However, none of these movies properly – or accurately – explains radiation. Regardless of what you do and where you are on a typical day, you are being exposed to millions of particle showers – another term for radiation – at all times. Radiation is all around us, but we are not turning into monsters, giants, or any other kind of creature. We do not even sense most of the radiation unless the harmful effects reach the detectable level. In fact, radioactive isotopes (the sources of radiation) found in water, air, soil, and most places in the environment have been emitting radiation since the Big Bang ^[1], which occurred approximately 14 billion years ago.

Radiation can be emitted by both natural and man-made sources ^{[2, 3]}. There are generally two main types of natural radiation: radiation from natural sources, such as elements in the ground, is terrestrial, and radiation from outer space, such as charged particles and gamma rays, is cosmic. For example, at this very moment you are being bombarded with cosmic rays every few seconds. On the other hand, the main human-made source of radiation exposure is from medical sources like nuclear medicine, x-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, etc.

There are various types of radiation emitted by the sun. The most widely recognized forms are visible light, infrared, ultraviolet (UV), x-ray, and gamma radiation. We can only see the visible light, which is defined as having a wavelength on the electromagnetic spectrum between 400-700 nm (a nanometer, or nm, is approximately 10-9 meter). Some of the other kinds of light have greater wavelengths, and some have smaller. In short, visible light’s region is a very narrow part of the wide EM spectrum.

Why can our eyes see only within this limited range? There are several reasons ^[4]: solar emissions, low absorption in the atmosphere, the energy of chemical bonds, the optical properties of matter, black-body emissions, and so on. Unless all these reasons align into a specific rhythm, we cannot see the kind of light. There are many laws determining light, and the fact that we can see even some light is quite remarkable, and a sign of how perfectly calibrated the universe is.

Misfits of the standard model: Neutrinos

Following our discussion of radiation, I would like to focus on one particular type of radiation: neutrinos. Neutrinos are created in certain types of radioactive decay and nuclear reactions, such as those occurring in the sun. They are one of the most abundant particles in the universe; billions of them pass harmlessly through your body, unnoticed. David Griffiths, a physicist at Reed College, describes neutrinos in his book on particle physics ^[5]:

“…neutrinos interact extraordinarily weakly with matter; a neutrino of moderate energy could easily penetrate a thousand light years of lead. That’s a comforting realization when you learn that hundreds of billions of neutrinos per second pass through every square inch of your body, night and day, coming from the sun.”

In total, there are three kinds of neutrino flavors, as they are called. These are electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos, and tau neutrinos. Each kind has a tiny mass. According to the Standard Model, there are three kinds of particles in the universe: “light-weight” leptons, “mid-weight” mesons, and “heavy-weight” baryons, such as protons and neutrons. Neutrinos are in the lepton family, which, in total, has only six particles; they have weak interactions within the universe. Neutrinos are neutral leptons since they are chargeless. Other leptons, electron, muon, and tau are called as charged leptons.

The Standard Model is one of the fundamental models in experimental high-energy physics explaining how the universe came into being. Well-known scientists are still improving the model to categorize particles properly in the universe with the aim of finding missing particles. The model explains very well the fundamental forces governing the world: strong nuclear forces, weak nuclear forces, gravitational force, and electroweak force. There were, frankly, two contradictions challenging the Standard Model until today: the Higgs mechanism ^[6] and the mass of neutrinos. The model predicted that Higgs boson ^[6] is the particle responsible for all the mass in the universe. CERN, the biggest particle accelerator^[7] on earth, announced in July 2012 that they had found a particle that behaves like the Standard Model predicted Higgs boson would. Scientists at CERN are still striving to understand the identity and features of this discovered particle. If they achieve that, they can unravel the mystery and origins of the universe a little bit more. At the end, only the mass of neutrinos will remain a controversial topic within the model.

The Standard Model predicted that neutrinos were chargeless and massless particles. However, cosmic, reactor, and accelerator neutrino experiments, which are the main three experiment types to track neutrinos, confirmed each other on the subject of neutrino oscillation. Neutrino oscillation, in short, means that they can change their flavors. For example, a tau neutrino can convert to an electron neutrino, and vice versa. This discovery shows that these particles can be chargeless but not massless. Each of them has to have small, different masses to be able to perform flavor conversions, according to the laws of physics. That is why these particles are usually called the misfits^[8] of the Standard Model.

Since each particle was produced with its antiparticle, according to Dirac’s theory of pairs^[9], neutrinos also have their antiparticles, so there are actually six types of neutrinos in the universe. Each antiparticle has exactly the same properties as the original particle, just with the opposite charge. What about the chargeless neutrinos? The difference between neutrinos and antineutrinos is their spin behavior, not their charge. They both have zero charge; however, antineutrinos have a right-handed spin and neutrinos have a left-handed spin.

If each particle has its own antiparticle in theory, there should be the same amount of particles and antiparticles in the universe. However, experimental results show that there are more particles than antiparticles. There are a lot of scientists explaining this dilemma by accepting a parallel universe in which there are more antiparticles than particles, so the total would still be the same. In return, some others are trying to clarify this contradiction by accepting that more particles were created at the beginning of the universe, approximately 14 billion years ago.

Acknowledgment: This article is produced at Mergeous ^[10], an online article and project development service for authors and publishers dedicated to the advancement of technologies in the merging realms of science and religion.

References

[1] Kaya, A. 2009. “The Expansion of the Universe and the Big Bang: A Qur’anic Perspective,” The Fountain Magazine, Issue 68.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation
[3] http://www.chem.duke.edu/jds/cruise_chem/nuclear/exposure.html
[4] Why can we see visible light? 2007. Physics Education, 42(1), pp. 37-40.
[5] David Griffiths, Introduction to Elementary Particles.
[6] Kara, Cihan. 2013. “Will CERN Reveal the Origin of the Universe or Cause the End,” The Fountain Magazine, Issue 92.
[7] http://home.web.cern.ch/
[8] Symmetry Magazine, A Joint Fermilab/SLAC Publication, Spring 2013.
[9] Mahmood B. S. 2009. “The Holy Qur’an and Dirac’s Theory of Pairs,” The Fountain Magazine, Issue 68.
[10] Mergeous, Online article and project development platform, http://www.mergeous.com

Fuel cells are very promising chemical energy conversion devices. Though the first fuel cell was made by William Grove in 1839, they’re just now being explored as a real energy alternative (1). Let’s take a look at how they work: in a fuel cell, electricity is generated by the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, which forms water. They are similar to batteries and internal combustion engines (ICEs): just as in a combustion engine, where fuel is oxidized, the oxidization of hydrogen generates energy. They’ll work as long as fuel is provided.

Despite these similarities there are some differences that make fuel cells more attractive than batteries and ICEs. A fuel cell works more efficiently and quietly than engines do. When hydrogen is used as fuel, power and drinking water are produced as by-products (2). Having safe by-products answers our concerns regarding older power sources. A battery is dead if it is not re-chargeable; however a fuel cell can be continually reused.

Fuel cells are generally defined by the type of electrolyte used in the cell, and they operate at different temperatures. Alkaline fuel cells (AFCs), proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) are called low-temperature fuel cells. Phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs) are an intermediate-temperature fuel cell. Molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are called high-temperature fuel cells (3, 4).

They have been mainly used for stationary, transportation, and portable applications. Since the need for electricity in daily life has dramatically increased, reliable and efficient power supplies have become necessary. Over 2,000 stationary fuel cell systems have been built in hotels, schools, and hospitals. Stationary power generation is considered more commercialized among the other fuel cell applications. Today, these systems have reached an efficiency of 40% when a hydrocarbon is used as fuel. Fuel cell systems are also used in telecommunication systems, and these cells provide power between 1 and 5 kW (5).

Fuel cells have been identified as the most probable alternative power source for transportation applications in place of internal combustion engines (ICEs). There are two distinct features of fuel cells that make them a better choice than ICEs. First, their carbon dioxide gas emissions are nearly zero. Second, fuel cells are much more efficient than ICEs – about two to three times (6). Ballard Power Systems have been developing zero-emission-vehicles by using PEMFCs, which have low operating temperatures and a higher power density.

NASA decided to use fuel cells on American spacecrafts in the 1960s. The advantage of using them in spacecraft was that while they were generating electric power, they produced drinkable water for the astronauts. A fuel cell was used as an integral part of the power supply PEMFCs (1kW) in the Gemini crafts and AFCs (1kW) in the Apollo crafts, both of which were a part of NASA’s human spaceflight programs (6).

Portable applications of fuel cells offer electrical power when reaching the electrical grid is not possible. When they are used as power sources outdoors, they help to avoid air and noise pollution (4). Because these portable fuel cells are lighter and more durable than batteries, they have been considered as alternative power sources for mobile phones, laptop computers, and some electronic devices (5). They are also used by the military in battle. A 4 kW PEM generator was built for the U.S. military by Intelligent Energy Ltd., out of Europe (7). Since direct methanol fuel cell systems are much lighter than the indirect systems, they are mostly used as portable power systems.

Although fuel cells have benefits when compared to other power sources, they are not widely used because of their high cost. In 2010, the Energy Information Administration released that the cost of fuel cells is $6.83 per installed watt, which is almost 7 times more expensive than a natural-gas turbine generator plant (8). In 2008, the Honda Clarity produced one of the first hydrogen-powered automobiles; these require very expensive catalysts: platinum (9). A catalyst makes the chemical reactions occur faster. Platinum is still the best catalyst, so this explains the prohibitive cost. A cheaper substitute for platinum is needed for use in automobiles. Another problem is that hydrogen is widely used as fuel for transportation applications. Until there is a sufficient hydrogen infrastructure, car manufacturers will find it hard to mass produce cars that use fuel cells.

Cetin is a freelance science writer.

References

1. Grove, W. R. (1839). On voltaic series and the combination of gases by platinum. Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, Series 3,14, 127-130.
2. Hoogers, G. (2003). Fuel Cell Technology Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
3. Mekhilef, S., Saidur, R., Safari, A. (2012). Comparative study of different fuel cell technologies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16, 981-989.
4. Gencoglu, M. T., Ural, Z. (2009). Design of a PEM fuel cell system for residential application. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 34, 5242-5248.
5. Andujar, J., Segura, F. (2009). Fuel cells: History and updating. A walk along two centuries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 13, 2309-2322.
6. Iovine, John. “Fuel Cells.(composition, energy-generating processes and industry developments and innovations).” Poptronics. Poptronix, Inc. 2001. Retrieved May 17, 2012 from High Beam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-69015426.html
7. Cowey, K., Green, K., Mepsted, G., Reeve, R. (2004). Portable and military fuel cells. Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science 8, 367-371.
8. Administration, U. E. (2010, November). Updated Capital Cost Estimates for Electricity Generation Plants. Retrieved from http://205.254.135.24/oiaf/beck_plantcosts.
9. Muller, R. A. (2012). Energy for Future Presidents: The Science Behind The Headlines. New York: W.W. Norton Company, Inc.

Turkey is currently the sixth largest market for electricity in Europe and this demand for energy has made Turkey one of the fastest growing global markets for fuel. The expected energy demand for Turkey by 2020 is expected to be 570 GWh (giga watts per hour) (Demirbas 2005, 615). Today, Turkey pays approximately $50 billion a year to other countries for their high quality oil, gas and coal. If nothing is done to develop alternative sources of energy, it is expected that the cost to import fuel from other countries will cost Turkey a staggering $100 billion in 2020. Fortunately, in 2005, Turkey passed a Renewable Energy Law to bring the country more in line with European Union regulations and standards to meet the growing electricity demand and to diversify sources of energy.

Wind power

Turkey could potentially meet all its total energy needs solely from the use of wind energy. The most attractive sites for wind energy utilization and generation are the Marmara, South East Anatolian and Aegean regions. The first wind energy farm was established in Izmir, Turkey in February 1998 with a 1.5 MW capacity (Hepbasli and Ozgener, 2004). On the other hand, the U.S. started harvesting wind power 17 years before Turkey. We need to keep in mind that the U.S. is on a grand scale when compared to Turkey. It is interesting to see the trends for the usage of wind energy between these two countries. The current electricity production from wind for Turkey is about 433 MW (Megawatts) as compared to 35,000 MW for U.S. While Turkey is targeting to achieve a quarter of its potential, 20,000 MW by 2020, the U.S. is intending to reach 90% of its potential and reach 10×108 MW (Table 1) by 2020.

Table 1: Wind power: Turkey and U.S.

Solar power

In terms of the potential of solar power, both Turkey and the U.S. are amongst the most propitious countries in the world by having a range of 175- 200 watts per square meter per day (David Wheeler, Global Developments for Future Blog, comment posted on February 19, 2008).

The most advantageous region in Turkey for the harvesting of solar energy is its Southwest due to its geographic location in the Mediterranean. It is quite common to come across solar panels on top of the roofs in Southwestern Turkey. Photovoltaic (PV) systems are currently limited in use in Turkey but they are on the rise. In Silifke, located south central Anatolia (about 200 km away from Adana), a PV system is currently being used to power irrigation pumps. In order to encourage investors to invest their money into the development of solar power in Turkey the government subsidies need be increased and include the current 5.5 euro-cents/KWh feed-in-tariff.

The most common places where you would see heavy solar power usage for everything from day and night lighting to heating the pool in Turkey are in Eco-homes (left), and Solar cities (right).

Source: http://www.qurbaa.com/images/eko-evleri.jpg

Source: www.solartek.com.tr/tr/index.asp?ID=34

*The hot water heating system installations cover about 10 Million m2 surface.

What is interesting to note is that currently Turkey is amongst the top five countries in the world in the amount of solar power used to heat their water.

Hydropower

According to the Idaho National Laboratory, approximately 6,000 MWs is the gross power potential of U.S. hydropower, of which only about 16 percent can be developed with economical feasibility. About 76 percent of this potential has already been developed, and the remaining portion is to be developed by 2020. On the other hand, Turkey has a somewhat different scenario where the gross hydropower potential is 435 MW, of which only 29% is economical feasible for development and only 35% of that potential has been developed to this date (Yuksek et al. 2007).

After Turkey declared its support for the Kyoto Protocol, it has given a big push for renewable sources of energy, especially wind and hydropower. With the required regulations passed after Kyoto, and with the more recent Copenhagen Accord, Turkey has adapted rigorous development plans for its hydropower potential. The total number of current hydropower projects is over 350, and it is estimated that Turkey can meet up to 46% of the energy demand in 2020 from hydropower resources (Yuksek et al. 2007).

Lifestyles

One of the most important issues for environmental consciousness is energy efficiency. Saving energy is a way of life, not just a part of it.

The automobile has become an integral part of American life with vehicles outnumbering licensed drivers: 254 million cars and 194 million licensed drives. In Turkey the latest statistics showed that there are only 23 million licensed drivers as compared to the 16 million cars on the road. These statistics proves that people living in Turkey tend to more commonly use alternative means of travel, such as the public transportation system, rather than driving their own cars, especially in the larger cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Konya and Bursa. In Istanbul there are even designated lanes along the highway for buses. Although buses, subway, and streetcars are among the preferred ways of transportation since their network pretty much covers everywhere, however, the big cities are still experiencing heavy traffic on the streets due to passenger cars.

The good news is that in Turkey the vast majority of the fleet of taxis and buses have been converted to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) form, saving energy and money.

Environment awareness amongst the populace is also on the rise as well. Having young minds working on the cultural practices that need to be changed for a sustainable future requires both courage and time. To this end, Turkey has devoted the week of January 11th to raise the awareness for energy efficiency. Turkish schools celebrate this week by educating students from all ages in terms of matters governing energy and efficiency.

Rain water catchment systems, have always been part of the architectural design for buildings, however, the water collected from the roof was basically drained down to the garden and was not very practical. With the young generation raising awareness to not waste this precious resource, people have created better designs to capture and find a better use for the rain water.

Rain gutter designs are quite different in Turkey in comparison to the U.S. as well; instead of having them on the side of the curbs, they are designed as screens along the streets. Some cities have canals that bring melted snow and rain water to the middle of the city from the mountains in the vicinity. This water is then used for irrigation purposes.

According to the 2004 statistical figures of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) 34 million tons of municipal waste and 17.5 million tons of industrial waste are produced in Turkey annually. The amount of wastes produced per person in Turkey reaches up to 1 kg (2.2 lbs) daily, of which 34% is food waste. This figure is very small in comparison to waste generation in the United States. The average waste generation in the U.S. is 3.5 kg (7 lbs) per person per day. It is believed that the cultural habits and practices of a people can affect the energy efficiency and minimize waste generation in their country. The practices in Turkey include but are not limited to using the produce when it is abundant and preserving it for later use either by drying fruits and vegetables, creating pastes (such as tomato paste), making marmalade and jams, as well as canning fruits and vegetables and pickling vegetables.

When it comes to our garbage, waste prevention – rather than waste management – is the best way to reduce environmental stress (Brown 2008, 7). It might come as a shock to some, but the most common drink in Turkey, black tea, is still today served in reusable glass cups (below). This differs in the U.S. where 16 billion paper cups are used for coffee on average in 2006, resulting in 253 million pounds of waste (Hillary Feldman, About My Planet Blog, comment posted on May 29, 2008). We need to adapt to thinking in terms of “Waste equals food” as Paul Bierman-Lytle, an architect working for the American engineering firm CH2M Hill, described the concept that waste from one system should provide food for another, whether an industrial system or an ecosystem.

Having said all the above, some of the highlights from Turkey’s future plans include the following: accelerating expansion in renewable sources of energy, aligning Turkey with the European Union regarding renewable sources of energy, using the Multilateral Clean Tech Fund – according to the World Bank, Turkey is the first to receive that fund in 2009 – reduce greenhouse gas emissions, subsidize investors and investments in renewable energy resources, reduce waste generation and improve waste recovery with the help of research and development on these issues.

As humans, although we might see ourselves losing the battle of “Saving the Earth” today, however, we still have the chance to turn things around before it is too late.

I believe if we all work hand in hand to raise global citizens, who can understand and value common humanity, we can get us to work together toward a sustainable future.

Fethiye Ozis is a Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at University of Southern California.

References

• – About My Planet Blog, http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/environment/paper-unsustainable/
• – Brown, Lester R. Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, W.W. Norton & Company
• – Center for Global Development Blog, http://blogs.cgdev.org/globaldevelopment
• – Demirbas, A. “Competition Potential of Wind Power Plants” Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, Volume 27, Issue 7 May 2005, p 605 – 612.
• – DIE (State Statistics Institute). Statistics of Turkey in 2003. 2004. DIE. Turkey.
• – Hepbasli, A.; Ozgener, O. “A review on the development of wind energy in Turkey” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 8, Issue 3, June 2004, p 257-276.
• – Omer Yuksek, Murat Kankal, Murat Ihsan Komurcu, Hizir Onsoy, and Adem Akpinar. 2007. The Importance of Hydropower plants in Turkey’s Energy Planning.Paper presented at the international Congress on River Basin Management, March 22-24, in Antalya, Turkey
• – Turk Medya Adana, CNN Turk http://www.turkmedya.com/V1/Pg/detail/NewID/131268/CatID/6/CityName/Adana/ TownID/2/Header/gunes_enerjisi_tarimda_kullanildi.html

Africa has many fresh water sources such as Lake Tanganyika, Lake Victoria, the Zambezi, Nile, and Juba Rivers. Theoretically, Africans should be able to at least, adequately sustain healthy life with this amount of water (Whiteford & Whiteford, 2005). On the other hand, several issues affect the water sources making them either inaccessible, or dangerous to use. Diseases form and spread all through Africa, deteriorating life due to deficient amounts of clean water (Whiteford & Whiteford, 2005).

The reason for the water problems majorly involves dams and deforestation, along with pollution. Firstly, dams provide irrigation and hydropower, but hidden underneath these benefits are the massive and long-term detriments of destroying the well-known system of flood-plain agriculture and deforestation due to incomplete dam projects. Flood-plain agriculture is the classic system of agriculture that was mainly used along the Nile River as well as several other rivers in Africa. These traditional systems of agriculture depend on the annual floods in order to fertilize and water their crops. Water, as well as the silt that once functioned as fertilizer, are now built up behind the dams and are unusable. Secondly, deforestation dries up the land even more because interception and transpiration from trees stop, causing more forest fires and destruction of habitats. Deforested land becomes a dried up desert absolutely unusable by all habitats, especially humans (Jobin, 1999). Thirdly, pollution caused by poor sanitation techniques, in addition to industrial and chemical pollution are major reasons for the decline of life in Africa. Poor sanitation techniques lead to human and animal feces infest water, leading to increase in diseases related to water. The industrialization and urbanization in some parts of Africa leads to high levels of modern environmental health hazards. This results in other severe health problems indirectly related to water. For example, in the Nairobi River Basin in Kenya, there were effluent concentrations of elements such as nickel, copper, and lead, which were 60, 600, and 120 times higher than recommended (Nweke and Sanders, 2009). Another major cause of chemical pollution all across Africa is the use of pesticides in agriculture which have been detected in streams and rivers in different regions. These pesticides contaminate soil, water, air, and food sources, posing serious health threats to Africa’s populations. Endosulfans, as well as more dangerous organochlorines, such as DDE and DDT have recurrently been detected at water sources near agricultural areas in South Africa. This contamination has been confirmed to regularly exceed the “European drinking water standard of 0.1 g/L” (Nweke & Sanders, 2009). This contamination not only poisons potential sources of food, but it also destroys habitats which all have a chain reaction pertaining to the sustainability in Africa. In summary, these factors influence the water quantity and quality in Africa. It also negatively affects people’s habits regarding water usage. If people realize they have little water, they ration it ineffectively. For instance, they will take up water usage reducing habits such as not washing hands, clothes, food products, dishes, themselves, etc. leading to less hygiene and increasing the likelihood of getting disease. If there is plenty of water but it is contaminated, the pollutants in the water source will cause diseases. Therefore, due to poor water management in Africa, diseases related to water have been severely affected.

Water-related diseases differ from waterborne diseases in that the disease is not directly caused by the water consumed. Instead, the vector of the disease uses water as a breeding ground from which the vector then emerges. Common water-related diseases include malaria, yellow fever, schistosomiasis or bilharzia, and onchocerciasis or river blindness (Whiteford & Whiteford, 2005).

Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, is a disease that is highly prevalent along the Nile River as well as all other fresh water resources throughout Africa caused by parasitic worms and snails (Jobin, 1999). The most common parasitic worms that cause bilharzia in humans are Schistosoma mansoni, D. haematobium, and S. japonicium (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). Infection occurs when the larval stage of schistosomes search for a human host while swimming in the water. After parasitizing the human circulatory system by penetrating the skin of an individual in contaminated water, they reproduce in the human gut or bladder by laying their eggs there (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010; Jobin, 1999). These eggs pass out of the body by means of human waste and reach aquatic habitats of snails (Jobin, 1999). After the eggs hatch, they develop into larvae which penetrate the snail, developing further and “multiplying by astronomical factors” (Jobin, 1999, p. 66). The parasite larvae then leave the snail continuing the reproduction cycle. As written by Jobin (1999), “bilharzia is a debilitating disease which can cause early death of persons parasitized by large numbers of worms” (p. 68).

Symptoms of bilharzia include developing a rash or itchy skin within days of infection. Within 1-2 months of the infection, symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, and muscle aches may also appear, but people tend to have no symptoms at this early phase. The eggs that travel in the body can also cause inflammation and scarring. As reported by CDC (2010), infected children may “develop anemia, malnutrition, and learning difficulties.” All of these symptoms are reactions of the body to the eggs produced, and not by the worms themselves. Treating schistosomiasis is essentially effortless; you must take a pill 1-2 days (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010).

Since the health care systems in some African countries are shoddy, and the majority of these populations cannot afford treatment or drugs, prevention is the most efficient technique to fight disease throughout the continent (Falola & Heaton, 2007). Bilharzia can easily be prevented in Africa by avoiding swimming in fresh water sources, health education, drugs, focal application of biocides to kill snails, and improved water supply and sanitation are also required to stop the spread of the infection. Using feces and urine contaminated water is a major cause of spread of the disease due to the nature of the parasite’s reproductive system, but another equally important issue is intensifying agriculture. Increased agriculture results in runoff with high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous, which act as a fertilizer (Peace, 2006). These compounds trigger an increase in aquatic weeds, the ideal habitat for snails, which causes increased bilharzia transmission. In addition, since people wanted to clean the water sources from the weeds, they would manually try to clean the water supply, without taking any precautions. This exacerbated the situation by exposing themselves to the disease (Jobin, 1999).

An example of the relationship between agriculture along with irrigation, and bilharzia as well as malaria transmission can be seen in the Gezira-Managil Irrigation System in Sudan. In 1925, when the irrigation system was first constructed, the overall agricultural intensity increased by 300%, this was because the natural system had been altered with. Naturally, the water should have dried out by April-May, but instead it ran 100% of the time. The Gezira-Managil Irrigation system became the main source of income in Sudan, producing 3/4 of the gross national cotton production. By 1970, the proliferation of agricultural pests, aquatic weeds, snails, mosquitoes and silt in the canal lead to the decline of the agricultural system. As a result, cotton was infested by the white-fly, pathogenic viruses and bacteria multiplied in the water making it unusable. Malaria mosquito populations increased, attacking at night and increasing transmission of disease, since there were no longer dry seasons to destroy their habitat. Similarly, bilharzia snails increased since the unnatural, man-made system had constructed an exceptionally ideal habitat for them, attacking during the day as people waded in the waters, and intensified the transmission of the disease. People who worked on the fields and near the irrigation system got infected, not being able to work on the nearly non-existent cotton fields. The country’s gross income changed from approximately US $228 million to US $76 million by 1981. There was no longer any money, which meant no more facilities for community water supplies and sanitation, increasing disease and unemployment, resulting in even less money in a seemingly endless cycle (Jobin, 1999).

There are many factors that act as obstacles in the way of African well-being. The most prevalent type of disease in Africa is waterborne and water-related. Sheik-Mohamed & Velema (1999) report that “major causes of mortality and morbidity seem to be preventable infectious diseases.” Govender et al. (2011) similarly state that “diarrheal diseases are an important cause of morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries” and that these diarrheal diseases can be prevented simply through improved water quality. Every 8 seconds a child dies from a disease related to having either unclean or not enough water. Diseases linked to water kill more 5 million people each year – ten times the amount of people killed in wars (Whiteford & Whiteford, 2005). These statistics are outrageous. Every human should have the right to have clean water. Every human should have the right to live in a healthy environment and be in good health.

References

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010, November 2).
• Schistosomiasis: General Information. Retrieved October 2011, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/schistosomiasis/gen_info/faqs.html
• Falola, T., & Heaton, M. M. (Eds.). (2007). HIV/AIDS, Illness, and African Well-Being. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.
• Govender, T., Barnes, J. M., & Pieper, C. H. (2011). Contribution of water pollution from inadequate sanitation and housing quality to diarrheal disease in low-cost housing settlements of Cape Town, South Africa. American Journal of Public Health , 101 (7), e4-e9.
• Jobin, W. (1999). Dams and Disease. London, UK: E & FN Spon.
• Nweke, O. C., & Sanders, W. H. (2009). Modern environmental health hazards: a public health issue of increasing significance in Africa. Environmental Health Perspectives , 117 (6), 863-870.
• Sheik-Mohamed, A., & Velema, J. P. (1999). Where health care has no access: the nomadic population of sub-Saharan Africa. Tropical Medicine and International Health , 4 (10), 695-707.
• Whiteford, L., & Whiteford, S. (2005). Globalization, Water and Health. Santa Fe, New Mexico: School of American Reasearch Press.

Original Article: Cranford, S.W. et al., Nature 482, 72 (2012).

Spider silk has been a symbol of durability and strength, but the role the design of a web plays or contributes to the strength was unknown. Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered that the impressive design of web and the feature of silk allow spiders to build a super-strong web under different levels of stress. The response of spider silk subjected to load was studied. They studied webs of a variety of species, including European garden spiders and orb weavers, and combined their experiments with correlated web models. At low stress, silk threads soften and extend that result in retaining web structure. At high stress, the silk threads extend and the most stretched ones break. The strength of the silk and the geometry of the web allow only one or two threads being broken under strain. Therefore, the break in the web is minimized and prevents destruction of the whole web. The localized web damage can be repaired by the spider and therefore a requirement for rebuilding the web completely is eliminated. This study shows that spider silk web is very stable even under hurricane winds. This research gives an idea to engineers to build a system that will fail only at small parts of the system under certain stress. Therefore, the system will continue to work just after repairing the destroyed parts of the system. Otherwise, the whole system may be destroyed under potential load and will have to be rebuilt. For example, when a building is exposed to large mechanical stress such as an earthquake, it may be destroyed as a whole and become dysfunctional. Applications on such systems require further research in engineering to achieve structures as stable as a spider’s web.

2- Benefits of Exercise Through a Protein

Original article: Bostrom, P. et al., Nature 481, 463 (2012).

Exercise has a number of beneficial effects in human health such as increasing cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic capacity. Scientists at Harvard Medical School have discovered a muscle hormone, Irisin, which may be responsible for the many beneficial effects of exercise. Irisin secreted from muscle after exercise and act on white adipose tissue that stores energy. Excessive amounts of white fat cells contribute to many pathologic effects of obesity and diabetes. Irisin, however, converts white fat into the more beneficial and metabolically active brown fat, which burns more calories and produce heat instead of energy. It helps to prevent excessive glucose and fatty acid accumulation in the body. The researchers demonstrated that mildly increased Irisin levels in the blood cause an increase in energy expenditure in mice with no changes in movement or food intake. It also reduces body weight and improves glucose tolerance and obesity induced insulin resistance. This research suggests that Irisin can be a new therapeutic target in human metabolic diseases treatment. Also it could help people lose weight and fight against obesity induced problems such as diabetes and hypertension.

3- New Generation Vaccines with High Efficacy

Original Article: Avci F.Y. et al., Nature Medicine 17, 1602 (December 2011).

Most pathogenic bacteria contain complex carbohydrate structures on their surfaces. These carbohydrates are called capsular polysaccharides. “Glycoconjugate” vaccines are prepared by chemical conjugation of capsular polysaccharides with proteins. This method is the standard design for many vaccines that protect us against common diseases such as pneumonia and meningitis. One drawback with these vaccines is their limited efficacy in populations such as the elderly, children and patients with compromised immune systems. Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Rockefeller University have designed and synthesized a vaccine that is about 100 times more potent than traditional vaccines available today. Until now, the scientific community believed that the body’s professional immune cells, called T-cells, were only able to recognize vaccine’s protein molecules to generate an immune response. However, after studying how glycoconjugate vaccines stimulate immune response, the researchers found that T-cells are also able to recognize the carbohydrate molecules. In a series of elegant experiments, they demonstrated that there is a repertoire of T-cells that can recognize the carbohydrate portion of a glycoconjugate vaccine, and that these T-cells stimulate antibody producing B-cells to generate high affinity antibodies against the carbohydrates. Based on the knowledge obtained from this mechanistic study, researchers have designed a new-generation glycoconjugate vaccine and showed that this new vaccine was about 100 times more immunogenic than a vaccine made by traditional methods.

4- Producing Fuel from Waste with Bacteria

Original Article: Bokinsky, G. et al., PNAS 108, 19949 (December 2011).

It turns out, the secret for alternative source for oil might be hidden in a very common bacterium and plant, E coli and switch grass. As the world’s natural resources are quickly exhausted by humans, new energy sources or alternative energy production methods are needed. One popular way for addressing this question is promoting biofuels. Most of the biofuel source is in ethanol form, often produced from sugar that is extracted from sugarcane and corn. However the consuming of main food sources for energy sources begs a question: What if one day feeding the machines with our food sources makes food scarce? Another concern is that many countries are not using ethanol as an energy source. All these led researchers to pursue another idea: Instead of using food sources as precursor for ethanol, non-food biomass or bio-waste can be converted to precursors for biofuels by utilizing the cellulose or hemicellulose as a starting material. Human body cannot digest cellulose. Hence, cellulose is a bio-waste, which can be broken down into sugar using a mixture of enzymes and subsequently can be used for gasoline production. The enzymes for this procedure can be produced by bacteria in massive amounts. To this end, researchers genetically engineered Ecoli bacteria to consume large amount of cellulose from switch grass and convert it to sugar. Scientists achieved to produce different precursors for different fuels, including gasoline, diesel or jet fuel with bacteria. These are big steps in turning bio-waste into fuels. Imagine one day your plane will be powered with a hay of switch grass and a bottle of bacteria. Next time when you fly over a field of switch grass, you might actually be seeing the next oil well.

Today, more than 1 billion people are suffering from the lack of potable water. About 2.3 billion people (41 percent of the earth’s population) live in regions with water scarcity; this number is estimated to be 3.5 billion by 2025.1

96.5 percent of the world’s water is found in seas and oceans, and the remainder is found as ice caps, brackish water, and fresh water sources (e.g. lakes, rivers, and ground waters). To overcome water shortage problems, methods such as water conservation and dam construction have been applied for several years, but they are not enough against increasing water demand and decreasing fresh water sources.2

Water is also very important for generating energy, and vice versa. The largest portion of U.S. electric production is provided by thermoelectric power generation, where steam-driven turbine generators are used to generate electricity. In 2000, thermoelectric power plants used 39 percent of all fresh water sources in the United States.3 All these reasons make the production of drinking water a worldwide issue.

Desalination

Since most of world’s water supply is found in oceans and seas, desalination is the process of removing salts and minerals from either ocean or brackish water to make it safe for human consumption and use. The most widely applied desalination processes are divided into two main categories, thermal distillation processes and membrane processes.

Desalination via thermal distillation methods, which separate liquid mixtures based on their boiling points, mainly fall into three categories: multi-stage flash (MSF), multi-effect distillation (MED), and mechanical vapor compression (MVC). Thermal distillation processes require the evaporation of water while leaving the salt in a concentrated brine. Middle Eastern countries mainly use thermal-based desalination plants to produce fresh water because of their easily accessible fossil fuel sources.2, 4

Membrane-based separations are the main choice of producing potable water in countries outside the Middle East. More than 50 percent of the newly installed desalination plants have been using reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology (since 2001).2

Membrane separations

A membrane is an interphase between two adjacent phases acting as a selective barrier, regulating the transport of substances between the two compartments. It is a very thin film that allows passage of some types of substances while preventing the passage of other substances, depending on their sizes. Membranes used for separation technology gave rise to an interdisciplinary area including many fields of science and engineering such as chemistry, chemical engineering, material science, process engineering, environmental science, ecology, and economics.5, 6 Today, the membrane industry is impressively large. The membrane separation technology market is quite diverse and ranges from medicine to the chemical industry, and the most important markets are medical devices and water treatment. There was a $2 billion sale of synthetic membranes worldwide in 2003.6

Water purification membranes

Water treatment processes employ several types of membranes. They include microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. They are designed to remove materials of increasing sizes. MF membranes have the largest pore size and typically reject large particles and various microorganisms. UF membranes have smaller pores than MF membranes and, therefore, in addition to large particles and microorganisms, they can reject bacteria and soluble macromolecules such as proteins. RO membranes are effectively nonporous and therefore exclude particles and even many low molar mass species such as salt ions, organic substances, etc.7 NF membranes are relatively new and are sometimes called “loose” RO membranes. They are porous membranes, but since the pores are ten of angstroms or less, they exhibit performance between that of RO and UF membranes.8 Of these membranes, NF and RO membranes constitute the dominant technology for desalination of water.9

2.1 Nanofiltration Membranes

Membranes for nanofiltration (NF) are usually comprised of cellulose acetate or aromatic polyamides. NF allows diffusion of organic compounds, and rejects some salts with low pressures being applied. NF itself cannot purify seawater to drinking water standards, but it is a process that can be used to produce mildly salty water, or as a water-softening technique.2, 4 When NF is coupled with RO, then it can be used to turn seawater into drinking water.10

Nanofiltration membranes usually have negative charges (e.g., carboxylate groups, sulfonate groups, etc.), and as a result, ion repulsion is a major factor in determining salt rejection. More highly charged ions, such as sulfate, are more highly rejected than monovalent ions, such as chloride, by a negatively charged nanofiltration membrane. In particular, NF membranes are used to remove divalent ions such as calcium and magnesium, which are mainly responsible for water hardness. These membranes also usually display good rejection of organic compounds with molecular weights above 200 to 500 grams.2,11,12

2.2 Reverse osmosis membranes

Osmosis is a natural process in which water molecules move across a semipermeable membrane from a lower solute concentration area to the higher solute concentration area. Water flows until a chemical potential equilibrium of water is established. When equilibrium is reached, the pressure difference between the two sides of the membrane is equal to the osmotic pressure of the solution.12

Reverse osmosis (RO) is the process of forcing water from a region of high solute concentration through a membrane to a region of low solute concentration by applying a pressure that is greater than the osmotic pressure. As a result, separation of water from the solution occurs as pure water from the high concentration side to the low concentration side. The RO process includes a feed water source, feed pre-treatment, a high-pressure pump, RO membrane modules and post-treatment steps.

RO membranes are capable of rejecting monovalent ions such as sodium and chloride, which makes the RO process a valuable method for desalination. Membranes used for RO processes have salt rejections of more than 99 percent. RO membranes do not have distinct pores, but rather rely on free volume within the polymer film.

RO membrane separations depend highly on the properties of the polymer film such as the chemical and physical structure of the membrane material. Desired RO membranes should be resistant to chemical substances and microbial organisms, stable over a long time both mechanically and structurally, and have ideal separation properties such as high water flux, high salt rejection, chlorine, and fouling (clogging of membrane pores) resistance.

Approximately one billion of six billion people in the world live in water-stressed areas, and RO membrane technology is the leading desalination technology to overcome the problem of insufficient clean water and estimated to continue its leadership in the near future.13 Scientists and engineers are extensively investigating the development of the most efficient membrane desalination technology to produce the cheapest potable water.

On the other hand, cells use membranes, though scientists do not try to further develop them, since they were already designed in a perfect manner. Cellular membranes have a phospholipid structure with embedded proteins. They control many different kinds of transportations of substances in and out of cells (e.g. sugar, drugs, ions). They are so well designed that they know which substances are helpful or harmful for the cell, and decide on the passage of substances based on that. Many researchers have tried countless times for many years to produce an equally wonderful membrane technology for making clean water. But cellular membranes, consisting of hundreds of functions in living organisms, do not form spontaneously.

REFERENCES

1) R.F. Service, Freshwater resources, desalination freshens up. Science, (2006). 313, 1088- 1090.

2) L.F. Greenlee, D.F.Lawler, B.D. Freeman, B. Marrot, P. Moulin, Reverse osmosis desalination: Water sources, technology and today’s challenges. Water Research (2009), 43, 2317-2348.

3) T.J. Feeley, T.J. Skone, G.J.Stiegel, A. McNemar, M.Nemeth, B. Schimmoller, J.T. Murphy, L. Manfredo, Water: A critical resource in the thermoelectric power industry.Energy (2008), 33, 1-11.

4) G. A. Tularam, M. Ilahee, Environmental concerns of desalinating seawater using reverse osmosis. J. Environ. Monit.(2007), 9, 805–813.

5) P. Vandezande, L. E. M. Gevers, I. F. J. Vankelecom, Solvent resistant nanofiltration: separating on a molecular level. Chem. Soc. Rev.(2008), 37, 365–405.

6) M. Ulbricht, Advanced functional polymer membranes. Polymer (2006), 47, 2217–2262.

7) R.H. Perry, D.W.Green, Eds., Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, 7th ed., McGraw-Hill: New York, 1997.

8) Sagle, A., and B. Freeman, “Fundamentals of Membranes for Water Treatment,” in The Future of Desalination in Texas: Volume 2, Report Number 363, Texas Water Development Board, Austin, TX, pp. 137-154 (2004).

9) H.B.Park, B.D.Freeman, Z.Zhang, M.Sankir, J.E.McGrath, Highly Chlorine-Tolerant Polymers for Desalination, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (2008), 47, 6019-6024.

10) N. Hilal, H. Al-Zoubi, N. A. Darwish, A. W. Mohammad, M. Abu Arabi, A comprehensive review of nanofiltration membranes: Treatment, pretreatment, modelling, and atomic force microscopy, Desalination (2004), 170, 281-308.

11) A. Gorenflo, D. Velazquez-Padron, F.H. Frimmel, Nanofiltration of a German groundwater of high hardness and NOM content: performance and costs. Desalination (2002), 151, 253-265.

12) M.E.Williams, A Brief Review of Reverse Osmosis Membrane Technology,EET Corporation and Williams Engineering Services Company, Inc., Harriman, TN, 2003.

13) K. P. Lee, T. C. Arnot, D. Mattia, A Review of Reverse Osmosis Membrane Materials for Desalination – Development to Date and Future Potential. J. Membr. Sci. 370 (2011) 1-22.

And surely in the cattle (feeding on the pastures of the revived earth) there is a lesson for you: We give you from that which is within their bodies, (marvelously distinguished from) between the waste and blood, milk that is pure and palatable to those who drink. (Nahl 16:66)

Ruminants, probably the most abundant of the herbivores such as cattle, sheep and goats, are foregut fermenters with a four-chambered stomach (rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum) and are an essential component of utilizing marginal land in the world in a sustainable way.

In the verse above from the Qur’an, the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe draws our attention to many of the benefits we get from domestic animals. While the main message of the verse is easily understandable to the general reader, it also contains some concise hints, even descriptions about the physiological details of milk production in ruminants that would be fully understood and explained by science only centuries after the Qur’an was revealed. The purpose of this article is to explain this process in a general sense and milk production in some detail.

Mammals are generally categorized according to the dietary habits into three classes-flesh-eating (carnivore), plant-eating (herbivore) and both flesh and plant-eating (omnivore). In a sense, humans (omnivores) and carnivores depend on herbivores for their nutrition. Generally speaking, all humans and animals in the world have directly or indirectly benefited from the plants. The ability of herbivores to utilize plants as their main energy source is dependent on symbiotic microorganisms which live at various sites within their gastrointestinal tract. The animal provides the microorganisms with food and habitat for growth and the microorganisms provide the animal with fermentation acids and microbial protein.

Herbivores are divided into two types, those with post-gastric (hindgut) fermentation and those with pre-gastric (foregut) fermentation. Fermentation is a chemical process during which microorganisms obtain energy from organic products. Ruminants, probably the most abundant of the herbivores such as cattle, sheep and goats, are foregut fermenters with a four-chambered stomach (rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum) and are an essential component of utilizing marginal land in the world in a sustainable way. Rumen and reticulum contain millions of microorganisms, which form about 3 to 10 percent of rumen fluid.

A major reason why human beings keep ruminants is their ability to convert food which humans find inedible-or at least unpalatable-to food (meat, milk) which humans can eat. They play an important role in the livelihood of farmers throughout the world, providing sustenance such as milk and meat, manure for crop production, cash income from sales of their products and a safety net of capital assets to face risks and misfortune in harsh environments. Currently, humans obtain about fifty percent of the meat and most of the milk they consume from ruminants. Scientists who have conducted studied on ruminants have developed cow breeds, which have higher milk and meat production than traditional cow breeds, and thus supplied an important development to meet the nutritional requirements of humans.

Pre-gastric fermentation provides three important nutritional advantages to the host animal.

First, cellulose and other plant polysaccharides are brought into solution and become available as energy sources. Cellulose is the most abundant natural carbohydrate polymer in nature, but mammals do not produce enzymes that can degrade it. Ruminant animals utilize cellulose via a symbiotic relationship with ruminal cellulolytic microorganisms. During ruminal fermentation, microorganisms ferment the carbohydrates to produce energy, gases (methane and carbon dioxide), heat, and volatile fatty acids (VFA) in the rumen. Effective digestion of plants requires a means of dealing with cellulose, the most important structural material of plants, which is extremely insoluble and remarkably resistant to a chemical attack. Cellulose digesting enzymes that are called cellulases and produced by microorganisms are also present in the intestinal tract of several invertebrates that feed on wood and similar plant products. Rumen harbors the different functional groups of the microbial population, which is responsible for about seventy percent of total digestion in ruminants, and the ability to digest cellulose has been ascribed to a large number of bacterial, fungal and protozoal species isolated from the rumen.

The energy content of plants is low, and the herbivore must consume a large quantity in order to satisfy its energy requirements. Therefore, herbivores spend a lot of time eating; eight or more hours per day may be spent eating.

Secondly, the rumen microorganisms can utilize non-protein nitrogen for growth, converting it into microbial protein which becomes available to the host. Proteins provide the amino acids needed for maintenance of vital functions, reproduction, growth and lactation. Non-ruminant animals need pre-formed amino acids in their diets, but ruminants can utilize many other nitrogen sources because of their rare ability to synthesize amino acids and protein from non-protein nitrogen sources via a symbiotic relationship with ruminal microflora.

Ruminants possess a rumeno-hepatic nitrogen circulation mechanism, which does not exist in non-ruminant animals, in order to save nitrogen. By this mechanism, ruminants can be fed non-protein nitrogen sources such as urea and nitrate when nutrients are in short supply to obtain high quality milk protein. Feed proteins are degraded by microorganisms in the rumen via amino acids into ammonia. Ammonia is used by bacteria to build their proteins and any excess of it is absorbed through the rumen wall into the blood and then converted to urea in the liver. When a diet is low in nitrogen, large amounts of urea (which is normally excreted in the urine) return to the rumen where it can be used by the microbes. In non-ruminants, urea is always entirely lost in the urine. If ammonia levels in the rumen are too low there will be a nitrogen shortage for bacteria and feed digestibility will be reduced. Too much ammonia in the rumen leads to wastage, ammonia toxicity, and in extreme cases, death of the animal.

Thirdly, vitamin synthesis by the microbial population makes the ruminant animal virtually independent of dietary sources of all vitamins, except for vitamins A and D.

However, rumen fermentation also brings some disadvantages. First of all, rumen metabolism causes environmental pollution. Methane is produced as a natural consequence of the anaerobic fermentation; it is a potent greenhouse gas. Dairy farming is the largest agricultural source of methane, one of the greenhouse gases. Furthermore, the major environmental concern associated with the animal industry is ammonia volatilization, which increases atmospheric acid deposition because of the impact of nitrogen-rich excreta on the environment. Therefore, worldwide, scientific research projects have been carried out to find sustainable strategies for reducing emissions of the greenhouse gas methane and ammonia volatilization from domestic ruminants to the environment.

In conclusion, the symbiotic relationship between ruminants and ruminal microorganisms plays an important role in the recycling of nutrients between humans and plants. This relationship also contributes to human life by converting low quality nutrients (grass and hay) to high quality food (meat and milk). Humans will benefit more from ruminants as scientific knowledge about relationships between ruminants and rumen microorganisms advances.

Zubeyir Altuntas has a PhD in Molecular Medicine. He is a research associate in Immunology Department of The Cleveland Clinic.

I remember Karen Armstrong at the Islamophobia conference in Istanbul, telling us how Americans rushed to the bookstores after the notorious 9/11 events and swept the books they could find on Islam off the shelves, including her own. A Prophet for Our Time holds a critical ground, as attention turns to Islam and the Prophet with every scandalous event, whenever certain persons with “Arabic names” are engaged in violent acts, or some impudent remark or drawing to offend Muslims comes up in the West. Unfortunately, shock waves seem bound to keep coming, for as long as we wait for them to awaken us to the necessity of making an attempt to understand the “other.” As for Armstrong, this is what her efforts are all about: not only understanding the other, but also learning to respect them in order to live in a peaceful world.

A Prophet for Our Time is not a first. In fact, Armstrong published her earlier study Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet in 1991, ten years before 9/11. Armstrong had seen that Western people were in no position to revise their negative impression of the Prophet. She writes that Western culture has a long history of Islamophobia that dates back to the Crusades, and that Christian monks of the twelfth century in Europe insistently defamed him. In her own words, “This distorted version of the Prophet’s life became one of the received ideas of the West, and Western people have always found it difficult to see Muhammad in a more objective light.” After 9/11, things got worse as some sectors of the Western media continued this tradition of hostility, and went so far as to make provoking insults. Her response in the face of this unfair attitude is virtually her mission statement on writing about the Prophet:

“We can no longer afford to indulge this type of bigotry, because it is a gift to extremists who can use such statements to ‘prove’ that the Western world is indeed engaged on a new crusade against the Islamic world. Muhammad was not a man of violence. We must approach his life in a balanced way, in order to appreciate his considerable achievements…”

A Prophet for Our Time is a short biography, but not in the classical sense. The author informs the reader about the culture and conditions of the time, with the awareness of addressing a Western audience. As the events unfold, the book focuses on different aspects of the Prophet’s life such as the underlying reasons behind his wars, marriages, and so forth. We have a portrait of a decent person who made certain decisions and acted in a certain way for fair and understandable reasons. Rather than a holy figure, we are presented with a moral and social reformer who, in the face of a new situation, falls into a deep trance and then comes up with what he “believes” to be revelations to settle the issue. It should be noted that the overall narration reflects in many ways the tradition of Orientalist scholarship in which elements of Islam are explained by reference to the pre-Islamic society of the Arabian peninsula.

Here, one cannot help but remember Said Nursi challenging the critics of the Prophet. He wrote that if a person claims to bring messages from God, he is either telling the truth, or is the greatest liar. What we see in A Prophet for Our Time however, is an attempt to find a position in between. A comment in The Economist about the earlier biography summarizes the author’s stance: “respectful without being reverential…”

The Muslim audience may find the book a bit disappointing. In fact, the book has various points on which Muslims will agree, beg to differ, oppose, and even find offensive. Take the Prophet’s marriages for instance. They are explained in quite an agreeable way. However, Muslim scholars reject the account of the Prophet’s marriage to Zaynab as given in the book. Muslims believe that God Almighty willed people to understand that an adopted son (Zayd) was not like a real son, and the revelation about this marriage simply shattered a pre-Islamic taboo. Although the book notes this dimension, it rather makes the case sound like a love affair. At this point, we had better turn our attention to the sources of the book.

Some Western critics praise A Prophet for Our Time for being based on early Islamic sources such as Tabari and Ibn Ishaq. However, those who are familiar with Islamic studies know that the significance of these scholars of the early period was their compilation and recording of verbal reports which varied in reliability. Their works provided precious material for the next generation’s scholars, like Bukhari and others, who meticulously refined these reports and included the authenticated ones in their books. However, Orientalist researchers have felt very easy about referring to the early period compilations, taking the weak and unauthenticated reports as true, and rationalizing everything in their own way. Thus, most of the narrations from Tabari and Ibn Ishaq in A Prophet for Our Time are actually taken from just such an commentary by Alfred Guillaume.

The gharaniq issue can be given an as example. A Prophet for Our Time repeats the claim that the Prophet did not at first condemn the worship of the cult of the three gharaniq-the idols which pagans believed to be the three “daughters” of God. Different Muslim academics have indicated why such claims are impossible, so it will suffice to draw attention to a simple fact. Belief in one God, with absolute rejection of any idols, daughters, or sons to be ascribed to Him, was essential in Islam from the very beginning: the first martyrs of Islam, Sumayya and Yaser, preferred to die than to accept the idols of the Quraysh.

A Prophet for Our Time useful book from different aspects. Above all, Armstrong’s powerful language is especially commendable for its success in reflecting the author’s positive approach and dedication to mutual understanding between members of different faiths and to promoting a sense of “compassion” across the world. In this regard, Muslims as well as non-Muslims should respond to her call with their support. With due respect to her decent cause, I would still encourage those who would like to learn more about the Prophet to look for publications that are based on more authentic sources of Qur’anic exegesis and Traditions, and to be cautious about information derived from other sources that simply narrates narrations without any filters of authenticity.

Korkut Altay is a staff editor for The Fountain.

According to a recent report by the UN, factors like climate change and high demand for energy are the main reasons for switching to alternative sources, among which biogas is an essential one. The same report also indicates that increasingly higher shares of budgets are spent on biogas, solar and wind energy research.

What is Biogas?

Biogas is a mixture that is produced by microorganisms during the decomposition of vegetable and animal wastes in an oxygen-free environment. It consists of methane (60–70%), carbon dioxide (30–40%) and hydrogen-sulfide (0–2%). For its production, plant seeds that are rich in oil (e.g. sunflower), vegetables rich in carbohydrates (e.g. potato, wheat, corn, beet), fiber-rich plants (e.g. flax), other plant and tree remains (e.g. branches, hay, roots, bark), and animal remains can be utilized as raw material. Municipal and industrial waste can also be utilized on the condition that they are purified from inorganic materials like plastic and glass.

Biogas is an environmentally friendly energy source that is easy to produce almost anywhere. Biogas production capacity is directly proportional to the agricultural level of a country. Its ease of production and relatively higher efficiency compared to other renewable energy sources make it particularly important for countries which are not self-sufficient in energy production.

Biogas production in reactors

Biogas is produced by two main methods. In one case, the amount of biogas that can be extracted from the available organic waste is calculated. Then reactor tanks are designed according to the rate of production. In the other case, the energy requirement of a certain system (in terms of biogas energy) is calculated first, and then the reactors are built accordingly. The main concern in both designs is of course achieving the maximum efficiency and ease with minimum cost.

We can list the parameters in the design of a reactor tank as follows:

– Type and amount of organic material

– Type and amount of raw material

– Meeting the heat requirement of the chemical process

– Mixing various materials in appropriate proportions

Currently, reactors that are fed with raw materials on a daily basis are widely used in rural areas. This type of reactor is known as a continuous reactor. In cases where daily feeding is not possible, semi-continuous reactors are used instead. In this second type, re-feeding of the reactor is not necessary till the end of the first production cycle, but at the end of each cycle, the reactors have to be emptied and cleaned for the next cycle.

Keeping the temperature of the medium at the correct level is crucial. Solar energy can be used to manage this. It can help heat the liquid mixture up to the desired temperature and prevent the heat loss in certain designs by providing the green-house effect.

Implementing in daily use

How to implement biogas as an alternative source of energy in real life is surely an important subject. Currently, energy production from biogas is carried out either by direct burning or enriching and converting it into other forms of fuel to be used in industry.

One may wonder how good biogas really is compared to current energy sources. In terms of biogas production capacity, 440 lbs of food waste is equivalent to the daily manure production from 5 cows. From this much food waste or manure, 88 ft of biogas can be obtained. In terms of energy, this is equivalent to 9 lbs of wood, or 3 lbs of charcoal or 0.16 gallons of coal oil, 1.5 lbs of gasoline and finally 56.50 ft of natural gas. What can we really do with this much energy? Here is a small list of things we can do:

– cook 3 meals a day for a normal size family for 3 days

– run a 2-horsepower engine for an hour

– keep a 60–100 Watt lamp on for six hours, which is approximately 1.25kWh electrical energy

– heat two bedrooms daily

Humanitarian issues

Although when the western developed countries are considered, biogas is an excellent way of making use of waste food and other organic remains, it still calls for global thinking. In western countries, cutting food waste and turning it into useable energy is an advantage of biogas. Whether that energy is really needed is another issue to think about. People need to evaluate honestly how much energy they really need; they must consider the lights that are left on for no purpose, the heating and cooling systems that are over-used for extreme comfort, the excess of food they leave on plates and the pots of food dumped in the trash… Besides, in much of the rest of the world, there is malnutrition and a shortage of food. So, a straightforward question is, “Is it fair to consume edibles to make energy that we do not necessarily need, while there are people suffering from hunger?”

Biogas clearly holds promise to resolve both the energy problem and the environmental crisis of our modern days. However, will it ever be possible to find resources that can satisfy the consumption needs of a humanity that lacks virtues such as contentment and the desire to share?

Bekir Mugayitoğlu is an environmental engineer. He lives in West Virginia, USA.

Dennis Wholey (1986) interviewed experts from the perspective of the pessimists; the conclusion was that perhaps only 20% of all Americans are happy. Father John Powell (1989) agrees: “One-third of all Americans wake up depressed every day. Professionals estimate also that only 10 to 15 percent of Americans think of themselves as truly happy and ‘Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children and by children to adults.’” (Thomas Szasz 1987). On the other hand, there is a sharp contrast in the responses of optimists. For example, in Western Europe and North America in total 8 out of 10 people rate themselves as more satisfied than dissatisfied. Less than 1 in 10 rate themselves as more dissatisfied than satisfied. Likewise, some three-fourths of people say yes, they have felt excited, proud, or pleased at some point during the past few weeks, while no more than a third say they have felt lonely, bored, or depressed. Across languages, these self-reports seem to retain the same meaning.

“If you fell happy you are happy, that is all; although we define happiness as consisting of something deeper and more lasting than a momentary good mood, our working definition is simply whatever people mean when describing their lives as happy” (Freedman 1978). Happy people are less self-focused, less hostile or abusive, and less vulnerable to disease in comparison to depressed people. They are also more loving, forgiving, trusting, energetic, decisive, creative, sociable, reliable, helpful, and religious (Myers 1993; Veenhoven 1988).

Sources of happiness

1. Age and gender: Men more often act antisocial or have a tendency to alcoholism, while women more often think deeply and have a greater tendency for depression or anxiety, however, men and women are equally likely to declare themselves as “very happy” or “satisfied” with their lives. This conclusion is based on surveys of 170,000 adults in 16 countries (Inglehart 1990), on surveys of 18,000 university students in 39 countries (Michalos 1991), and on a meta-analysis of 146 other studies (Haring, Stock, & Okun 1984). The results are the same, irrespective of age, with age not being significantly related to the level of happiness a person might have.

2. Culture: Some cultures are favorable to an increased satisfaction with life, if not more positive emotions, in particular affluent cultures marked by political freedom (Diener 2000). Open cultures encourage more individual satisfaction, and therefore garner more happiness in comparison to closed cultures. But the relationship between culture and happiness is not well documented yet.

3. Genetics: Certain characteristics and temperaments also appear to predispose one to experience happiness. Some of these characteristics, for example extraversion, are known to be genetically influenced, which helps explain Lykken and Tellegen’s (1996) finding that about 50% of the variation in current happiness is inheritable. Like cholesterol levels, happiness is genetically influenced but not genetically fixed. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990, 1999) has observed an increased quality of life when work and leisure engage a person’s skills.

4. Wealth: Most people deny that money buys happiness, but a significant portion supports the idea that wealthy people are happy people. There may be some connection between wealth and well-being. People were asked how satisfied they were with 13 aspects of their lives, including friends, house, and schooling, and Americans expressed the least satisfaction with “the amount of money they have to live on” (Roper Organization, 1984). In particular the question “What would improve your quality of life?” most often received “the answer “More money” according to the University of Michigan national survey (Campbell, 1981, p. 41), and the more the better. In one Gallup Poll (Gallup & Newport, 1990), one in two women, two in three men, and four in five people earning more than $75,000 reported that they would like to be rich. Thus, the modern American dream seems to have become life, liberty, and the purchase of happiness.

The annual UCLA and American Council on Education surveyed nearly a quarter million students entering college; when asked why they were going to college the reason “to make more money” was listed as a “very important” reason “”for one in two in 1971, rising to three in four in 1998 (Astin, Green, & Korn 1987; Sax, Astin, Korn, & Mahoney 1998). The proportion who consider it “very important or essential” that they become “very well off financially” rose from 39% in 1970 to 74% in 1998. As Diener (2000) reports, there is some tendency for wealthy nations to have more satisfied people.

In poor countries, such as India, where low incomes prevent the ability to satisfy basic human needs, being relatively well off does predict greater well-being (Argyle 1999). Psychologically as well as materially, it is better to be high caste than low. However, in affluent countries, where most can afford the necessities of life, affluence matters surprisingly little. In the United States, Canada, and Europe, the correlation between income and personal happiness, “is surprisingly weak (indeed, virtually negligible)” Ronald Inglehart (1990). Happiness tends to be lower among the very poor. Once a person is comfortably off money begins to provide diminishing returns on happiness. All these findings support the idea that wealth or richness may help with being happy in some sense but it is not enough on its own.

5. Friends: People report happier feelings when with others (Pavot, Diener, & Fujita 1990). When asked by the National Opinion Research Center, “How many close friends would you say you have?” (excluding family members), 26% of those reporting fewer than five friends and 38% of those reporting five or more friends said they were “very happy.

6. Marriage: Most people are happier when in a relationship than when not. Repeated surveys in Europe and North America have produced a consistent result: Compared with those who never marry, and in particular compared with those who have been separated or divorced, married people report that they are happier and more satisfied with life. For example, among the 35,024 Americans surveyed by the National Opinion Research Center between 1972 and 1996, 40% of married adults declared themselves to be very happy. Happy people are more appealing marriage partners, because they are more good-natured, more outgoing, and more focused on others (Veenhoven 1988), and therefore they are generally socially attractive. Unhappy people are more often socially rejected; at the same time, positive, happy people more readily form happy relationships.

7. Faith: An active religiosity is associated with several mental health criteria. First, actively religious people are much less likely than irreligious people to get into trouble with the law, to abuse drugs or alcohol, to divorce, or to commit suicide (Batson, Schoenrade, & Ventis 1993; Colasanto & Shriver 1989). Religiously active people even tend to be physically healthier and to live longer (Koenig 1997; Matthews & Larson 1997). For example, compared with religiously inactive widows, recently widowed women who worship regularly reported more joy in their lives. (Harvey, Barnes, & Greenwood 1987; McGloshen & O’Bryant 1988; Siegel & Kuykendall 1990). Among mothers of developmentally challenged children, those with a deep religious faith are less vulnerable to depression (Friedrich, Cohen, & Wilturner 1988). People of faith also tend to retain or recover greater happiness after suffering divorce, unemployment, serious illness, or bereavement (Ellison 1991; McIntosh, Silver, & Wortman 1993). For people later in life the two best predictors of life satisfaction are health and religiousness (Okun & Stock 1987).

Religiously active people also report somewhat higher levels of happiness (Inglehart 1990). The highest scores on a spiritual commitment scale (by agreeing, e. g., that “My religious faith is the most important influence in my life”) were twice as likely to declare themselves as “very happy” as those who were low in spiritual commitment. The National Opinion Research Center surveys reveal higher levels of “very happy” people among those who feel “extremely close to God” (41%) rather than “somewhat close” (29%) or not close or unbelieving (23%). Self-rated spirituality and happiness may be both socially desirable responses (US Gallup Organization survey, 1984).

Seeking to explain these associations between faith and happiness, researchers have considered several possibilities. A partial explanation seems to be that faith communities provide social support (Ellison, Gay, & Glass 1989). Religion is usually practiced communally, involving “the fellowship of kindred spirits,” “the bearing of one another’s burdens,” “the ties of love that bind.” This was the vision of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, who declared, “We must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own, celebrate together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our community as members of the same body.”

Another possible explanation for the faith and happiness correlation is the sense of meaning and purpose that many people derive from their faith. Seligman (1988) has contended that a loss of meaning feeds today’s high depression rate, and that finding meaning requires an attachment to something larger than the lonely self. For Rabbi Harold Kushner (1987), religion satisfies “the most fundamental human need of all. That is the need to know that somehow we matter, that our lives mean something, count as something more than just a momentary blip in the universe. Said Nursi, a leading Muslim scholar of the twentieth century, asserts that true happiness can only be achieved through establishing and strengthening our connection with God. Through the intellect and imagination, the human being is a unique creature who is concerned with every part of creation. Human happiness encompasses not only individual happiness, but also the happiness of our beloved ones, our neighbors and relatives, our fellow countrymen and even the people of the Earth. This can be extended to animals and plants as well. Again through the intellect, our desires and fears are endless. God is the only one capable of answering all of our prayers, satisfying all of our needs, granting all of our desires and protecting us from all our fears. Only in submission to such a Lord can a human heart find satisfaction. A Qur’anic verse indicates the same principle: “It is in the remembrance of and whole-hearted devotion to God that hearts find rest and contentment” (Rad 13:28).

Many religious worldviews not only propose answers to some of life’s deepest questions, they also encourage hope when confronting what Sheldon Solomon, Jeffery Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski (1991) call “the terror that results from our awareness of vulnerability and death.” Religion offers a hope that in the end, the very end, “all shall be well, and all shall be well, all manner of things shall be well” (Julian of Norwich, 1373/1901). In Islamic faith, death is not an end, but rather a door to a new life. Just as the death of a seed leads to the life of a plant, the death of a human leads to an eternal life (Nursi, 10^th Word).

Conclusion

Happiness is an expression of a mood which has many meanings for different interest groups. For example, optimists may find different ways in their life to be happy and they are usually happy. Pessimists have more reasons in life to be unhappy. There are many factors that may influence happiness. These are age and gender, culture, genetics, wealth, friends, marriage and faith. Age, gender, and income give little clue to someone’s happiness. Having a supportive network of close relationships and having a faith that encompasses social support, purpose, and hope have the strongest correlation with feelings of happiness. Therefore, faith is significant source of happiness that an individual must pay attention to. All belief systems support being optimistic, having friends, and finding the right path if one follows certain rules. These rules are universal virtues that anyone can obtain, such as honesty, being helpful, love, hard work, patience, forgiveness, submission, and etc. All these embrace and furnish the people’s life, providing infinite happiness for human beings. And as Said Nursi stresses that true happiness can only be achieved through establishing and strengthening our connection with God, and by remembering that it is He Who always satisfies our all needs.

Salih Uslu is an academician and freelance writer. He lives in Boston and teaches at local universities. He can be reached at saluslu@gmail.com.

References

1. Argyle, M. (1986). The psychology of happiness. London: Methuen.

2. Astin, A. W., Green, K. C. & Korn, W. S. (1987). The American freshman: Twenty year trends. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Los Angeles.

3. Batson, C. D., Schoenrade, P. A. & Ventis, W. L. (1993). Religion and the individual: A social psychological perspective. New York: Oxford University Press.

4. Campbell, A. (1981). The sense of well-being in America. New York: McGraw-Hill.

5. Colasanto, D. & Shriver, J. (1989, May). Mirror of America: Middle-aged face marital crisis. Gallup Report, No. 284, 34-38.

6. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row.

7. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). If we are so rich, why aren’t we happy? American Psychologist, 54, 821-827.

8. Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a

9. Ellison, C. G. (1991). Religious involvement and subjective well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 32, 80-99.

10. Ellison, C. G., Gay, D. A. & Glass, T. A. (1989). Does religious commitment contribute to individual life satisfaction? Social Forces, 68, 100-123.

11. Freedman, J. (1978). Happy people. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

37. Friedrich, W. N., Cohen, D. S. & Wilturner, L. T. (1988). Specific beliefs as moderator variables in maternal coping with mental retardation. Children’s Health Care, 17, 40-44.

12. Gallup, G. G. (1984,March). Commentary on the state of religion in the U. S. today. Religion in America: The Gallup Report, 222

13. Gallup, G. G. & Newport, F. (1990,July). Americans widely disagree on what constitutes rich. Gallup Poll Monthly, 28-36.

14. Haring, M. J., Stock, W. A. & Okun, M. A. (1984). A research synthesis of gender and social class as correlates of subjective well-being. Human Relations, 37, 645-657.

15. Hart, A. (1988). 15 principles for achieving happiness. Dallas, TX: Word.

16. Harvey, C. D., Barnes, G. E. & Greenwood, L. (1987). Correlates of morale among Canadian widowed persons. Social Psychiatry, 22, 65-72.

17. Inglehart, R. (1990). Culture shift in advanced industrial society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

18. Koenig, H. G. (1997). Is religion good for your health? The effects of religion on physical and mental health. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.

19. Kushner, H. (1987,December). You’ve got to believe in something. Redbook, 92-94.

20. Lykken, D. & Tellegan, A. (1996). Happiness is a stochastic phenomenon. Psychological Science, 7, 186-189.

21. Matthews, D. A. & Larson, D. B. (1997). The faith factor: An annotated bibliography of clinical research on spiritual subjects(Vols. I-IV). Rockville, MD: National Institute for Healthcare Research and Georgetown University Press.

22. McGloshen, T. H. & O’Bryant, S. L. (1988). The psychological well-being of older, recent widows. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 12, 99-116.

23. McIntosh, D. N., Silver, R. C. & Wortman, C. B. (1993). Religion’s role in adjustment to a negative life event: Coping with the loss of a child. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 812-821.

24. Michalos, A. (1991). Global report on student well-being: Life satisfaction and happiness. Vol. 1. New York: Springer-Verlag.

68. Myers, D. G. (1993). The pursuit of happiness. New York: Avon.

25. Okun, M. A. & Stock, W. A. (1987). Correlates and components of subjective well-being among the elderly. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 6, 95-112.

26. Pavot, W., Diener, E. & Fujita, F. (1990). Extraversion and happiness. Personality and Individual Differences, 11, 1299-1306.

27. Powell, J. (1989). Happiness is an inside job. Valencia, CA: Tabor.

84. Roper Organization. (1984,August/September). Public Opinion, 25[Untitled survey].

28. Russell, B. (1985). The conquest of happiness. London: Unwin. (Original work published 1930)

29. Sax, L. J., Astin, A. W., Korn, W. S. & Mahoney, K. M. (1998). The American freshman: National norms for fall 1998. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles.

30. Seligman, M. E. P. (1988,October). Boomer blues. Psychology Today, 50-55.

31. Siegel, J. M. & Kuykendall, D. H. (1990). Loss, widowhood, and psychological distress among the elderly. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, 519-524.

32. Veenhoven, R. (1988). The utility of happiness. Social Indicators Research, 20, 333-354.

33. Wholey, D. (1986). Are you happy? Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

34. Winokur, J. (1987). The portable curmudgeon. New York: New American Library.

]]>