Nigeria has confirmed the eradication of the deadly Ebola virus.
Nigeria the first to be declared Ebola-free. (Image courtesy of the John Moore/Getty Images).
The disease had arrived in Nigeria through the infected Liberian-American diplomat Patrick Sawyer, who had travelled to Lagos on July 20 and was soon hospitalized. Although Sawyer had infected other health workers, swift response from Nigeria’s federal government, state governments, and international organizations, led to the successful containment of the infection. However, the deadly virus still rages throughout West Africa. Senegal was also declared Ebola-free on 24 October.
Source and more information can be found here.
Gunman opened fire on Parliament Hill, killing 24-year-old corporal Nathan Cirillo.
24-year-old corporal Nathan Cirillo was shot and killed in Ottawa shooting. (Image courtesy of Facebook).
The gunman reached the parliamentary library at the end of the Hall of Honour before being shot and killed by Kevin Vickers, the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms.
Corporal Nathan Cirillo was a 24-year-old reservist serving with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The gunman, identified as 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, had an extensive criminal record for petty crimes in Quebec and Vancouver in the early 2000s. The reason behind the attack has not yet been determined.
Source and more information can be found here and here.
Quebec soldier killed in hit-and-run.
Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was killed in a hit-and-run. (Image courtesy of CTV News)
Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was hit by a car Monday, 20 October in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu. The 53-year old was about to retire after 28 years of military service. The man responsible for Vincent’s death was Martin Couture-Rouleau, who was shot dead by the police after a brief car chase. Couture-Rouleau’s attack was linked to “terrorist ideology” and was identified as a RCMP high-risk traveler. The police have confirmed that there is no connection between the Quebec hit-and-run and the Ottawa shooting. Vincent’s family is mourning and struggling to come to terms with his death. The funeral will be held on Saturday, 1 November at 11 am at the Cathedral de Longueuil and will be closed to the media.
Source and more information can be found here and here.
Research reveals the use of genetically engineered stem cells to kill brain tumours.
Stem-cell based therapy to kill brain tumours. (Image courtesy of Getty Images).
Scientists from the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute recently discovered that genetically engineered stem cells are capable of producing and secreting toxins that can kill brain tumours without killing normal cells or themselves.
Conducting molecular analysis and imaging to track the inhibition of protein synthesis reveals the ability of the toxins to kill the cancerous cells, while having no impact on normal, healthy cells. As the experiments were conducted on mice, researchers state that the next step is to test the procedure on humans and hope for its use in clinical trials within the next five years.
Source and more information can be found here.
Russia is turning back the clocks to permanently adopt winter hours
Clocks will turn back one hour in Russia permanently on 26 October
Two new time zones will be added, bring the total from nine to eleven. For the past three years, Russia has experimented with permanent summer time. It started in 2011, when then President Dmitry Medvedev said changing times in the seasons disrupted people’s biorhythms and even upset cows. He carried out measures that decreased the time zone count to nine, and kept summer time all year around. However, many Russians living in the north complained about living in darkness during the winter because of the little number of daylight hours near the Arctic Circle. Members of Parliament have also cited medical records stating that permanent summer time has caused stress and health problem, as well as an increasing number of morning road accidents in the north. The permanent time change will start on October 26th.
Source and more information can be found here.
Nobel prize winner stuns world yet again with unprecedented microscope technology.
Eric Betzig and his colleagues beside the light lattice microscope. (Image courtesy of Howard Hughes Medical Institute)
Only weeks after winning the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Eric Betzig once again has transformed the world of microscopy. The creation of Betzig’s Nobel Prize winning microscope, PALM, and his new microscope, were motivated by his frustration at the limitations of current microscopes. However, the problem with PALM is that it can only look at slow moving living systems. Betzig’s new lattice light sheet microscope shoots series of beams from the side of the specimen, which shows clear images, and does not cause much harm to the specimen. With this new advanced microscope, scientist can now see more clearly how cells divide, behave, and grow, which is especially beneficial for cancer research.
Source and more information can be found here.
