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MONDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2014 • [email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 inside In movies this fall, CAMPUS all parents are • QA Falcons begin season on a bad parents winning note P 4 P | 8-9 | WHEELS • BMW X and M models meet at Losail Circuit P | 6 FOOD • For fruits and vegetables, it’s In a village in hyper-connected good to go Greek America, it’s easier to hear a cow moo than a cell phone P | 7 ring. Green Bank is home to the world’s most sensitive radio HEALTH telescope. Since the electronics • Focus on play in of mobile phones would mess kindergarten may with this delicate equipment, improve grades here technology that’s taken for P | 11 granted in much of the world is banned outright. TECHNOLOGY • Google Glass future clouded as some early believers lose faith CATCHING THE WHISPERS P | 12 LEARN ARABIC • Learn commonly used Arabic words FROM SPACE and their meanings P | 13 2 PLUS | MONDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2014 COVER STORY West Virginia village is cell phone free and loving it Charles Meckna plays with his dog at his home in Green Bank, West Virginia. By Fabienne Faur Charles Meckna, 53, is one such Holstine, business manager at what When you are trying to monitor a refugee. He moved here in July from is formally known as the National quasar, for example — super-distant, n this rural speck of hyper-con- Nebraska in the Mid-West, fleeing Radio Astronomy Laboratory. massive celestial objects that give off nected America, it’s easier to hear electromagnetic waves he said were “This is the most sensitive radio tremendous amounts of energy — a a cow moo than a cell phone ring. making him seriously ill. telescope on the planet,” he said. cell phone signal is like a loud, both- I That’s because Green Bank is For him, the radio telescope is a It can detect a signal that has ersome noise, Holstine said. home to the world’s most sensitive radio saviour. the equivalent energy to the “A quasar typically gives a signal telescope, a device that catches the birth “If we happen to lose the radiotele- impact of one snowflake hitting which is a billionth of a billionth of and death of stars and signals so faint scope, it’s done,” Mecka said, as he the ground. But to achieve that, a billionth of a watt. A cell phone is they are mere whispers from space. built a shed outside his small home the radio environment has to be about two watts,” he said. And, since the electronics of mobile in this town 350km (220 miles) east hush-hush quiet. “It will completely drown out phones and WiFi grids would mess of Washington, DC. A one-of-a-kind “National Radio what the astronomers are trying to with that delicate task, here technol- Green Bank and the area around Quiet Zone” is observed around the receive,” he added. ogy that’s taken for granted in much it in Pocahontas County are in the telescope over an area of 33,000sqkm of the world is severely restricted or heart of a so-called “Quiet Zone” (13,000 square miles). Electromagnetic hypersensitivity banned outright. declared in 1958 to shield scientists’ Radio transmissions have to be at The bottom line for non-astron- And a side effect of that radio silence super-keen eye on the universe. a frequency as low as possible. omer earthlings is that dozens of is that Green Bank, population 143, has Standing 150m (500 feet) tall, with In a radius of 16km (10 miles) people have come here seeking relief become a mecca for people who are sick a white dish 100m (330 feet) in diam- around the telescope, anything from an ailment called electromag- — literally — of electromagnetic waves. eter, the telescope operates day and that gives off a radio wave — WiFi, netic hypersensitivity. They claim the migraines and other night capturing signals from space. cell phones, TV remote controls or A former construction foreman, ailments they blamed on cell phones “We can look at the birth of stars, micro-wave ovens — is banned or Meckna now lives with his wife a few go away. the death of stars,” said Michael restricted. miles from the telescope. PLUS | MONDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2014 3 Electromagnetic hypersensitivity, a growing source of concern in a world more connected each day, is not formally classified as a The Green Bank Telescope operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory is disease by the World seen in Green Bank. Health Organization, although it does acknowledge its “At least here, I feel I have a future. I Electromagnetic hypersensitiv- out a formal assessment in 2016 of the can dream what I am going to do. I can ity, a growing source of concern in risk posed by the world’s billions of cell existence. invite people over,” said Schou. a world more connected each day, is phones. But she takes care to use any gadgets not formally classified as a disease Back in Green Bank, at Trent’s, in her home with the utmost care. by the World Health Organization, a grocery store and gas station, the She has a computer, which is hooked although it does acknowledge its absence of cell phones is not a worry. He had been sick since the 1990s but up to her landline phone and “very existence. “We’ve never had cell phones took a long time to conclude the culprit slow.” She turns it on a few minutes Some studies blame electromagnetic here so I have never missed them,” was his cell phone. every day to see emails from her hus- waves but others call it a psychoso- cashier Betty Mullenax said with a “I didn’t even make the correla- band, who comes to live with her a few matic problem. chuckle. tion,” he said, adding that the begin- months of the year. The WHO says it plans to carry AFP ning of his woes his doctor gave him anti-depressants. Michael Holstine, Business He suffered nausea, migraines and Manager for the National Radio irregular heartbeat every time he got Astronomy Observatory, is seen near a Wifi source. After two weeks in on the structure of the Green Green Bank, the headaches went away. Bank Telescope. “I feel much better. I can have a life again,” said Meckna. Still, it is not all gravy. Rather, he feels a bit trapped. “I am a prisoner and I hate it,” he said. Diane Schou, who also suffered after an antenna was set up near her farm in Iowa, said she was essentially forced to come to Green Bank, her home since 2007. “There is really no choice — to live here or to live elsewhere and have headaches,” said Schou, who is in her 50s. Her pain was so awful she spent a time living inside a room built by her husband as a sort of “Faraday cage” — an enclosure built of conductive mate- rial, in her case aluminium, that blocks electric fields. 4 PLUS MONDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2014 CAMPUS QA Falcons begin season on a winning note atar Academy (QA) began its sports season with an impressive title run by the varsity Qboys volleyball team, claiming the first Near East Schools Activities Conference (NESAC) vol- leyball championship in Kuwait. The newly-formed NESAC is an exclusive multi event school association comprising of international schools from the UAE, Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar. According to Athletics Supervisor Stephen Walker, “NESAC is comprised of five schools, so QA gets to be more familiar with our competition and build stronger connections as a wider community. Our teams are definitely up against very tough competition so we want all of our teams to prepare and compete to the very best of their ability”. The title win by the 10-member boys varsity vol- leyball squad was a result of the team’s collective QA Falcons Varsity boys effort led by team captain Khalid Al Hammadi, finals volleyball team MVP Omar Al Awad and coaches Andrew Glenville and Andrew Jacob. Shares Walker: “Looking at last year’s form the varsity boys volleyball team already events reflecting the spirit of sportsmanship,” Walker be very competitive, best chance perhaps is our JV has their strengths in place and our swim team will says, adding that the presence of Qatar national team side in our home tournament in March. The girls be very hard to beat in our home pool”. members and QA students Jacob Al Khulaifi, Abdulla basketball will continue their improvement. All of The junior varsity and varsity swimmers will have Abu Ghazala and Noah Al Khulaifi will make the our footballers are training hard and are aiming the chance to test their mettle this weekend when competition more exciting. for improved tournament performances. I am also QA hosts its first NESAC swimming gala. Over 100 “One of the interesting things about sports is that confident we will send a talented cross country and students will contest individual and relay events it is not at all predictable and QA’s potential this year track team to Jordan later in the year”. which are “both challenging and competitive, with all remains promising. Our boys basketball teams will The Peninsula Bhavan’s celebrates Talent Day he Bhavan’s Public School cel- of Children’s Day. Anil Kumar, Tebrated the Talent Day at both General Secretary, delivered the the campuses recently in con- presidential address. nection with the Indian National The dignitaries who graced the Education Day and Children’s Day. occasion included Abdul Kader, Vice The occasion gave the budding chairman, BhPS, Hameed, Director, artists an opportunity to showcase BhPS, Prabhavathi Nambiyar, their talents.

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