Features

It is like medicine dosage — it has got to be just right. Too little won’t cure you and too much will hurt you. Technology innovation must be fast but not too fast, at the risk of becoming a nuisance instead of a benefit.

Recent manufacturers misfortune is here to prove that too fast can be harmful to makers and consumers alike.

So Samsung has just had issues with some of its new flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone bursting into flames while being recharged. It is to be pointed out, however, that hardly a handful of units, for each million units sold, are affected. The Korean company is taking corrective action with a massive recall.

Last July a driverless Tesla car killed its passenger because of a flaw that made it to over speed. World number one carmaker Toyota has also had to do vehicles recall not long ago. Last August, it concerned some 300,000 vehicles recalled to “replace both rear suspension arm assemblies”.

Luckily for companies like Microsoft a “recall” to fix less-than-perfect software products is always easier than with cars or smartphones, for no physical action and dramatically expensive action is required. All that Microsoft has to do, whenever certain aspects of a hastily deployed new release of MS-Windows of MS-Office are involved, is to send users an update or a quick fix via the Internet — et voilà.

Naturally, minor software imperfections have less serious consequences than battery defects that cause a machine to go up in flames, or cars that cause accidents and hurt people, or even medicine that is not enough tested and has unpredictable side effects. However, the concept, in theory, is the same. Why doesn’t the industry take the time that is necessary to make safe, well tested, flawless products? For it definitely has the means to do so. Why, when it comes to high-tech and electronics, are equipment and software getting so complicated overnight?

Well, actually we all know why the industry doesn’t take the time; it’s simply to remain competitive and to achieve higher profits. So the question rather is “how come government regulations do not impose more rigorous measures in terms of quality control?”

Any responsibility on the consumer side? There may well be some.

We always want more and we want it now. Smartphones, computers and cars with more features and functionality, faster processors, better cameras, fancier cars, batteries with longer life, we never seem to have enough of them. It is actually a vicious circle whereby the industry keeps feeding us with these and we helplessly fall in the trap, always demanding more. Did you say addiction?

But again, and as the title of this article implies, a wiser global strategy would simply consist not of giving up on improving products, designing better ones or giving consumers innovating products, but by releasing them at a more reasonable frequency, by taking the time to bring them somewhat closer to perfection, or at least with no major flaw.

There is another consumer complaint that is often heard and it has nothing to do with products flaws; it is the time to adapt to innovation. Things are really going too fast, by any measure. I recently had the chance to test drive a new car in Amman; a high-end luxury SUV. Whereas I loved the car, I found that it has so many new gadgets, features, options, screens, bells and whistles of all kinds — many of them having nothing to do with the pure, essential automotive requirements — that even for the tech-head in me it was just too much. I was thinking about the time it would take the average driver to learn and to master all these innovations, to put them to good use; and how long it would take before most of them will break or fail.

I still doubt it that any industry is going to slow down innovating and manufacturing. This is just the way it goes. We just have to adapt.

Sleep irregularities may be tied to a variety of health problems, such as diabetes and obesity, that can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, a leading US doctors group says. 

The risk may go up when people get too little sleep, or too much, according to a statement from the American Heart Association (AHA). 

“We do not know the optimal amount of sleep needed to minimise the risk of heart disease,” but people who get less than seven hours a night or more than nine hours may be more at risk than their peers who fall somewhere in the middle of that range, said lead statement author Dr Marie St-Onge of Columbia University in New York City, in an e-mail.

Previous research suggests that sleep irregularities can increase people’s risks for a variety of cardiovascular disorders, such as clogged or hardened arteries, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat and stroke as well as metabolic problems such as high cholesterol, obesity and diabetes that all contribute to cardiovascular disease. 

“There is certainly a vicious cycle that may be going on with sleep and chronic diseases,” St-Onge added. “Bad sleep can increase the risk of obesity which then increases the risk of sleep disorders.”

Much of the scientific research about sleep and heart health focuses on insomnia or sleep apnoea. 

People are diagnosed with insomnia when they have difficulty falling or staying asleep for at least three nights a week for three or more months. 

Sleep apnoea is diagnosed when someone has an average of five or more pauses in breathing, which can last seconds to minutes, per hour of sleep. These pauses are most commonly due to a narrowed airway.

Often, these sleep issues are tied to two other health problems: diabetes and obesity. Some studies have found sleep can influence what people eat and impact their risk of obesity, for example. 

But more research is needed to see how sleep influences weight over long periods of time, according to the AHA statement. 

Longer studies might also help explain how sleep variations influence cholesterol levels, diabetes, blood pressure or other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. 

It’s also unclear whether treating sleep disorders could lower the risk of cardiovascular disease. 

“The problem is that chronic diseases, like cardiovascular disease, develop gradually,” said Kristen Knutson, a researcher at the University of Chicago who wasn’t involved in the AHA statement. 

“So it’s possible that someone could be on the path toward hypertension or heart disease and not know it because it’s early in the process,” Knutson added by e-mail. 

Still, if poor sleep can speed the development of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, it makes sense for people to seek help for sleep irregularities sooner rather than later. 

 “My suggestion for patients is if they don’t feel they are sleeping well, they should raise the issue with their doctor themselves; don’t wait for your doctor to ask you about your sleep,” Knutson said. 

About 50 to 70 million US adults regularly don’t get enough sleep or suffer from a sleep disorder, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute estimates. 

It’s a problem that’s been getting worse over time. For example, in 2009, about 29 per cent of adults reported getting not enough sleep, compared with about 22 per cent in 1977. 

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society recently advised that adults get at least seven hours of sleep nightly to promote overall health.

“Heart disease is only one way things can go wrong, and poor or too short sleep can send people into a spiral,” said Till Roenneberg, of Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, Germany.

“Sleeping too short and even more important — sleeping outside the time provided by the body clock — can support metabolic diseases and weight gain, which can lead to more creating difficulties, which lead to bad sleep sending you back into the loop,” Roenneberg, who wasn’t involved in the AHA statement, added by e-mail. 

I am extremely delighted to report that I am responsible for our daughter’s intelligence. Just like my mother-in-law is accountable for my spouse’s brainpower and my mother for mine. And, dear reader, your mother for yours, because according to the latest research conducted at Cambridge University, children inherit intelligence from their mothers as the intelligence genes are located in the X chromosome. Therefore, since women have two of them, they are twice as likely to pass them on.

Now, isn’t that wonderful? I just love researchers who occasionally come up with such obvious findings. It makes the entire process of going through the excruciating labour pain and giving birth to a new life, somehow, worth it. For the mother, that is.

But when our daughter was born, on this very day more than two decades ago, I checked her hair even before I checked her intelligence. My husband wanted her to have straight hair while I wished her head to be full of curls. As soon as I pushed the bonnet that the nurse had tied around her little chin, I saw that her scalp was covered with a thick mop. Her hair was ramrod straight but for a tiny curl that trailed over her left ear.

She, on the other hand, examined me with unblinking eyes the moment the doctor handed her over. The other kids were bawling away in the hospital nursery but our daughter observed me quietly. She had known me for nine months from inside the stomach and now she wanted to match that impression from the other side of my tummy. I pulled the solitary curl over her ear that she was born with, to please me, I’m sure. She smiled in response. That toothless grin reassured me that she had inherited all my quirky traits, including smiling for no reason at all. 

When I was expecting our daughter, everyone told me that I was going to have a son because my swollen belly tilted towards the right, which was a sure sign that I was carrying a male progeny. But my grandmother knew better and kept knitting pink sweaters and booties for the baby. My mother also constantly looked for female names in the new infant catalogue she had bought. The women in my family not only had high IQ, they had great intuition too and their perception came true a few months down the line. 

Over the years, our daughter’s biggest grudge with me was that I did not praise her in public. I denied the accusation of course, like any self-respecting mother would. My own parents used to point out my mistakes, but left the praising bit to my teachers, relatives and friends. I ended up following the same example that they had set. 

But in this age of helicopter parenting where parents hovered overhead, overseeing their child’s life, paying extremely close attention to their experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions, one had to be more forthright with one’s praise, I realised.

“You were very articulate in the TV debate,” I told our daughter.

“Where did I fumble,” she asked.

“Nowhere at all!” I gushed.

“Are you alright mum?” she asked. 

“Eloquent, coherent, well researched,” I continued.

“Don’t scare me, mother,” she said.

“I’m praising you,” I protested.

“Be factual, please,” she begged.

There was a minute’s silence as we studied each other.

“Ok, happy birthday,” I pulled the familiar curl over her ear.

“Thank you,” she smiled.

LOS ANGELES — Some things aren’t worth the wait.

“Blair Witch” and “Bridget Jones’s Baby”, sequels to films that first hit theatres a generation ago, both stumbled in their debuts this weekend, earning a meagre $9.5 million and $8.5 million, respectively, final industry tallies showed on Monday.

They were easily overpowered by “Sully”, the Clint Eastwood drama about the so-called “Miracle on the Hudson” emergency plane landing that features Tom Hanks as Capt. Chesley Sullenberger. The Warner Bros. release topped the domestic box office for a second consecutive weekend, earning $21.6 million and pushing its stateside total to $70.2 million.

“It’s just a well-made story,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. distribution executive vice president. “The word-of-mouth is sensational.”

The weekend’s other wide-release launch, Oliver Stone’s “Snowden”, was also over-shadowed by the aeronautical heroics, picking up $8 million from 2,443 locations for a fourth-place finish. The look at Edward Snowden stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and got a warm reception at the Toronto International Film Festival, with some calling it a return to form for Stone, a director whose recent work such as “The Savages” has failed to capture the renown of earlier efforts like “Platoon” and “JFK”.

However, the NSA leaker remains a controversial figure in American politics, a whistle blower to some and a traitor to others, which might have limited the picture’s appeal. Open Road is distributing the film domestically, and if it continues to attract some awards heat, it’s possible it could chug along to a respectable gross. “Snowden” cost a reported $50 million to produce.

It’s a disappointing result for “Blair Witch”, which fell short of tracking. Heading into the weekend, some rival studios expected the film to earn $20 million, potentially toppling “Sully” from its throne. A lot went wrong, starting with some bad reviews and a D CinemaScore. Moreover, younger moviegoers may not have been familiar with the horror franchise. The first film in the series revolutionised theatrical distribution and kicked off the trend of “found footage” stories when it hit theatres in 1999. Made for a mere $60,000, it rode some eerie marketing to a $248.6 million global gross. A poorly received follow-up hit theatres in 2000, when it was pulverised by critics and made a fraction of the first film’s massive haul.

Lionsgate produced the latest sequel for an economical $5 million and pushed it out over 3,121 locations. It debuted the film at Comic-Con to generate buzz, screening it under its working title “The Woods” and surprising fans who had no idea they were watching a new “Blair Witch”. But there are a lot of horror films in theatres, with “Don’t Breathe” and “When the Bough Breaks” already scratching the itch to be scared and leaving little room for “Blair Witch” to break through.

At a corporate level, Lionsgate is undergoing a transition and could use some new film franchises. The studio has wrapped up its “Hunger Games” films and is moving the “Divergent” series to television. It also announced Friday that Rob Friedman, the motion picture group co-chair and one of the guiding forces behind the “Twilight” saga, is stepping down. The studio is earning strong buzz on “La La Land”, a musical that is expected to be an Oscar player, “Hacksaw Ridge”, a World War II drama from Mel Gibson, and “Deepwater Horizon”, a true-life action tale with Mark Wahlberg.

“Bridget Jones’s Baby” is another exercise in diminishing returns. It has been 15 years since Jones (Renee Zellweger) first captured audiences’ attention in “Bridget Jones’s Diary” with her romantic travails and 12 years since “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason” caught moviegoers up with her on-again, off-again relationship with dashing Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth). The romantic comedy is backed by Universal, Miramax, StudioCanal and Working Title, and cost $35 million to produce. It’s faring better overseas, where it opened in first place in 24 territories and racked up $29.9 million, but moviegoers probably shouldn’t expect a part four.

Universal’s domestic distribution chief Nick Carpou said he thinks the film will fare well in the coming weeks as counterprogramming. He noted that future films such as “The Magnificent Seven” and “Storks”, don’t cater to the female consumers who support “Bridget Jones’s Baby”.

“We love these characters, we love the actors playing them, and we’re confident in how it will play out,” said Carpou.

Sony’s “Don’t Breathe” rounded out the top five, nabbing $5.6 million to bring its domestic total to an impressive $75.3 million after three weeks.

Among newcomers, Pure Flix courted the faith-based set with “Hillsong: Let Hope Rise”, a documentary about the Australian Christian group that made $1.3 million from 816 locations.

“The Disappointments Room,” Relativity Media’s first release since the studio emerged from bankruptcy protection in April, continued to flounder. After debuting last weekend to an anaemic $1.4 million, it plunged 71 per cent, eking out $400,000 and pushing its gross to $2.2 million. The horror film about a house’s haunted past stars Kate Beckinsale and cost roughly $15 million to produce. Its release was frequently delayed as Relativity’s financial problems worsened. At one point, in Chapter 11 filings, the studio estimated that “The Disappointments Room” would earn $72.6 million over its lifetime, a figure that factors in estimated home entertainment revenue along with theatrical grosses.

It’s failure is unwelcome news for Relativity, which still faces questions about its long-term viability. The studio has been trying to come up with a plan to service its debts and raise more working capital. It has announced plans to remake “High Noon” and will back “Hunter Killer”, an action film with Gerard Butler. Relativity has other films hitting theatres this year, including the comedy “Materminds” and the thriller “Kidnapped”.

In milestones, Illumination Entertainment and Universal’s “The Secret Life of Pets” crossed $800 million globally. It’s a huge hit; one that has already spurred a sequel. Illumination, the animation label behind the film and the “Despicable Me” series, also debuted “Sing”, its upcoming Christmas release about an “American Idol”-style talent competition, to strong reviews at Toronto.

Overall ticket sales couldn’t compete with a year-ago period that saw the debuts of the Johnny Depp gangster film “Black Mass” and a sequel to “Maze Runner”. Revenues dropped 21 per cent to just under $90 million.

“This is what we typically see in September,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with ComScore. “The summer movies have ended and this is the after-party.”

First introduced in 2013 and now thoroughly redesigned and enhanced for 2016, the new Nissan Altima, brings an assertive new corporate design language to the brand’s bread and butter large saloon. Chunky, sharp, edgy and decidedly aggressive, the new Altima adds a sense of drama to an otherwise conservative car segment, in which it has consistently been among the top players regionally.

To match its overtly sporty new aesthetic, the new Altima receives various chassis improvements, tweaks and revisions to improve ride quality and handling ability. Meanwhile, improved equipment levels include a more advanced driving assistance and safety technology suite, optionally including Predictive Forward Collision Warning, radar-based Blind Spot Warning, Forward Emergency Braking, Intelligent Cruise Control and Rear Cross Traffic Alert systems, depending on model.

Decidedly assertive

Complex and busy but distinctly assertive, the Nissan Altima’s new Energetic Flow design language features an aggressive new V-Motion grille corporate face — similar to the Nissan Maxima and GT-R — and narrow inwardly angled boomerang-like headlights stretched back but with a sharp peak rising midway. Meanwhile, the use of active grille shutters, underfloor covers and rakishly descending roofline help achieve low CD0.26 aerodynamics at best for the new Altima.

All-new in design forward of the A-pillars, the Altima features deeper more sculpted air intakes, sharper lower lip and more ridged, chiselled, wavy and angular surfacing, which create a more palpable sense of tension and forward movement. More subtly redesigned at the rear, the new Altima re-sculpted bumper features a dark lower element creating a more urgent demeanour and accentuating its high, short rear deck and built-in spoiler.

Smooth delivery

Available with a choice of either naturally aspirated 2.5-litre 4-cylinder or 3.5-litre V6-cylinder engines in the Middle East, the entry-level Altima’s otherwise familiar engine now develops 182BHP at 6000rpm and 180lb/ft at 4000rpm in a linear and progressive fashion. Smooth and eager, with a long stroke under-square design, the Altima’s 2.5-litre engine is responsive off-the-line, and comfortably flexible on the move when overtaking or driving on inclines.

Driving front wheels via a smoothly efficient continually variable transmission (CVT) using pulleys rather than cogs, the Altima 2.5 returns 7.58l/100km fuel efficiency, combined. Refined, willing and with good throttle control, its engine is well-suited to CVT transmission, which is now retuned to behave more similar to an automatic gearbox, with less feeling of elasticity through ratios and better definition for pre-set simulated speeds when using manual shift mode.

Tidy and supple

With familiar MacPherson strut front and independent multi-link rear suspension — with front and rear anti-roll bars — set-up featuring revised dampers, bushes and geometry, the new Altima’s chassis benefits from enhance ride comfort and handling agility, stability and control, while equal length half-shafts reduce torque steer. Delivering supple, refined and comfortable ride quality, and stable, settled and reassuring highway cruising during test drive in Dubai, the Altima 2.5 demonstrated good body control albeit with slight lean through corners. 

More agile than expected for its mid-size front-drive saloon segment, the Altima 2.5’s lighter front weighting allowed for noticeably tidier and eager turn-in than its 3.5-litre V6 sister model, standard brake-based torque vectoring Active Understeer Control aids cornering agility and manoeuvrability. Relatively modest width 215/55R17 tyres provide decent grip, comfort and steering feel, while ABS brakes, electronic brakeforce distribution and electronic stability and traction control systems are standard equipment.

Comfortable cabin

During a short test drive opportunity on mostly smooth and straight Dubai roads, there was little chance to push the Altima to its dynamic limits, but its retuned power-assisted steering is quick and precise, with somewhat enhanced road feel. And though noticeably improved, a more thorough test drive would have been welcome to evaluate the re-worked transmission through demanding manoeuvres where responsive, swiftly successive and committed pre-set ratio changes would be required.

Refined for noise, vibration and harshness and comfortable with spacious and well-adjustable seating inside, the new Altima features user-friendly controls including a 7-inch touchscreen and a generous 517-litre boot. Tastefully design with choice of beige or charcoal leather or cloth, the darker cloth trim as tested seemed elegantly business-like. Benefitting from improved infotainment systems, the Altima features smartphone integration, mobile apps, text message assistance, voice recognition and additional optional smartphone accessible features.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2.5-litre, transverse 4 cylinders

Bore x stroke: 89 x 100mm

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, variable timing

Compression ratio: 10:1

Rev limit: 6,200rpm

Gearbox: Continuously variable transmission, simulated 7-speed auto, FWD

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 182 (184.5) 135.7] @6,000rpm

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 180 (244) @4,000rpm

0-97km/h: 8.2-seconds (est.)

Fuel consumption, city/highway/combined: 8.71-/6.03-/7.58-litres/100km*  *US EPA

Fuel capacity: 68 litres

Length: 4,879mm

Width: 1,830mm

Height: 1,471mm

Wheelbase: 2,776mm

Track: 1,585mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.26

Headroom, F/R: 1,016/942mm

Legroom, F/R: 1,143/916mm

Hip room, F/R: 1,371/1323mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1,432/1,432mm

Boot volume: 517 litres

Kerb weight: 1,440kg

Weight distribution, (%) F/R: 60/40

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link

Steering: Power-assisted, rack & pinion

Turning circle: 11.4 metres

Lock-to-lock: 2.8 turns

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 297 x 26mm/discs, 292 x 9mm

Tyres: 215/55R17

WASHINGTON — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said on Thursday it is recalling 1.9 million vehicles worldwide for an airbag defect linked to three deaths and five injuries.

It is the latest in a series of large-scale airbag recalls, as the auto industry grapples with a widening array of problems from potentially unstable inflators to bad software.

The Fiat Chrysler recall involves non-deployment of airbags and seat belt pretensioners in some crashes. It affects 1.4 million US vehicles sold between 2010 and 2014, including the Chrysler Sebring, 200, Dodge Calibre, Avenger, Jeep Patriot and Compass SUVs.

“There is a hypersensitivity now in the industry to vehicle safety,” said Scott Upham, of Valient Market Research. Automakers continue to tweak airbag software, he said, noting that there is “a fine line between telling the bag when to deploy or not” in some situations.

Last week, General Motors Co. said it would recall nearly 4.3 million vehicles worldwide due to a software defect that can prevent airbags from deploying, a flaw already linked to one death and three injuries. That defect is similar but not identical to the Fiat Chrysler issue.

Fiat Chrysler said the problem occurred when vehicles equipped with a particular control module and specific front impact sensor wiring are involved in certain collisions.

GM said in its recall that the module that controls airbag deployment has a software defect that may prevent frontal airbags from deploying in certain “rare circumstances”.

Fiat Chrysler said it no longer uses the occupant restraint controllers or wire routing design. The notice did not say when it will begin recall repairs, which spokesman Eric Mayne said the automaker is “finalising”.

Automakers and the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have been grappling with numerous recall issues.

In February, Continental Automotive Systems said it supplied potentially defective airbag control units to 5 million vehicles built over a five-year period. It said the units may fail and airbags may not deploy in a crash or may inadvertently deploy without warning.

In August, NHTSA said it was upgrading and expanding a probe of more than 8 million airbag inflators made by ARC Automotive Inc. after a driver was killed in Canada when an inflator ruptured in a Hyundai Motor Co vehicle.

In May, NHTSA said automakers will recall another 35 million to 40 million Takata Corp. airbag inflators that could rupture and send deadly metal fragments flying. More than 100 million inflators worldwide have been deemed defective and are linked to at least 14 deaths and 100 injuries.

In July 2015, NHTSA fined Fiat Chrysler $105 million for mishandling nearly two-dozen recall campaigns covering 11 million vehicles. In December, NHTSA separately fined the automaker $70 million for failing to report vehicle crash deaths and injuries since 2003.

LONDON — Electronic cigarettes may have helped about 18,000 people in England to give up smoking last year and there is no evidence of any serious side effects associated with their use for up to two years, according to studies published on Tuesday.

Researchers at University College London (UCL) analysed the latest data on smoking and quitting in England — including details on smokers who worked with the health worker devised Stop Smoking Services to set a quit date.

While they found no direct evidence that e-cigarettes prompted more people to make the decision to try and quit, the team did find that as more people used e-cigarettes, more people also successfully stopped smoking.

In a separate scientific analysis also published on Tuesday, researchers at the Cochrane Review found that the overall weight of evidence on e-cigarettes suggests they can help people stop smoking and have no serious side effects.

E-cigarettes, which heat nicotine-laced liquid into vapour, have rapidly grown into a global market for “vaping” products that was estimated at around $7 billion in 2015.

Unlike nicotine chewing gum and patches, they mimic the experience of cigarette smoking because they are hand-held and generate a smoke-like vapour.

Tobacco smoking kills half of all those who indulge, plus at least another 600,000 non-smokers a year via second-hand smoke. This makes it the world’s biggest preventable killer, with a predicted death toll of a billion by the end of the century, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Many public health specialists think e-cigarettes, or vapes, which do not contain tobacco, are a lower-risk alternative to smoking, but some question their long-term safety.

Experts estimate that around 2.8 million people in the UK use e-cigarettes and they have become the nation’s most popular smoking cessation aid.

“England is sometimes singled out as being too positive in its attitude to e-cigarettes,” said Robert West, a professor at UCL’s Health Behaviour Research Centre who co-led the study and published it in the BMJ British Medical Journal.

“These data suggest that our relatively liberal regulation of e-cigarettes is probably justified.”

In the second analysis, a review published by the Cochrane Library, researchers also found e-cigarettes may help people quit but said there is not yet enough evidence from the best type of studies — randomised controlled trials — to be sure.

Of the studies that looked at side effects and were reviewed by the Cochrane team, none found any serious concerns of using e-cigarettes for up to two years. Among non-serious side effects, throat and mouth irritation were most common.

Mapping My Return: A Palestinian Memoir
Salman Abu Sitta
Cairo/New York: The American University in Cairo Press, 2016
Pp. 332

Aside from his vast knowledge and engaging writing style, there are two features of Salman Abu Sitta’s identity that make his memoir unique and outstanding. One is his birthplace, Al Ma’in Abu Sitta, in the Beersheba District, not far from Khan Yunis. The other is the extent to which he harnessed his engineering skills to benefit the Palestinian national cause. Though he terms his memoir “the experiences of an ordinary Palestinian refugee”, the contents of “Mapping My Return” are extraordinary. (p. ix)

While most Palestinian memoirs — at least those available in English, are written by urbanites, Abu Sitta’s background is decidedly rural. His childhood memories bring to life southwest Palestine’s natural beauty, the social customs of bedouins-turned-farmers (his mother preferred the bayt al sha’ar to their stone house), and the bounty of his father’s estate which produced sufficient wheat to be sold to other areas. The Abu Sitta clan, in fact, made the desert bloom. It was the Zionist militias attacking Al Ma’in in 1948, when Salman was 10 years old, who laid waste to the orchards, cultivated fields, irrigation system and stone houses they had built. 

Life was totally organised around the family’s connection to the land, which may partly explain Salman’s life-long pursuit of mapping the land and plotting the Palestinians’ return. A major influence on his life was his father, paramount sheikh of the Tarabin tribe, who was self-educated, and had the foresight to build the first school in Al Ma’in in 1920, presaging the Palestinians’ preoccupation with education after their dispossession.

Many of his brothers and cousins were involved in the 1936-39 revolt, then the resistance to the Zionist takeover in 1948. Especially since less has been written about South Palestine than about other parts of the country, Abu Sitta’s account is a valuable contribution to Palestinian political and social history. 

During the 1948 Nakbeh, his parents and relatives took refuge in Khan Yunis, but due to his father’s determination that all his sons get a good education, Salman was sent to live with his brothers who were already studying at the university in Cairo. 

Their flat became a gathering point where fellow Palestinians sought news of their families’ whereabouts, and some of the earliest organising took place, including the nucleus of the General Union of Palestinian Students. It was here that Salman met Yasir Arafat for the first time.

Although he was never a member of a specific organisation, he was involved in the national movement and the PLO all his life. His account gives an interesting picture of Palestinian politics during Nasser’s time, and the impact of the 1956 tripartite aggression on the Gaza Strip, including the terrible massacres at Khan Yunis, Rafah and Deir Balah. 

Spending the summer of 1948 in Khan Yunis, Abu Sitta witnessed the plight of the masses of refugees crowded into the Gaza Strip, and experienced the first Israeli aerial bombings — the first time any of them had ever seen an airplane. He listened to the stories of survivors of under-reported massacres, such as the one at Burayr, which he would later document in his research. 

The Nakbeh was the formative experience pushing him towards the independent scholarship that became his life’s mission. “Historians, writers, and storytellers speak of battle scenes, soldiers, and guns. Very few describe the landscape left behind when the soldiers have gone and the dead are buried.” (p. 95)

In this gap in the information available to the public, he carved out his research niche. 

There is no space here to describe all of Abu Sitta’s accomplishments. His engineering career, after attaining a PhD in Britain, included teaching, research and building projects, and took him to the UK, Canada, Kuwait, Yemen and elsewhere. 

What is amazing is that he also found time for his meticulous documentation, starting in British archives in the 1960s, when the Internet didn’t exist. Later, with the advance of technology, he compared new satellite photos with historical records to map the land and the changes wrought by Zionist occupation, eventually culminating in his “Atlas of Palestine 1917-1966” (2010) and Return Plan, proving that the Palestinians’ return to their original lands is feasible: “Our studies have shown that the rehabilitation and repatriation of the Palestinians will cost much less than the large sums paid by the United States to support Israel and the injustice in Palestine… Return is cheaper, just, peaceful, and lasting.” (p. 313) 

Abu Sitta shares many fascinating anecdotes attesting to the accomplishments of other Palestinians, and mourns the loss of many others who could have contributed so much had they been allowed to live. At the same time, he mounts a scathing critique of those who are ready to barter away Palestinian rights in the name of “realism”. He places his hope in the young generation of Palestinians. “We do not need to consider only the external forces that could demolish racist Zionism. Let us look at the positive forces that may build justice. There lies my real and earnest hope.” (p. 316)

HONOLULU — Scientific techniques that can wipe out invasive species or alter mosquitoes’ ability to carry disease are pushing ahead, raising concerns about the ethics of permanently changing the natural world, experts say.

This fast-moving field of science — which involves changing the biology of creatures by interfering with their DNA — is increasingly being debated not only for human health purposes but also in conservation circles. 

Perhaps the most controversial type of research is known as a “gene drive”, which ensures that a certain trait is passed down from parent to offspring. It eventually leads to genetic changes throughout the entire species.

Projects being considered include one to release altered mice on islands that will only bear male offspring, ensuring an end to future generations, scientists said at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress.

Another idea is to save endangered birds on the Hawaiian islands by releasing altered mosquitoes that cannot carry avian malaria.

Other approaches, such as the Oxitec mosquito developed by Intrexon, is not technically a “gene-drive” approach but would cut down on the population of mosquitoes by introducing altered males whose offspring cannot survive.

Proponents of gene-drive technology say it eliminates the need for polluting pesticides, and could offer a more effective remedy against invasive species than any tool on hand.

But opponents fear the impacts of permanently altering life forms on Earth and its unknown — and likely irreversible — impact on Earth’s creatures and its ecosystems.

‘Behind closed doors’

Kevin Esvelt, an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is among the first scientists to propose using gene editing, or CRISPR technology, to alter species.

He is also one of the most cautious voices on its potential uses.

“As a scientist who worked on it, I am particularly concerned because we scientists are ultimately morally responsible for all the consequences of our work,” Esvelt said at a panel discussion at the IUCN meeting.

“It should be a requirement that no one gets to build a gene drive or any technology designed to alter the shared environment in a laboratory without making their proposals public first,” he said.

“If something goes wrong in the laboratory, it can affect people outside the laboratory,” Esvelt added.

“That means if you do it behind closed doors, — as is traditional in science — then you are not giving people a voice in a decision that might affect them.”

He also said the current regulatory environment is “all based around release. And not really stringent enough, frankly, if you ask me”.

Quick action

But others at the same panel called for quick action to save imperilled species from invasive species and disease before they disappear forever.

“One of the scariest things of working in conservation in Hawaii is there is no way to save these birds from malaria,” said Chris Farmer, Hawaii programme director of the American Bird Conservancy.

A total of 38 forest birds in Hawaii have gone extinct already due in large part to avian diseases, and 21 of the remaining 32 species are at risk, experts say.

By not exploring new technologies, “we are choosing to let these species go extinct”, Farmer said.

Another speaker on the panel, Anthony James, professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine, said time is of the essence.

“You have heard the urgency in the voices of my colleagues here worried about the birds and the trees,” he said.

“One of the key things that is going to be important for this technology is the ability to get these genes out in a very rapid way in the population.”

Call for caution

Members of the IUCN voted for caution on gene-drive technology at the ongoing World Conservation Congress, a meeting of environmentalists and heads of state from around-the-world that runs from September 1-10.

A motion was adopted that called for IUCN members to refrain “from supporting or endorsing research, including field trials, into the use of gene drives for conservation or other purposes” until a rapid assessment was completed by 2020.

However, the motion is non-binding, and does not prevent anyone from pursuing individual research.

British primatologist Jane Goodall and dozens of other environmentalists and scientists have signed an open letter expressing concern about the use of gene drives in military, agriculture and conservation.

The letter calls for a halt to all proposals for the use of gene drive technologies “given the obvious dangers of irretrievably releasing genocidal genes into the natural world”.