THE BLACK DEATH

If somebody asked you "Choose an area of health research that should no longer be pursued and provide reasons why?", what would be your answer?

I have thought about this question for a long time and the proper answer for it, and this is what I have concluded.

There is no research that should no longer be pursued. Every field is important and continuous research is essential to lead to new discoveries. There could be, however, some researches that are not contributing significantly to human kind health. The need to conduct research on disease varies since some are more harmful than others and more threatening to human kind. Others, on the other hand, are not as dangerous given that there is either a successful cure or an effective vaccine.

For instance, the Black Death was a fatal disease that killed more than 25 million people around the 14th century. Its virus attacks the host cell and pumps toxins into the cell, causing destruction to this cell. However, cases of the disease now are rare and can be treated. The Black Death does not pose any threat today, and there is only a limited amount of cases that are being documented each year and these are not deadly. In the United States, for instance, only an average of 12 cases occur each year. Conversely, this disease could be extremely dangerous if we made a mistake while handling it. According to Matthew Nilles, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology from University of Massachusetts Medical School, "if the virus (yersinia pestis) were acquired by the wrong people, the Black Death could have devastating results. The virus has resurfaced as a concern in recent weeks because of its potential to be used as weapon of biological warfare. If someone intentionally released the virus, it would inflict mass casualties and overwhelm our health care system". Nilles also concludes that if any mistake took place inside the labs that contains the disease, the virus could escape. In case such an incident occurs, the virus would spread very quickly around the world. Moreover, miss-handling the virus could form a new type of mutation and therefore, the virus may become stronger than before. A recent incident occurred in Australia when a few Australian scientists accidentally created a new deadly mouse virus. This virus had the ability to destroy the immune system and killed all the mice involved.

Keeping such prospects in mind and considering the huge funding that are consumed simply in maintaining a research on such a virus, it might be wiser to divert the research of a virus such the (yersinia pestis) to its less dangerous cousins like HIV. As an alternative, this financial support can go to other important diseases such as cancer and even malaria which cause millions of deaths.

Every research is valuable to the progress of humanity, yet the importance of each research varies as a few are better to be discontinued. Even with negative encounters occurring from a certain research, the experience and the knowledge gained from the research might still be valuable. Progress in each field affects the progress of others; thus, science is ever connected.

ARABIC AND ITS IMPORTANCE

Arabic is the language that is broadly spoken in most of the Middle East and North Africa countries, the area which is known today as the Arab world. Arabic belongs originally to a Semitic family of languages, which includes Hebrew and Aramaic. This family is known of its history-recording for thousands of years, building one of the most extensive and oldest history archives known to man. Evolving to its present form, Arabic language was almost restrained to the Arabian Peninsula. It was only a century after the death of prophet Mohamad1 that Arabic has become the official language of a world empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the borders of China to the east. For centuries, Arabic was conceded the language of science. It did not only contribute in the development of today’s basis of science but also helped in spreading knowledge from different civilizations2. Moreover, many other cultures used the Arabic calligraphy to write their own languages, as in the case of Urdu and Persian. Today, with the weakness of Muslim civilization3, the spread of Arabic usage decreased. The population of Arabic mother tong is only within two hundred million worldwide. Even within the Arab world, the language lost a lot of its popularity, most of the research is now conducted in either English or French. It was only within a century ago where many Muslim countries changed their calligraphy from Arabic letters into Latin, as in the case of Turkey, some South East Asian4, and Black African5 Countries. In spite of all this, Arabic is still internationally ranked in sixth position. That can only be due to the fact of being a language for a growing religion6, of almost one and half billion people around the world, and being the language of the non changing book, the Holy Qur’an.

Some of the Sources:
http://www.indiana.edu/~arabic/arabic_history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language
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1 A prophet sent by God to deliver the message of Islam.
2 Documenting knowledge from different cultures (china, Indian Subcontinent, Greeks, Persian, Byzantine).
3 Muslims conceder the last few centuries to be a fall back to the Muslim civilization due to the behavior of Muslims from drifting from their original teaching that promotes knowledge and science.
4 For example: (Indonesia, Malaysia, Fatan(part of Thiland).
5 For example: (Nigeria)
6 In spite of the Fastest Growing religion

Will English Be The Dominant Language Forever?

There are more than 6800 languages spoken all over the world. Even though English is the global and universal language of today's world, it will not last as a dominant language for more than seventy years. English as a language will expand more in the next thirty years. But as soon as it reaches its climax, it will declaim later on.

English as any other language can be influenced by several factors. A lot of researches have been done in this field. According to some experts in Harvord University, there are basically two pressures on the English language. First, English will be the universal language as long as the United States controls the world. Once U.S.A looses the grip on things, English will be lost. For instance, when the Roman Empire collapsed as a country, its language, Latin, separated into three languages (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese). Second, there is a theory that the lack of formal grammar teaching in foreign countries contrasting with the formal English grammar teaching to second language learners will lead to a new kind of English.

A language can be imagined as a human being. It grows until it reaches its peak. However, once it reaches the peak, it will go down again and less people will speak that language. Therefore, it does not matter how long a language is going to live because it will die one day.

THE GREAT LAKES 3

Challenges:
Even though both Canada and the United States have placed a number of regulations in order to protect this valuable natural resource, many challenges threat the lakes. Through the last few hundred years, people have fished from the lakes and depended on them not only as a source for local consumption but also as a major source for international exportation and commerce. As a result, some species are becoming endangered while some have already become extinct. This problem was further amplified due to the removal of the trees covering the nearby streams and channels which provide spawning grounds. It affected the necessary shade, temperature, and moderating conditions which are essential to reserve endangered species. Other ecological problems in the lakes and their surroundings have stemmed from the urban sprawl, sewage disposal, and toxic industrial discharge.


The Great Lakes are a great and valuable resource for the whole planet, and for Canada and the United States in particular. Their unique features and large size make them an important habitat for many of the planet’s unique species. Appreciating and protecting the Great Lakes is a mission of humanity as well as a major part in saving the planet we live on. However, great effort is being made by both neighboring countries, yet much more work needs to be done and further cooperation is essential for guaranteeing a possible future for the Great Lakes.

THE GREAT LAKES 2

Their affects:
Due to the fact that the lakes occupy a large area, they have a great influence on their surroundings. This effect can be clearly noticeable on weather, which is referred to as the lake effect. Due to this effect, in winter, the moisture is picked up by the prevailing winds from the west which can produce very heavy snowfall. This effect is especially sensed along the lakeshores in the east such as Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ontario, and New York. It is not uncommon for heavy snow to occur while the sky is completely clear because of this phenomenon. The lakes also moderate seasonal temperatures somewhat by absorbing heat and cooling the air in the summer. After that, the lakes slowly radiate this accumulating heat during the autumn. This temperature buffering produces ideal areas for fruit growing, especially in the south, which gave these areas their name as the "fruit belts". Furthermore, the area on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan has become a home to many North America’s fine wineries.


Economy:
Both Canada and the United States relay heavily on the Great Lakes for generating energy, for fresh and drinking water, and for their industry and economy. The fishing industry in the lakes alone generates over four billion U.S dollars a year, which includes Sport fishing, commercial fishing, and Native American fishing. Since ancient times, the lakes and their connective and branching rivers were the only practical means of moving people and goods. Later, the main business of many of the passenger liners in the 1800s was the transporting of immigrants. Today, the Great Lakes remain a main traveling route, and it is extensively used for regional transport. However, one of the reasons that helped the lakes to be accessible is the great lakes waterway, also known as the great lakes St-Laurent system.

The Great Lakes 1

The Great Lakes are one of the world’s youngest natural features. They consist of five large lakes, and they connect with each other by either tiny ducts or small rivers. These lakes are located in North America on the Canadian-American border. They are considered a symbol for the two countries. One of the interesting things about the lakes is that it can be seen easily and clearly from outer space. If you could stand on the moon, you could see the lakes and recognize the familiar wolf head shape of Lake Superior, or the mitten bounded by lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie.










The lakes cover over 94,000 square miles and drain more than twice as much land, so they are considered the largest body of fresh water in the world. 20%, one-fifth, of the world's fresh surface water is located in the great lakes. This freshwater holds about 6 quadrillion gallons of water; It is enough water to cover the contiguous 48 states.

The lakes and their formation:

These lakes were formed 10,000 years ago at the end of the ice age. When the glaciers had moved, they dug and carved large holes in the land that formed the shapes of the lakes. As the glaciers melted, the large amounts of fresh water filled the holes. The geological topographical terrain formed five main bodies of water. The first one which is the largest by volume and depth is Lake Superior, which occupies a larger area than Scotland or South Carolina. The second largest one by volume is Lake Michigan, and it is the third-largest one by area. The third one is Lake Huron, which is the third-largest by volume and the second largest in area. The fourth lake is Lake Erie which is the smallest one by volume and shallowest of all the great lakes. The fifth one is Lake Ontario, which is the second-smallest one in volume and in area, yet much lower elevation than the rest.

From Where Does The Most Expensive Coffee Come From?!

Coffee kopi luwak considers the best coffee in the world. It has a rich, heavy flavour with hints of caramel or chocolate. Also, it is the most expensive coffee. Its price ranges between 200 to 600 $ per a pound. It is difficult to find its beans everywhere. Sometimes, you can drink in coffee shops where the price of a small cup is 46$.

BUT HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE?

Did you discover the reason?

This expensive coffee does not come to us immediately form the beans' trees. Instead, they take a long process before we drink them. The beans come out of a mammal's digestive system. These mammals, Asian Palm Civet, carefully choose their food. They eat vegetable and sometimes meat. These little mammals live in trees and one of their favorite foods is the red, ripe coffee cherry. They eat this fruit but it does not get digested in the animals' digestive system. The beans go through many processes inside these animals' cavities. The enzymes break down some proteins, which give the coffee its bitter taste. That is why they have a unique flavor.


Most of these coffee beans are found in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Ethiopia. Workers collect them from forests. They take the beans and clean them. Then, they give them a light toast in order not to destroy the complex flavor that has developed through the long process inside the mammals' digestive system. Finally, they pack the beans in fancy boxes. So, they can be ready to be shipped to other countries.

BONNE PETIT