Browsing: Lifestyle

A Brief History On May 8, 2019, a British teenager became the first patient to receive bacteriophage therapy to treat an antibiotic resistant infection.  The use of bacteriophages, which are viruses that attack bacteria cells, to treat bacterial infections was an idea that went back many decades but was superseded by the widespread use of antibiotic drugs. Digging Deeper Those same antibiotics, while highly successful, have caused mutations in bacteria that make those pathogens resistant to the antibiotics and difficult to treat with normal methods.  The use of genetically altered bacteriophages results in fewer side effects and less chance of…

A Brief History On May 3, 2023, a 13 year old Serbian schoolboy opened fire at an elementary school in Belgrade, Serbia, killing nine students and a security guard.  An additional six people were wounded.  Incredibly, due to Serbian law, the shooter was not criminally prosecuted due to his age! Digging Deeper The teenaged shooter used his father’s legally owned pistols in the event, firing 57 shots during the attack. Although not charged criminally, the shooter did wind up under psychiatric care.  His parents, in a scenario eerily similar to a recent case in the US, found themselves in legal…

A Brief History On May 1, 1978, Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura made history as the first person to reach the North Pole all alone.  Using a dog sled, Uemura barely made the 57 day trek alive, as he had been raided by a Polar Bear that ate much of his provisions!  An intrepid adventurer, Uemura shot the bear dead when it returned the next day. Digging Deeper Uemura was also the first person to raft the Amazon River alone and the first to make a solo ascent of Denali in 1970.  Always looking to best his own efforts, he disappeared…

A Brief History This article is intended to summarize some key points from an overview of the Age of Exploration. Digging Deeper Over three centuries after the Vikings failed to establish a permanent settlement in North America, the Black Death, the worst pandemic in human history brought seemingly apocalyptic horror to Asians and Europeans alike. In the 1400s, as Europeans continued their recovery from the Black Death pandemic, the Inca were among a number of civilizations existing in the Americas with varying degrees of technological advancement. In 1453, Muslim Turks captured Constantinople from Christian Byzantines, thereby placing the world’s most…

A Brief History On April 25, 1960, the nuclear powered US Navy submarine, Triton, completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth while underwater.  With about 71% of the Earth’s surface covered by water, people have been finding ways to travel above and below the water’s surface forever, and today we look at a few of the subsurface accomplishments. Digging Deeper In 1864, the Confederate submarine, H.L  Hunley, became the first sub to sink a surface ship, although the Hunley was also lost in the attack. In 1958, USS Nautilus became the first submarine to sail under the North Pole. Nautilus…