By: Meredith Francis ~Campus News Editor~

ISIS conducts multiple attacks on Kurdish forces in Iraq

ISIS militants launched a series of attacks on Kurdish forces in Iraq on Oct. 20, according to Kurdish officials. ISIS conducted as many as 15 separate attacks in an effort to gain more territory in northern Iraq. On Oct. 19, the U.S. conducted an operation in which weapons, ammunition and medical supplies were dropped to assist Kurdish forces fighting ISIS militants in Kobani, a key town on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Oscar Pistorius sentenced in murder trial

South African Olympic athelete Oscar Pistorius was recently sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of culpable homicide in the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius will likely be eligible for house arrest after serving 10 months. Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa was criticized for giving Pistorius what some consider to be a light sentence. Masipa said she was trying to find the balance between justice and mercy. The trial received international attention because Pistorius competed in the 2012 London Olympics, where he became the first athelete with no legs to run on special blades, earning him the nickname “the Blade Runner.”

Nerve injection allows paralyzed man to walk

An experimental treatment in Poland has allowed one man to walk again. Darek Fidyka was paralyzed in a knife attack in 2010, and has been able to walk again after surgeons in Poland and scientists in London combined a new form of cell treatment with physical therapy. Surgeons took olfactory ensheathing cells, special cells that make up the sense of smell, from Fidyka’s nose and injected them into the injured portion of his spinal cord, allowing the damaged spinal cord cells to regenerate. Fidyka can now walk with the help of a support frame after two years of treatment. Though the treatment has only worked on Fidkya, scientists are optimistic, calling this treatment “groundbreaking.”