Shock on Senegalese Campus After Violence

Dakar (AFP) – Senegal ordered the closure of student residences at a major university in Dakar on Tuesday, a day after a medical student died during clashes with police, shocking the university community.

University students have been protesting against the thorny issue of stipend arrears for several years.

Economic difficulties in the heavily indebted west African country weigh particularly heavy on the young.

Those protests came to a head on Monday on the campus of Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), a prestigious west African university with a student body in the tens of thousands.

Videos posted to social media showed scenes of chaos, with security forces entering university grounds and firing tear gas into buildings while students retaliated by throwing stones.

A government spokeswoman said "serious events" had resulted in the death of second-year medical student Abdoulaye Ba, without providing further detail or mentioning the campus violence.

She added that the government would ensure an investigation.

However a medical, pharmacy and dentistry student association described Ba's death as the result of "police torture", a claim that could not be independently verified by AFP.

Authorities have arrested an estimated 100 students and the number is on the rise, an official with the Association of Young Lawyers of Senegal, which has offered free legal assistance, told AFP.

One Survivor’s AI Breakthrough Predicts Cancer Years Ahead

AI Decoded focusses on one of the most urgent, tangible uses of artificial intelligence: health care — we speak to Dr Regina Barzilay, an MIT professor who is building machine-learning AI models to predict disease.

She herself was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, and has used that experience and knowledge to target her research towards prevention — the AI model she and her team built, named MIRAI, is now able to detect a patient’s risk of developing breast cancer within five years. 

Are we on the brink of a revolution in treating cancer for everyone?  Find out on AI Decoded...

'' FORTY DAYS OF MOURNING '' : BOOK REVIEW SNIPPET

'' Forty Days of Mourning '' By Arslan Athar. The novel is set during the uneasy year after the British left, when Hyderabad briefly existed as its own independent state.

Life goes on, but under a constant sense of waiting, waiting for decisions, for war, for things to fall apart. Political negotiations drag on, rumors spread through streets and homes, loyalties are tested and fear quietly seeps into everyday routines.

Hyderabad Deccan is not merely a setting in this novel. It is a living, breathing presence that shapes the people who inhabit it and the events that unfold.

Once a princely state rich in terms of material wealth and cultural plurality, Hyderabad carried a distinct identity that rarely finds adequate representation in narratives of colonial India.

Discussions around the British Raj and Partition often redux history to binaries, and Hydērabad's  nuanced past is frequently overlooked. Athar's novel resists this erasure with care and precision.

One of the most compelling aspects of this historical richness is the attention paid to language. The state's capital Hyderabad is depicted not only as a city of wealth and political significance but also as a place with unique linguistic and cultural identity.

The novel is also remarkably patient. It does not rush to reveal everything about its character or setting.

It trusts the readers to notice subtleties, to observe behavior, and to draw connections between the past and the present.

Even small gestures or conversations carry significance. Saleema's silences, choices, and interactions are given space to breathe. The novel builds its emotional resonance gradually, which makes the impact of its revelations all the more powerful.

Athar's writing is another strength of the novel. The prose is measured, deliberate and restrained, never overreaching or indulgent. Scenes are allowed to unfold naturally, and silences carry as much weight as dialogue.

There is a rhythm to the narrative, especially when history and memory intersect, and this makes the reading experience immersive.

The World Students Society thanks Aleezeh Fatimah.

' A MUMMY'S CT SCAN ' : COMPREHENSION RESEARCH

A mummy's CT scan results : Broken ribs and back pain. Technology reveals injuries and ailments suffered thousands of years ago.

The patients were old - more than 2,200 years old. But the medical experts were determined to give them a cutting edge 21st century exam.

First up was Nes-Hor, a priest in the Temple of Min, who died Circa 190 B.C.E. and whose body was wrapped in a linen shroud that had blackened over the centuries.

Then came Nes-Min, circa 330 B.C.E., who had been draped in a netted garment with strands of vibrant beads.

Researchers at the University of  Southern California recently used high-resolution CT scanners and medical-grade 3-D printers to conduct virtual autopsies on the two Egyptian mummies.

Their goal, as with any patient, was to illuminate ailments and injuries.

The scanner captured 320 different cross-section images of the mummies per rotation, slices that stacked together '' like a loaf of bread '' to form 3-D digital models, said Summer Decker, the director of the university's Center for Innovation in Medical Visualisation, who oversaw the project.

From there, her team analyzed the mummies' various anatomical structures and used 3-D printers to create life-size reproductions of their spines, skulls and hips.

RADIOLOGY is a fast-moving field, and '' as technology advances, you've got to go back and look,  and ask what you might learn from your new tools,'' Dr. Decker said.

Given the high resolution - the slices were less than half a millimeter thick - the team was able to find artifacts and details that were new or even contradictory to past reports.

Researchers had previously noticed, for example, that Nes-Min, who they believed lived into his 40s, had broken bones along his right rib cage, all of which had healed, suggesting some type of traumatic fall or attack he had survived earlier in life.

They also believed he had suffered from chronic lower back pain, given that he had a collapsed lumbar vertebra.

Dr. Decker and James Schanandore, a human anatomist who studies prehistorical remains, discovered possible burr holes in the spine, which suggested that he had most likely undergone some type of back surgery similar to trephination, which was almost unheard of at the time.

'' It is interesting to see some of the same diseases that our modern populations have,'' Dr. Decker said.

Past reports had also indicated that Nes-Min probably died of a dental abscess, the new high-resolution models did not show evidence of something serious enough to be fatal.

This Master Comprehension attempt and Technology Research of Mummies and Past continues. The World Students Society thanks Emily Baumgaertner Mann.

SCIENCE LAB SCENICS : MATERNAL TIES [ 2 ]

IN the Galapagos, - some sea lions can't get enough of mother's milk.

So why has natural selection allowed these animals to keep returning to the milk bar?

'' It's very hard, at the moment, for us to grasp,'' said Oliver Kruger, a behavioral ecologist in Germany, and a leader of the study.

DR. KRUGER leads the Galapagos Sea Lion Project, which since 2003, has monitored a single population of the endangered pinnipeds. This colony lives on the tiny Caamano Islet.

Over the years, the team occasionally glimpsed adult sea lions continuing to nurse. 

But it took a graduate student Alexandra Childs, to join Dr. Kruger's lab and began examining the practice in earnest.

She combed through two decades of field records and began tallying every instance of prolonged nursing she could find.

Most sea lions had been weaned by their third birthdays, around the age of puberty, and were feeding independently, mainly on fish and squid.

But 11 percent of these newly pubscent animals kept returning to their mothers for nourishment. And among these sea lions, about one in five continued well past the point of sexual maturity and reproductive activity.

The researchers called these unusually mom-dependent animals : '' supersucklers.''

This behaviour showed no clear bias towards sons or daughters, the researchers found.

That discovery defied expectations that mothers might preferentially feed males, rather than smaller female offspring.

The World Students Society thanks Elie Dolgin.

' WICKED : FOR GOOD ' : FILM'S STREAMING SNIPPET

Peacock announced that the blockbuster will debut on the platform on March 20, giving fans the chance to revisit the magical world of Oz from home.

The streaming release will include several exclusive features designed to enhance the viewing experience. 

Among the highlights are a sing-along version of the film, full-length commentary from director Jon M. Chu, deleted scenes and additional bonus content that offers deeper insight into the production.

The sequel marks the return of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, also known as the Wicked Witch of the West, alongside Ariana Grande as Glinda. 

Set in a version of Oz facing mounting turmoil, the film aligns with the events of L. Frank Baum's classic '' The Wizard of Oz '' while continuing the alternate retelling from Elphaba's perspective.

Joining the leading duos are returning cast members Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz, Michelle Yeoh as Madam Morrible, Ethan Slater as Boq and Marissa Bode as Nessarose,  Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James also reprise their roles, with Chu resuming to direct the sequel.

The World Students Society thanks News Desk, The Express Tribune.