Matin Mahmoudi
A Masters by Research student in Infection and Immunity, Matin's research is in the field of virology. His interest lies in one health and its importance in understanding the changing dynamics of communicable diseases. With the public view on science both enhancing and undermining scientific efforts, Matin founded WISEmag to open dialogue between scientists and the public regarding scientific theories and conclusions to better the public perception of science and in return the support for scientific advancements.
Is there a place for science in a world where it’s not needed?
This past year and a half have given me a lot of time to reflect upon life choices, career decisions, and future goals. Seeing how the pandemic progressed and what role science played in trying to contain it, I realized how unimportant science seems most of the time. Our health concerns can often be solved […]
One Health & Pandemics: Climate Change
When thinking about climate change, most of us imagine arctic ice caps melting; islands disappearing under rising seas; drought or even hot summer days on the beach. However, there is far more to climate change than what is perceptible, and of course these changes are felt by animals and plants too. Alterations and disruptions in […]
One Health & Pandemics: Ecology
Ecology, according to The Ecological Society of America, is “the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment”. In other words, ecology aims to describe all connections in nature. Why is it important for understanding pandemics and the increasing spread of disease? It has been estimated that around 60 % […]
One Health & Pandemics: Globalization
Pandemics. They’ve been around for longer than we might think, and they’ve caused havoc and death in numbers beyond our wildest imaginations. But in a rapidly changing world such as ours, do the dynamics of pandemics change as well? In this series on One Health and Pandemics, we will break down human influences on the […]
REFLECTION: How the U.S. Election will impact science and why everybody should care
About a week ago, the health news site STAT published a piece discussing eight U.S. institutions and traditions that are “on the line” this election. However, the scientific effects of the election results expand far beyond the U.S. As a lay person, you should care, and yes you should worry, as the results of U.S. […]
REFLECTION: Did history teach us nothing?
For almost a year now, we have seen an overwhelmingly high caseload of the novel Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19). However, behind all the epidemiological issues lies a vast world of politically motivated decisions and rhetoric that are disrupting the view on the pandemic. Since the start of the pandemic, COVID-19 has been compared to […]
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic
The year was 1918. The world was occupied with the World War. By the start of the 20th century the steamboats had significantly improved travel between continents, and the expanding railroad were improving travel across continents. Then it happened: beginning in the spring of 1918 – unprecedentedly – an influenza virus swept through the world. […]
REFLECTION: When politicians hear but they aren’t listening
With the weekend’s Climate Action Summit in New York closing yesterday, it is time for a REFLECTION on the rise of the climate change movements. It’s no secret that the global effort to create awareness and action for climate change has been going on for a long while. We’ve known the consequences of green house […]
The 2019 Measles Outbreak
The 2019 Measles Outbreak of the United States of America 2019 is the year marked with the largest outbreak of measles in the U.S. since the elimination of the disease. Last time an outbreak of this caliber was recorded was in 1994, with 963 cases [10]. According to the CDC, 839 cases of measles […]
Vaccines 101: A brief introduction
Brief history The history of vaccines can be tracked much further back than modern medicine [1]. An observation by Thucydides in 430 BC Athens described how people surviving smallpox infection did not get infected again. Starting in tenth century China, healthy people were exposed to infected tissue in a form of vaccination known as variolation. […]