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Saudi Biology Team Wins Four Global Awards at International Biology Olympiad 2024

File photo of Saudi Arabia's flag.
File photo of Saudi Arabia's flag.
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Saudi Biology Team Wins Four Global Awards at International Biology Olympiad 2024

File photo of Saudi Arabia's flag.
File photo of Saudi Arabia's flag.

The Saudi biology team has won four global awards at the 35th International Biology Olympiad 2024, held in Astana, Kazakhstan, between July 7 and 14. 320 students from 83 countries participated, SPA reported.
Student Raed Talaba, a third-secondary high school student from the Eastern Region Education Department, won the silver medal, and student Ali Al-Khalifa, also a third-secondary high school student from the Eastern Region Education Department, won the bronze medal. Also, Abdullah Al-Subaie, a second-secondary high school student from the Taif Education Department, received a certificate of appreciation. Samir Al-Najjar, a third-secondary high school student, also received a certificate of appreciation.
King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) Secretary General Dr. Amal Al-Hazzaa said: "This achievement was made possible by the grace of Allah and then by the support of the wise leadership, to continue the journey towards achieving the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030, enhancing confidence in Saudi capabilities and talents to compete globally in all fields, and building a creative generation capable of advancing the nation and leading the future."

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Melting Glaciers Worry Central Asia

This aerial photograph taken on July 8, 2024 shows lakes of melted water in the Tian Shan mountain range. (Photo by ARSENY MAMASHEV / AFP)
This aerial photograph taken on July 8, 2024 shows lakes of melted water in the Tian Shan mountain range. (Photo by ARSENY MAMASHEV / AFP)
TT
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Melting Glaciers Worry Central Asia

This aerial photograph taken on July 8, 2024 shows lakes of melted water in the Tian Shan mountain range. (Photo by ARSENY MAMASHEV / AFP)
This aerial photograph taken on July 8, 2024 shows lakes of melted water in the Tian Shan mountain range. (Photo by ARSENY MAMASHEV / AFP)

Near a wooden hut high up in the Kyrgyz mountains, scientist Gulbara Omorova walked to a pile of grey rocks, reminiscing how the same spot was a glacier just a few years ago.

At an altitude of 4,000 meters, the 35-year-old researcher is surrounded by the giant peaks of the towering Tian Shan range that also stretches into China, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The area is home to thousands of glaciers that are melting at an alarming rate in Central Asia, already hard-hit by climate change.

A glaciologist, Omorova is recording that process -- worried about the future, Agence France Presse reported.

She hiked six hours to get to the modest triangular-shaped hut that serves as a science station -- almost up in the clouds.

"Eight to 10 years ago you could see the glacier with snow," Omorova told AFP.

"But in the last three-to-four years, it has disappeared completely. There is no snow, no glacier," she said.

The effects of a warming planet have been particularly visible in Central Asia, which has seen a wave of extreme weather disasters.

The melting of thousands of glaciers is a major threat to people in the landlocked region that already suffers from a shortage of water.

Acting as water towers, glaciers are crucial to the region's food security and vital freshwater reserves are now dwindling fast.

Equipped with a measuring device, Omorova kneeled over a torrent of melted water, standing on grey-covered ice shimmering in strong sunshine.

"We are measuring everything," she said. "The glaciers cannot regenerate because of rising temperatures."

A little further on, she points to the shrinking Adygene glacier, saying it has retreated by "around 16 centimetres (six inches)" every year.

"That's more than 900 meters since the 1960s," she said.

The once majestic glacier is only one of thousands in the area that are slowly disappearing.

Between 14 and 30 percent of glaciers in the Tian-Shan and Pamir -- the two main mountain ranges in Central Asia -- have melted over the last 60 years, according to a report by the Eurasian Development Bank.

Omorova warned that things are only becoming worse.

"The melting is much more intense than in previous years," she said.