ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 14, 2026--
Bodrum Anatolian High School, located in Türkiye, has been named the winner of the 2026 Zayed Sustainability Prize in the Global High Schools – Europe & Central Asia category. The school was recognised for its innovative wildfire prevention system that uses drones and solar energy to detect and respond to fires.
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The project, known as ‘IYTIMS’ (Intelligent Youth Technology for Integrated Monitoring System), will deploy drones equipped with thermal sensors to identify fire risks and release boron-based fire-suppressing capsules—all powered by solar energy. Students will design and operate the system as part of their STEM curriculum to address the growing threat of wildfires in Türkiye.
The project will protect approximately 1,200 hectares of land, avoid around 20,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions, generate about 50,000 kWh of solar power, and train nearly 1,500 students in STEM and AI skills.
Dr. Lamya Fawwaz, Executive Director of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, praised the school’s innovation: “The Zayed Sustainability Prize honours youth who turn creativity into action. Bodrum Anatolian High School’s wildfire prevention project demonstrates how innovation and collaboration can protect both people and the environment. It is a testament to what young minds can achieve when guided by purpose and possibility.”
Berrin İpek, Principal of Bodrum Anatolian High School, said: “Winning the Zayed Sustainability Prize is not just an award for Bodrum Anatolian High School, but a recognition of our students’ dreams and determination. This achievement is a testament to their commitment to building a more sustainable future. Together we will continue to work with hope and inspiration for a better world.”
The US $150,000 award will enable the school to enhance its drone systems, expand solar capacity, and conduct regional awareness campaigns to prevent wildfires through education and technology.
The Zayed Sustainability Prize honours organisations and high schools driving impactful and innovative solutions across the categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water, Climate Action, and Global High Schools. Since its inception, the Prize has positively impacted the lives of over 400 million people worldwide, carrying forward the visionary legacy of the UAE’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Since 2013, the Prize has awarded 68 high schools under its Global High Schools category from countries in the following regions: The Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & North Africa, Europe & Central Asia, South Asia, and East Asia & Pacific. To date, the Prize’s Global High Schools winners have impacted the lives of over 56,599 students and 480,660 people in their wider communities.
Source: AETOSWire
2026 Zayed Sustainability Prize Awards Ceremony (Photo: AETOSWire)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A hantavirus is suspected of causing an outbreak aboard a cruise ship that has killed three people and sickened others.
Studies indicate hantaviruses have been around for centuries, with outbreaks documented in Asia and Europe. In the Eastern Hemisphere, it has been linked with hemorrhagic fever and kidney failure. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that a previously unknown group of hantaviruses emerged in the southwestern United States as the cause of an acute respiratory disease now known hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
The disease gained attention last year after late actor Gene Hackman ’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico.
The World Health Organization said in a statement Sunday that detailed investigations of the cruise ship outbreak are ongoing, including further laboratory testing and epidemiological investigations. Sequencing of the virus also is ongoing.
Hantavirus is mainly spread by contact with rodents or their urine, saliva or droppings, particularly when the material is disturbed and becomes airborne, posing risk of inhalation. People are typically exposed to hantavirus around their homes, cabins or sheds, especially when cleaning out enclosed spaces with little ventilation or exploring areas where there are mouse droppings.
The WHO says that while rare, hantaviruses may spread between people.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking the virus after a 1993 outbreak in the Four Corners region — the area where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet.
It was an astute physician with the Indian Health Service who first noticed a pattern of deaths among young patients, said Michelle Harkins, a pulmonologist with the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center who for years has been studying the disease and helping patients.
Most U.S. cases are in Western states. New Mexico and Arizona are hotspots, Harkins said, likely because the odds are greater for mouse-human encounters in rural areas.
An infection can rapidly progress and become life-threatening. Experts say it can start with symptoms that include a fever, chills, muscle aches and maybe a headache.
“Early in the illness, you really may not be able to tell the difference between hantavirus and having the flu,” said Dr. Sonja Bartolome of UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
Symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome usually show between one to eight weeks after contact with an infected rodent. As the infection progresses, patients might experience tightness in the chest, as the lungs fill with fluid.
The other syndrome caused by hantavirus — hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome — usually develops within a week or two after exposure.
Death rates vary by which hantavirus causes the illness. Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is fatal in nearly 40% of people infected, while the death rate for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome varies from 1% to 15% of patients, according to the CDC.
There is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival.
Despite years of research, Harkins said many questions have yet to be answered, including why it can be mild for some people and very severe for others and how antibodies are developed. She and other researchers have been following patients over long periods of time in hopes of finding a treatment.
“A lot of mysteries,” she said, noting that what researchers do know is that rodent exposure is a key.
The best way to avoid the germ is to minimize contact with rodents and their droppings. Use protective gloves and a bleach solution for cleaning up rodent droppings. Public health experts caution against sweeping or vacuuming which can cause virus to get into the air.
FILE - A woman works at her shop in Epuyen, Argentina, Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, after an outbreak of hantavirus. (AP Photo/Gustavo Zaninelli, File)
FILE - In this June 15, 2010 file photo, a rat wanders the subway tracks at Union Square in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
