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Coronavirus and infected surfaces

According to a study published in March 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine by NIAID researchers ( The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), (part of the US National Institutes of Health) can withstand three to four days on a surface, depending on material and environmental conditions, which means it can be transmitted to whoever touches them every now and then puts his hand on his face. This also shows how important is to thoroughly clean using disinfectants everything we bring home from supermarkets, bakeries, etc. In particular, the above research shows that SARS-CoV-2 virus survives up to four hours on a copper surface, up to one day on cardboard and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel. In the air it can survive for up to three hours, depending on temperature and humidity. The new Coronavirus especially loves stainless steel and polypropylene, a widely used plastic material in plastic packaging.in toys and cars.

Short history lessons: Epidemics in antiquity, the plague of Athens

The Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), where Athens was rivaled by Sparta, with each city having its allies, was a landmark in world history. It was such a significant milestone that even this war Thucydides, the historian who wrote the story of the war, considered  it as a great lesson for future generations.

During the second year of the war, Athens, where Pericles's personality was dominant, occurred  a catastrophic pandemic outbreak, probably by a boat that reached the port of Piraeus. The disease was impossible to be cured by the doctors of the time and within a few months claimed the lives of about 25-30% of the inhabitants of Athens, including Pericles himself and his two sons.

Coronavirus is not transmitted through nutrition

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has announced that scientific data on previous outbreaks of similar coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV show that no coronavirus was transmitted through food consumption  either domestically produced or imported from abroad. To date, there is no evidence that the new Coronavirus is different from the two previous ones in terms of its transmission.

The European Center for Disease Control states that the Coronavirus is transmitted through the respiratory tract by droplets from infected people coughing or sneezing or releasing droplets in any way. Coronavirus enters the respiratory system and particularly in the bronchi  and the lungs thus multiplying and finally causing the well knows symptoms such as coughing, fever etc.

Science VS the pandemic

Humanity over the centuries has been tested by many infectious diseases resulting in significant human losses due to people's ignorance about the nature of diseases, hygiene rules and ways of transmitting them. Even in antiquity, as in the Plague of Athens (430 BC) during the 2nd year of the Peloponnesian War, people were not able to stop with the transmission of the disease, which was achived by the great physician Hippocrates using the scientific methods available in his time. That is, the observation of diseases and the knowledge of human physiology.

Coronavirus anxiety and stress

The need for control is one of our most fundamental human needs. In times such as these, the world is a lot less controllable and predictable that we would like. We are being told to self-isolate or quarantine, for an unknown length of time. Whilst this advice is extremely important and it is essential we follow it in order to contain the virus, this type of advice can also make us feel helpless, negative and uncertain about the future.

We tend to worry more about new risks than familiar ones. The vast majority of us are concerned, and some are beginning now to experience symptoms of stress. So what can we do to get back our sense of control and order, and maximise our physical and mental health?

Plato's dialogues

In Modern times, Plato's dialogues resumed their central place in the international culture as a whole. During the Study Abroad program, students will have the opportunity to get to know how close to contemporary priorities (individual freedom, social understanding, democratic institutions) is Platonism.

What can Positive Psychology do for us?

Positive Psychology, a recent branch of psychology, launched with the promise to make our everyday lives better. In their influential article in American Psychologist in 2000, Martin Seligman (the father of Positive Psychology) and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (the father of flow) laid the foundations of this new science.

Good decisions, bad decisions, and right decisions

Decisions have the distinctive feature that they are made in the present but evaluated in the future: good decisions achieve desired outcomes while bad ones do not. Since future is uncertain, it is almost impossible to know a priori if a decision is a good or bad one, especially when conditions change rapidly like they do at present.