Lebanon, where endangered sea turtles brave many dangers to lay their eggs. Their survival now depends on our commitment, as these silent giants struggle to exist. While beaches in southern Lebanon fill with swimmers and vacationers each summer, another visitor—discreet and ...

SpotlightFears for Crops as Drought Hits Northern Europe

This is Beirut 23/05 13:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Europe climate weather Drought Crops

Parts of northern Europe have seen their worst drought in decades in recent weeks, with farmers from Scotland to the Netherlands fearing the dry spell will dent harvests if it continues. Water shortages can stunt the growth of crops such as wheat, corn, rapeseed and barley, Nicolas Guilpart, a lecturer in agronomy at the Agro Paris Tech research ...

Epilepsy in Lebanon: Journey to the Heart of the Crisis

Makram Haddad 23/05 09:30 - Reading : 7 minute(s)

Epilepsy Epsilon Karine Abou Khaled Sami Richa Ronald Moussa

There is epilepsy, its seizures, its fears, its stigmas. And then there is Lebanon, its shortages, its hospitals on their knees, its families wandering in pharmaceutical disarray. This Friday, May 23, on the campus of the Faculty of Medicine of USJ, the Epsilon association will hold its tenth Scientific Day, with one motto: “Improve the quality ...

Ads Pressured to Evolve as AI Changes Google Search

This is Beirut 22/05 10:05 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Google Artificial Intelligence AI

As Google races to lead in artificial intelligence, it faces the challenge of making sure the technology doesn't slow its profit-pumping advertising engine. The internet giant is dabbling with ads in its new AI Mode for online search, a strategic move to fend off competition from ChatGPT while adapting its advertising business for an AI ...

SpotlightScreen Addiction: The False Promise of 'Mindset Therapy'

David Sahyoun 21/05 18:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Addictions Mind Therapy Culture

Excessive screen use often results in compulsive patterns, where individuals struggle to cut back despite being fully aware of the negative consequences. Today, the screen has become a space of projection—a mirror reflecting our solitude, a portal to fantasy and an endless source of stimulation. It is no longer just a tool, it’s embedded in ...

'Red Alert': Fires Drive Tropical Forest Loss to Record High

This is Beirut 21/05 10:35 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

United Nations Fires Rainforest

Eighteen football pitches every minute of every hour of every day: that is the record extent of tropical rainforest destroyed last year due in large measure to fires fuelled by climate change, researchers reported Wednesday. Tally it all up and the world lost 67,000 square kilometres (25,900 square miles) of precious primary tropical forest, an ...

World Bee Day: A Vital Call to Safeguard Our Pollinators

Alexandre Baz 20/05 16:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

United Nations

Every year on May 20, World Bee Day is celebrated to honor Anton Jansa, the Slovenian beekeeper who pioneered modern apiculture. Since 2018, this day has been officially designated by the United Nations to raise global awareness about the vital role bees play in our ecosystems, and to promote their protection, along with the preservation of their ...

ExplainerExplained: The WHO’s New Global Pandemic Treaty

This is Beirut 20/05 11:05 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Covid-19 United Nations WHO Pandemic

After more than three years of fierce negotiations, an international agreement on the prevention and control of pandemics was adopted on Tuesday at the World Health Organization (WHO). Here are the main points of the agreement, which has 35 articles. Objective The objective of the WHO Pandemic Agreement is "strengthening pandemic prevention, ...

US Surgeons Perform World's First Bladder Transplant

This is Beirut 20/05 09:10 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

USA Bladder Transplant Kidney

Surgeons at a hospital in Los Angeles, California have successfully performed the world's first human bladder transplant, hospital officials said. The surgery, performed May 4 at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, is a promising development for other patients suffering from serious bladder disorders. The recipient of the innovative procedure was ...