Is there a definition of life? Right from childhood, we are brought up to think that it is easy to differentiate living from non-living. Living beings can see, hear, smell, taste and feel. Humans are alive, but a rock or a table isn’t. Easy human-centric answers are simplistic and don’t tally with facts. One definitionContinue reading “Excerpt: The deepest questions of life”
Tag Archives: covid 19
Excerpt – Studying genetics and virulence
COVID 19: Coronaviruses have historically caused mild common colds, outside incidents like the SARS and MERS outbreaks. Mutations in 2019 have turned this less harmful Coronavirus into the more malevolent COVID 19 version. The COVID 19 spike proteins had evolved to effectively target a molecular feature on the outside of human cells called ACE2 , aContinue reading “Excerpt – Studying genetics and virulence”
Excerpt: Investigating the origin of pandemics
In November, doctors in southeastern China began to see the first cases of what would later be a global pandemic. Doctors had never seen the viral illness before, and at first, thought the cases they were seeing might be atypical pneumonia. Even after doctors began to realize that there was something new about the illnessesContinue reading “Excerpt: Investigating the origin of pandemics”
Essay 1: The hidden world of viruses
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” – Sun Tzu from “TheContinue reading “Essay 1: The hidden world of viruses”
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