Bottled ※ Brain

This week was like a heavy, loaded backpack that strained my spine, beating my body to its fullest extent so that I almost thought of nothing else but rest. Early in the morning, when I'd wake up and notice everyone still sleeping, I'd feel as if another burden, this time a different one, had been placed on me, and that as the day would progress, that burden will increase until I could no longer bear it. This week was likewise emotionally stressful. Jef Sala, a good friend and a brother in Christ, has left the country for good. His family is already in the US and his parents have decided that he'd study Pharmacy there. I asked him why he wouldn't take up Molecular Biology, but apparently, peoples' minds change. I wouldn't be able to see him vis-a-vis, unless of course we do the webcam chat, something which the University's Terms of Network Service prohibits. This week was mentally stressful. My brain, if it is still functioning at its prime, must look like

Tough times call for toughness. And when you can't seem to respond to the call of the times, then you may be lost and in dire need of help. The past weeks have been rather arduous for me. I had two exams in a week in equally tough subjects. I tried studying to the best that I can but my efforts were rendered futile when I took such exams. My head was practically an evaporating dish: it was as if everything evaporated. Whatever happened? The Lord is humbling me, I guess. I have been relying on my own, even forgetting to pray before I study, thinking that I could manage things. But I am mistaken in this regard: on my own, I am nothing. I can do nothing. It will do us well to depend on God alone.

Technology often drives science, science drives medicine, and medicine is always pushing society into ethical corners.—Dr. Mark Hughes, Researcher The issues concerning the modification of the genetic make-up of animals have already sparked enormous controversies. I am not surprised, therefore, to hear that familiar clash of ideologies and opinions—this time, in louder, more forceful tones—now that the issue has been directed to humans. The area of debate is essentially this: we have the technology to manipulate the very codes that determine our genetic make-up and there is a wide variety of options out there, some of them still untapped, but do we have the right to meddle with it (our genetic make-up), let alone with other people’s bodies, especially our children? Some people would even ask, “Do we have the right to play God?” It would do us well to remember that the discovery of the DNA revolutionized the way we think of life. Sometimes referred to by the scientific community as a br