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Travel Plan: Visit The Magnificent Orthodox Churches of Russia

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  (St Basil Church, Moscow; Image source: flickr.com) Hi Traveller,  Magnificent, breathtaking, incredible, fabulous- no adjective can fully do justice to the marvel of the Orthodox churches of Russia. If you are a traveller searching for sublimated sights of history frozen in time, you must stand in front of Saint Basil’s Basilica in Moscow at least once. You will see the evening sky acquiring an added glow from the church's colourful spires and domes. No other experience can give you the authentic taste of ancient Rus than visiting the orthodox churches.  As Winston Churchill once defined, Russia is "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." Welcome to the marvellous enigma of Russia and its magnificent churches, of which many became communist party offices and administrative offices during the Soviet regime and were handed back to the folks of faith when that era passed. These buildings thus represent, above all, the passing of time.  The gorgeous Saint Bas...
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How Far Away Is a Cancer Vaccine?

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(image source: Pixabay) A cancer vaccine has always remained elusive for medicine and science. Is this situation changing? Is hope rising over the horizon? The Ovarian Cancer Vaccine According to the latest news , Oxford University scientists have developed a vaccine for ovarian cancer . This vaccine, OvarianVax, when available for use, will be able to teach the immune cells in our body to detect and attack ovarian cancer cells in the early stages of this disease. Prof. Ahmed Ahmed is the leading scientist behind this research.  The trial for this vaccine has started. The importance of this development is that when it is ready, this vaccine might wipe out ovarian cancer. Yet, this vaccine is still years away.  Why Is a Cancer Vaccine Still a Mirage? What is Happening on the Research Front? Catherine J Wu, a cancer scientist, was awarded the prestigious Sjöberg Prize for her contribution to cancer research  in February 2024 . She is a professor of medicine at Harvard...
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World Population, Migration, and the Gen Z Reluctance to Have Children

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  The growing perception is that the world is not a safe place anymore. Why bring children to a world torn apart by many wars and under the shadow of climate doom? This question is too familiar and relatable to the Gen Z generation.    In the US, the population projections reveal that the birth-over-death ratio will be in the negative zone by around 2040. Millennials and Gen Z are less inclined towards having children than their preceding generations.  The immigrants are expected to compensate for this population decline. Even the Covid 19 failed to bring about an increase in babies being born. It was expected, and signals even showed such a trend, but it was short-lived.  In 2020, BBC reported that 23 countries would see their population reduced to half of what it is currently by 2100.  In the 1950s, the planet had 4.7 children per woman; in 2021, the corresponding figure is 2.4 . The world population will start declining when the fertility rate fall...
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Travel Plan: The Pellworm- Suderoog Islands, Germany

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 (Pellworm Island; image source: de.wikipedia.org) Hello Traveller, You are someone eager to walk unbeaten tracks. You wonder how people live in remote corners of the world where time seems to stand still, and life flows forever without much change. This is why you must visit Pellworm and Suderoog in Germany. These places might teach you an entirely new philosophy of life if you are the listening type.    Suderoog Island can be described in two phrases- one, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the North Frisian Wadden Sea, and two, called by many a floating dream. This island is on the mudflats of Germany. To benefit those uninitiated in geography and its weird diversity, I must explain that a mudflat is a tidal flat, a slob, as the Irish call it. It amounts to a coastal wetland formed by silt deposits in an intertidal area.  They are similar to bays, estuaries, lagoons, and bayous. The mudflats are alternatively submerged and exposed. Even when submerged, the water...
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Travel Plan: Vanavara, Siberia: The Heart of the Tangushka Mystery Event

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(Vanavara town. Image source:  Traveling Dunia) Hi Traveller! You are fascinated by remote and isolated destinations and not the type to shy away from the hardships of exploring distant terrains and cultures. This is the first travel note for you, in a series of travel plans you will surely want to read before you go off that beaten track.  A Trip to Vanavara Vanavara is the nearest human habitation to what was known as the Tunguska event. Now, what was the Tunguska event? Know your history or google it up.  The incident happened in 1908. A meteor fell into the Taiga and burned and flattened a little above 2000 square kilometres of the spruces and birches growing there. This was the largest recorded meteor impact in history. And there are a hundred and some conspiracy theories about the event, a few even claiming that the explosion was supernatural.  In the Subarctic climate of Vanavara, everything is white when it is winter. This place is home to the Evenk people, t...
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Who Is Naim Qassim, the New Secretary-General of Hezbollah?

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  Naim Qassim has assumed charge as the new Secretary-general of the Lebanese military-political group, Hezbollah. He is another Hezbollah hardliner, referred to as the “Hezbollah intellectual” in the outside circles.  The New Chief of Hezbollah Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah was killed in Beirut by Israel on September 27, 2024. Naim Qassim, the new Secretary-General, was the founding member of Hezbollah, a cleric, and has been the Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah since 1991. After Nasarallah’s assassination, he has served as the acting Secretary-General.  Naim Qassim has also been the general coordinator of Hezbollah's parliamentary election-related campaigns since 1992 when the organisation debuted in electoral politics. He lacks the charisma of Hasan Nasrallah. Qassim has been Hezbollah's face before international media, giving interviews and functioning as its spokesperson. Hashem Safieddine, the head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council and the potent...
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How Far Away Is a Cancer Vaccine?

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(image source: Pixabay) A cancer vaccine has always remained elusive for medicine and science. Is this situation changing? Is hope rising over the horizon? The Ovarian Cancer Vaccine According to the latest news , Oxford University scientists have developed a vaccine for ovarian cancer . This vaccine, OvarianVax, when available for use, will be able to teach the immune cells in our body to detect and attack ovarian cancer cells in the early stages of this disease. Prof. Ahmed Ahmed is the leading scientist behind this research.  The trial for this vaccine has started. The importance of this development is that when it is ready, this vaccine might wipe out ovarian cancer. Yet, this vaccine is still years away.  Why Is a Cancer Vaccine Still a Mirage? What is Happening on the Research Front? Catherine J Wu, a cancer scientist, was awarded the prestigious Sjöberg Prize for her contribution to cancer research  in February 2024 . She is a professor of medicine at Harvard...
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What is Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar's Legacy?

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  Israel killed Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, one of the few leaders who was left in Gaza to lead the war on the Palestine side. For many in the Western world, Yahya Sinwar will be just a terrorist, and for many in the Middle East, he will remain a hero. It is difficult to answer who he really was amidst the chaos of misinformation and troubled history that has turned this region into a hellhole of violence and mistrust.  Obviously, Sinwar was a strong leader, a man capable of making the hardest of hard decisions, as witnessed in the October 7 attack of Hamas against Israel. The last interview that Sinwar gave to foreign media was with VICE News and journalist Hind Hassan in 2021. Al Jazeera Television has interviewed Hassan in the aftermath of Yahya Sinwar’s assassination.  Hassan remembers Sinwar as a man who unceremoniously walked out of a mosque in Gaza, surrounded by his colleagues, amidst an escalation of the conflict in 2021. She and her TV crew could walk up to ...
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