Ofsted Attempts to Overturn Court Ruling that Birmingham School Gender Segregation was not Unlawful*

Ofsted Attempts to Overturn Court Ruling that Birmingham School Gender Segregation was not Unlawful*

Al-Hijrah School, in Bordesley Green, Birmingham

 

The schools inspectorate Ofsted is attempting to overturn a November 2016 High Court judgment which found that gender segregation in a Birmingham school did not mean either boys or girls were treated unfavourably.

The Court of Appeal case heard yesterday that a state-funded Islamic school in Birmingham unlawfully discriminated against pupils when it separated them by sex from age nine.

In an inspection in June 2016, Ofsted rated Al-Hijrah with its lowest grade of “inadequate” and said it should enter special measures. It was partly on the grounds that from the age of nine boys and girls were separated for all lessons, breaks, school trips and other activities.

The school challenged the inspection’s findings in a judicial review at the High Court last November. The judge, Mr Justice Jay, found that neither girls nor boys were treated less favourably by being segregated.

“There is no evidence in this case that segregation particularly disadvantages women,” he said.

Jay agreed with a recommendation to put the school in special measures on the basis of other issues raised and disagreed that Ofsted’s inspectors had been biased.

Ofsted’s lead barrister, Helen Mountfield, argued in court that although boys and girls might not receive less favourable treatment generally, “there is discrimination against individual girls and boys at this school, because a girl who wishes to socialise with a particular boy, but can’t, is treated less favourably”.

The segregation deprived girls of the ability to feel “comfortable and natural” around boys, she said.

Equalities legislation allows for entirely single-sex schools, or schools where the opposite sex is only allowed into sixth form. Within mixed-sex schools equality legislation allows some separation of classes.

In the High Court hearings, Al-Hijrah school argued that the gender segregation was one of its defining characteristics, and that the policy was clear to parents who wished to send their children there and to previous Ofsted inspectors, who had never raised it as a concern.

The hearing continues.

Source*

Related Topics:

Single-Sexed Schools vs. Civil Liberties*

Blackburn Muslim Schools Come Top of U.K. Education Progress Table*

Muslim Schools Continue to Surpass National GCSE Average*

East London Muslim Girls’ School Judged Outstanding by Ofsted*

Religious Schools Face Closure if they don’t Promote Homosexuality*

‘Transgender Studies’ to Be Taught in U.K. Primary Schools*

U.K. Public School tried to Punish Teacher who Shared Biblical Marriage Views with Student*

Sweden Bans Prayer to God; Christian Preschool Forced to thank ‘sun and rain’ for Meals Instead*

Foster Father Called a ‘Hero’ Because He Only Takes In Terminally-Ill Children*

Foster Father Called a ‘Hero’ Because He Only Takes In Terminally-Ill Children*

By Brianna Acuesta

This foster dad hasn’t had a day off since 2010

Mohamed Bzeek, Credit: Erika Aguilar

 

When it comes to fostering children, it’s already a rough process because of the unstable home life the children have and the constant change in parents. For the parents, it can be difficult assimilating the child to their new environment, rules, and schedule, let alone providing the emotional support that’s necessary for children that may have been through trauma.

For one foster parent in Los Angeles, Mohamed Bzeek, there are added challenges because of the types of foster children he takes in; he only accepts terminally-ill children that have exhausted their options because no other foster parents are willing to put in the time for these dying children. It’s understandable because the emotional strength that’s needed to deal with the constant sickness and eventual death are something that virtually no one can handle on their own, but Bzeek takes on the challenge with his huge heart.

“You have to do it from your heart, really. If you do it for money, you’re not going to stay for long,” Bzeek told PBS.

Credit: Children’s Hospital

Bzeek has said that it’s his Muslim faith that has kept him going all these years but that his late wife, Dawn, is who inspired him to open their heart and their home to these special needs children. She became a foster parent before they married and was involved in toy drives and other activities to help the foster kids in Los Angeles county. It wasn’t until she fell ill herself a few years ago that she found herself frustrated and unable to care for herself or the children. She died in 2014 but Mohamed has kept their dream of helping abandoned children going.

Mohamed currently cares for a 6-year-old with a rare brain defect called encephalocele, which caused her to be born with a small head and for some of her brain to be exposed as it protruded from her skull. Doctors removed the brain matter and she was removed from her biological parents’ care at just 7 weeks old, at which point Bzeek took her in. She cannot hear or see and only responds to touch; she also experiences daily seizures and her arms and legs are paralyzed. He also cares for Adam, his own 19-year-old special needs child who was born with brittle bones and dwarfism.

The 62-year-old foster dad has buried 10 of the foster children he has taken in and he says each death is difficult but inevitable. The baby that he and Dawn took in at the beginning of their time together died when she was just one-year-old as a result of a spinal disorder she developed because her mother breathed in too many pesticides during her pregnancy. He has cared for several children with similar brain defects as his current foster daughter, and he says this condition is a life sentence.

“The key is, you have to love them like your own. I know they are sick. I know they are going to die. I do my best as a human being and leave the rest to God,” he said in an interview with the LA Times.

Near the end of last year, Bzeek discovered that he had colon cancer and needed surgery to remove tumors the following month. It was tough for Bzeek because he employs a nurse to care for the children while he works during the day and when he comes home he is constantly caring for his children. He says he hasn’t had a day off since 2010 and had no time to have the surgery and undergo the care afterwards, but he had to make arrangements and the surgery wound up being successful. Throughout the whole process, he didn’t have anyone to lean on for support.

Credit: Erika Aguilar

“I felt about the kids who’s been sick for all their life. If I am adult, 62 years old, and I feel this, that I am alone, I am scared, nobody tells me it’s okay and it will be fine, this experience, this humbled me,” he told PBS.

After reading about his story in the LA Times, one good samaritan reached out to Bzeek and wanted to help anyway that she can. She started a GoFundMe page for him so that he could improve his home for his children and hire a second nurse for whenever he needs a break and the fund has skyrocketed since then. As of this publishing, the fund has reached nearly $500,000.

On the page, Margaret Cotts, the one who started the page, lists the things that Mohamed would like to use the money for. This includes fixing the roof, which has been extremely leaky for some time, getting central heating and air because his daughter’s brain doesn’t allow her body to regulate her temperature, buy a new wheelchair-accessible van because his current one is 14 years old, and pay for his son’s college education. If you would like to donate to the GoFundMe page to support Mohamed, you can do so here.

Source*

Related Topics:

Court Rules Baby Must Die, Even Though Parents Can Pay Out of Pocket*

Lawsuit Exposes State in Taking Kids from Parents and Heavily Drugging them with Psychotropics*

Parents Told Five Times to Abort Boy with ‘no brain’ – Now He’s a Thriving 4-year-old*

Toddler Permanently Brain Damaged by a Mystery Combination Vaccination That Her Parent’s Did Not Consent To*

Tribal Parenting – How to Heal Our Children*

Child Rapist Tied Up and Beaten To Death by Women in India*

The Psychiatric Agenda Destroys Creative Children*

 

Egypt Rounds up Uyghur Muslims at behest of Chinese Government*

Egypt Rounds up Uyghur Muslims at behest of Chinese Government*

Authorities crack down on community of thousands of east Asian Muslims, many of whom who had fled Chinese religious persecution

Foreign students read from the Qur’an at al-Azhar mosque in the old city of Cairo (AFP)

 

– Panic is spreading among Cairo’s Uyghur community as Egyptian security forces round up students in raids on houses, schools and mosques, as part of a crackdown apparently carried out at the behest of the Chinese government.

“The government has been making arrests for three months now, but it was mostly people with expired visas,” a Uyghur source in Cairo told Middle East Eye on Thursday.

“They don’t check for visas anymore. They just violently arrest, and we don’t know where they [those arrested] are now.”

Photos of ransacked Cairo flats began circulating on social media on Wednesday, with reports of security forces arresting even those with valid visas and others holidaying on beaches near Alexandria.

Meanwhile, students were reportedly hiding at home, but face being rounded up by Egyptian police. The MEE source said there were reports of sweeping arrests at al-Azhar University, where many Uyghurs were studying Arabic and Islam.

“They’re mostly arresting the young men,” a member of the Uyghur community called Sumaya told MEE.

“But I know of women who have been taken too, though we hide when we hear the government knocking on our door.”

The raids and arrests come after Chinese authorities ordered Uyghur overseas students to return home by 20 May, as part of a government move to screen political views and activities, reported Chinese media at the time.

Chinese government representatives have since reportedly shown up in predominantly Uyghur areas in Cairo, stopping by mosques and schools to order students return to China, members of the community told MEE.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday urged Egyptian authorities to disclose where those who had been arrested were being held, and to “not deport them back to China, where they face persecution and torture”.

HRW said it believed dozens of people have been arrested and were due for deportation.

Egypt is rounding up Uyghur students, sending the community into a panic. pic.twitter.com/SGMZUTYsrk

— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) July 5, 2017

Many in the Uyghur community claim that deportations will result in imprisonment in what they describe as death camps in China.

Other members of the community who abruptly left Egypt out of fear of being arrested reportedly often disappeared once they arrived in China.

“Some of our friends who went home just disappeared,” Maryam, a Uyghur, told MEE.

“We don’t know what happened to them. It’s not safe for us to go home.”

Egyptian authorities have not responded to MEE’s requests for comment at the time of writing.

Crackdown sows fear

Cairo is home to thousands of Uyghurs who largely come to Egypt to escape the Chinese government’s increasingly intrusive restrictions on religious freedom in their hometowns and villages. Others come to learn Arabic, study at the world renowned Azhar University, and experience life in a Muslim country.

But members of the community told MEE that visa renewals are now regularly rejected, and students without valid papers are banned from enrolling at Azhar University.

Uyghur students in Cairo told MEE that the community was increasingly worried about Egyptian authorities waiting outside Azhar University at dismissal hours to check student passports and potentially arrest Uyghur students.

Meanwhile, students received frantic calls from relatives telling them to get on the first flight back to China or else their parents would be thrown in jail, Uyghur sources told MEE.

Despite having been visible for many years on city buses and in the north-eastern suburb of Nasr City, Uyghurs are now rarely sighted in the city.

Following the May announcement, a group of Uyghur students in gathered to say goodbye at an ice cream shop in Nasr City’s Hayy-el-Sabey,’ where most Uyghur students reside.

Two Uyghur sisters, Salma, aged 19, and Maryam, 20, who had come to Cairo a year ago to learn Arabic, were flying to Dubai the next day. They told MEE they would not be able to return home because they feared persecution upon arrival.

Friends of the girls said that most students who could afford to relocate or had family outside of China booked flights to countries such as Turkey. The rest were stranded in Egypt, unable to safely go home or relocate to another country.

Three months later, the two sisters still reside with relatives in the UAE.

Chinese repression of the Uyghurs

Uyghur students say scarves, skullcaps, facial hair and veils are banned in the Xinjiang region.

Women, who were initially forbidden from wearing the colour black because they were told it was an extremist colour, are restricted from wearing anything that comes down below the knee. Meanwhile, women who dress modestly are threatened and profiled as extremists, members of the community told MEE.

At the same time, travelling between towns and villages in China is considered hazardous because they are dotted with checkpoints manned by heavily armed guards, and young males travelling in groups of three or more are targeted, harassed and often imprisoned.

Residents of Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan, are allowed one kitchen knife per household, which they must register. Cameras are installed in and outside mosques, and plans are underway to GPS track every car in the region. If a family or individual is caught studying Arabic or the Qur’an, they are imprisoned, and must pay between 10 and 100,000 rmb (up to $15,000) to get out of jail, said Uyghurs in Egypt.

Wealthy families who can afford to pay the fines often have their assets seized, while citizens are reportedly coerced or monetarily enticed to spy on their neighbours and are encouraged to report “dangerous” behaviour, such as prayer.

Coming from such a repressive climate in China, Uyghurs viewed life in Egypt as a veritable luxury, particularly as they were able to freely practice their religion, but now feel betrayed by a country they felt was a safe haven.

Sumaya, who came to Cairo two years ago to practice her religion more freely, is currently hiding in the home of an Egyptian friend.

She fears trying to leave because she heard of arrests happening at the airport as well.

“I am safe for now, but if the situation escalates, I fear the worst,” Sumaya told MEE.

* Names have been changed for security reasons

Source*

Related Topics:

China Increases DNA Testing of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang Region*

Modern Day Colonnialism: The Uyghurs versus China*

China Continues to Repress Ramadhan*

China orders Muslim Businesses to Sell Cigarettes and Alcohol*

Elimination by Assimilation: China Offers Cash for Interracial Marriages with Uyghurs*

China punishes Uyghur’s for Studying their Religion Outside State Control*

China Criminalizes 25 more Uyghurs*

Uyghur Muslims Punished for Fasting in Holy Month*

 

Post-Ramadhan Renewal: 5 Lessons to Live By

Post-Ramadhan Renewal: 5 Lessons to Live By

 

Related Topics:

The Centre of Consciousness is One’s Heart*

Prophet Muhammed (SAW) on Ramadhan

The Inner Technology of Islam

God-consciousness After Ramadhan

Night Prayer and the Human Body Clock

Arguing God from Being?

Atheists, Whatever They Say to the Contrary, Really Do Believe in God*

The Student and the Atheist Professor

The aql is not Reason – it’s Consciousness*

Rumi on Trusting Yourself*

Ramadhan Reflections: Memorizing the Qur’an is Not Enough

Courage to Create Good in the World*

Muslims Across the World Celebrate Eid Al-Fitr*

Muslims Across the World Celebrate Eid Al-Fitr*

Eid al-Fitr, or the “feast of breaking of the fast” marks the end of Ramadhan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

With Muslims making almost one-quarter of the World’s population, celebrations are taking place in all continents.

The sun rises above a mosque before the morning prayer for Eid al-Fitr in Lipljan, Kosovo, June 25, 2017.

 

Muslims perform Eid al-Fitr prayers in Al-zahara square in Juba, South Sudan June 25, 2017.

Women offer Eid prayers at Badshahi Mosque in Lahore

 

Men greet each other after the Eid prayers in Karachi

 

Indian Muslims offer prayers during Eid at the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi

 

Iraqis offer Eid prayers in the city of Najaf

 

Iranian women offer Eid prayers in western Tehran

 

Chinese Muslims visit Niujie mosque during Eid in Beijing

 

Chinese Muslims offer Eid prayers at the Niujie mosque in Beijing

 

 

Egyptians celebrate and try to catch balloons released after Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadhan at a public park, outside El-Seddik Mosque in Cairo, Egypt June 25, 2017

 

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad (3rd R) attends prayers on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, inside a mosque in Hama, in this handout picture provided by SANA on June 25, 2017, Syria

 

Iraqi children enjoy riding a mini car as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr, in Mosul, Iraq June 25, 2017.

Muslims in Indonesia mark the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadhan.

 

Sri Lankan Muslims offer Eid prayers at the Galle Face esplanade in Colombo

 

Muslims in Thailand mark the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadhan.

 

Muslims in the Philippines mark the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadhan.

 

Afghan children ride on swings during the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in Kabul, Afghanistan June 25, 2017.

 

 

Displaced Iraqi girls who fled their homes pose as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr, in Mosul, Iraq June 25, 2017.

 

Muslims in Taiwan mark the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadhan.

 

Men pray at the martyrs’ cemetery on Eid al-Fitr in Racak, Kosovo, June 25, 2017.

 

 

Source*

Related Topics:

Jeremy Corbyn Praises Muslim Heroes of Grenfell Tower fire in Eid Message*

Guyana President joins Muslims for Ramadhan Iftar*

Syria’s More Confident Assad gives Eid Prayers in Hama*

n Praises Muslim Heroes of Grenfell Tower fire in Eid Message*

These 5 People don’t Spend Eid with their Families to make the Occasion Happier for Us*

God-consciousness After Ramadhan

 

Syria’s More Confident Assad gives Eid Prayers in Hama*

Syria’s More Confident Assad gives Eid Prayers in Hama*

His visit comes as a car bomb in Idlib province kills at least 10 people

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad attends prayers on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, inside a mosque in Hama (Reuters)

 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad delivered prayers for Islam’s Eid al-Fitr holiday in Hama on Sunday, the furthest he has travelled inside Syria in years, showing his growing confidence.

His visit came as a car bomb in rebel-held Idlib province killed at least 10 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

State television broadcast footage of Assad standing to pray in a large mosque in Hama behind its imam, with other clerics standing alongside and a large crowd of worshippers.

State news agency SANA quoted the preacher as saying that Assad’s presence in the city for Eid showed that victory and the return of security were only “a few steps” away.

Syria’s civil war has turned to Assad’s favour since 2015, when Russia sent its jets to help his army and allied Shiite militias backed by Iran turn back rebels and win new ground.

Since the war began in 2011, it has killed hundreds of thousands, driven millions more from their homes, sparked a global refugee crisis and drawn in regional and world powers.

The conflict is far from over. Rebels hold swaths of the country, including around Idlib province near Hama, and launched a new attack in Quneitra in the southwest on Saturday.

Rebels also hold the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus, parts of the desert in the southeast and a large pocket south of Hama around the city of Rastan.

As recently as March, rebels advanced from Idlib province to within a few kilometres of Hama, before the army and its allies pushed them back in weeks of fierce fighting.

However, the army drove insurgents from their biggest urban stronghold in Aleppo in December and have also forced several important rebel enclaves to surrender over the past year.

First visit to Hama during war

Assad has not made a declared visit to Hama, which is about 185km from Damascus, since the war began. Last year he delivered Eid prayers in Homs, about 40km closer to Damascus.

Early in the crisis he visited Raqqa, a city that has since become the Syrian capital of Islamic State and now faces an assault by a US-backed coalition to drive out the militants

The fight against Islamic State, which has attacked Western cities, has become the focus of Western leaders, some of whom have softened demands that Assad must quit to end the crisis.

In March, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Assad’s fate would be decided by Syrians, a change in rhetoric after years of insisting he step down to allow a political solution.

France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron, said this month he did not see Assad’s departure as a condition to end the fighting and the priority was stopping Syria becoming a failed state.

The U.S. and other Western states, along with Turkey and Gulf monarchies, have long supported some of the rebels, an array of groups that includes Islamist and nationalist factions. Assad describes them all as terrorists.

His military has said its focus is on the campaign in the desert, where it is advancing against Islamic State to relieve a besieged government enclave in the city of Deir ez-Zor.

Car bomb in Idlib

A car bomb killed 10 people in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported on Sunday.

The attack occurred in a market in the town of al-Dana, located in the north of the province near the border with Turkey, according to the Observatory.

Three people under 18 were among the dead and the blast also injured at least 30 other people, it said. Another bombing in the town after midnight on Friday killed two people, it added.

Rebel groups in Idlib province have been sporadically fighting each other since early this year. Rebels have also accused the Islamic State militant group of carrying out attacks in the area.

Idlib province is a major stronghold of rebels in Syria and is situated along the border with Turkey, one of the main backers of their rebellion against Assad.

Large numbers of fighters, along with their relatives and many other civilians, have moved into the area under amnesty after surrendering to the army in other parts of Syria.

Source*

Related Topics:

Israel Paying Syrian ‘Rebels’ to Protect Rothschild, Murdoch Oil*

Ron Paul: Why The Hell Are We Attacking Syrians Fighting ISIS?*

Australia Halts Airstrikes in Syria*

Russia Threatens to Target U.S.-Led Coalition Planes in Syria

Cabal’s New Tool Measures Resilience in Adolescent Syrian Refugees*

Turkish MP Sentenced to 25 Years for Exposing MIT Arms Aid to Terrorists in Syria*

What the Media Won’t Tell You about Syria*

These 5 People don’t Spend Eid with their Families to make the Occasion Happier for Us*

These 5 People don’t Spend Eid with their Families to make the Occasion Happier for Us*

With Eid around the corner, please take a moment and wish well those strong folks who will be working during the holidays, instead of spending time with their families.

1. Our nurses

Nurses, along with doctors, are always on call during Eid. With a shortage in paramedical staff, nurses barely get time to wish anyone Eid as they are wrapped up in looking over patients while on call. One really owes to them because in times of panic, both the patient and their family are usually comforted by the friendly, caring nurses.

2) Our pilots

There are those traveling to be with their families for Eid, but then there are others who are taking them there but aren’t able to do the same. Many of us dreamt of being pilots when we were young because of how cool it sounded. Its way cooler that they provide such a service to us, expecting no appreciation in return.

3) Our firefighters

Years ago a fire took place on the first day of Eid ul Fitr at a dawat gone wrong. The day was saved as almost 30 firefighters reached the spot. While we’re grateful for such heroes, do we ever wonder how they were so ready? Because instead of being at their own family dawat, they were on duty, waiting to spring into action.

4) Our army and police personnel

A huge shout out to our men and women in uniform! These fighters sacrifice their time with their families (and sometimes their own lives!) so that we can have our Eid festivities in peace.

5) Our ambulance drivers

Unfortunately, an ambulance on the road with its signals blaring is not a unique sight during Eid. Ambulance drivers and their paramedics are always on call and prepared. We remember Edhi sab and all the work he did for our country and we should also be thoughtful of all who work in his name, like many ambulance drivers, who respect the values of Ramadhan and Eid as the season of caring for those truly in need.

Wall’s picked up on this insight to pay tribute to these unsung heroes of our nation, who sacrifice time with their family for all of us. Their TVC titled “Sorry Abu” revolves around the story a young boy named Ahmed who misses his father immensely during Ramadhan.

The TVC shows the son is obviously upset as he gets to see other families getting together for iftar, but he can’t spend time with his father as he is so far away.

However, he realises that his father, who is a doctor, is actually putting into practice the true meaning of Ramadhan by helping those out in need. The boy ends his letter by apologising to his father for not understanding before and sending him a token of appreciation to let him know how proud he is and how he will always be supportive of him.

The TVC really puts things in perspective as we wonder how many times we have taken our own family for granted, or how many times we have heard a friend complain about ‘being stuck with the family’ during holidays. We never realise how for many people, it is a luxury to be able to see their family.

Source*

Related Topics:

The Last Day of a Testing Ramadhan Many Muslims Prepare for ‘Eid*

Moonlight and Nature’s Rhythms*

Developing the Muslim Self Through Martial Arts

A Tragic ‘Eid for Thai Muslims*

Moonlight and Nature’s Rhythms*

Moonlight and Nature’s Rhythms*

By Ferris Jabr

Lunar luster triggers mating orgies, guides travelers and even can even provoke magical transformations

One November night each year, beneath the full moon, more than 130 species of corals simultaneously spawn in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Some corals spew plumes of sperm, smoldering like underwater volcanoes. Others produce eggs. But most release both eggs and sperm, packed together in round, buoyant bundles as small as peppercorns and blushed in shades of pink, orange, and yellow.

At first, the parcels wait in the lips of corals. Then, in stunning unison, numerous corals lose their seeds, which hover momentarily above their parents, preserving the shape of the reef in an effervescent echo. Gradually, the bundles drift skyward.

The first time marine biologist Oren Levy witnessed this phenomenon, in 2005, he was near Heron Island, off the east coast of Australia. Fish, marine worms, and various predatory invertebrates zipped through the water, feeding on the coral confetti, which rose slowly from the reef in huge quantities. “It’s like the whole ocean wakes up,” says Levy, who now heads a marine ecology research team at Bar Ilan University in Israel.

 “You can watch videos, you can hear about it, but once you are actually in the midst of the biggest orgy on this planet, there’s nothing else like it.”

Corals continue to reproduce in the Great Barrier Reef today, though the sections that have escaped the ravages of climate change are rapidly shrinking. Swimming near the surface of the sea that memorable night 12 years ago, Levy encountered dense pink mats of accumulating eggs and sperm. There, drenched in moonlight, gametes from different colonies began to fuse and form free-swimming larvae, which would eventually settle on the seafloor, bud, and construct new coral citadels—a process now more vital than ever.

The moon is not the only environmental cue the corals use to achieve sexual synchrony on such a massive scale; water temperature and day length also matter. Yet the moon’s presence seems to be crucial. If the sky is too cloudy, and the moon obscured, the corals will often not spawn. Sometimes they delay until the next full moon. In the course of their studies, Levy and his colleagues revealed that not only do corals have light-sensitive neurons tuned to the dim blue wavelengths of moonlight, they also have genes that change their activity level in sync with the waxing and waning moon, regulating reproduction.

Scientists have known for centuries that the moon alters Earth’s ecosystems through gravity. As it spins around our planet, warping space-time, the moon contributes to a complex contortion of the oceans, producing twin bulges we call the tides. In turn, the daily marriage and separation of land and sea transforms the topography of numerous species’ homes and the access they have to food, shelter, and each other.

The moon also stabilizes Earth’s climate. Earth does not have perfect posture; it is tilted along its polar axis, circling the sun at an angle of about 23 degrees. The moon acts as an anchor, preventing the Earth from varying its axial tilt by more than a degree or two. Without the moon, our planet would likely wobble about like a dreidel, tilting a full 10 degrees every 10,000 years, and possibly oscillating the global climate between ice ages and hellish heat the likes of which no species has ever endured.

What is becoming increasingly clear, however, is that the moon also influences life in a more surprising and subtle way: with its light. Most organisms possess an array of genetically encoded biological clocks that coordinate internal physiology and anticipate rhythmic changes in the environment. These clocks are wound by various environmental cues known as zeitgebers (time givers), such as light and temperature.

Sunlight is the best-studied zeitgeber, but it turns out that for many aquatic creatures, moonlight is just as crucial. In the past few years, scientists have rekindled a long-neglected curiosity about the moon’s power to manipulate life, reviving studies on biology’s secret moon clocks.

Source*

Related Topics:

‘Liberating’ the Moon of Its Natural Resources!

The Human Body Emits, Communicates with, and is Made from Light*

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Heavenly Signs: A Celestial-Terrestial Drama in the Making

Layla-tul Qadr

Saudi Arabia Abandons Islamic Calendar as Part of Cost-Cutting Measures*

Sunset Light in the East!*

Science Lends Weight to the Bright Days