The Middle East's first synchrotron facility, a collaborative effort intended to promote peace through international scientific cooperation, formally opened its doors on 3 November in Allan, Jordan. But unless the project can plug a €15-million (US$19-million) shortfall, the machine's completion risks being stalled. Following a flurry of behind-the-scenes discussions, officials are confident that they will find the money. The facility's inauguration at Al-Balqa Applied University may have helped: when ministers and other representatives finally saw the buildings, and the beamlines and other machinery being installed, it had "a big psychological impact," says Herwig Schopper, who retired as head of the project council on 4 November.
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