Labworx

The UAE has become the first Arab country to open a nuclear power plant this month with the unveiling of its 5,600GW Barakah facility near Ruwais. The project is the latest attempt by the Emirati government to diversify its energy and their economic portfolios and transform its oil companies into broader energy firms, thus reducing the country’s over-reliance on fossil fuels and transitioning t...

The UAE has opened the Middle East’s first marine waste treatment facility in Sharjah. A collaboration between local waste management company Bee’ah and European environmental non-profit organisation Polyeco, the plant will help the UAE to protect the waters surrounding its territory and develop its circular economy.

The onsite Alternative Raw Material facility is intended to harvest marine ...

A prominent government official has called for the UAE to do more to catch and penalise those responsible for illegally discharging oil waste into the waters surrounding the country. Adnan Al Hammadi, who is the Sharjah representative of the Federal National Council (FNC), has asked for guilty parties to be more harshly penalised in future.

Although dumping oil is outlawed in the Emirates in...

While it might be one of the most resource-rich and economically wealthy parts of the planet, the Middle East is sorely lacking in one vital commodity – water. Home to some 400 million people and a climate not conducive to frequent rainfall, the region relies on unconventional sources of drinking water, such as treated wastewater and, in particular, desalination.

As the global population swe...

The United Arab Emirates has become the first nation to employ sniffer dogs in testing visitors to Dubai International Airport (DXB) for coronavirus. Operating in much the same way that canines are already widely used to detect narcotics and explosives, the sensitive noses of the dogs have been trained to recognise subtle changes in the body odour of COVID-19 sufferers.

Those behind the sche...

The oil and gas industry has taken something of a pummelling over recent months. With lockdown measures in place across much of the globe to limit the spread of coronavirus, demand for energy fell sharply, as industries and businesses all but shut down and far fewer passenger vehicles took to the streets.

Now, with the world beginning to emerge from the height of the coronavirus crisis and t...

A team of divers are helping to stimulate life in the depths of the water surrounding the Emirati coast. Led by the Fujairah Adventure Centre, the project involves removing coral from a living reef, cutting it into pieces and then “planting” it once more to create an artificial reef in areas that have seen their biodiversity suffer in recent years.

Coral reefs are a vital habitat for thousan...

The outbreak of coronavirus has disrupted working practices and ways of life for people all over the globe – and the scientific community is no different. Since the discovery of the first case in Wuhan City on 31st December 2019, the disease has spread all across the planet, forcing researchers to mothball their ongoing studies.

While some have used the enforced downtime to write up their fi...

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company – or ADNOC for short – has announced a landmark $20.7 billion deal with six international companies for a minority stake in its domestic pipeline infrastructure. The deal was made with a consortium of the world’s foremost sovereign wealth funds and infrastructure specialists and is expected to yield attractive advantages for all involved parties.

On the one...

A new programme developed by healthcare professionals and university professors has the ability to not only track transmission of coronavirus, but also predict hotspots before outbreaks occur. It’s expected that the modelling technology will form a key cornerstone of the UAE’s government’s policies on imposing travel restrictions, allocating resources and issuing public health guidelines.

De...