ON October 7, US scientists Victor Ambros of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Gary Ruvkun of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of microRNAs, or miRNAs, as key regulators of gene expression, which is a novel physiological mechanism. So far no confirmed applications have emerged from this discovery, despite considerable potential and research.Every cell contains DNA molecules that house genetic information in the chromosomes.

ISRAEL’S policy of climbing the escalation ladder has now brought West Asia to the brink of a much larger war. With Israel entering Lebanon and Iran’s missile strikes on Israel, it is no longer about the fate of Gaza and its people, which has been under Israel’s genocidal attack for almost a year. The war is about to enter a new phase with Israel’s threatened response on Iran’s nuclear facilities and full US support. It risks drawing Yemen, Syria and Iraq into a much larger war with global implications well beyond the region.

MOTHER’S milk possesses specific nutritional and immunological advantages for infants. Proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and other bioactive factors play a crucial role in growth of infants, immune protection and general health.

MPOX, formerly known as monkeypox until the WHO renamed it in November 2022 to avoid stigma, is resurging, particularly in Africa. On August 14, 2024, WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) due to a sharp rise in cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighbouring countries, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. This is the second time in history (the first being in 2022 also for mpox) that a PHEIC has been declared for a DNA virus outbreak, highlighting the urgent need for coordinated global efforts to control the virus.

ON Independence Day – August 15th – we generally take stock of the path we have travelled since 1947. Today, I will take a different tack and focus on how or why a handful of European countries end up controlling major parts of the world.Before the rise of colonial empires, India and China were the biggest economies in the world. That is not surprising, as probably 90 per cent of the world's economy was in agriculture.