COMMENT not to develop a live human or human– animal hybrid. The use of SCNT-related technology to treat mitochondrial diseases does not involve cloning, but it does raise the question of whether it is acceptable for ALI JAREKJI/REUTERS children to have three genetic ‘parents’: the mother who donates the egg nucleus, the father who donates the sperm nucleus and another woman who donates the mitochon- drial DNA. The UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority recommended in March that the government authorize the use of this technique to help these patients. We agree with this judgement. Such possibilities need careful considera- tion and public consultation. We believe that the scientific community, which was forced to engage in ethical discussions in the early stages of stem-cell biology, should lead the way. As a first step, scientific academies such as the US National Academy of Sciences or the Australian Academy of Science should organize symposia to foster debate on the ethical ramifications of recent advances and possible new breakthroughs. Scientists should also engage with the public and the broader medical community; for instance, by collabo- rating with patient advocate groups such as the UK Juvenile Diabetes Research Founda- tion, and health-care providers such as the UK National Health Service. This would Observers in Amman, Jordan, watch the transit of Venus across the Sun in June 2012. enable scientists to keep abreast of people’s concerns, and to inform stakeholders of the realistic benefits and limits of their research and the ethical challenges it may bring. The potential benefits of stem-cell Time for an research are immense. Prospects for trans- formative treatments for conditions such as macular degeneration, type 1 diabetes or Parkinson’s disease are now on the horizon. Arab astronomy But without first convincing governments, the public, and funding and regulatory bod- ies that all the possibilities have been thought through and evaluated, headline-catching renaissance results could create a backlash that unnec- essarily delays the tremendous potential Arab Muslim countries need a new generation of benefits of cell therapies. ■ SEE NEWS & VIEWS P.174 observatories to rejoin the forefront of the field, Martin Pera is at the University of says Nidhal Guessoum. Melbourne, Australia. Alan Trounson is at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA. slamic astronomy enjoyed a golden fewer than ten papers in the field each year, e-mails: [email protected]; age from the ninth to the sixteenth and these are hardly cited. Few sizeable [email protected] century ad. Great observatories in telescopes are operational or planned. IBaghdad, Damascus, Maragheh, Samar- The lagging state of astronomy is a par- 1. Tachibana, M. et al. Cell 153, 1228–1238 (2013). 2. Scott, C. T., McCormick, J. B. & Owen-Smith, J. qand and Istanbul mapped the sky to set adox for a region where funding should Nature Biotechnol. 27, 696–697 (2009). dates for religious and civil festivals and for not be a serious constraint, at least in the 3. The International Stem Cell Initiative Nature Biotechnol. 29, 1132–1144 (2011). astrology. Sophisticated calculations and wealthier Gulf states. The region has sev- 4. Ronen, D. & Benvenisty, N. Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. models led to advances in mathematics. eral excellent observing locations above 22, 444–449 (2012). Today, Arab astronomy barely registers 2,000 metres that benefit from clear skies. 5. Hayashi, K. et al. Science 338, 971–975(2012). on the world map. Scientific research is Public fascination is strong, as shown by 6. Grieshammer, U., Shepard, K. A., Nigh, A. & Trounson, A. O. Nature Biotechnol. 29, 701–705 weak across the Arab world, and astron- the many local amateur associations and (2011). omy weaker still. Unlike countries of large gatherings for astronomical events, 7. Narbonne, P., Miyamoto, K. & Gurdon, J. B. Curr. comparable gross domestic product per such as eclipses, comet passages or the Opin. Genet. Dev. 22, 450–458 (2012). 8. Tachibana, M. et al. Nature 493, 627–631 (2013). capita, such as Turkey, Israel and South most recent transit of Venus across the 9. Paull, D. et al. Nature 493, 632–637(2013). Africa, most Arab nations are generating Sun in June 2012. 13 JUNE 2013 | VOL 498 | NATURE | 161 © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved COMMENT In my view, astronomy research is determining the direction to Mecca (the body motions several metres wide, as well being neglected because of the strongly utili- Qibla) for prayers; and establishing the dates as its library of 400,000 books. Theories tarian Arab Muslim approach to science1. for holy festivals, particularly Ramadan (the developed there include the ‘Tusi cou- Cultural principles, such as serving the peo- month of fasting) and Hajj (the pilgrimage), ple’ that links linear and circular motion, ple first, led Arab nations to build bases in which are set by the observation of the thin which was developed by the astronomer the applied sciences in the second half of the crescent of the new Moon. All three still Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in 1247, and later used twentieth century, including petrochemical cause heated arguments among Muslim by Nicolaus Copernicus in his geometry of engineering and pharmaceuticals. There astronomers and scholars. planetary orbits. was also a need for the region to develop its Historically, astronomy was also needed In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, infrastructure quickly for navigation at sea and on land. Travel- even more stunning observatories were built. after the departure “Funding lers and sailors learned that the arc of the In the Samarqand observatory (completed of colonial powers. should not Moon indicates the east–west line; the short- in 1429; now known as Ulugh Beg Observa- Today, subjects such be a serious est shadow of a stick gives the north–south tory), a 30-metre-high building housed ten as theoretical physics constraint, direction; the height of Polaris (the Pole Star) instruments. These included an armillary are taught widely but at least in the above the horizon gives the latitude of the sphere; an azimuthal quadrant for measur- are low cost and are wealthier Gulf place; and Mintaka, a star in Orion’s belt, ing the horizontal angle of the star from the considered low prior- states.” traces the celestial equator. north; and a meridian arc with a 40-metre ity. Astronomy seems Muslim rulers were also guided by astrol- radius, which measured celestial positions to to require expensive buildings, equipment ogy, believing that some days were more pro- within a few arcseconds. The Istanbul obser- and technicians for little tangible return. pitious than others for mundane activities vatory, built in 1577, although smaller, also Another problem is the lack of exper- or stately decisions. Astronomers’ ability to housed ten instruments and had 15 full-time tise in the management of large scientific predict planetary motions and alignments, astronomers2. Sophisticated tables giving the projects — an essential element if obser- eclipses and new and full Moons was a pow- positions of stars, planets, the Sun and the vatories and research centres are to operate erful weapon in a ruler’s arsenal. Courts had Moon were produced in each. effectively. The few large telescopes that have a resident astronomer, and mosques had a Thus hundreds of stars and constellations been built in the region in the past 50 years time-keeper (muwaqqit). have Arabic names, such as Altair, Deneb, have been poorly run, are often inoperable By the thirteenth century, rulers were Vega and Rigel. Today, more than 20 lunar and have produced few results. erecting great observatories such as craters bear the names of Muslim astrono- I call on Arab countries to build a new Maragheh (in present-day Iran), which mers, including Alfraganus (al-Farghani), generation of observatories. A few medium- was the largest in the world at the time. Albategnius (al-Battani) and Azophi sized telescopes (one- to two-metres in mir- Astronomers and students from around (al-Sufi). The scholar Abu Rayhan al-Biruni ror diameter) costing a few tens of millions the world used its sophisticated instru- (ad 973–1048) used astronomy and trigo- of dollars would allow Arab astronomers ments, which included an armil- nometry to determine Earth’s circumference to join front-line research by searching for lary sphere model of celestial to within 0.3% of today’s accepted value. supernovae, the afterglows of γ-ray bursts, Muslim women participated too: in the tenth variable stars and extrasolar planets. and eleventh centuries, Fatima of Madrid, Universities need to set up degree and daughter of the great Andalusian astrono- international exchange programmes in An eleventh-century mer Maslama al-Majriti, helped her father to astronomy to train and integrate the next astrolabe, used to produce tables of star and planet positions. generation of Arab astronomers. Such measure celestial In the tenth century, Mariam of Syria was a BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY developments would galvanize academic positions, among skilled constructor of astrolabes for celestial and public interest in fundamental science other functions. surveying. across the region. From the thirteenth century onwards, major centres of learning were lost, such as A GOLDEN PAST those in the Iberian territory of Al-Andalus, Astronomy had a central place in society and conservative rulers and clergy accorded from the early times of Islamic civilization. religious knowledge an ever higher place In the early ninth century, a few decades after than worldly science. Universities disap- the founding of Baghdad as the capital of the peared and old places of learning became new Muslim empire, the caliph al-Ma’mun antiquated and disconnected from scien- (ad 786–833) ordered the erection of tific developments in Europe.