Science
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Monkeypox: Another Day, Another Outbreak
From smallpox in the 1960s to Ebola and Zika outbreaks in 2015 and 2016 respectively, writing the history of human infectious diseases is a long and draining task. With COVID-19 finally loosening its stringent grip over the world after years of fear and tension, humankind has yet to experience another outbreak. SARS-CoV-2 has stolen the…
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Microplastics are Everywhere: Should we be Concerned?
Plastics have become an indivisible part of our daily lives as they can be found in almost everything we use including the device which you are reading this article on. However, that was not always the case. The world’s first plastic, Parkesine, was synthesized in 1862 from cellulose and served as an alternative to ivory…
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Shifting the Paradigm: Why Microorganisms Are More Useful Than We Think
“When Orson Welles said “We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone”, he was mistaken. Even when we are alone, we are never alone. We exist in symbiosis – a wonderful term that refers to different organisms living together. Some animals are colonized by microbes while they are still unfertilized eggs; others pick up…
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The First Pig-to-human Heart Transplant and The Future of Xenografts
The idea of accepting an animal organ in place of our own might sound repugnant at first. Is it a real danger to our human identity? In a “world-first” operation, a genetically modified pig’s heart was transplanted into a human. The operation was Mr. Bennett’s last resort, a shot in the dark that could save…
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Learning to Live with Fire
Wildfires quickly spread like an inferno consuming any thick and dried-out vegetation along its path. What seems to be an instantaneous burst can overtake thousands of acres of beautiful green landscapes and threaten the homes and lives of many in the parameter. Fires are becoming increasingly frequent and increasingly dangerous. Fueled by high temperatures, high…
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Lebanon and Omicron: The Strategy of an Exacerbated Healthcare Sector
Co-written by Adam Najm A few weeks after its discovery in South Africa, the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron has already taken its toll. To this date, there has been five variants of COVID-19 discovered including the new Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant being responsible for 95% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S and the…
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Plastic Surgery: Sin or Virtue?
What do Michael Jackson, the Kardashians, and Cristiano Ronaldo have in common? Plastic surgery. In his 1988 autobiography Moonwalk, the King of Pop writes that he has undergone several rhinoplasties, let aside the forehead lifts, chin surgeries, and skin repair that have drastically changed his face. According to local magazines, the Kardashians “have changed the…
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Climate Apathy: Why We Choose Not To Look Up
A 9km wide asteroid is hurtling towards Earth, very likely to strike the planet with enough force to wipe out all traces of human civilization and push the reset button on all life Earth has seen so far. This cataclysmic extinction event, one would expect, should cause mass hysteria and panic, and should warrant an…
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State Lab Chemists Go Rogue: Drug Scandal of the Century
What seems to be the greatest problem facing criminal justice systems throughout history is their staggering reliance on human work. Why? Because humanity is undoubtedly flawed. Naturally born sinners, humans possess an inherent penchant to breach moral laws and ethics. Despite all that, one entity views itself immune to human error: science. Exempted from fallacy,…
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Genetic Engineering in Medicine: Darwin’s Evolution on Steroids?
Go back in time to the late 19th century and imagine yourself being told that in a couple of decades, the internet and smartphones would take over your life and revolutionize the way you live. You would have laughed at such a claim; but now, it is a reality…a breakthrough of immense magnitude which, without…