Even for a cynical Bernie Bro like me, seeing Biden’s inauguration was a relief - at least until his speech showed that he still doesn’t understand what’s happening around him. Biden was unequivocal, insisting that “unity is the path forward.” Throughout his presidential campaign, he kept emphasizing this theme of being a unifier, of healing a broken country, of bridging the divide between liberals and conservatives so we can all be friends again.

I couldn’t disagree more. Republicans themselves are a threat to democracy and a malignant force making the lives of Americans worse. They have worked to suppress the votes of non-white citizens or - citizens who are not white because they believe those votes shouldn’t count, to shield Trump from any sort of accountability for his bigotry and corruption (not to mention the bigotry and corruption of his cronies), to slash taxes for the rich and cut social services for everyone else, to keep the Senate mired in gridlock, to block COVID-19 stimulus from ordinary people struggling to pay for rent and food, to pack the judiciary with hacks that follow the party line no matter how shoddy their reasoning, and to promote racist and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories while empowering a global far-right movement, putting me and my Jewish family in danger every time we go to shul for the High Holidays - in short, they have worked against the vast majority of Americans to protect a small, wealthy, white elite. Somehow, this is only a short summary of the horrific things Republicans have done rather than a complete list.

The utter amorality of Republican politicians predates Trump, and it will continue after him. From Nixon’s Southern Strategy and the disastrous War on Drugs to Reagan’s thinly-veiled dog-whistles on “states’ rights,” racist stereotyping of “welfare queens,” and willful neglect of the AIDS crisis to George W. Bush’s lies about the Iraq War and criminal response to Hurricane Katrina, Republicans have actively made the world worse for decades. As writer Osita Nwanevu observed, “Donald Trump is not a departure from the values defining the Republican Party, but the culmination of its efforts to secure power.”

When Abraham Lincoln famously proclaimed that “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” he was not preaching a message of cooperation with his opponents. The following sentence, while less well known, is far more illuminating: “I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.” In other words, Lincoln believed the country must unite not with slaveholders but against them, or the union would fail.

I’m under no illusions about the sanctity of American institutions, or how often the country has fallen short of the high ideals it was supposedly founded on. But if your goal is to make America a better place, you shouldn’t cooperate with those who seek to destroy whatever vestiges of liberty and democracy America has. You must fight against them for the good of the country - a goal far more important than the appearance of unity.

Was it a natural death? Infection? Blow to the head? How did the young pharaoh die so early?

Tutankhamun, famously known as King Tut, was the 12th pharaoh of the 18th Egyptian dynasty, in power from approximately 1332 to 1323 BCE. At the time of his death, Tut was around five foot six and his build was slight. It is thought that Tut came to the throne at eight years old and died at age eighteen, during the tenth year of his rule.

The cause of Tut’s death in 1323 BC is still unknown to this day. However, the indicators of a sudden death leads historians to speculate the possibility of murder. The foremost evidence was the burial of the young king in a substitute tomb as his tomb was still in the process of being constructed. The substitute tomb was at the center of the valley and was not suitable for a king as it had only four rooms and an incredibly narrow hallway. Another piece of evidence supporting the sudden death theory was that Tut’s brain had not been extracted conventionally; rather, his brain had been liquefied with an intact ethmoid bone. Furthermore, not all the shabtis in the tomb bore Tut’s name which further suggests a rushed burial due to an untimely death.

Many theories try to postulate the cause of the young king’s early death. Some theorize that Tut died in a chariot crash which broke his legs and levis, resulting in an infection and perhaps death by blood poisoning. Another theory suggests that the king died from a blow to the head; this is supported by an X-ray of his skull that revealed a calcified blood clot at its base. Finally, some believe that he succumbed to a preexisting health condition as he was a victim of in-breeding within the royal family.

Funnily, whatever caused King Tutankhamun's rushed burial in a small tomb enabled it to be the only one discovered with a mummy intact. This makes Tut’s tomb the greatest treasure ever discovered and also the most historically interesting. There are still many mysteries surrounding the life and death of King Tut, and we can only hope that with time more information will be revealed!

In a famous Grey’s Anatomy scene, the uninspired surgeons of Seattle Grace Mercy West entered the residents’ lounge, one by one, and a few moments later, they exited, lifted from their cloud of stupor, electrified. They have just witnessed a medical miracle—a live, beating heart in a box.

Traditionally, organs awaiting transplants are rinsed with preservative solutions, laid across a bucket of ice, and stuffed into a cooler to be transferred to the recipient in the hospital. The process would have to be completed in just four hours, with every second counting, as the organ begins to deteriorate the moment it’s removed. As a result, many donor hearts suffer due to bad weather and transport conditions. Over the years, despite a lot of change in the medical field, this method of transferring has remained in use since the first organ transplant took place in 1954.

But that will soon change. New technology (dubbed “The Organ Care System”) allows hearts to function on their own outside of the donor patient while still at body temperature. This form of preservation took nearly twelve years to perfect.

How it Works

The sterile box (an OCS container) is heated, and the heart is connected to a perfusion pump that supplies the heart with oxygenated and nutrient-rich blood. This allows the heart to continue pumping, even outside of the human body (ex vivo)! Should the heart pump irregularly, the settings on the device can be adjusted. The window of time for transplanting is drastically increased from just four hours to twelve, which allows for more time for physicians to assess the heart. An increased window of time also expands the potential donor pool for patients, as a patient can now accept a heart that is further away. Many perfectly viable hearts in Hawaii are unused simply because the travel time to the mainland is too much for the icebox method. This mode of preservation also reduces the number of cells in the heart that die.

History and Procedure

Beating heart technology was developed by UCLA which led a stage 2 clinical trial called EXPAND Heart, along with the medical device company that developed OCS, TransMedics. The trial was carried out at ten heart transplant centres scattered across America and Europe. They selected 130 random heart transplant candidates to receive either hearts that were stored in an OCS container or hearts that were transplanted through traditional icebox means. In 2015, those who worked on the trial determined that the hearts stored with the beating heart technology had similar outcomes to the traditionally preserved hearts, proving their trial run to be a success. Later on, doctors at St Vincent's Hospital made world history by successfully transplanting a heart that had stopped beating for 20 minutes.

The Future of Medicine

An estimated 30% more transplants will be performed thanks to this ex vivo heart perfusion technology. On average, four hundred people die per year waiting for a heart transplant. With heart in a box, the number of organ shortages will be reduced.

I’m not sure about you, but I can’t help but be inspired by such a revolutionary advance in medical technology.

And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone

Guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me

'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

—Olivia Rodrigo, Driver’s License

Turn on your Spotify and you might hear the nation’s newest heartbreak anthem, “Driver’s License” by Olivia Rodrigo. Flip through literature— poems, plays, novels, short stories —whether classic or contemporary, and likely you’ll find loss as a central theme. We’ve all felt grief, for reasons ranging from broken relationships to the death of someone close. We’re familiar with the emotional aches so intense that it translates into physical pain. But, have you ever been curious about why events such as breakups can make us feel so weak, sometimes for weeks, months, or even years? Science helps shed light on what heartbreak does to our body and what we can do to help ourselves feel better.

According to Helen Fisher, Ph.D., biological anthropologist, high attachments such as romantic love aren’t merely emotions, but a “drive that is deeply primordial and primitive.” Such feelings are controlled by the reward pathway of our brain: the caudate nucleus and ventral tegmental area. Thus, when we experience loss through, for instance, breakup, we’re depriving our brains of an aspect it craves. How our brains then process this heartache is highly similar to how they do physical pain—through the anterior insula portion of our brain. This fact is supported by a 2010 study conducted at the University of Kentucky, when Tylenol, a common pain reliever, was interestingly found to also reduce emotional pain stemming from heartbreak; the placebo given to the control group failed to offer similar relief.

But what dictates emotional pain in the first place? The answer is simple: hormones. You hear a lot about these chemical messengers when studying puberty, but they’re not only important to teenagers! Hormones influence your metabolism and growth, touching upon areas such as love and bonding. Relationships can release floods of specific chemicals designed to make you feel good. Oxytocin, commonly known as the “love hormone” facilitates bonding, which makes us feel more “attached” to the other person. Other hormones include dopamine, a drug-like neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, and serotonin, which is associated with happiness and emotional regulation. When breakups, or any deep form of loss, occurs, our brain loses a significant supply of these chemicals. This withdrawal period is what spurs misery and desperation—the ubiquitous notion of “heartbreak.”

Now that you’re aware of the science behind your emotional pains, how can you use this knowledge to facilitate a quicker recovery when you’re hurt?

1) In the case of a breakup, stop contacting your ex!

Oxytocin is such a powerful neurotransmitter, your brain has likely created deep bonds with your previous significant other. The key is to break that bond if you want to healthily move on. Set a goal for yourself; for example, for one month, no matter how hard it is, you will resist the urge to scroll through their social media, read past text exchanges, and call or reach out to them in any shape or form. In the meantime, remind yourself that there are a lot of people out there. Feel free to start getting to know others, not necessarily to get into a relationship again (you’re likely not ready at this stage), but to give your anxious brain a confirmation that yes, there are plenty of fishes in the sea!

2) Self-care

Do what makes you feel good. Due to the depletion of feel-good chemicals in your brain, you need to engage in some form of activity as a supplement. Are you happy spending time with friends and family? Perhaps you have an adorable dog you love cuddling with? Any other healthy ways for stress relief will go a long way too. Remember, you should take some time for yourself because you’re worth it and don’t deserve anything less. In the meantime, make sure you’re taking care of other aspects of your health such as getting enough sleep, eating healthy, and getting your regular exercise.

In the end, remember as painful as heartbreak is, this is a natural process. Your emotions are valid—scientifically so!—and there is no shame in reaching out to family, friends, and other trusted adults for help. Also, even if it seems like your world will forever be bleak and dismal, take to heart the famous saying, “Life goes on.” It’s true, despite how difficult it is to accept during your periods of hardship. Your broken heart will eventually mend itself, scars and all, and you will be able to continue on your journey stronger than you were before.