NEWS

Injecting white blood cells with a cancer-killing protein transforms them into 'super natural killer cells that ANNIHILATE the disease'

This news article explains about scientists at Cornell University who have done a breakthrough wich consists of in a possible cure to cancer disease.
They have already tested on mice, injecting them a kind of white-blood-cell (WBC) with a protein, called TRAIL that was created by these scientists. This protein turns WBC into what they have called "super natural killer cells". The role that TRAIL has is to seek out cancer cells and to wipe out them by inducing to the cell apoptosis state (the disease self-destructs and desintegrates).
This fact implies that the disease will not spread through other parts of the body.

So it seems that these scientists have found new technical advances to prevent and eliminate cancer metastasis.
This article amazed me, because it showed me how far Science is progessing. Many scientists have tried to find a cure to cancer. Some of them almost achieved it and others weren't so lucky. It is very positive to our society to know perfectly this diseasse and obtain a cure of it, so it will improve our living standard.

NEWS

Superbugs 'are now resistant to ALL drugs': Scientists announce germs have breached last line of antibiotic defences that could lead to untreatable infections

Chinese doctors working with UK experts from Bristol and Cardiff universities discovered that "Superbugs are threatening to unleash a global epidemic of untreatable infections after breaching the last line of antibiotic defences, scientists announced last night."
Polymyxins were until now the only group of antibiotics that worked but now experts have identified the first germs to become resistant to the drugs. They warned of the inevitable spread of uncontrollable superbugs that attack the blood and lungs.

They had found a gene which enables infectious bacteria such as E.coli to become untreatable.
The alarming findings show that the mobile gene can easily be transferred to other types of bacteria.
Polymyxins are widely used in farming, if bugs in animals become resistant to the drugs, they could be transferred to humans who eat the meat.

The more that antibiotics are used the easier it is for bacteria to evolve to become resistant to them.

NEWS

Lost your sense of humour? You may be sleep deprived 

A survey by the University of Leeds found that a 25 per cent of people get less than five hours' sleep a night.
The researchers also noted a distinct mismatch between how much sleep people intended to get - or thought they needed - and what they actually got.

YOU GET EVERY COLD AND VIRUS GOING
People who sleep for less than six hours a night are four times more likely to come down with a cold than those sleeping for seven or more hours.
'Sleep deprivation has a negative impact on the immune system.'
White blood cells called lymphocytes don't reproduce effectively when we're sleep deprived.
JOKES ARE LOST ON YOU
Scientists in the U.S. found that we lose our sense of humour when we're tired, because finding something funny is one of the most complex brain processes.
YOU SOUND LIKE A ROBOT
Sleep experts say a 'tired' voice tends to sound flat and monotone. This is because the muscles in the throat that govern the sound of our voice are not as well controlled when we're tired.
ACHES AND PAINS SEEM WORSE
A common test for pain tolerance is to see how long someone can keep their hand in cold water. Those with insomnia removed their hand earlier than those sleeping well.
ALCOHOL GOES TO YOUR HEAD
'It's been estimated that a unit of alcohol drunk when someone is sleep deprived will have the same effect on performance as three units consumed when someone is fully rested'.
PEOPLE TELL YOU TO CHEER UP
As we're less able to control our muscles when we're sleep deprived, our face droops meaning others may think we look sad.
YOU EAT MORE THAN USUAL
When researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder in the U.S. asked people to reduce their sleep to just five hours a night and left them with easy access to snacks during the day, they gained an average of 2lb in just one week.
'Sleep loss is almost the perfect storm for over-eating and weight gain'.
YOU FORGET KEY INFORMATION
Poor sleep is known to affect memory function. Experts suspect that sleep is a time when we consolidate memory, with the brain working out which of the events of the day we need to recall and which can be forgotten.
YOU FEEL SLEEPY AT ELEVNSES
Feeling sleepy after lunch is not a sign of sleep deprivation, says Dr Stanley. 'That's normal and related to the body clock and a natural fall in body temperature that occurs at this time.' However, feeling like you could nod off at 11am is a sign you need more sleep.

21st November Show in Bàscara

Last Saturday Somboits played in the Bàscara's local party. We checked that every effort has its reward. We've worked very hard during these moths to elaborate a show, we don't know if worthy enough, for the public. We played some covers from The Cat Empire, Els Catarres, Bongo Botrako and our own songs.

We are very glad to have the opportunity to play next to Itaca Band, AtVersaris and Adrià Giner DJ. We had so much fun and we spent such a good time. It was the first time we played in an event like that and we were very proud to have achieved it.

We can only say thank you to everyone who came!

Now we will "disappear" from scenario a few months to prepare new themes but we will return with more energy than ever!!

FAMOUS FAILURES

When our teacher showed us the picture that contained statements about the failures that some of the most successful famous had, it shocked me.

It taught me that every body can fail as often as necessary if you don't lose the desire of progress. Moreover, these failures teach you your errors and this will make you reach the best option next time you try.

What people don't know is that some of the famous we admire had failed, but they didn't give up, faced their struggles and achieved their dream and succeed in their respective field of study and work.

Stars like Michael Jordan or Walt Disney at first they were not very lucky. Jordan when he was a child was cut from his hight school basketball team. Then, this fact made Jordan start training so he arrived to the NBA and now is considered the best basketball player ever.

In Walt Disney case, he was fierd from a newspaper because he "didn't have good ideas or imagination". After that, he created Disney Company that has marked on our childhood.

So in conclusion, the quote "If you've never failed, you've never tried anything new" sumarises perfectly this topic.

How do ads influence viewers?

The function of advertisments is to persuade people to buy something, and to influence people, some techniques are used to trigger buying decisions.

When we sit down in front of the TV and we see advertisements, we let companies influence us in what we have to spend our money on. Honestly, I don't believe that I am susceptible to being influenced by advertising. And I'm sure other people think the same. However, it wouldn't be so present if it didn't work.

Advertisers sends us subliminal messages in the ads, so we will not notice we are being manipulated. These ads appear innocently in to have an influence on us.

One of the reason for advertising is simply informing people that a product exists and we can now buy it. The most people know about a product, the most products will be sold.

What ads do is influence people to buy a product and then the result will let the company know about the positive valuations and, in consecuense, they will see the negative valuations, too. So the companies will know if the product is well sold or not, and this will make them modify the product to make it more competitive.

Lots of advertising connects a product or brand with a way of life. This makes people identify with that lifestyle and make them feel attracted to the products.

In conclusion ads affect us a lot, wether if we want or not. They are very powerful and influence our lifestyle.

Which type of humour do you prefere?

It is very funny when I see videos where slaptick is present. I have so much fun when I see people falling or being hitted on any part of the body, because you know that they maybe are getting hurt but they didn't breake any part of the body and, in fact, it's because of their fault. They have done fooly things. That's the reason because I laugh so much.

But I like irony and a bit of sarcasm, too. It is interesting to me these types of humour because not everybody gets them. They require a bit of intelligence to understand them.

Quotes like this:

It makes me reflect about these statements that are mentioned here. And it is true. We "need" to experiment bad things to know the good ones. If we don't know what is sadness, we can not appreciate what is happiness.

So, I like to have fun seeing slaptick videos, but I prefere to read ironic quotes that make me think about things in general.

A joke that made me laugh

ALWAYS BRING THE FINGERS
A man working with an electric saw accidentally cuts off all of his fingers. At the emergency room, his doctor says, "Give me the fingers, and I'll see what I can do."
The injured man replies, "But I don't have the fingers!"
"Why didn't you bring them?" the doctor asks.
The injured man responds, "Doc, I couldn't pick them up."

This is quite a funny joke that is classified in the Doctor genre, but it has a bit of dark humour.

How long could you survive without modern thecnology?

Nowadays lots of people need technology for their daily lives because we live in the 21st century, so society is dominated by modern technical issues.

Fortunately, technology has moved forward very fast since the late 90's and all of the 21st century. This is a very important fact because it has helped to face lots of aspects, like finding cures for a very large vaiety of diseases or passing on information in various formats, with speed.

However, now people use their mobile phones or laptops or tablets to comunicate to everyone at any time and also they check information through Internet.

They are addicted and obsessed with this modern technology. And it is very difficult to change because the different brands and companies have established them as a necessary issue to belong to the modern society.

I could survive without my mobile, my laptop or whatever "modern people" use beacause luckily I am not as addicted as many of my friends. They would suffer two hous without modern technology.

Exam composition

When we are young we're (supposed to be) beautiful. And we are very happy while it lasts. But when you grow up, everyone changes and gets old and maybe ugly.

When Lord Henry told this to Dorian Gray, he knew that the young man would be influenced by him but not that much. In fact, I'm sure that if anyone says that to us, we will have the same reaction as Dorian. People attract people mostly by the appearance, so if you are beautiful you'll "succeed in love". And that's why people are obsessed with beauty and youth, as Dorian did. So this statement challenges us how far we would go to last beautiful and and young.

That's the reason why lots of people are obsessed with these two aspects and it proves that we are not happy at all with our physical appearance.

I've chosen this statement because I consider it a goog sentence to make a reflection.

Oral presentation self-evaluation

In this oral presentation that I did with my partner Pau Bosch, I wasn't so much concentrated (because of personal issues that don't care to any one) and this is the result.

I am very upset and embarrased of it and it has taught me that if you want to have succeed in this kind of task, you have to be concentrated and forget everything you have in mind.

I am not proud of the presentation I did and I have to appologise to all my classmates, to my teacher and, above all, to Pau.

I think that is the way I can learn of my big mistake and the next project I'll do my best to have a good result.

I can't say anything more because it ashames me.

source

Sophie Scott: Why we laugh (TED)

In this video speech, Sophie Scott, a neuroscientist, tells us about the reason why we laugh.

To understand laughter, you have to look at the ribcage, and what we all don't stop doing is breathing.

Humans are not the only animals that laugh. In fact, you find laughter throughout the mammals, associated with play. Robert Provine, who has done a lot of work on this, has pointed out that we are 30 times more likely to laugh if we are with somebody else than if we're on our own, and where we find most laughter is in social interactions. The origins of laughter lie in the social context.

There are two types of laughter: the real one and the posed one.

Everybody, young and old, finds the real laughs more contagious than the posed laughs, but as you get older, it becomes less contagious.

When we laugh with people, lets us access a really ancient evolutionary system that mammals have evolved to make and maintain social bonds, and to regulate emotions, to make ourselves feel better.

Joke Podcast

Is humour necessary?

Humour is an infectious and contagious mood that every single people must experiment every day. Humour is like breathing: it has to be present in our lives.

First of all it helps you relax, due to the fact our body triggers the production of endorphines (that promotes an overall sense of well-bieng) and it also relieves physical tension. Humour shifts perspective, allowing us to see situations from a distant view, so problems do not affect us so hard.

Secondly, simply it promotes group bondings. Humour attracts other people to us and strenghtens relationships.

And finally it is a good tool to "parody everything" we would like to criticise because we disagree with it. For example, we can satirise our society or the government to show the shortcomings they have, so we consider they need to change their proceedings.

So, in conclusion, humour is necessary because we can (and we should) use it at anytime.

Angela Lee Duckworth: The key to success? Grit

In this video/speech, Angela Lee Duckworth talks about how everyone (not only succesful students) can have success.

She was a Maths teacher and saw that good students didn't pass the exams. She wanted to know the reason of that and she studied psicology. Thanks to that new studies, she realized that students needed an extramotivational perspective to learn and understand the subject and also that IQ wasn't the only factor that determined success. So she named Grit the key of success to everyone. "Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals." People can learn how to be grittier by changing our ability to learn, also called "growth mindset".

In conclusion, every single person can achieve success thanks to the idea of grit, that actually, it is not related to talent.

In my opinion, I considere that effort, perseverance and talent determine our future: If you work hard, you sure would be succesful, but I really think that the best ones are those who have an innate talent and know how to take profit of it.