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Ashraf Mahrous, known also as Kabonga, pulled a 279-ton train using only his teeth, while also observing the Ramadan fast.
An Egyptian wrestler has received recognition in three categories by Guinness World Records , including for breaking the world record for heaviest rail pull using only his teeth.
Ashraf Mahrous, known by his nickname Kabonga, also received certificates for the heaviest locomotive pull and fastest 100-metre road vehicle pull.
The successful world record attempts took place at Cairo’s Ramses train station on Wednesday and Thursday, where Kabonga pulled a 279-ton train using a rope held by his teeth. The wrestler pulled the train for a distance of close to 11 metres.
“On the first day, I was able to pull a two-ton cart, while fasting, for a distance of 107 meters in 37 seconds, breaking another record by pulling a one-ton cart for 100 meters and surpassing the 60-second barrier,” Kabonga told Anadolu, highlighting that he had been abstaining from eating and drinking due to the Ramadan fast, which lasts from pre-dawn to sunset.
“The next day, on Thursday afternoon, I pulled a train weighing 279 tons with my shoulders, while fasting, for a distance of 10 metres and 66 centimeters,” he added.
Kabonga, who is the president of the Egyptian Federation for Professional Wrestlers, previously pulled a 15,730-kilogram truck with his teeth in 2021. In February 2024, he cracked and ate 30 raw eggs in 30 seconds in a feat that was also recognised by Guinness World Records.
Dawlet Elnakeb, an organiser of Thursday’s event in Cairo, said Kabonga had trained for just 20 days prior to the record breaking event.
source/content: newarab.com (headline edited)
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Ashraf Mahrous, known as Kabonga, is president of the Egyptian Federation for Professional Wrestlers [Getty]
Imagine owning a camera so powerful it can take freeze-frame photographs of a moving electron – an object traveling so fast it could circle the Earth many times in a matter of a second. Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed the world’s fastest electron microscope that can do just that.
They believe their work will lead to groundbreaking advancements in physics, chemistry, bioengineering, materials sciences and more.
“When you get the latest version of a smartphone, it comes with a better camera,” said Mohammed Hassan, associate professor of physics and optical sciences. “This transmission electron microscope is like a very powerful camera in the latest version of smart phones; it allows us to take pictures of things we were not able to see before – like electrons. With this microscope, we hope the scientific community can understand the quantum physics behind how an electron behaves and how an electron moves.”
Hassan led a team of researchers in the departments of physics and optical sciences that published the research article “Attosecond electron microscopy and diffraction” in the Science Advances journal. Hassan worked alongside Nikolay Golubev, assistant professor of physics; Dandan Hui, co-lead author and former research associate in optics and physics who now works at the Xi’an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Husain Alqattan, co-lead author, U of A alumnus and assistant professor of physics at Kuwait University; and Mohamed Sennary, a graduate student studying optics and physics.
A transmission electron microscope is a tool used by scientists and researchers to magnify objects up to millions of times their actual size in order to see details too small for a traditional light microscope to detect. Instead of using visible light, a transmission electron microscope directs beams of electrons through whatever sample is being studied. The interaction between the electrons and the sample is captured by lenses and detected by a camera sensor in order to generate detailed images of the sample.
Ultrafast electron microscopes using these principles were first developed in the 2000’s and use a laser to generate pulsed beams of electrons. This technique greatly increases a microscope’s temporal resolution – its ability to measure and observe changes in a sample over time. In these ultrafast microscopes, instead of relying on the speed of a camera’s shutter to dictate image quality, the resolution of a transmission electron microscope is determined by the duration of electron pulses.
The faster the pulse, the better the image.
Ultrafast electron microscopes previously operated by emitting a train of electron pulses at speeds of a few attoseconds. An attosecond is one quintillionth of a second. Pulses at these speeds create a series of images, like frames in a movie – but scientists were still missing the reactions and changes in an electron that takes place in between those frames as it evolves in real time. In order to see an electron frozen in place, U of A researchers, for the first time, generated a single attosecond electron pulse, which is as fast as electrons moves, thereby enhancing the microscope’s temporal resolution, like a high-speed camera capturing movements that would otherwise be invisible.
Hassan and his colleagues based their work on the Nobel Prize-winning accomplishments of Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huilliere, who won the Novel Prize in Physics in 2023 after generating the first extreme ultraviolet radiation pulse so short it could be measured in attoseconds.
Using that work as a steppingstone, U of A researchers developed a microscope in which a powerful laser is split and converted into two parts – a very fast electron pulse and two ultra-short light pulses. The first light pulse, known as the pump pulse, feeds energy into a sample and causes electrons to move or undergo other rapid changes. The second light pulse, also called the “optical gating pulse” acts like a gate by creating a brief window of time in which the gated, single attosecond electron pulse is generated. The speed of the gating pulse therefore dictates the resolution of the image. By carefully synchronizing the two pulses, researchers control when the electron pulses probe the sample to observe ultrafast processes at the atomic level.
“The improvement of the temporal resolution inside of electron microscopes has been long anticipated and the focus of many research groups – because we all want to see the electron motion,” Hassan said. “These movements happen in attoseconds. But now, for the first time, we are able to attain attosecond temporal resolution with our electron transmission microscope – and we coined it ‘attomicroscopy.’ For the first time, we can see pieces of the electron in motion.”
source/content: eurekaalert.org / University of Arizona / (headline edited)
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Mohammed Hassan, associate professor of physics and optical sciences, let a group of researchers in developing the first transmission electron microscope powerful enough to capture images of electrons in motion.
Making history again! Egyptian heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub innovates valves that grow naturally in body.
This pioneering innovation envisions the development of biological heart valves that can grow and be accommodated naturally within the human body. This opens the door to a new era in heart disease treatment.
The prospect of heart valves naturally expanding within the body, a concept once confined to science fiction, is now on the brink of realization, thanks to the remarkable discovery spearheaded by renowned heart surgeon Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub.
While the initial study documenting this breakthrough was unveiled in Nature in 2023, recent media coverage has underscored its practical implications.
Esteemed publications like The Times have pinpointed this cutting-edge innovation’s profound impact on biomedical science and medical engineering. They have recognized it as a monumental leap in the realm of healthcare.
On Monday, Dr. Yacoub discussed the latest developments in this field with Egyptian talk show host Amr Adib.
He explained how his team has engineered temporary heart valve scaffolds composed of surgically implanted fibres into the body.
These scaffolds gradually disintegrate over time, leaving behind a living, fully functional valve crafted from the patient’s tissues, a testament to the marvels of modern medical ingenuity.
After weeks of speculation, Marmoush agrees to a deal with the Premier League champions that runs until 2029.
Manchester City have announced the signing of Eintracht Frankfurt forward Omar Marmoush for a reported initial fee of about $72.6m.
“The 25-year-old Egyptian striker has completed a move to the Etihad Stadium on a four-and-a-half-year deal, meaning he will remain at the Club until the summer of 2029,” City said in a statement on Thursday.
“This is a day I will never forget,” Marmoush said after signing up with the English Premier League champions.
“To sign for Manchester City – one of the best teams in the world – is an amazing feeling. I am delighted, my family are so proud, and we are all very happy to be here in Manchester.
“With Pep, his technical staff and the world-class facilities here, players have everything they need to improve. That was really enticing for me when I had the chance to come here.”
Marmoush is City’s third signing of the January transfer window following the arrivals of defenders Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis.
The former Bundesliga star’s contract is understood to include a potential further $5m in add-ons.
Born in Cairo in 1999, Marmoush stood out early in the academy of club Wadi Degla in the Egyptian Premier League. At just 17, he was promoted to the first team and joined Wolfsburg’s reserves a year later.
At Wolfsburg, Marmoush initially struggled for consistency and game time, resulting in loans to St Pauli and Stuttgart.
The striker moved to Frankfurt on a free transfer before the 2023-2024 season and scored 12 goals in 29 league games.
Marmoush’s development has drawn inevitable comparisons to his compatriot Mohamed Salah, but the Liverpool superstar warned against such correlations.
“Omar has great potential and is an important player for his team and the national team currently, but I hope we stay away from the idea of comparisons because it will put him under pressure,” Salah said in November.
“Do not compare him to me. Do not say the ‘new Mohamed Salah’. Let him live his career. Comparing a player at the beginning of his career with another who has achieved a lot over many years does not help him.”
City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain said Marmoush was an “accomplished and exciting forward”.
“He’s had an outstanding season, and every time we have watched him, he has influenced matches,” he said.
“He has all the attributes a top-class attacker requires. He has outstanding pace and awareness, and he is exceptional in front of goal. He can also play a number of different positions, which is a really valuable asset.”
His arrival at the Etihad Stadium comes during a frustrating season for City.
City, champions for the past four seasons, are currently fifth in the Premier League, 12 points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more.
Defeat at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday has also left Pep Guardiola’s side in danger of missing out on the Champions League knockout stages.
source/content: aljazeera.com/sports (Al Jazeera and News Agencies) / (headline edited)
Egypt’s fresh produce exports to Europe reach 917,000 tonnes, growing 7% in the last season, second only to the Netherlands.
Egypt has ranked as Europe’s second-largest exporter of fresh vegetables and fruits for the latest export season from September 2023 to August 2024, shipping 917,000 tonnes with a 7% year-on-year growth, according to EU data.
Citrus led the way, with 500,000 tonnes exported, an 8% increase from the previous season. Sweet potatoes followed with 117,000 tonnes, onions at 94,600 tonnes and grapes at 58,000 tonnes.
Potatoes saw a strong performance, exceeding 400,000 tonnes last season, capitalising on production issues in key European nations.
Meanwhile, Egyptian onion exports dropped to 92,000 tonnes in 2024, down from 135,000 tonnes in 2023, due to a six-month export ban from October 2023 to April 2024.
Other notable exports include carrots, lemons, garlic, beans, mangoes, peppers, strawberries and watermelons.
The British magazine The Telegraph published its annual list titled “Travel’s 50 Biggest Winners and Losers in 2024.” Topping the list of winners was the Grand Egyptian Museum.
The British magazine wrote that the Grand Egyptian Museum has finally opened on a trial basis for visitors. It spans an area of 490,000 square meters and, once fully operational, will house over 100,000 artifacts, with the most notable being the complete collection of items discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb.
The list also included other places, such as the UAE and Notre Dame Cathedral following its reopening.
The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) project continues to achieve international milestones, winning the 2024 Project of the Year Award for users of FIDIC (International Federation of Consulting Engineers).
The award was presented during the 6th Annual FIDIC Contract Users Awards ceremony held in London.
GEM is the first Egyptian project that win this prestigious award.
Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Sherif Fathy, highlighted President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s unwavering support for the Grand Egyptian Museum, recognizing its importance as one of the most significant cultural and heritage projects in Egypt and globally.
President Sisi has consistently followed every stage of its implementation, ensuring the removal of obstacles to deliver a museum that reflects the grandeur and legacy of ancient Egyptian civilization.
The minister emphasized that this remarkable achievement would not have been possible without the President’s ongoing support and interest.
The President’s chairmanship of the museum’s Board of Trustees further demonstrates his commitment to developing the museum as a global hub for heritage and culture.
The Minister also praised this award, which is the second international recognition for GEM this month.
Last week, the museum won the Prix Versailles, ranking among the seven most beautiful museums in the world for 2024.
He expressed his gratitude to everyone who contributed to the completion of this monumental project over the years, and to the extensive efforts of all state agencies and entities that helped elevate the museum to its prestigious global status.
As he submitted the final maquettes (small-scale models) of Egypt’s folk architecture to the soon-to-open Museum of Folk Arts, Ahram Online spoke to the master himself about the merits and grace of architecture.
To Professor Essam Safi El-Din, architecture is an authentic musical note that resonates with the human touch of the people who conceptualised, built and lived in the building.
Known as the Architect and Tutor who, for over 55 years taught, designed and founded the house of Egyptian Architect and The museum of Folk Arts, Essam Safi El-Din has always believed in the philosophy and grace of popular architecture.
From Shubra Tramway to El-Refaai and Sultan Hassan
“In the 1980s, I designed the pedestrian passage between Sultan Hassan and El-Refaai Mosque, which was originally the tracks of the tramway. So my sketches were inspired by my daily tram ride from Shubra where I lived as a child in 1947 to the Citadel. I copied the same pattern that the tram took from narrow streets that end up in a vast square and the pedestrian area captured the grace and serenity of the architectural gems of the two heritage mosques,” he told Ahram Online.
On revisiting the tramway voyages with open eyes, Safi El-Dien realised that his eyes captured the human wisdom and truth in the details of the buildings that ran by him as the tramway moved across various districts of Cairo.
Handmade Architecture
A child to a renowned architect, Safi El-Din has always been fascinated by designing houses. Making his own handmade maquettes was his passion since childhood. “Since I was seven-years-old I was charmed by architecture and my prize for doing my homework was that I would go to my father’s architecture office and draw with him. My eyes started to watch the buildings and ask who built it and why,” he remembered. This passion was manifested into Egypt’s oldest mockup and design architecture in Egypt and the Arab World.
Passion for Old Buildings
Describing his favorite work spot in his home, Safi El-Din revealed to Ahram Online his relationship with the radio. “Wherever I work, I have two radios to choose from, one set to a music programme and the other to the Quran channel,” he noted
“I was always enchanted by the old architecture because of its beautiful art effects, motifs and language. There is a human and visual dialogue between me and the building because I feel the presence of the head of builders, the builders, and the inhabitants of such building. Old architecture is close to me for it fits the human scale with all its space, physiological and emotional needs,” he explained, describing how buildings can promote serenity and induce better mood for humans.
“You see, architecture is still music, and an architect has to be an artist who has a taste in music,” he explained.
Inspiring Architects
“The architects that have inspired me at an early age are Said Karim whose sketches were the first drawings I have seen in my Dad’s office. I was very fond of Hassan Fathy and Ramsis Wissa Wassef because they have this great sense of belonging to the local building techniques as a mission and a cause,” he added. His passion to safeguard the valuable knowledge in architecture and the grace of local architecture was passed on to all the students he taught and mentored in college throughout the course of over 55 years of academic world. However his keenness to pass on such knowledge to the public made him go the extra mile.
The House of Egyptian Architecture and The National Folk Museum
In the early 1980s, he wanted to document all types of Egyptian architecture under one roof. The Ministry of Culture granted him the current House of Egyptian Architecture. The charming Ottoman-style house that belonged to Hassan Fathy – the father of modern architecture in Egypt – was once the studio of Orientalist artists and has since become a cultural hub, and a museum of local architecture.
Safi El-Din’s maquettes portraying the unique identity of Egyptian architecture were the foundation of The National Folk Art Museum that held its soft opening a few months ago.
Located at the High Institute for Folk Arts in the Haram district, Giza, the official opening date for the museum has not yet been announced.
“The National Folk Art Museum is different from any museum of history because it is not focused just on the historic facts, it is more focused on the cultural value of such items in that era. The value of architecture and its types and how it is comforting. Folk arts as well as folk architecture, reveal the indigenous roots of culture, conduct, the skills of craftsmanship and handicrafts, ” he added.
Essam Safi El-Din’s name resonates with success and authenticity. There is a library dedicated to his works at the British University in Cairo, and he is currently working on a book on his eternal dialogue between architecture and art.
Gems of Wisdom
The most important thing that I have learned is that the value of history is not about knowing the facts, it’s about contextualizing such facts. He stated that his motto in life is a verse from the Quran stating that God will reward all your efforts.
“A person needs to know what his/her mission in life is; why is he here? We need to teach architectural criticism as a subject not a mere cross cutting theme. We need to know the impact of architects on social life and the environment.”
The study of light has led to promising alternative energy sources and lifesaving medical advances in diagnostics technology and treatments.
These transformative technologies were developed through centuries of fundamental research on the properties of light, including pioneering work such as Ibn Al-Haytham’s seminal Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics), published in 1015.
As the world celebrates the International Day of Light on 16 May, various Arab physicists have left an indelible mark on the Arab world’s understanding and utilization of this fundamental phenomenon.
Ibn Al-Haytham (965-1040 CE)
Considered the father of modern optics, Ibn Al-Haytham’s groundbreaking work, Kitab al-Manazir, laid the foundation for our understanding of the behavior of light, including the principles of reflection, refraction, and the workings of the human eye. His experimental approach and rejection of the prevailing theories of his time were revolutionary, and his work influenced generations of scientists who followed in his footsteps.
Photo Source: VH Magazine
Maha Ashour-Abdalla
A pioneering Egyptian-American plasma physicist, Ashour-Abdalla’s research has advanced our understanding of the complex dynamics of the Earth’s magnetosphere, with applications in space weather forecasting and protection of satellites from cosmic radiation. Her work has been instrumental in developing models to predict and mitigate the impacts of solar storms on technological infrastructure.
Photo Source: UCLA
Ali Moustafa Mosharafa (1898-1950)
This Egyptian physicist made significant contributions to the development of quantum mechanics, building on the work of pioneers like Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. His research helped bridge the gap between classical and quantum physics, laying the groundwork for our modern understanding of the subatomic world. Mosharafa’s work has had lasting implications in fields such as materials science, cryptography, and quantum computing.
Photo Source: Academic Dictionaries
Shaaban Khalil
An Egyptian theoretical physicist, Khalil is a renowned expert in particle physics and cosmology. His work on the unification of fundamental forces has had a lasting impact on our understanding of the cosmos. Khalil’s research, which combined elements of quantum mechanics, general relativity, and high-energy physics, has helped shape the nature of the fundamental forces that govern it.
Photo Source: Zewail City
These Arab scientists, among others, have not only expanded the Arab world’s knowledge of light and its applications but have also paved the way for future generations to harness the power of this fundamental phenomenon to address global challenges and push the boundaries of scientific discovery.
Khaled Noby, CEO of Nature Conservation Egypt (NCE), was selected as an impact maker for the COP29 Global Communications Campaign. This nomination recognizes NCE’s pioneering work in safeguarding biodiversity in Egypt.
NCE announced that Noby was selected on 19 November as one of the 50 impact makers in a global communications campaign launched by Nigar Arpadarai, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP29.
The Impact Makers campaign seeks to amplify the voices of leaders significantly impacting how to address the climate crisis. Through his leadership, Noby has played a crucial role in shaping Egypt’s dialogue around nature conservation and renewable energy. His nomination is part of a more significant effort to ensure that global climate strategies include biodiversity conservation as a fundamental element of the transition to renewable energy.
NCE is dedicated to integrating biodiversity conservation into the renewable energy sector. It aims to balance the country’s growing energy needs with the urgent necessity of protecting its rich and diverse wildlife and biodiversity.
NCE is witnessing the ambitious expansion in renewable energy production in Egypt, driven by the growing domestic demand and the need to cut climate change emissions from fossil fuels. However, this transition to renewable energy production negatively impacts habitats and wildlife. Renewable energy infrastructure has been reported to cause significant fatalities in various wildlife forms, particularly migratory birds.
While most conservation efforts have focused on mitigating the impacts within wind farms, NCE has been paying attention to another significant threat that needs to be adequately acknowledged: bird collisions with overhead transmission lines (OHTLs).
Moreover, NCE has effectively advocated adding local biodiversity loss to national and international agendas. Nonmigratory wildlife faces equally severe threats from poorly planned renewable energy infrastructure, yet the lack of data on local species often diverts conservation efforts towards migratory wildlife. NCE has led a successful national effort to translocate the threatened native reptile, the Egyptian spiny-tailed lizard (Uromastyx aegyptia), in collaboration with the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) and SafeSoar. Thirteen individuals of this endangered lizard species were safely translocated from the AMUNET Wind Farm site before construction, exemplifying effective conservation action.
“I am truly humbled to be recognized as an Impact Maker by the High-Level Champions team. This honour belongs equally to my dedicated colleagues at NCE, whose unwavering commitment to nature conservation in Egypt inspires me every day. This is a celebration of our collective efforts — I’m simply privileged to represent such a sincere and hardworking team,” said Noby.
“This recognition of Khaled Noby is very well deserved and reflects his commitment and dedication to advancing the conservation of nature in Egypt; it also represents the collective effort of the NCE team and their success, under the stewardship of Khaled, in becoming a leader in the conservation field in the Middle East and North Africa. Congratulations to Khaled, NCE, and Egypt for this recognition,” said Sherif Baha El Din, NCE board chairman.
Noby’s inclusion in the campaign places a spotlight on Egypt’s unique position at the intersection of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, highlighting how the country can serve as a model for other regions facing similar challenges.
Egypt bids farewell to the guard of Semsemya, Zakaria Ibrahim.
For the past 44 years, Zakaria Ibrahim or “El-Rayes” (meaning the chief) had played and safeguarded the heritage music of his hometown Port Said through the Port Said Folk Heritage Troupe, which he established in 1980.
In an interview with Ahram Online, Ibrahim previously said that his initial approach relied on the sounds of the Semsemya musical instrument. Five years later, he reintroduced the ancient Tanboura instrument, a larger predecessor and origin of the Semsemya, dating back to ancient Egyptians. Consequently, he rebranded his ensemble as Al-Tanboura.
“We the Bamboteya, no one is like us, merchant boatmen in the canal” the troupe sang about the Semsemya’s affiliation with the history of trade on the Port Said marina. Small boats, called ManBoats, moored offshore, and sold goods to passing vessels, using sign language in trading. This language is the foundation of the heritage dance affiliated with Semsemya.
To safeguard and revive heritage music, beyond Semsemya, Ibrahim co-founded the Mastaba Centre for Egyptian Folk Music in 2000. Documenting and archiving traditional Egyptian songs, music, and musical instruments, as well as the voices and history of Egyptian music were among the centre’s main goals.
He also established El-Damma theatre in Abdeen district, Cairo, where heritage troupes played for years on a weekly basis. El Damma means coming closer, and it was a social ritual in Port Said where people would come together and sing their heritage songs and play the Semsemya.
