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.

1st Batxillerat Review

My first year of Batxillerat was a bit strange because it passed very fast.

First of all, it was a quite complicated year because if you wanted to take a good mark you had to study a lot (not like in ESO, where you can take good marks without studying a lot).

In 1st Batxillerat you don't have as many projects or homework than in 3rd or 4th of ESO. And this fact helps a lot because you can be more focused on studying every single subject.

Then, I noticed that my level dropped down from the first term to the third term, so my marks dropped to. I know it is a difficult year but it is not an excuse.
I considere I have learnt a lot during the school year. 

I hope to remain the level and can take good marks to study the degree I want.

So, 1st Batxillerat was a profitous year because I learned a lot thanks to the teachers and, above all, thanks to the classmates I had.

News: Biologists Identify Vulnerability in Brain Cancer Cells

Researchers have discovered a vulnerability of brain cancer cells that could offer a new opportunity for treatment of glioblastoma. Researchers find a subset of glioblastoma tumor cell that is dependent on a particular enzyme that breaks down the amino acid glycine. Without this enzyme, toxic metabolic byproducts build up inside the tumor cells, and they die. Blocking this enzyme in glioblastoma cells could offer a new way to combat this tumors. Loss of GLDC produces a disorder (nonketotic hyperglycinemia, which can cause severe mental retardation). The researchers found that GLDC is overexpressed only in glioblastoma cells with SHMT2 gene. Those cells are dependent on GLDC and when they lose it, they die. SHMT2 is expressed most highly in cancer cells and gives these cells a survival edge because it can indirectly influence the activity of PKM2 enzyme, that can impact whether cells can generate the material to build new cancer cells, but the same regulation also affects the consumption of oxygen. Without GLDC, glycine enters a different metabolic pathway that generates toxic products that accumulate and kill the cell. The finding also raises the possibility that these GLDC-dependent cells could be killed with drugs that block GLDC activity.

Source: Anne Trafton, MIT News
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My top 10 favourite rock bands and some of their songs

1. The Beatles: I think this was the first rock band I heard about and I interested in, so because of that I put them in the first place.
Hey Jude, A day in the life, Let it be are my favourite songs.
2. The Rolling Stones: This is a great band that I admire because they are from the "Old School".
Satisfaction, Gimme Shelter, Sympathy for the devil.
3. AC/DC: This is the band I listen to more frecuently and that I like the most now. I really enjoy listening to Angus Young solos.
You shoock me all night long, Back in black or Highway to hell.
4. Guns n' Roses: I like this band because of their awsome guitarrist: Slash, with a fantastic artistic career that has made everyone enjoy.
Paradise City, Welcome to the jungle or Sweet Child O'mine are some of the songs that I love.
5. Metallica: Master of puppets, One.
6. Jimmy Hendrix: I think he is one of the bests guitarrists of all times.
Voodoo Child, All along the watchtower.
7. Led Zeppelin: Starway to heaven, Kashmir.
8. Nirvana: a revolutionary band that made enjoy all their fans.
The man who sold the world, Smells like teens spirit.
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Californication, Soul to squeeze.
10. U2: With or without you, One.

It is a very subjective classification. Maybe some people like it or maybe others hate it but this is a honest opinion in what I really believe.