It’s well known that plants create a more relaxed and comforting environment, reducing stress and improving productivity. iStockphoto.com
It’s well known that plants create a more relaxed and comforting environment, reducing stress and improving productivity. iStockphoto.com

Outdoor design: Greenery in the home has many benefits



According to World Health Organization reports, indoor air pollution causes several lower respiratory infections, along with a host of other health issues. In 2000, indoor air pollution was estimated to have caused more than 1.5 million deaths worldwide.

Closer to home, a group of researchers in the UAE found that air-pollution levels have increased by about 50 per cent in the country because of particulate matter borne by wind from industrial petrochemical sources. The UAE is trying to mitigate this in several ways, but as individuals we can all play a small part in combating this issue.

On a more personal level, who doesn’t wish that life indoors could be as green and fresh as it is in the countryside? On previous assignments in places such as Bahrain, India and southern Africa, planting indoors proved to be an enlightening venture for me. I realised that irrespective of what country or culture you come from, it’s fundamentally human to be positively affected by the presence of plants.

It’s well known that plants create a more relaxed and comforting environment, reducing stress and improving productivity. Plants produce oxygen, which reduces pollution and helps us to breathe better. Research has proven that indoor plants can remove nearly 87 per cent of indoor pollutants, although this depends on the number and species. ­Research by the Nasa scientist B C Wolverton claims certain palms placed indoors, such as Areca, remove chemical toxins from the air.

Indoor plants have acoustic benefits, too. When it was discovered noise bouncing off the walls in the atrium of Abbotsford Hospital in Vancouver was causing a significant disturbance, six large fig trees were installed in the atrium, with positive effects on the well-being of those using the facility. Ficus benjamina, which can be all green or variegated and can grow up to three metres high, is an excellent option for larger indoor spaces.

The best thing about indoor plants is that they create camouflage and privacy. When people feel they’re too exposed in the workplace, or their offices are too empty, the answer isn’t always to buy more furniture; plants are a much more attractive solution. They’re vibrant and fill up the room, and add life to drab colour schemes.

So which species to choose? It’s better to opt for plants that need less light and water and that don’t need their nutrients to be replenished as ­often.

Some options include: Cycas revoluta, or sago palm, which tolerates low light and dry conditions; Sansevieria trifasciata, or snake plant, which can tolerate warm or cool conditions, water or drought, and sun or shade – it prefers warm, dry air, but is easy either way; Aglaonema, or Chinese evergreen, which can be largely ignored for long periods of time – cultivated in China, these plants have moved across the globe thanks to their sturdy survival instincts, and can eliminate toxins such as toluene and xylene; Beaucarnea guatemalensis, or ponytail palm, is very slow growing, so is unlikely to bolt on you, and is used to arid conditions; while the Zamioculcas zamiifolia, or Zanzibar gem, is drought-tolerant and thrives in low-lit spaces.

That doesn’t discount the use of the brighter coloured and conspicuous leafy plants; crotons, rubber plants, bamboo, orchids and ferns, to mention just a few, are equally welcome ­indoors.

Usha Rani has a master’s in landscape architecture and teaches in the department of architectural engineering at the University of Sharjah.

'The Sky is Everywhere'

Director:Josephine Decker

Stars:Grace Kaufman, Pico Alexander, Jacques Colimon

Rating:2/5

Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history

4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon

- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.

50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater

1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.  

1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.

1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.

-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.

Company profile

Date started: 2015

Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki

Based: Dubai

Sector: Online grocery delivery

Staff: 200

Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends

Know your cyber adversaries

Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.

Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.

Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.

Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.

Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.

Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.

Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.

Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.

Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.

Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.

Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.

Types of policy

Term life insurance: this is the cheapest and most-popular form of life cover. You pay a regular monthly premium for a pre-agreed period, typically anything between five and 25 years, or possibly longer. If you die within that time, the policy will pay a cash lump sum, which is typically tax-free even outside the UAE. If you die after the policy ends, you do not get anything in return. There is no cash-in value at any time. Once you stop paying premiums, cover stops.

Whole-of-life insurance: as its name suggests, this type of life cover is designed to run for the rest of your life. You pay regular monthly premiums and in return, get a guaranteed cash lump sum whenever you die. As a result, premiums are typically much higher than one term life insurance, although they do not usually increase with age. In some cases, you have to keep up premiums for as long as you live, although there may be a cut-off period, say, at age 80 but it can go as high as 95. There are penalties if you don’t last the course and you may get a lot less than you paid in.

Critical illness cover: this pays a cash lump sum if you suffer from a serious illness such as cancer, heart disease or stroke. Some policies cover as many as 50 different illnesses, although cancer triggers by far the most claims. The payout is designed to cover major financial responsibilities such as a mortgage or children’s education fees if you fall ill and are unable to work. It is cost effective to combine it with life insurance, with the policy paying out once if you either die or suffer a serious illness.

Income protection: this pays a replacement income if you fall ill and are unable to continue working. On the best policies, this will continue either until you recover, or reach retirement age. Unlike critical illness cover, policies will typically pay out for stress and musculoskeletal problems such as back trouble.

Mobile phone packages comparison
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The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

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Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:

1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition

The Lost Letters of William Woolf
Helen Cullen, Graydon House 

Joker: Folie a Deux

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson

Director: Todd Phillips 

Rating: 2/5