GATACA, Frank Thilliez

This is the best novel that I've ever read. I have to say that I am not fond of reading but this book, because it is related with themes of Biology, I found it very interesting and pleasant to read. GATACA, together with "La Síndrome E", are two novels that complement each other very well, and it worth to read both of them (although I only read GATACA). 

The novels narrate different topics but it is important to know first both main chacracters: Lucie Hennebelle and Franck Sharko, both already on " La Síndrome E". Before reading the book, I looked for some information about Lucie and Franck and what they had in common. Both novels are about different topycs but if you only read GATACA, the characters are related and they know each other, and without this information, you can't understand the plot at all. Anyway, it is very advisable to read GATACA, I like it a lot and prove to me that the science I like the most is Biology.

GATACA narrates some murders, that apparently the have no connection between them, but during the research, all the loose ends fall into place. The first murder is just at the beginning of the book. An infanticide is murdered in his car. Then, during the investigation of this man, there is found the body of a biology student in the cage of a chimpanzee, that it seemed to be killed by one of the animals, in the center where she was preparing her thesis about laterality (the preference to use one side more than the other in humans and animals). Afterwards, while Lucie was in a crack on the top of a mountain, she found a Neanderthal family that was killed by a Cro-Magnon. Grégory Carnot, a child murderer, was found dead in his cell (he committed suicide). And finally, a doctor who studies genetics is brutally murdered in his home, in presence of an autistic boy.

Both characters are completely shattered by the terrifying events that they've experienced in the past ("La Síndrome E"), but they follow the tracks of the murders and solve the case. 

Anybody can imagine why the murderer did these horrible things and how is related with all the tracks of the case until you read the book. Laterality, inverted pictures, the unknown gene of the violence, the victims.... What did the have in common?

**For those who have any knowledge about Biology, the title of the book is related with the four nucleotides the compose a DNA sequence: G (guanina), A (adenina), T (timina), C (citosina).

 source

News3

World's Oldest People Are Genetically Superior

http://news.discovery.com/human/genetics/worlds-oldest-people-are-genetically-superior-141112.htm

Researchers have studied the genomes (a full set of chromosomes; all the inheritable traits of an organism) of 17 “supercentarians” (people over 110 years of age) and conclude that they have special genes that promote longevity. Lifestyle choices (smoking, alcohol consumption,...) don’t seem to matter much for those who want to reach that ages, according to a study, because they don't differ between centenarians and “Controls” (younger people who served as comparisons). Some people aged 100+ still enjoy a glass of wine, a cigar or other indulgence, although most indicate that they do it in moderation.

The researchers suspect that super old people may have "a rare protein-altering variants that attribute them longevity. These rarities should produce different proteins from ordinary people with protective effects against diseases.A possibility for the fountain-of-youth source is a gene called TSHZ3, found in genomes from subjects aged 98–105 years old. An interesting finding is that one of the supercentarians had a terrible heart disease. Some people with this disease keel over from sudden cardiac death. That didn’t happen to this woman, who reached an old age. The researchers report that there is a 19% lifetime incidence of cancer in the world’s oldest people compared to 49% in normal population. The scientists concluded that supercentarians are very rare and their genomes could hold secrets for the genetic basis of extreme longevity.”

VOCABULARY:

Elusive

Keel over

Ripe

Which Is More Important: Talent or Hard Work?

Most people think that hard work is better than talent because it is the key to success. But I think that talent is better used appropriately. I mean, if you have natural talent in any subject, you must take advantage of it and you must exert yourself as well. I'm sure that this combination of talent and work hard will improve their skills and will lead them to success. 

I don't considere that I have any talent but I've worked hard to achieve everything what I've got, that it's a lot. I have dedicated lot of time and effort at school and at music to reach the level and experience that I have, but people who knows me says that I have talent to do what I do. So I think that maybe I have a little talent combined with my effort.

Unfortunately some people who have natural talent don't work harder than people who hven't got it and they always have worked hard. Talented people miss a lot because they make no effort in anything what they do. I think that the success of these people is thank to their natural talent and not thanks to their improvement.

I think that practice doesn't make the perfection, it hepls a lot but it's no enough to reach the perfection. However if you practise and have talent you can almost achieve  the perfection.

So as I said, neither talent nor hard work is more important than the other, but the combination of both can guarantee the true success.

Places I’d like to visit

I would like to visit some countries/cities when I finish my career. I don't really think that I am an adventurer but there are lots of places interestings for me that I would like to go. But it's a shame that I wouldn't go to all these places because I won't have the necessary time to visit all of them. Although there are two countries I would like to visit before I start a job: Australia and Island.

Since I was a child I always wanted to go to Australia and visit the Great Barrier reef because it is a beautiful place and there are many sea species that it is intresting to know about them. I also wanted to visit Uluru and Sydnay because they are opposite places. Uluru has a very interesting story about the Aborigenees and Sydney is the modern society. It's quite good to compare these two worlds.

Then I want to see, at least once, the northen lights in Island. I've seen lots of images and videos of them but I think that it is not the same.

There are some more places I really want to visit but I'll tell them another day...

News2

Scientists Find Water In The Atmosphere Of A Distant Exoplanet

source

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2014/09/24/scientists-find-water-in-the-atmosphere-of-a-distant-exoplanet/

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/water-discovered-in-a-small-warm-exoplanets-atmosphere-for-first-time/

The author of the text informs us that an international team of scientists has detected water vapor in the atmosphere of an exoplanet four times bigger than Earth, with a mass 26 times that of our planet and is in the constellation Cygnus, a about 124 light years. It is the smallest planet on which scientists have described the chemical components of its atmosphere.

This discovery was led by a university professor (University of Maryland) and a group of astronomers, experts on exoplanets, and was published in the journal "Nature".

The planet is called HAT-P11b (comes from the acronym of Automatic Telescope Network Hungarians HAT) and astronomers have been able to detect water vapor thanks to observations from three different telescopes of NASA, and the method of transmission spectroscopy, which studies a peculiarity of the light when a planet passes in front of its star. They saw that the material of the atmosphere of the exoplanet absorbs some of the light from its star and it makes that the world seems bigger. The chemical elements in the atmosphere may leave a 'footprint' on light that detect telescopes . With these prints can infer the composition of the atmosphere.

It also informs us that the exoplanet temperature is quite high, but this planet, which probably has a rocky core, has the atmosphere composed mostly of hydrogen and, even without clouds, there are marks of water vapor, a prior factor to life  but not sufficient.

Finally the author concludes that this find of water vapor and hydrogen in the atmosphere of exoplanet HAT-P 11b is not only a great job, but it also suggests that astronomers' ideas about how planets are formed and the theory of the core accretion, seem to be true for other planetary systems as well as for ours.

A person that I admire

I've always admired Stephen Hawking because for me he is the smartest person in the world. He was born the 8th of january of 1942 in Oxford. When he was 21, while he was studying at the Oxford University, doctors diagnosed him ALS. Most of people in his situation give up and wait for their death. ALS has worsened his status with the step of the years, until he is almost completely paralyzed, and now he is forced to communicate through a voice generator apparatus. It is true that Hawking had lived more than doctors an experts expected, but he decided to fight against his illness and the doctors diagnosis. He continued studying and now he is 72 years old and he is a great theoretical physicist, astrophysicist, cosmologist and science communicator. He is still doing conferences about astronomy and physics but essentially he has helped a lot in studies of the Univers. He has done lots of new discoveries of the Univers and of Physics, but I think that he would be better without his horrible illness. 

Most of people have to learn about him and move forwards to achieve their goals.

source

Learning to play a musical instrument- why I like it and why it is good for me.

For me music is a method to get away from the school and from the day-to-day. It's interesting and funny for me learning to play a musical instrument because I love music and I want to improve my knowledge. I have played the guitar since I was 10 and I have improved a lot. And I am still improving. I take advantage of my experience to play some songs I like and then to play the electric bass, too. I first played it in the last year HNMPL Musical and I enjoyed so much that I wanted to start learning how to play it.

Also I have played the fiscorn for five years and I am still playing it. It is a very difficult instrument to play because I have to blow a lot to play it. When I started playing it I had a lot of difficulties (and I still having them). But I improved a lot and because of that I’ve played many times with the cobla, and now with a Band (Banda Municipal de Figueres). 

I can play the trombone too. Blowing is the same skill that in fiscorn but then I had to learn how the stick works. It’s very difficult to choose the correct position. I’ve play the trombone for less than a year but I will improve on it.

In the future I will put in practise all these skills that I’ve learnt (and that I will learn), and I hope to have success in music world.
source  source source

News

New Material May Help Us To Breathe Underwater and Improve Fuel Cells

http://www.33rdsquare.com/2014/10/new-material-may-help-us-to-breathe.html

Danish scientists have created an element with the property to capture and accumulate high quantities of oxygen. This ingenious material may liberate oxygen anytime and anywhere when needed.

But this fact does not surprise professionals, given that many substances react to oxygen, either wine, food .... What is special about this new substance is that it is not like previous and thanks to that, it has that great quality of storing and releasing oxygen where it pleases.

The researchers compare this material with sponges and affirm it doesn't lose the capacity with its prolonged use. In order to achieve off oxygen they have to apply heat or subject it to a low pressure. Now experts are investigating whether the light will also release oxygen to the material, which would favor the field of artificial photosynthesis.

The essential element that attributes to its great new material properties is cobalt. Researchers know that all living things need a certain quantity of metal in their body to absorb oxygen, which explains that they weren't surprised with this material.

The new substance absorbs faster or slower speed depending on environmental conditions. Therefore there are different versions of the new material that are specific to a given condition.

Finally, Christine McKenzie, responsible for the study, concludes by numbering some utilities such as helping patients with a lung problems, replacing the heavy equipment for a few grams of this new material. Or even also to prevent divers carrying air containers and change them by this substance.

 I found this article very interesting and quite easy to understand. Therefore I think it is a good article and this is a great discovery for science and diving in general.

VOCABULARY:
Chemisorption
Vacuum
Prospect

Testing on animals-Good or bad?

I'm going to write about the topic of testing on animals because I love them and I'm not sure if all that experiments that test with animals are necessary at all.

Something positive on testing on animals is that scientists can look for a cure for both animals and human illnesses. I think that in this exceptional ambit, testing on animals is good to advance at important topics like cancer or genetic engineering. Experts can advance a lot using on animals their possible cure, that is to say move forward in medical investigation. At least scientists don’t test on humans as much as they do with animals. I’m sure that they have a reason to do that but I don’t think that these cures react equally in animals that in humans.

The cons are that these tests are cruel to animals. I think that everything that is harmful to animals is immoral. And then I’m sure that testing on animals for cosmetics it’s really unnecessary, there must be other methods to make them.

My conclusion is that the only positive thing, as I said, is that scientists use animals to achieve an effective cure to some severe diseases.

Summer 2014

Last summer was an unusual summer because the weather wasn't very good. Most of the days in the morning were sunny but then in the afternoon it was cloudy, windy or rainy. I went quite often to the beach but less than other years.

During all the holidays I studied a lot my instruments, especially the fiscorn. Normally in summer I tried to improve with the fiscorn because I want to achieve to go to a professional cobla. I know it's difficult and I am very young but I'm anxious to achieve that.

I've taken some chemistry lessons because I thought that in batxillerat would be hard and I'm very satisfied because these classes helped me to understand better my teacher's explanations.

I taught guitar classes to a boy and fiscorn classes to a girl, too. I've never done any class to anybody but it was a great experience because I learnt how to explain to somebody how to play those instruments.

Then at the end of the summer I went to a camping. I went with my family the first week of September. The camping was in Platja d'Aro and it was very nice. It was very large and the best thing was that it had three pools. Then it has a minigolf, three tennis court and karts. 

I enjoyed it a lot but I think that these holidays were very short! But I'd like to repeat them again.