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EVERY Christmas, Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of Mary’s announced virginal conception. To believers, Jesus’ birth is a mystery. To skeptics, it is a legend. But to certain scientists, it was possibly a unique case of a successful parthenogenesis.

Fear not. There is no plague.

Misinformation about meningococcemia has unnecessarily stirred public hysteria, affecting the summer capital’s tourism industry and causing the hype for antibiotics. The disease is far from spreading like the viral SARS.

“There is no epidemic of meningococcemia,” says the Department of Health (DOH).

Matthew’s account of an extraordinary star light during Jesus’ birth has drawn the attention of laymen and astronomers for years. As a key symbol of Christmas, it is not surprising that almost 250 major scholarly papers have been published in the last 100 years, attempting to provide a solid scientific explanation behind the star of Bethlehem.

1875 The Spanish government issues an order to plan a Philippine railroad.

1887 Construction of the 196-km Manila-Dagupan railway begins.

1905 Meralco, or Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company, operates the “Tranvia,” an electric street tramway that carried about 220,000 commuters. Services stopped before WW2.

June 20, 1964 The Philippine National Railways is created through Republic Act 4156.

Killing eight people and leaving hundreds injured, the train mishap in Quezon last month could possibly be the sad end of 40 years of service of the Philippine National Railways (PNR). But leaving aside one of the poorest agencies among the country’s railway sector, Metro Manila’s train systems, at least, are widely being considered as “Asia’s success story.”

Thomasian science, after checking out national athletes, has plunged to an unheard of depth—socks.

Burlington Industries Phils., Inc., has asked the Center for Research on Movement Sciences (CRMS) to test its newest line of shock-absorbing socks this month “to establish the scientific bases of the product.”

“(We are coordinating with the CRMS) para malaman ang capacity ng medyas namin at kung tama ba ang pagkakagawa nito, “ Burlington marketing assistant Lala Buenaflor told the Varsitarian.

TELEVISION host and University of the Philippines (UP) economics professor Solita Monsod called for government initiative as well as individual efforts to prevent future fiscal “crises” during a lecture on socio-political issues last Nov. 12 at the Martyrs’ Hall of the UST Central Seminary.

“The challenge is you’ve got to change the environment in which you live in, starting with ourselves and our own surroundings,” Monsod said during the symposium titled “Nation-Building and the Present Political Scenario: The Fiscal Crisis and the Future of the Republic”

PINARANGALAN ng Unibersidad ang 11 retiradong non-academic na manggagawa nito noong Nob. 19 sa Main Bldg. dahil sa kanilang humigit kumulang na 20-40 taong serbisyo sa UST.

Inulan ng parangal at pasasalamat sina Lorenzo Bertolano, Rolando Ferrer, Remigio Paragas, Julio Manganti, Jr., Cirilo Santiago, Roberto Fajardo, Oscar Teodosio, at Abelardo Santelices ng Buildings and Grounds Department (B&G), Cecilio Buenaventura at Tomas Padullo ng Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, at Crispino Paldeng ng Faculty of Engineering.

UST alumna and Philippine Daily Inquirer founder Eugenia Duran-Apostol urged campus writers and media practitioners to practice “fearless journalism” last Nov. 22 in her lecture, “Huwag Magpakatuta: Journalism Ethics in the Philippines,” at the University of the Philippines (UP) Film Institute Cine Adarna.

WITH hopes of attaining a more comprehensive journalism education, the UST ArtLets Alumni Association, Inc. launched the Center for Journalism Excellence last Nov. 30 during the 40th anniversary celebration of the Faculty of Arts and Letters (Artlets) at the Polkabal and Pandango Ballrooms of the Manila Hotel on Roxas Boulevard.

In his introductory speech, BizNews Asia publisher and ArtLets Alumni Association vice-chairman Tony Lopez told some 500 ArtLets alumni that the Center aims mainly to “put more journalism in the ‘excellent’ things” today.