Breakthroughs Today

Science provides a never-ending source fascination to the mind that awes at the unfathomable beauty of nature. Among those sciences, a few that strike me with wonder are astronomy, archaeology, biology, and medicine. You will notice that these fields covers the full spectrum of science, from the endless expanse of the outer space in astronomy to the microscopic cosmos of medical science. Last January 10, photographer Per-Arne Mikalsen captured a "phenomenon" that may not be fully explained with full certainty... until maybe later in the distant future. On Jan. 20, 2010, Per-Arne Mikalsen was photographing a vast aurora erupting over the northern Norwegian town of Andenes. Because solar activity is on the increase, aurora spotters have many opportunities to see the Northern Lights. On this particular night the aurora was intense, stretching toward the southern latitudes of Norway. In one of the photographs taken by Mikalsen was an "object" that couldn't b

Sometimes a person has to choose between health and money, at times life and death in the pursuit financial well-being for self and family. And in the history of world boxing, the cost indeed can be very high. A slice of Z "The Dream" Gorres' skull remains stored in a biologic refrigeration system at a facility outside San Diego. The piece of bone, about the size of a man's hand, had to be removed after the bantamweight boxer's Nov. 13 fight at Mandalay Bay's House of Blues. The 27-year-old's battered brain needed room to swell, according to University Medical Center trauma surgeon Dr. Michael Casey. Had the opening not been made, the swelling within the tight confines of his skull would have compressed his brain stem, shut down his breathing and also his heart. He would have died. Read more.

Jan 27 Ermine of Her Soul (posted 01/26/2010) Jan 20 A Text of Indifference to Life (posted 01/19/2010) [used in--- Kabalita (newslink)] Jan 13 A Respite to Appreciation (posted 01/12/2010) Jan 6 A Rendezvous with Alcohol, Fat, and Destiny (posted 01/05/2010) [used in--- Medical Center Literatus News ]

See A Medical View of Homosexuality for the latest research findings. No matter how you look at it, homosexuality--gay or lesbian--is only a way of thinking reinforced by many years of behavioral preferences. There is no one born gay or lesbian. But there are many who have no good role models of health masculinity or feminity. The role models could either be passive masculines and demanding feminines or oppressive masculines and manipulative feminines or other unknown combinations of certain unhealthy sexuality characteristics. In the same way that a suicidal person is not born depressed as she is raised in a home of depressive atmosphere people with depressed or suicidal role models, homosexuals came to be so because of failure in healthy modelling. With that in mind, homosexuality is essentially a mental problem and not an existential condition. Studies and observation furnish us a lot of faulty thoughts that bring a person to develop homosexual behaviors, thus changing its "se

Breakthroughs Today will change its format from a simple blog into a review blog which incorporates the latest in physical and mental sciences for our readers to react with and share their views. Starting October 7, this will be so. Being a reviewer, it will discuss certain issues brought up in the Breakthroughs articles published in Sun.Star Cebu. However, our content will not limit to that printed updates. Thereafter this blog will be reviewing also recent breakthroughs found in the news even if it has not been covered in the regular Breakthroughs column.

One great danger about the renowned prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is its established history of overdiagnosing prostate cancer, a recent study found out. A study conducted by H. Gilbert Welch, professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy, revealed that of the 3.7 million diagnoses of prostate cancer in the US alone from 1986 to 2005, 1.3 million were overdiagnosed. The sad fact is, one million of that 1.3 million have been recommended for radiotherapy or surgery to remove the prostate when that should not have been necessary as the growths it detects are not harmful at all. In fact, according to Welch, the test cannot discriminate the smally minority of cancers that spreads rapidly from the large, slow-growing ones that are not harmful. Click here for details.

We have decided to conclude our worldwide monitoring of the swine flu cases as it has become a matter fact right now that A(H1N1) has already invaded Cebu and certain provinces in the Philippines. It is now up to the Department of Health (DOH) to ensure that no casualty of life would follow our first and apparently only death due to what is now called the "novel H1N1" virus. As of 6 July 2009, a total of 94,512 confirmed cases have been reported with 429 deaths worldwide. Countries largely hit (more than 1,000 confirmed cases) include: Argentina (2,485), Australia (5,298), Canada (7,983), Chile (7,376), China (2,040), Japan (1,790), Mexico (10,262), New Zealand (1,059), Philippines (1,709), Singapore (1,055), Thailand (2,076), United Kingdom (7,447), and the United States of America (33,902). Those with the most casualties (more than 10 deaths) include: Argentina (60), Australia (10), Canada (25), Chile (14), Mexico (119), and the United States of America (170).