Lessons in Chemistry - TV Show Review

Review: Lessons in Chemistry (TV Show, Apple TV+, IMDB rating: 8.3/10, no spoilers)

Dr. Akif Khan

Lessons in Chemistry is not just a tv show and it is not just about chemistry at all. It is lessons in life, lessons in kindness, love, forgiveness, struggle, perseverance, resilience, commitment, determination, enthusiasm and passion. Do not fear the name of the show because of the word “chemistry.” It only touches the subject (sometimes not very accurately) and builds upon it and weaves the story like chemical bonds in a beautiful composite. It won’t bore you. 

Lessons in Chemistry explains the struggle of women in 50s, the first wave of feminism and civil rights movement, the challenges women faced back then in US, and are still facing in many parts of the world, especially marriage, childbirth, misogyny, “illegitimate” births, societal expectations and roles of women in society. The show also covers the homophobia and civil rights movement, including the reference to Martin Luther King Jr. How the African-American population was discriminated against and subjected to violence and systemic racism. The show also beautifully describes the matters of reason, science and faith and leaves things to the imagination of the viewer. It’s amazing how all these important and hotly debated topics are beautifully covered in this mini-series, which leaves a viewer thinking and commiserating. 

Then there is food. It reminds me of an interesting encounter. Once a friend asked me how’s your cooking. I told him I love to cook and the people who taste the food I cook tell me I am not bad. He said he would have been surprised if I weren’t good at cooking. I asked why’d he say that. He said because he believes I was a good chemist and he would’ve been surprised if I were not good at cooking. “A good chemist must be a good cook,” he said. It was kind of a revelation to me, but then it reminded me how I’d run my imagination on what must’ve been going on during the process of cooking whenever I cooked food, exactly the same way when I’d setup a reaction. The show beautifully caters to this concept. The people who love chemistry must try cooking. They’d enjoy it. 

The show is based on the book by Bonnie Garmus. I haven’t read the book, but the show does justice to it from what I have read about it. Interestingly, it was her debut novel and was NYT bestseller. Brie Larson did great as wonderful and smart chemist Elizabeth Zott. She is also the executive producer of the show and has smartly washed off the superhero tag of Captain Marvel from her career, coming about as a smart and serious actor. I rarely comment on and review stuff I read or watch now, but this show didn’t leave me a choice. I will admit there might be some bias because of chemistry, but truthfully the show is worth giving a shot. It’s light-hearted, smartly written, with good character arcs and happy moments with light comedy. You get shocked at times but there are also happy surprises waiting for you around the corner. 

Definitely 4.9/5. 

The Psychology of Online Vocalization: Exploring Reasons and Patterns

By Dr. Akif Khan

There are three types of people. One, who are vocal in real life (RL). Second ones who are vocal on both social media (SM) and RL. Third type is that is only vocal on SM. 

There are multiple reasons behind it. Many people are not confident in writing stuff (posts, comments or anything else) for multiple reasons again. 

Some people don’t like to express themselves publicly. Some are shy. Some purposely hide their feelings and thoughts. Then there are some who are afraid of alphas, over-smart people and bullies. Then there are over-sharers of course, who have opinions on everything and they don’t care if those opinions are right or wrong. 

A personality with a balanced and wise outlook is hard to come, sometimes it’s privilege, sometimes it’s good upbringing, sometimes it’s luck when people have better lifestyle and no mental stress, depression or traumatic experiences. This can make people expressive sometimes and sometimes shut them down. 

For some people writing is catharsis and interacting online is a form of connecting. Some don’t need that at all and just enjoy reading and listening to other people. Some believe they are learning only for themselves and they don’t owe anyone else any sharing of ideas or helping them. Some just keep tabs on other people and think they’re wiser this way by remaining silent or anonymous. 

Some are scared for various reasons that their thoughts could be used against them and sharing or expressing on SM/online world is not a wise thing to do. They don’t trust the internet/system. Some people believe in conspiracy theories and are obsessive about keeping a low profile online and even in RL. Some prefer to remain anonymous while opining on SM.

Some people love fame and showing off. Some just think it’s their responsibility to share what they know and some have a nature to help people according to their capacity and knowledge. 

Some hate the closed circles/groups and the few people who dominate those spaces due to right or wrong reasons. They feel like left out but since they get enough (knowledge/content/recommendations) from those groups, they tend to stay, in silence. 

Then there are shitposters, attention seekers and those who get hooked up to SM and want to stay relevant by opining on everything even when their opinion is not so good or is just a variant of someone else’s opinion (sometimes it’s exact copy). There are also people who would steal content and reshare it without giving proper credit or shamelessly ascribing the content to their own selves. Some try to stay relevant and act smart by making controversy out of everything. They will read opinions of other people and purposely concoct something that is spicy and different no matter how contradictory it is to their own previous opinions. Some people are adamant on converting other people to their own ideologies. Some woulf just comment on everything according to their own worldview and would not listen to any different opinion. These types often include intellectually dishonest people and those who only seek attention, want to stay relevant or think that the world only revolves around them. Then there are flatterers and fans, of course, who love everything that is written by their beloved influencers. The addiction to likes and following is another topic on which much has been written and can’t be covered here. But we must also not forget the importance of SM, especially its role in decentralising information and brining it to ordinary people’s approach. There is an interesting book titled Twitter and Tear Gas by Zeynep Tufekci on the pros and cons of SM especially in the context of dissent. 

In short, SM is an alternate of real world and the dynamics of human interaction, communication and psychology work here as well as they work in the real life albeit differently sometimes. 

There has been much research being carried out on the communication and interaction on SM. I was just reading a paper (thanks to a friend who shared it) the other day where the researchers studied the way Pakistani women express themselves on TikTok without exposing their identity and the dynamics both social and religious that govern their interaction and communication style. Here is the link to that paper. 

The realm of social media has become a parallel universe where human interactions, communication, and psychological dynamics take on new forms. The reasons behind vocalisation patterns are multifaceted, ranging from shyness and fear to the desire for privacy, attaining fame or the need for catharsis. It is essential to acknowledge that the online world offers a platform for diverse voices to be heard, while also recognizing the complexities that arise, such as the fear of judgment, information privacy concerns, and the dominance of certain groups. As ongoing research delves into the intricacies of social media communication and interaction, the process of unraveling the fascinating ways in which individuals navigate these digital spaces, shaping their online personas and influencing the broader social landscape will be ever evolving and interesting to study.

گرم ٹھنڈی تاثیر، مچھلی اور یرقان (جانڈس)

پروٹین کو میٹابولائز کرنے کے لیے جسم کو زیادہ کام کرنا پڑتا ہے۔ اس لیے گرمی لگتی ہے اور پھر پروٹین کے میٹابولزم سے مزید حرارت پیدا ہوتی ہے اس کے بعد امائینو ایسڈز جو کہ پروٹین کے بریک ڈاون یا میٹابولزم سے بنتے ہیں وہ نئے پروٹین بناتے ہیں یہ عمل بھی ایگزوتھرمک یعنی حرارت زا عمل ہے۔ اسی لیے حرارت پیدا ہوتی ہے اور جسم کو گرمی محسوس ہوتی ہے۔ چونکہ یہ سارا کام جگر میں ہوتا ہے تو جن لوگوں کا جگر کمزور ہوتا ہے ان کو یرقان ہو جاتا ہے۔ اس کو گرم تاثیر بھی کہا جاتا ہے۔ یہی کام چاکلیٹ یا زیادہ پروٹین والی کوئی بھی چیز کرے گی جیسے پروٹین شیک۔ جبکہ پھل سبزیاں کم کیلوریز پیدا کرتی ہیں۔ بعض سبزیوں جیسے کھیرے میں زیرو کیلوریز ہوتے ہیں۔ اس لیے ان کی تاثیر ٹھنڈی بتائی جاتی ہے۔ 

 ڈرائی فروٹس میں شوگر کی مختلف اقسام بہت ذیادہ کنسنٹریشن میں ہوتی ہیں جیسے گلوکوز یا فرکٹوز وغیرہ۔ اس لیے وہ جسم کو بہت کیلوریز، حرارت یا انرجی دیتے ہیں۔ گرمیوں میں مسام بند ہونے کی وجہ سے پسینہ باہر نہیں نکلتا تو پھر ریش یا دانے نکلتے ہیں اور لوگ سمجھتے ہیں کہ گرم چیزیں کھانے سے ایسا ہوا۔ جبکہ مصالحے کھانے سے جسم کے ہیٹ ریسیپٹرز ایکٹیویٹ ہوتے ہیں جس کی وجہ سے گرمی لگتی ہے۔ گوشت اور مصالحوں کے نتیجے میں محسوس ہونے والی حرارت مختلف قسم کی ہے۔ ایک میں واقعی حرارت پیدا ہوتی ہے جبکہ مصالحوں کے چکر میں صرف محسوس ہوتی ہے بنتی نہیں ہے۔ لیکن حکیم آپ کو یہ بتائیں گے کہ ایک ہی بات ہے جبکہ یہ غلط ہے۔ جن لوگوں کا جگر کمزور ہوتا ہے انہیں پروٹین ڈائجیسٹ کرنے میں مشکل ہوتی ہے۔ اگر جگر کو ذیادہ پروٹین ڈائجیسٹ کرنے پر لگایا جائے گا تو وہ کام کرنا بند کر دے گا جس کی وجہ سے یرقان کی علامات ظاہر ہوتی ہیں جیسے کسی کو لیور سروسیس یا جگر کا سرطان ہو یا فیٹی لیور ہو جائے ایل ایف ٹی کی تعداد بڑھ جائے پروٹین لوڈ زیادہ ہونے سے۔ اسی لیے پیلے یرقان یا جانڈس کی صورت میں ڈاکٹر پروٹین کھانے سے منع کرتے ہیں اور جسم کی انرجی گلوکوز سے ایکسٹریکٹ کرنے کا کہتا ہیں کیونکہ گلوکوز کی بریک ڈاون آسان ہوتی ہے پروٹین کی بہ نسبت اور جسم پر کم بوجھ ڈالتی ہے۔ شراب نوشی کی صورت میں بھی یہی ہوتا ہے کیونکہ ایتھانول کی بریک ڈاون بھی جگر میں ہوتی ہے۔ اگرچہ یہ ایک سمپل کمپاونڈ ہے مگر ہائی کنسنٹریشن پر جگر کو ذیادہ کام کرنا پڑتا ہے۔ اسی لیے کہا جاتا ہے کہ شراب کو معتدل انداز میں پینا چاہیے تا کہ جگر پر بوجھ نہ پڑے۔ اسی طرح گوشت بھی سبزیوں کے ساتھ بیلنسڈ طریقے سے کھانا چاہیے۔ ایک کھانے میں 220 گرام یا ایک پاو سے زیادہ گوشت نہیں کھانا چاہیے ورنہ جگر پر بوجھ پڑتا ہے۔ یہ ایسا ہی ہے جیسے کسی بھی چیز کی کثرت سے جسم کے حصے متاثر ہوتے ہیں۔ زیادہ تمباکو نوشی سے پھیپھڑے زیادہ کھانا کھانے سے معدہ۔ 

 یہاں پر تین باتیں ذہن نشین رکھیں۔ حرارت محسوس ہونا، حرارت کا پیدا ہونا اور جگر پر بوجھ پڑنا تین مختلف عمل ہیں۔ مصالحوں سے حرارت محسوس ہوتی ہے، گلوکوز، ڈرائی فروٹ، پروٹین اور شراب نوشی سے حرارت پیدا ہوتی ہے جبکہ ذیادہ پروٹین اور ذیادہ شراب نوشی کی صورت میں جگر پر بوجھ پڑ سکتا ہے۔ لہذا صرف حرارت محسوس یا پیدا ہونے کی صورت میں آپ کو یرقان نہیں ہو گا یعنی گرم تاثیر صرف ایک عرف عام ہے اور اس کو ایک مغالطے کے طور پر پرانے وقتوں سے ہر کلچر میں علم کی کمی کی وجہ ان کھانوں کے لیے استعمال کیا جاتا تھا جن سے حرارت پیدا ہو چاہے یرقان ہونے کا احتمال ہو یا نہ ہو۔ جو کھانے ہضم ہونے میں زیادہ وقت لگاتے ہیں وہ زیادہ حرارت پیدا کرتے ہیں۔ اسی لیے گرمیوں میں بھوک بھی کم لگتی ہے اگر آپ کثیف کھانا یا پروٹین ڈائیٹ کھائیں۔ چنانچہ لوگ ہلکی غذا کھاتے۔ جبکہ سردیوں میں بار بار بھوک لگتی ہے۔ اب نیوٹریشن سائنس بہت ترقی کر چکی ہے لہذا روزانہ علم میں اضافہ ہوتا ہے اور نئے اور بہتر سے بہتر علم کے ساتھ نئی اور بہتر ادویات بھی آتی ہیں جو پرانے علم اور پرانی ادویات کو ریپلیس کر دیتی ہے۔ 

 پس نوشت: یرقان کی اور بہت سی وجوہات بھی ہوتی ہیں ضروری نہیں وہ اس وجہ سے ہو۔ یہ اسی وقت ممکن ہے جب جگر پہلے سے کمزور ہو۔ یہاں صرف پیلے یرقان یا یرقان کی علامات کی بات ہو رہی بلکہ اصل اور وائرل یرقان کی نہیں۔ ویسے ہیپاٹائٹس اے کو یرقان کہتے۔ یہ اور اے بی سی یرقان وائرل بیماریاں ہیں جو جگر کو متاثر کرتی ہیں۔ یرقان اچانک اور کم عرصے کے لیے ہوتا ہے اور ریسٹ کرنے اور اچھی غذا، جگر پر مرغن غذاوں اور پروٹین لوڈ نہ ڈالنے سے جلدی ٹھیک ہو جاتا ہے۔ ہیپاٹائٹس بی اور سی وائرس کے لیے اینٹی وائرل ادویات لینی پڑتی ہیں۔ ہیپاٹائٹس بی کے لیے پہلے سے ویکسین بھی لگتی ہے جو چھ ماہ کا کورس ہوتا ہے۔ یرقان یا ہیپاٹائٹس اے گندے پانی اور گندی خوراک سے پھیلتا ہے۔ جبکہ بی اور سی جسمانی مرطوبات یعنی خون وغیرہ سے پھیلتے ہیں۔ بی سب سے زیادہ متعدی ہے اور سی سب سے زیادہ خطرناک۔ اس کے علاوہ ڈی اور ای بھی ہیں لیکن وہ اتنے عام نہیں ہیں۔ 

 یرقان ضروری نہیں ہیپاٹائٹس اے ہی ہو یعنی ضروری نہیں وائرس کی وجہ سے ہی ہو۔ یہ جگر کی کسی اور بیماری یا کمزوری کی وجہ سے بھی ہو سکتا ہے۔ اس میں رنگ پیلا پڑ جاتا ہے کیونکہ خون کی خلیے ٹوٹنے سے جو پیلا بائیلیروبین کمپاونڈ بنتا ہے اس کو کلیئر کرنا جگر کا کام پوتا ہے۔ اگر جگر صحیح کام نہیں کر رہا تو وہ جسم میں واپس جاتا ہے اور جسم کا رنگ پیلا پڑ جاتا ہے۔ نو مولود بچوں میں جن میں جگر نے اپنا کام صحیح طور پر شروع نہیں کیا ہوتا ان میں بھی ایسا ہوتا ہے۔ جگر کے کینسر میں بھی یرقان کی علامات نظر آتی ہیں۔ سیروسس میں بھی۔ مزید: میں میڈیکل ڈاکٹر نہیں ہوں، یہ ایک سائنسی تناظر ہے۔ اگر آپ کو کوئی علامات ہوں تو اپنے معالج سے رجوع کریں۔ شکریہ۔

Why Homeopathy is a Fraud?

I am writing this blurb because being a Chemistry PhD and my position on homeopathy, I am often asked why I consider homeopathy a fraud (my detailed intro is at the end of this article). In this blurb, I will dwell into the details of homeopathy and principles of chemistry with references on the research and previous attempts to debunk this quackery.

Why is homeopathy a fraud/pseudoscience?

Homeopathy was first invented by a German doctor in 1700s when one day he ate cinchona bark and developed fever. He quickly ran the horses of his imagination and established by himself without any experimentation or scientific confirmation that since cinchona gave him fever and it treated malaria and since fever is a symptom of malaria and cinchona treats malaria, the things which give fever can cure diseases with fever and hence anything that can produce symptoms of a disease can cure that disease. It is like saying that since allergy makes your face red, if someone slaps you on the face to turn it red, your allergy will be cured. It is a logical fallacy from the beginning. Such as, since rain wets the street, so if the street is wet, there must have been rain. This is not true. Street could’ve been wet due to other reasons. And here it is not true at all. Cinchona does not induce fever. Fever is induced by body’s immune system when it is fighting an infection in order to kill the bacteria/viruses. And if body temperature rises beyond a limit, organs can fail. 

So you see the fiction from the start. He had no evidence for his revelation. He just thought to himself that this might be the case. Then he developed two rules for homeopathy: 1) like cures like, 2) when you dilute things, they become potent. Why and how? He didn’t say anything. Even if you ask any homeopath quack these questions today, they will have no answer or at best they will refer you to one study by a French scientist and Nobel laureate and "virologist" Luke Montagnier, where he claimed that "aqueous nanostructures (if such things even exist)" derived from DNA sequences produce electromagnetic signals. This paper was published in a new journal and guess what he was himself the chairman of the editorial board of that journal. [1] This study has been debunked many times afterwards due to its scientific flaws as well. [2] And guess what, he is also an anti-vaxxer, which means he is against the use of vaccines, himself being a virologist. He also believed that COVID19 is a man-made virus. [1] Nobel in one field does not make you an expert in other fields. They would also refer you to a paper by French immunologist Jacques Benveniste for his paper in Nature, where he "proved" water memory effect. [3] But they will not tell you that that paper was later extensively and publicly debunked by Nature itself and Benveniste failed to replicate the original results. He also refused to retract the paper and eventually had to return the public funding used on the research. The homeopathic quacks and people defending homeopathy will also ignore thousands of studies that have debunked homeopathy. 

Why do the two principles of homeopathy not work?

Let’s find out why these two so-called principles are not just made up lies and go against science (tested and applied knowledge that works) but you can debunk them easily with common sense. The first one is that like cures like. This is not true. Likes don’t cure likes. If you get poisoned by some poisonous gas for example, will you try to take more of it inside you to make it cure you? Nobody will. Not even non-conscious animals will stay at a place where there is more of a chemical that has harmed them in the first place. There is no evidence of like curing like, which means that no experiment has ever confirmed this to be true. 

Homeopaths will tell you this is not true because vaccines are an evidence that like cures like. Just on the surface. Vaccines contain biological molecules or dead virus with specific binding sites on their surface that can trigger antibodies production in the body that can kill the same biological molecules and viruses in the future. The antibodies that are produced as a result of vaccination are completely different molecules and are not “like” viruses, neither do homeopathic water creates any kind of antibodies. Anti means opposite, not alike. Besides, physiological ailments like diabetes, cancer, cardiac diseases, muscular diseases, injuries, autoimmune diseases, liver, kidney, eye, stomach, reproductive organs, nose or ear diseases are not caused by any foreign body. They can’t be treated by vaccines. They need medicines which nip the actual problem in the bud. For example, for an ear infection, you need an antibiotic, which would reach to the infection site in the ear and would kill bacteria there. There is no margin for putting more “like” bacteria to kill those bacteria. 

This brings us to the second principle; potentiation, where homeopaths claim that dilutions increase potency. Since homeopaths will argue that we do not say that one should take the actual amount of the same thing that causes similar symptoms of the disease but its little amount. They say they dilute those harmful things in order to make them potent/powerful. The more they are diluted, the more potent they are.

It means that if you take a jug of water with one litre or 1000 millilitres and add sugar to it and then take one millilitre (a fifth of a teaspoon) and put it in another glass and then add water to it. The next glass is supposed to be more sweet. Right? Now you are getting the point. 

Homeopaths do the same thing. They dissolve one part of a substance in 100 parts of a solvent. They call it 1C. Then they take one part and dilute it in again 100 parts, making 2C, which is 1 in 10,000 parts solution and again to 3C as 1 in a million parts solution. Usually they sell 20-30C solutions. At 15C, the solution is equivalent to one drop in all oceans of the world. At 20C, not even one molecule of the original substance is present in the solution. How can that substance be effective in treating you when it is not even there? 

Water Memory Effect, is it real?

This brings us to water memory effect. I remember there was a Pak-China conference in Islamabad in Pak-China center in 2011 or so. There was a homeopathy stall at the conference. After I presented my poster on removal of arsenic from drinking water with the help of nanoparticles, I was wandering around stalls when I came across this one. I have a good knowledge of homeopathy as well because my grandfather and aunt used to be homeopathic practitioners. I thought of asking him some questions just for fun. When I told him that there is not one single molecule of the original substance left in a 20C or 20X dilution, how can they claim the effectiveness. To which he said the water keeps the memory. I said if that’s the case the same water dissolves everything in its way from our poop to urine of animals and humans and all the toxins, what makes the water only keep the memory of your molecules? To which he said because we shake the solution in a specific way. What happens then, I inquired. He said the rays transfer the effectiveness. What rays? There are specific rays (he actually wanted to refer towards the debunked study of Benveniste, mentioned above). I told him I am an expert in spectroscopy and know about all kind of rays. He can tell me. To which he told me to visit their factory and they will arrange my meeting with a bigger expert who could answer my questions. I highly doubted that but I left in peace. 

The water memory is another lie to cover the previously told lies and has been debunked by scientists. There was a famous Horizon experiment, where the Benveniste's water memory paper claiming water memory effect was debunked live on BBC (link of the study below). In that study, no difference was found between ordinary water and a diluted solution to have any kind of physiological effect. [4, 5]

Why do people still believe it works?

People believe in all kinds of thinks being effective, from acupuncture to acupressure and magic to salamander’s oil. This is mostly because of Placebo effect. When you believe something works, your brain activates several biochemical and hormonal processes within your body, which can sometimes relieve pains or convince you that you’re getting better. You must have seen doctors often prescribing additional multivitamins to patients in order for them to think that they are taken seriously, especially when there is no specific illness. Similarly, when patients have no specific illness, they get convinced that the thing they believed to be effective was really effective. Sometimes, patients get cured with time on their own and the role of sugary water they call homeopathic medicine is zero. 

Homeopaths will also tell you that they have effectively cured kidney stones. This is one thing they gallantly claim. Major reason why homeopathic medicine works is that kidney stones tend to be removed by themselves in 90% cases even if no medicine is taken. In other cases, homeopaths make patients drink a lot of water with their sugary pills that it helps them in washing off stones. I had a detailed conversation with a homeopathy practitioner once on homeopathy and kidney stones, which is present on YouTube (Link below - talk is in Urdu language). [6, 7] Those who have watched House M.D., must remember the episode where Dr. House cures a patient with some candies.

If it is just sugary water and works as placebo, then why is homeopathy harmful?

Homeopathic medicines are usually not regulated or are poorly regulated in third world countries. Sometimes, practitioners sell crushed regular OTC medicines such as paracetamol or aspirin. They maybe fine for a healthy person. But for example, if someone has stomach ulcer, aspirin will be deadly for them, especially when its protective coating has been removed during crushing. Similarly, glucose pills can be dangerous for diabetic patients. I have seen patients losing their eyesight after taking homeopathic pills (essentially highly pure glucose) due to hyperglycaemia (high sugar). 

Another harm is that patients having actual diseases turn out to waste money and precious time that could save their lives if proper treatment had been started within time. You must also have seen doctors complaining that when patients reach at a very critical stage, only then they come to us. That is also why you never see people rushing to homeopaths in emergencies. They always end up in ERs in normal hospitals because deep down they also know homeopathy is a fraud. Therefore, this belief that homeopathic formulas have no side effects is more dangerous than few side effects of real medicines. 

You may also wonder why homeopaths always claim to be experts of diseases that are chronic and would never claim expertise over acute conditions including injuries, heart failure or brain stroke. 

Fun fact: Famous science enthusiast and rationalist James Randy once engulfed a bottle full of homeopathic sleeping pills. Nothing happened. (Gladly, he was not in Pakistan or else there could be real alprazolam instead of homeopathic medicine inside it.) 

I am happy to respond to any questions or further details on the matter. You can ask the questions in the comments. If they needed detailed answer, I will post another article. Don't forget to subscribe the blog in that case by writing your email address in the lower left corner. You will get every new post directly in your email inbox.

References:

[1] Luc Montagnier's Journal: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Montagnier

[2] French Nobelist Escapes 'Intellectual Terror' to Pursue Radical Ideas in China, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.330.6012.1732

[3] Benveniste's Paper on Water Memory Effect, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Benveniste

[4] The Horizon Test, https://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/homeopathy.shtml

[5] The Horizon homeopathic dilution experiment, https://rss.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1740-9713.2005.00109.x

[6] A talk with a homeopathic practitioner - Part 1. https://youtu.be/ACYIbLtdRNQ

[7] A talk with a homeopathic practitioner - Part 2. https://youtu.be/zhftD06I8-0

Further Readings:

• What is homeopathy? https://www.livescience.com/31977-homeopathy.html 
• What is homeopathy? https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-is-homeopathy 
• Why I changed my mind about homeopathy? https://amp.theguardian.com/science/blog/2012/apr/03/homeopathy-why-i-changed-my-mind 
• Does homeopathy work? NHS UK, https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/homeopathy/ 
• 1,800 Studies Later, Scientists Conclude Homeopathy Doesn’t Work, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/1800-studies-later-scientists-conclude-homeopathy-doesnt-work-180954534/ 
• Why homoeopathy is pseudoscience? https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-022-03882-w 
• Homeopathy  - where is the science? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6399603/ 
• Why homeopathy is nonsense? http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/04/economist-explains
• Why homeopathy is pseudoscience? https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-022-03882-w

About Me: I am a PhD in Chemistry (USTC, Hefei, QS World Ranking 94, Subject World Ranking 36) and have one master's in Chemistry (Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry) from Quaid i Azam University, Islamabad and one master's in Materials Science and Engineering from NUST, Islamabad. I have around 15+ years of experience in research, teaching and industry with around 70 research publications in highly ranked journals of chemistry, physics and materials science (in Wiley Germany, SpringerLink, Nature, American Chemical Society and Royal Society of Chemistry Publishers.) I am also a member of American Chemical Soceity, Chemical Society of Pakistan, Pakistan Vacuum Society, Chinese Chemical Society and Chinese Industrial Chemistry Society. Besides that, I have experience in analysis, quality, research and development of drugs in pharmaceutical industry. Besides that, I have carried out research on diverse areas of chemistry, physics, biology and materials science including artificial enzymes, cancer therapy, wound healing materials, nanomaterials, catalysis, electrochemical energy storage and conversion and water pollution and remediation (removal and effects of heavy metals, POPs, organic pollutants and radioactive metals.) Here are my Google Scholar and ResearchGate profiles.

عمران خان کا منصوبہ (حصہ دوم)

 

سڑکوں پر تصادم غیر معینہ مدت تک جاری رہ سکتا ہے۔ وزیراعظم شہباز شریف نے قبل از وقت انتخابات کرانے کے خان کے مطالبے کو مستردکرتے ہوئے کہا ہے کہ انتخابات سال  میں شیڈول کے مطابق ہوں گے۔ لیکن یاسمین کہتی ہیں کہ "ہر بیانیہ [حکومت کے لیے] انتخابات کو ملتویکرنے کا جواز پیش کرنے کے لیے بنایا جا رہا ہے۔” 22 مارچ کو، پاکستان کے الیکشن کمیشن نے ملک کے سب سے زیادہ آبادی والے صوبےپنجاب میں مقامی ووٹنگ کو 30 اپریل سے 8 اکتوبر تک موخر کر دیا۔

عمران خان مزید کہتے ہیں، “پاکستان میں سیاسی استحکام الیکشن سے آئے گا۔ یہیں سے معاشی بحالی کا بھی آغاز ہو گا۔” امریکی نقطہنگاہ سے عمران خان شاید ایک معاشی طور پر بدحال اور دہشتگردی کی لپیٹ میں آئی ہوئی اسلامی مملکت کے لیے مثالی انتخاب نہیں ہیں۔خان کے مطابق آج تک کسی واحد شخص نے مقتدرہ یا اسٹیبلشمنٹ کو اس طرح خوفزدہ نہیں کیا ہے جیسے میں نے۔ وہ اس بات پر ڈٹے ہیںکہ کیسے مجھے باہر رکھیں اور عوام اس بات پر کہ کیسے مجھے واپس لائے۔

یہ پاکستان کی بدحالی کا مظہر ہے کہ ملک کا عرصہ دراز بعد ایک مقبول سیاست دان بننے والا شخص گھر میں نظربند بیٹھا ہے۔مگر اسجنوبی ایشیاء کی ریڑھ کی ہڈی نما قوم جو کہ آنکھیں خیرہ کرنے والی خلیج عرب سے شروع ہوتی ہے اپنی ہمالیہ کی بلندیوں پر جا پہنچتیہے اس کا دنیا میں کوئی مقابلہ نہیں بنتا۔ یہ دنیا کی سب سے بڑی اسلامی ریاست ہے، اگرچہ یہ اپنی آدھی تاریخ میں خاکیوں کے تسلط میںرہی ہے، اس کے باوجود دنیا میں اقتدار کے حتمی ثالث کے طور پر اپنا نمایاں کردار رکھا ہے۔

پانچ بہنوں کا اکلوتا بھائی عمران خان، 5 اکتوبر 1952 کو لاہور کے ایک متمول پشتون گھرانے میں پیدا ہوا۔ خان نے آکسفورڈ یونیورسٹی سےسیاست، فلسفہ اور معاشیات کی تعلیم حاصل کی، اور برطانیہ میں ہی پہلی بار اس نے 18 سال کی عمر میں پاکستان کے لیے کرکٹ کھیلی۔یہ برطانیہ کی کڑویلی زمین تھی جس نے خان کے سیاسی شعور کو بنیاد فراہم کی۔ عمران خان کہتے ہیں، “جب میں انگلستان آیا تھا اسوقت تک ملک پر ایک فوجی آمر دس سال سے قابض تھا۔ طاقتور کا راج تھا۔ باقی لوگ غلامی میں تھے۔ قانون کا راج ہی انسان کو آزادی دےسکتا ہے۔ قانون کی پاسداری ہی کسی قوم کی پوشیدہ صلاحیتوں کو نکھار سکتا ہے۔ میں نے یہی دریافت کیا۔”

کرکٹ کی پچ پر، خان ایک ایسا جادوگر تھا جس نے قابل اور منجھے کھلاڑیوں کو یکجا کر دیا، اور ایک ایسے ٹیم بنائی جو 1992 کرکٹ ورلڈکپ میں غیر معمولی حالات کے اندر فتح یاب ہوئی۔ جب خان وزیراعظم بنا تو انہی قائدانہ خصوصیات کی جھلک نظر آئی۔ اس نے ایک انوکھےفارمولے پر چلتے ہوئے طلباء، مزدوروں، اسلامی شدت پسندوں اور ملک کی طاقتور فوج کو ساتھ ملا کر شریف خاندان کا بڑا سیاسی بیڑہ تباہکر ڈالا۔ اگرچہ خان کا سب سے بڑا کارنامہ لاہور کا شوکت خانم کینسر ہسپتال ہے (جس کی زمین نواز شریف کی حکومت نے ہی خان کو دیتھی)، جسے انہوں نے 1994 میں اپنی والدہ کی یاد میں کھولا، جو اسی بیماری سے کئی برس قبل چل بسی تھیں۔ یہ پاکستان کے غریبوںکی خدمت کرنے والا سب سے بڑا کینسر ہسپتال ہے اور خان کی انتظامی صلاحیتوں کا ایک ثبوت بھی۔

 دو ہزار اٹھارہ کے انتخابات میں کامیابی سے قبل خان نے بائیس سال سیاست کے صحراوں میں ٹھوکریں کھائیں۔ لیکن ایک بار اقتدار میںآنے کے بعد، خود ساختہ جرات مندانہ مصلح غیر متزلزل ہو گیا۔ حکومت کے مقابلے میں اپوزیشن آسان ہے۔ خان کے پلان ختم ہو گئے اور وہاپنے ناپسندیدہ لوگوں کو اپنا شراکت دار بناتے بناتے ان میں گھر گیا، یہاں تک کہ کالعدم مذہبی انتہاپسند جماعت تحریک لبیک پاکستان جوکہ کھلم کھلا بلاسفیمی کے ملزموں کے ازخود سر قلم کرنے کی بات کرتی ہے اس کی خوشنودی تک حاصل کرنے لگا۔ کچھ کامیابیاں ملیں جنمیں پاکستان کی کورونا وائرس سے نمٹنے کی دنیا بھر نے تعریف کی، جس میں فی کس اموات پڑوسی ملک بھارت سے صرف ایک تہائی رہیں۔اس کے علاوہ "دس ارب درختوں کا سونامی" جنگلات کی بحالی کی مہم مقبول تھی۔ اس کے علاوہ دو ہزار انیس میں پاکستان میں بینالاقوامی ٹیسٹ کرکٹ کی واپسی تھی، جو کہ سری لنکا کی ٹیم پر دہشت گرد حملے کے بعد سے تقریبا دس سال سے رکی تھی۔ 

خان کی نجی زندگی شاذ و نادر ہی سرخیوں سے باہر رہی ہے۔ ان کی پہلی بیوی برطانوی صحافی اور سوشل آئکن جمائما خان گولڈ اسمتھتھیں،  جو کہ ویلز کی شہزادی لیڈی ڈیانا کی قریبی دوست بھی تھیں۔ جمائما نے شادی کے لیے اسلام قبول کیا، اگرچہ یہ شادی نو سال بعددو ہزار چار میں ٹوٹ گئی، اس کے علاوہ جمائما کا یہودی ورثہ خان کے لیے سیاسی بارود تھا۔ (ان کے دو بیٹے لندن میں رہتے ہیں۔) خان کیبرطانوی پاکستانی صحافی ریحام خان سے دوسری شادی نو ماہ تک جاری رہی۔ کیلیفورنیا کی عدالت کے انیس سو ستانوے کے فیصلے کےمطابق، خان کی ایک اور بیٹی بھی ہے، جو کہ شادی کے بغیر پیدا ہوئی جبکہ کئی اور بچوں کے بارے میں بھی عموما افوائیں پھیلتی رہتی ہیںجن کو عمران خان ساری عمر دبانے کی کوشش کرتے رہے ہیں۔ دو ہزار اٹھارہ میں، اقتدار سنبھالنے سے چھ ماہ قبل، انہوں نے اپنی موجودہبیوی بشریٰ بی بی خان جو کہ ایک مذہبی خاتون ہیں سے شادی کی۔

(جاری ہے)

پہلا حصہ:- https://azkworld.blogspot.com/2023/04/blog-post.html