Black Death

• The UK’s former chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance’s diaries have been a key source of evidence, exposing the chaos within government at the time.
• In my PhD research, I’ve been exploring the COVID diaries of ordinary people, as well as diaries kept during the Great Plague of London in 1665-66.
• I’ve been looking specifically at 13 COVID diaries donated to the Borthwick Institute for Archives and the East Riding Archives, both in Yorkshire.
• I have been reading Pepys’s diaries alongside the modern COVID diaries, and have been struck by the common themes in how people navigated their pandemic experiences.

Recording statistics

• Throughout the COVID pandemic, statistics of cases and deaths were everywhere, and were key to how we judged the impact of the virus.
• All of the modern and historical diaries I have looked at include these statistics – some sparingly, others with meticulous regularity.

The blame game

• As cases rose, restrictions were enforced and the effects of plague and COVID loomed large in the lives of our diarists, narratives shifted to confusion and blame.
• And in spite to well people, would breathe in the faces … of well people going by.
• In the heighth of it, how bold people there were to go in sport to one another’s burials.
• And in spite to well people, would breathe in the faces … of well people going by.

Staying positive

• A more optimistic theme to emerge in the diaries was the ability to find positivity amid the chaos.
• Pepys and modern diarists were thankful for the blessings of health, family and security.
• They praised those who went the extra mile to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on those around them, despite the risk to their own health.
• It must be awful to live ten floors up in a high rise block with two children, and not be allowed out except for once per day.

• But by exploring the innermost thoughts of people with an element of shared experience, we see that fundamental aspects of the human condition endure.
• When faced with uncertainty and upheaval, our instincts are to record, find answers, and reclaim joy.

Mary Rehman receives funding from University of Hull Doctoral College

• While death may seem passive, an unfortunate ending that just “happens,” the death of your cells is often extremely purposeful and strategic.
• The intricate details of how and why cells die can have significant effects on your overall health.
• My own research explores how immune cells switch between different types of programmed death in scenarios like cancer or injury.

Quietly exiting: silent cell death

• Regardless of the timeline, the death of old and damaged cells and their replacement with new cells is a normal and important bodily process.
• Silent cell death, or apoptosis, is described as silent because these cells die without causing an inflammatory reaction.
• Apoptosis is an active process involving many proteins and switches within the cell.
• Sometimes cells can detect that their own functions are failing and turn on executioner proteins that chop up their own DNA, and they quietly die by apoptosis.
• Whether it’s for development or maintenance, your cells are quietly exiting to keep your body happy and healthy.

Going out with a bang: inflammatory cell death

• This inflammatory cell death is typically triggered by bacteria, viruses or stress.
• Rather than quietly shutting down, cells undergoing inflammatory cell death will make themselves burst, or lyse, killing themselves and exploding inflammatory messengers as they go.
• These infections are rarely fatal because your immune cells can aggressively eliminate the pathogen’s niche by inducing inflammatory cell death.
• The virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic also causes a lot of inflammatory cell death.
• Researchers are still studying the role of inflammatory cell death in COVID-19 infection, and understanding this delicate balance can help improve treatments.

• The Black Death was a pivotal experience in human history, explains Bossak, who has authored and co-authored manuscripts exploring this historical pandemic.
• It is the most recent pandemic that is at the forefront of ndundas Fulbright project, too.
• The Fulbright opportunity will help me significantly expand my ability in the synthesis of graphene nanocomposites, he says.
• The proposed research will also provide unique opportunities for our students here at the College of Charleston.

• The Ingredients for a Food System Revolution Report is based on qualitative and quantitative analyses of eight pandemics from the Black Plague to Covid-19.
• The report identifies structural and cyclical changes across five key food and agriculture themes: the Decommodification of Protein, Channel Digitization, Food and Agriculture Digitization, Controlled Environment Agriculture, and the Convergence of Food and Health.
• S2G Ventures predicts these areas will be impacted through factors including policy changes, economics, consumer sentiment, investment, and scientific and technological advancement.
• S2G has identified sectors across the food system that are ripe for change, and is building a multi-stage portfolio including seed, venture and growth stage investments.