Author: Hala El-Barghouthi

The human brain contains billions of neurons, intricate networks of nerve fibres, and structures hidden beneath a hard skull. Yet doctors can view all these, without making a single incision, using… magnets? Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) makes this possible by detecting signals from hydrogen nuclei within the body. Rather than directly photographing the brain, MRI…

Around 2.4 billion years ago (Ga), a toxic byproduct of an ancient ecological catastrophe poisoned the entire planet, specifically the anaerobic life that had dominated early Earth. This lethal element is one most life now depends on: oxygen (Aiyer 2022). We often talk about what makes us alive, but we rarely question what allowed us…