By Mohsen Mahdawi

Mr. Mahdawi is a Palestinian human rights advocate and Columbia University student.

“On April 14, 2025, I was detained during what should have been my citizenship naturalization interview. After more than two weeks of unjust imprisonment, a federal judge ruled in favor of releasing me. In a major victory for democracy, I may be the first of the many student activists who have been detained by the Trump administration to be freed from detention.

The Department of Homeland Security had effectively orchestrated a trap. It dangled the prospect of becoming an American citizen, only for masked agents to apprehend me after I finished the interview and signed a document saying I was willing to take an oath of allegiance. Government agents separated me from my lawyer, who had gone to the appointment with me. They planned to whisk me from my home state, Vermont, to a detention facility in Louisiana.

The trap was not a complete surprise to me. It came after other arrests of students for exercising their right to free speech in opposing Israel’s relentless killing and destruction in Gaza. I had prepared by contacting lawyers, my Vermont senators and my House representative, the media and a group of community members. The Department of Homeland Security’s plan did not go smoothly, as we missed the flight to Louisiana by minutes. Those few minutes changed the course of my legal case and, ultimately, led to my freedom from detention because I was able to fight for my rights on fair ground. Unlike other students who continue to languish in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, I’ve been afforded the “privilege” to seek justice while not in prison.

Despite spending 16 nights in a jail cell, I never lost hope in the inevitability of justice and the principles of democracy. I wanted to become a citizen of this country because I believe in the principles that it enshrines. When Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford ruled in my favor, he reassured me, along with the American people, that there is still reason to hope in those principles. But the road to justice is long. My freedom is intertwined with the freedom of the other students, who exercised the same free speech rights as I did yet languish in jail, and is intertwined with that of the Palestinians, who are fighting for their right to life and justice, too.”

“Once the repression of dissent, in the name of security, becomes a key objective of a government, authoritarian rule and even martial law are not far off. When they look at my case, all Americans should ask themselves: What is left of our democracy, and who will be targeted next?

Israel’s actions in Gaza have resulted in the deaths of more than 52,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Gazan Health Ministry. A majority of the dead are women and children, and a recent study suggests the number is likely a vast undercount. This is a war of madness and revenge that relies on American weapons, funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars and justified by American politicians.”

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posted by f.sheikh

Some scientists propose that in the beginning, geochemistry gave way to biochemistry — with no genetic material necessary. Only later did RNA and DNA appear.

Four billion years ago, our planet was water and barren rock. Out of this, some mighty complicated chemistry bubbled up, perhaps in a pond or a deep ocean vent. Eventually, that chemistry got wrapped in membranes, a primitive cell developed and life emerged from the ooze.

But how? Among the many mysteries is a chicken-and-egg problem to solve. The proteins called enzymes that get chemical reactions going inside cells are created from instructions carried in genetic material: DNA or RNA. But at the start, those molecules weren’t around: To make them, you need enzymes.

So what got things going?

One idea long floated by scientists is that genetic material came first — in the form of a molecule called RNA, a close cousin to DNA. RNA’s beauty is its versatility: It can catalyze chemical reactions and store genetic information. So perhaps in a pond on Earth’s surface, molecules were concentrated by evaporation and then linked together to form the first RNA strands.

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posted by f.sheikh