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Dubai’s Museum of the Future Signs Partnerships with National, Global Brands

Dubai’s Museum of the Future Signs Partnerships with National, Global Brands
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Dubai’s Museum of the Future Signs Partnerships with National, Global Brands

Dubai’s Museum of the Future Signs Partnerships with National, Global Brands

The Museum of the Future has signed strategic partnerships with numerous global brands and national institutions as part of its objective to be a key laboratory for entities from all around the world, to generate futuristic and innovative technological solutions that address humanity’s greatest challenges, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.

The partnerships support the museum’s role in enhancing Dubai and the world’s readiness for the future. Together, they’ll address the most important developments during the upcoming decades, and invent novel solutions and support the museum’s role in being an incubator for global foresight as well as being a comprehensive laboratory for technologies, ideas, and cities of the future, WAM said.

The Museum of the Future, an initiative of the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), signed the partnerships with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Dubai Municipality, Dubai Holding, Emirates Airline, Audi, SAP, PepsiCo, and Visa.

Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of the Museum of the Future, alongside Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Teleworking Applications, signed the partnerships with senior officials including Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, RTA’s Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors; Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, DEWA’s Managing Director and CEO; Daoud Al Hajri, Director-General at the Dubai Municipality; Adel Al Redha, Emirates Chief Operating Officer; Amit Kaushal, Dubai Holding Group Chief Executive Officer; Carsten Bender, Managing Director at Audi Middle East; Sergio Maccotta, General Manager at SAP Middle East; Ahmed Dafrawy, Senior Commercial Director PepsiCo Middle East; Dr. Saeeda Jaffar, Group Country Manager, and Senior Vice President at Visa GCC.

Al Gergawi noted that the vision behind launching the Museum of the Future was to emphasize the pioneering role of the UAE in building humanity’s future.

The museum, created to stand as a scientific and knowledge-based edifice, aims to play a significant role as a platform for displaying and testing the innovations of world leading technology companies.

"The number one priority here is to ensure that the museum ceaselessly impacts human development to enhance the betterment of individuals and societies as a whole. The partnerships signed today, will enable the study and testing of the latest findings in science and human knowledge, thus, alleviating the process of finding sustainable solutions that support human development in all aspects of life," he added.

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Spider Lovers Scurry to Colorado Town in Search of Mating Tarantulas, Community

A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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Spider Lovers Scurry to Colorado Town in Search of Mating Tarantulas, Community

A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Love is in the air on the Colorado plains - the kind that makes your heart beat a bit faster, quickens your step and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

It's tarantula mating season, when male spiders scurry out of their burrows in search of a mate, and hundreds of arachnophiles flock to the small farming town of La Junta to watch them emerge in droves.

Scientists, spider enthusiasts and curious Colorado families piled into buses just before dusk last weekend as tarantulas began to roam the dry, rolling plains. Some used flashlights and car headlights to spot the arachnids once the sun set.

Back in town, festivalgoers flaunted their tarantula-like traits in a hairy leg contest - a woman claimed the title this year - and paraded around in vintage cars with giant spiders on the hoods. The 1990 cult classic film "Arachnophobia," which follows a small town similarly overrun with spiders, screened downtown at the historic Fox Theater.

According to The AP, for residents of La Junta, tarantulas aren't the nightmarish creatures often depicted on the silver screen. They're an important part of the local ecosystem and a draw for people around the US who might have otherwise never visited the tight-knit town in southeastern Colorado.

Word spread quickly among neighbors about all the people they had met from out of town during the third year of the tarantula festival.

Among them was Nathan Villareal, a tarantula breeder from Santa Monica, California, who said he heard about the mating season and knew it was a spectacle he needed to witness. Villareal sells tarantulas as pets to people around the US and said he has been fascinated with them since childhood.

"Colorado Brown" tarantulas are the most common in the La Junta area, and they form their burrows in the largely undisturbed prairies of the Comanche National Grassland.

In September and October, the mature males wander in search of a female's burrow, which she typically marks with silk webbing. Peak viewing time is an hour before dusk when the heat of the day dies down.

"We saw at least a dozen tarantulas on the road, and then we went back afterwards and saw another dozen more," Villareal said.

Male tarantulas take around seven years to reach reproductive readiness, then spend the rest of their lifespan searching for a mate, said Cara Shillington, a biology professor at Eastern Michigan University who studies arachnids. They typically live for about a year after reaching sexual maturity, while females can live for 20 years or more.

The males grow to be about 5 inches long and develop a pair of appendages on their heads that they use to drum outside a female's burrow. She will crawl to the surface if she is a willing mate, and the male will hook its legs onto her fangs.

Their coupling is quick, as the male tries to get away before he is eaten by the female, who tends to be slightly larger and needs extra nutrients to sustain her pregnancy.

Like many who attended the festival, Shillington is passionate about teaching people not to fear tarantulas and other spiders. Tarantulas found in North America tend to be docile creatures, she explained. Their venom is not considered dangerous to humans but can cause pain and irritation.

"When you encounter them, they're more afraid of you," Shillington said. "Tarantulas only bite out of fear. This is the only way that they have to protect themselves, and if you don't put them in a situation where they feel like they have to bite, then there is no reason to fear them."

Many children who attended the festival with their families learned that spiders are not as scary as they might seem. Roslyn Gonzales, 13, said she couldn't wait to go searching for spiders come sunset.

For graduate student Goran Shikak, whose arm was crawling with spider tattoos, the yearly festival represents an opportunity to celebrate tarantulas with others who share his fascination.

"They're beautiful creatures," said Shikak, an arachnology student at the University of Colorado Denver. "And getting to watch them do what they do ... is a joy and experience that's worth watching in the wild."