35 years ago on the 3 October 1990, the German Democratic Republic (GDR/East Germany) joined the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG/West Germany) to form Germany as we know it today.

We’ve all heard and seen the phrase ‘this is one of your five a day’ be used in our everyday lives. However, we have been completely unaware of the incredible benefit it can have on our lungs which are constantly exposed to air pollution every single day.

For as long as humans have existed, the thought of death has been feared by all. Some people have dreamed of escaping it. Ancient myths told of fountains of youth and certain rituals one can do to keep them in good health; today, there are hundreds of thousands of billion dollar companies producing products like ‘anti aging drugs’, and ‘organ regeneration’. The idea of living forever feels like the ultimate prize – but what would it really cost us?

Plato’s Symposium offers one of the most sophisticated explorations of love in Western thought. Rather than reducing desire to romance or physical attraction, Plato presents it as a force that shapes character, action, and the mind. Across the dialogue, Phaedrus, Pausanias, Aristophanes, Agathon, Socrates (through Diotima), and Alcibiades offer different perspectives, creating a complex portrait of love that is ethical, philosophical, and intensely human. These speeches reveal how love can inspire courage, cultivate virtue, elevate the soul, and, at times, overwhelm reason. The Republic complements this picture, showing how desire and love intersect with the rational and appetitive elements of the soul, guiding humans toward the good.

Last week we discussed the unspoken truth of editing human genes, and while as we think we are moving forwards in terms of changing organisms and our way of life, the unfortunate reality is the mistaken opposite. Reducing the gene pool and natural evolution are changing our survival traits and certain characteristics that we have adapted over centuries to survive. So really, artificially changing them isn’t as good as we thought…