NEWS

SCIENTIFIC PIGEONS

Some researchers have agreed that pigeons have a talent to diagnose breast cancer: basically, they can differentiate a healthy tissue and a tumor (this task can be very difficult for inexperienced human observers), but they are not as good reading mammograms.

The researchers decided to train pigeons because they saw researches saying that their visual memory is impressive (they can remember about 1800 images), they can distinguish identities and emotional expressions, letters of the alphabet…

Basically, pigeons have to look at an image of a tissue and have to choose if it’s a benign one or a cancer, choosing one color or another in a computer screen. To make sure they weren't memorizing the pictures, scientists changed them constantly, but pigeons passed the test with fantastic results anyways. At first, pigeons got right 50% of the answers but, after 13 or 15 days, their accuracy increased to 85%. But the amazing thing was that they did it even better when they were in groups of 4 pigeons, and their accuracy level reached 99%.

In conclusions, the results say that pigeons can be used as surrogates for human observers in some medical image perception studies. Also, this research proves that humans and pigeons are somehow connected, because both of them, for example, can perceive and categorize complicated visual patters.

PERSONAL OPINION:
Personally, I don't have really an opinion about this; just that I think this is a good process for science. But, in my opinion, I don’t think they will really use pigeons to do scientific tasks because I think that, if they will not use scientists to do it, they will use robots, not pigeons (although this article says that they are good predicting). Also, because pigeons are animals, and they like to live free, not locked in a lab doing strange tasks and they deserve to live free.


NEW WORDS:
Tissue: teixit muscular

Chores: tasques rutinàries

Surrogate: substitut
Kin: parent


Link: http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/bird-brain-pigeons-make-good-pathologists-study-finds-n465787

YOUR-SAY

RACISM

The other day I was in Youtube, listening to Sia’s new song “Alive”. In the music video, it appears a little 9-year-old Japanese girl doing karate moves according to the song. Then, I looked at the comments and I saw a comment of a girl asking why an Asian girl was the protagonist of the video clip. There were people that answered telling her that she is a professional karate girl and, also, that karate was born in Japan, so it’s logical that this video is performed by a Japanese girl. But then, the girl started saying that Maddie Ziegler (the girl that is famous for being in most of Sia’s most popular video clips) is way more beautiful than the other girl. Then, people started getting mad and start telling her that both of them were beautiful and the fact that the Japanese girl is Asian doesn't makes her less pretty. Then, this girl started arguing with the people, telling them not only occidental people are prettier that the Asians, but the occidental people ARE SUPERIOR. Yes, kind of crazy. But she said that. I was surprised when I saw she said that. There are people that still think that?

Of course, (and unfortunately) there are still racist people in the world. There have always been; there are always people that think that they are superior or better than another one. For example, many years ago there has been racism against Jewish people in Germany or against black people in USA because of the slavery, etc. Nowadays, there are laws against racism and all types of discrimination saying that “we are all created equally”. But this doesn’t mean that now racism doesn’t exist.

Most of the time, racism is against black people and Arabic people, because many years ago, the “white” people considered them inferior, and that thought of superiority is still here unfortunately. I think one of the reasons why people are racist is because we tend to create stereotypes. For example, there are people that think that black people are bad, a bad influence, and when they saw a black boy they automatically thought bad things. Without knowing them, being totally ignorant. Or, now, with what happened in Paris, there are people that think that all Muslims or Arabic people are terrorists. Such an absurdity. I think that we don’t have to generalize; and, of course, the color of the skin is not a great point to base on to classify the people. There are good people and bad people independently from the color of their skin.

Normally, the racist are the white people, but not always. There are black people that are racist to white people. Normally, this happens because these black people creates a hate against white people because what they did to them in the past (for example, in USA, that black people were normally slaves) or because they are tired of the racism nowadays so they start feeling very angry and they end up being racist to white people.

But, changing the subject and getting back to Sia’s video, the girl that commented the video said that she was 12. All the people were arguing with her because of what she thought, but if that girl thinks that way is because her parents have influenced her. Well, it’s not always the case, but normally, it is. Parents influence their kids, and if the kids don’t change their mind, they will teach this to their children and racism will never disappear. Well, I don’t know if maybe one day racism will totally disappear. I think it’s very difficult, but it could be possible. I hope so.

SIA'S VIDEO:

ANOTHER VIDEO ABOUT RACISM:

ORAL PRESENTATION

Personally, I think our presentation was good. We chose an interesting topic and our visual resources (the prezi and the video) were fine. These resources helped our classmates to understand better what we were saying and it also made the presentation more interesting. I think that, in general, our pronunciation was quite good and the way we expressed our ideas was quite good too. In my case, there were a few times that I got stuck in some words or moments, but I tried to get on.

Also, we tried to look at the audience most of the time to get their attention and we didn't look at our papers or notes a lot. Talking about the time, our oral presentation was quite long (it lasted 14 minutes more or less plus the video).

NEWS

A STRANGE HOTEL 

Japan is known, among other things, for its strange inventions such as musical toilets and 3D printed fake food replicas. Now, they have surpassed themselves creating a hotel run entirely by robots in Nagasaki. In this hotel, called Henn-na Hotel (which it means “Strange Hotel”), robots will guide you to your room, clean it, bring your luggage into it… Also, thanks to internal sensors and an adaptive artificial intelligence, these humanoid robots will maintain eye contact with you, blink, breathe and answer your questions. They can speak in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English.

In addition, this hotel has door locks that use face-recognition technology on guests, so they can enter in their room without a key. Also, room temperatures are controlled by body heat sensors that will automatically adjust comfort levels. Every room has a kawaii robot assistant that guests can interact with in order to set wake-up times, for example. Other strange robot is one of the receptionists, an animatronic dinosaur robot.

The use of robots and the automated services is done to reduce labor costs, save energy, reduce waste and develop a self-sufficient hotel powered by solar energy and machines. The hotel has 144 rooms and the price for staying a night there is $73.

PERSONAL OPINION:

In my opinion, I found this a very interesting, fascinating (and a bit strange) thing. It’s an original and different hotel, not very expensive and the rooms are nice. But, I think this is a little bit creepy. In addition, it’s always nice to walk into a hotel and receive a smile from the receptionist, not an artificial “hello” without feelings. Also, there are a lot of people without a job, and if we keep putting robots doing human’s jobs there will be even more people being unemployed. Robots are replacing people, and I don’t think this is a great idea.

NEW WORDS:

- Quirky: estrafolari
- Eerily: de manera horripilant
- Concern: preocupació


Link: http://thenewstack.io/hotel-run-entirely-robots-opens-japan/

YOUR-SAY

PERSONALITY OR PHYSICAL ATTRACTION?

When you meet someone for the first time, there are some things that you notice about them, like the way they dress, their body, their face's beauty, their hair, height… Basically, their appearance. It’s the first thing that we see in the first time, even before they say a word. It’s normal because, of course, we don’t see a person and know at the moment how their personality is; they don’t have a piece of paper stuck in their head that says how their personality is. So, we only see their physical appearance and we don’t know anything about their personality. In that point, some people ask: should we focus on the physical appearance over their personality? Or vice versa?

We are living in a society where someone’s appearance it’s very important. Also, our idea of beauty may be a bit unconsciously marked by the media: Internet, television, magazines… Although we all have an own opinion of beauty, the most of the people have quite the same idea, which is the one that says the media. For example, the prototype of the perfect women nowadays is slim, tall but with boobs and butt (called the 90-60-60). Of course, not for every men and women this is the perfection, but that’s what the media tells us. Also, we took as an example the celebrities; a lot of celebrities are recognized as being “the most beautiful people in the world”. For example, people like Angelia Jolie, Brad Pitt, Emma Watson… We have also lists that rank the celebrities based only on their looks. Because the appearance is the most important thing, right? That’s what they try to say to us. Well, I guess people have a tendency to be very superficial.

Talking about love, when you are searching for your “soul mate”, a good personality should definitely be at the top of your list. Of course you would like to have a partner that you are physically attracted to. Who wouldn’t want that? But you shouldn’t be in a relationship with somebody only because of their look. Remember that the outside beauty doesn’t last forever; the inner beauty does (well, yes, a person’s personality can change through the years but, normally, we have an own personality, and it doesn’t change that much as time passes). For example, let’s suppose that you marry a very handsome man or a beautiful woman but not intelligent at all. Yes, you have a hot partner at home, but you can’t hold an intelligent conversation with him. How cool, right?

In my opinion, I think that both of them are important. That people who say that only the personality matters… Well, I’m not totally agreeing with them. I think that, although having a good personality (or a personality that you find cool) it’s such an important thing, so is feeling attracted to your partner. Although, I have to recognize that there are people in the world that can be in love with a person only because of his or her personality. But, normally, for the most of the people, it’s necessary both of things. Also, there are people who are in a relationship with somebody only because “he/she is hot”. For me, this isn’t true love, it’s just physical attraction. And yes, you can have fun with them if they want you too, but I think that it isn’t good to start a relationship without feelings. So, as I said before, for me, both of them are important: you have to like that person in all ways; you have to love him or her inside and outside.

But now, let’s be honest. We have all been guilty of focusing on a person’s physical attributes. It’s a natural thing; it’s the first thing that we see in a person. Then, if you meet that person, you start knowing their character and personality. But there is something that I always ask myself: if you don’t like a person’s appearance, would you consider to give them a chance? As I said before, humans have a tendency to be superficial, so I think this is a good question to ask to yourself.

NEWS

TERRORIST ATTACKS IN PARIS

A state of emergency has been declared across France after attacks in Paris that killed at least 128 people. Also, 200 people were injured, 90 of them seriously. Eight assailants had died, seven of them had killed themselves with explosive belts at various locations and one had been shot dead by police. President François Holland said was an "act of war" organized by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

France was on high alert for attacks because of a video that the ISIL group released on Saturday saying that they would attack France if France continued bombing of its fighters in the Middle East. They literally said “As long as you keep bombing you will not live in peace. You will even fear travelling to the market".

Yesterday, at night, the attacks began. The deadliest attack was on the Bataclan, a popular concert hall where group Eagles of Death Metal was performing. Four gunmen armed with explosive belts killed at least 80 young people who were attending to a rock concert at the Bataclan music hall. Luckily, dozens of survivors were rescued and the attackers were killed at the site. About 40 more people were killed in five other attacks in the Paris region. 14 of them were killed while they were at the restaurant Le Petit Cambodge by a gunman who opened fire with a Kalashnikov. There were five more locations in close proximity where shootings took place around the same time and killed more people, like bars or restaurants.

One of them happened near the Stade de France in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis, where the France-Germany friendly soccer match was being played. The President Hollande and the German foreign minister were watching it when the attacks occurred. The explosions were audible on television during the live broadcast. Police helicopters circled the stadium and Holland left to the interior ministry to deal with the situation. The match continued until the end, but people found out what was going on in the streets of Paris. At the end of the match, everyone got on the pitch for security reasons. 

This morning, France has woken up with security all across the capital, with about 1500 soldiers deployed in Paris. Also, all public transportation services have been cancelled. Residents in Paris were asked to stay indoors for precaution.

Barack Obama (USA), David Cameron (GB) and Angela Merkel (Germany) were all very shocked by the events in Paris and offered France their help. The leaders of other countries also gave their condolences for the French people in general. Also, the people around the world has sent support and their condolences to France and the French people using hashtags like #prayforparis, #jesuisparis and others through social media.

PERSONAL OPINION:

What happened in Paris was a terrible thing. It died a lot of innocent people. I just wanted to say that maybe we are giving a lot of attention to France because it’s “an important country” because these type of things (terrorist attacks) happens EVERYDAY around the world, specially in Syria. Also, in the same week that happened the terrorist attacks in France, it happened the same type of attacks in Beirut and in other countries. But France captured all the attention. All lives mean the same, have the same value; or it is better a French person that any other? The skin color or the religion didn’t make us different (or less important).

With this, I don’t want to say that what happened in Paris it’s not important. Of course it is! And it was a horrible thing. I just want to say that we are very hypocrite if we thing that what happened in France it’s more important than what happens to the other countries around the world that we consider “inferior” than us. A life is a life. And all lifes are equal.


 NEW WORDS:

- Gunman: persona armada
- Manhunt: cacera / recerca 
- Flank: flanquejar (estar al costat o rodejar a una persona o objecte)


Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/reports-shooting-restaurant-central-paris-151113211237312.html

YOUR-SAY

MAN ON THE MOON

John Lewis's Christmas' Advert is now a typical thing for this time of the year. I personally love these ads because they’re always very deep, sentitive and always make me cry.

This year wasn’t different. The story is about one little girl who, one night, looking through her telescope at the moon, she finds an old man living there. She’s amazed, and she keeps watching him, but she can notice that the man is feeling alone and isn’t happy, so she wants to help him. She tries to send him a message in several ways, but she can’t do it. Then, on Christmas night, she manages to send a telescope to the man in the moon with balloons. The man smiles when he notices that someone cares about him, and he’s even happier when she can finally see the little girl in her house watching him and waving at him.

Personally, I liked very much, even made my cry! The part I liked the most was the end, when the man and the girl finally can see each other and both smile (and even we can see the man crying). But the most important and beautiful thing of the ad is the message that is sending to us: not to forget the people who are alone in Christmas (specially the old people) and make them feel wanted and that someone cares about them. It makes me think about how isolated many elderly people are all year round and especially at Christmas.

Like always, there were people who criticized the ad (it’s normal, we all can express our opinion about something). Most of the reviews said that the ad has got no logical sense. They said that, if this was real, the man couldn’t breathe, or the girl couldn’t send him the message and other things. But, I say, why this ad has to be logical? It’s an ad, it can be illogical, magical or whatever it wants. Also, it’s a CHRISTMAS ad, and Christmas, among other things, represents magic, so it doesn’t have to be strange if a Christmas ad is magical or illogical. Another thing is that the previous John Lewis ads weren’t logical (for example, the one which 2 snowmen fall in love), and the people didn’t criticized that (or didn’t criticized that much).

Another thing that people say is that this ad is telling us to buy presents to solve the problem of solitude. About that, I think they’re missing the point. This advert is telling us that it’s the little things and acts of kindness that have the power to make the most difference in society. Just checking up on your elderly neighbour, speak to them, inviting them to Christmas Dinner… These things mean more than any amount of money ever could. It’s not about buying things; it’s about caring for the people that they think no one is caring about them.

So, in summary, I’ve loved this ad and the message that is sending to us: “Show someone they’re loved this Christmas”.

VIDEO:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuz2ILq4UeA