I got this letter the other day and it’s awesome! I thought I would try my best to answer these great COVID-19 questions. Thanks Alaina! 1. Where does the virus actually come from? Right now, the best answer is likely from one of these: Yup, a bat. But how it changed from a virus that infects bats to one that infects humans is still not really known. However, this sort of thing has happened before and the science word for it is zoonosis. This is where a disease which would normally only infect an animal (in this case a bat),…

Kenyan native Charity Wanjiku was first inspired to study architecture at the age of 10 when she saw a TV commercial for an insurance company where a businesswoman was presenting a model house to a boardroom of applauding men. Determined to pursue her passion — despite the fact that very few women enrolled in architecture courses — Wanjiku eventually graduated from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. Later, she earned her Master’s degree in Project Management in Construction. It was at her first job where she discovered her interest in project management.…

Dr. Eugenia Duodu earned an honours Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Toronto in 2010, and proceeded to study medicinal chemistry as a PhD student. Fueled by her passion to improve life for others, her research focused on providing effective treatments for human diseases such as cancer. Having grown up in a low-income community and experiencing numerous disparities to enriched science-based opportunities, Dr. Duodu sought out ways to share STEM with her community. It was at this time that she signed up as a part-time volunteer with Visions of Science Network for Learning Inc.…

Dr. Nadine Caron was born in Kamloops, British Columbia. In 1993, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University, where she was also a star basketball player. From there, she entered medical school at the University of British Columbia, eventually graduating at the top of her class and becoming the first First Nations woman to graduate from the program. Dr. Caron proceeded to Harvard University, where she earned a Master’s degree in Public Health. She went on to the University of California, San Francisco to complete her postgraduate fellowship training in Endocrine Surgical Oncology. In…

  http://content.blubrry.com/citedpodcast/SS_EP_5_I_Cant_Breath.mp3   Note that this podcast episode is part of a series on the various secondary effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here to see more on their wesbite. * * *     The brutal public lynching of George Floyd has sparked a rebellion against police violence and systematic racism. The mostly peaceful protests are courageously rising up, while the police respond with unrelenting force. This all-out war against the American people tells us much about the government’s priorities; while nurses struggle to get basic protective equipment to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, over-funded police forces patrol American streets…

Euphemia Haynes (1890-1980) was an African-American mathematician, educator and activist. She attended Smith College in Massachusetts and earn her Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics in 1914, also later obtaining a Master of Arts degree in education from the University of Chicago in 1930. That same year, she became a professor at Miner Teachers College, where she founded the college’s mathematics department. Here, she was the head for nearly thirty years; focusing on the education of African-American teachers. During this time, she also went back to school and obtained her PhD in mathematics from Catholic University in 1943, making her…

Annie Easley (1933 – 2011) worked for 34 years as a mathematician, computer programmer, and rocket scientist for the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), pioneering research that made modern spaceflight possible. If there was anything harder than rocket science however, it was overcoming the discrimination that Annie faced as an African-American woman of her time. As a young girl, Annie’s mother taught her, “you can be anything you want to be, but you have to work at it.” Taking this advice to heart, Annie graduated high school as valedictorian at the top of her class, and was admitted into…

A distinguished scholar and chemist, Alice Augusta Ball (1892 – 1916) accomplished more in her 24 short years than most do in a lifetime. Unfortunately, her revolutionary contributions to medicine went largely unrecognized for nearly 85 years. Alice graduated from high school at the top of her class in 1910, and by 1914 obtained two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Washington in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences. With a full scholarship at the University of Hawaii, she completed her master’s degree in chemistry, becoming the first woman and first African-American master’s graduate at the university in 1915. She then became…

There are data, figures and science in racism. But no compassion. There are rules, guidelines, policy in racism. But no justice. There are words, inactions, brutalities in racism. But no dignity. There is still this: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Atatiana Jefferson, Botham Jean, Markeis McGlockton, Stephon Clark, Jordan Edwards, Terence Crutcher, Keith Lamont Scott, Charles Kinsey, Alton Sterling, Philando Castle, Jamar Clark, Corey Jones, Jeremy McDole, Sandra Bland, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, DePayne Middleton Doctor, Daniel L. Simmons, Sr., Myra Thompson, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice,…