20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE CLONING OF A SHEEP

This news talks about the cloning of a sheep, due to the 20th anniversary of this experiment  being carried out and about what has science learned after the experiment.

First of all, it explains how the experiment went 20 years ago. Some scientists had already been able to clone adult animals, such as frogs, but they hadn't been able to clone mammals, thinking that their genetic material presented problems in the cloning. However, the scientists in the Roslin Institute in Scotland achieved their objective and finally were able to produce a clone of an adult sheep, which they called "Dolly". They announced this sucess months after it happened, because they needed to gather enough information about the experiment. 

The announcement had a big impact on different aspects, and it called up several scientists groups to research other ways to modify cells and it was good news in the field of the stem cells, which scientists, after Dolly's birth, believed could repair damaged human tissues, and in the field of genoma editing. The announcement had also an impact on the general public, who, according to the director of the Division of Genomics and Society at the NGHRI, Lawrence Brody, started to talk about science and became interested on the topic.This also lead to debates about the ethical and moral issues in cloning. 

Dolly died at the age of 6, while average sheeps die at the age of 10 or 12, so both her "cloned sisters" and her lived shorter than an average sheep does. The sheep became a model of cloning, and after her, other mammals such as mice, deers or horses could be cloned.  

PERSONAL OPINION:

Even though it happened many years ago, it still seems surprising to me the fact that scientists were able to clone a mammal such as a sheep, that is quite big. And of course, that was a big step in the scientific field. About the ethical and moral debates, I think it's good to know how to clone because, as I say, it represents an important step in science and it can maybe be useful to investigate other issues, but I don't think it should be something avaialable to many people, because it is not a natural thing and it can lead to important problems.

VOCABULARY:

· Traced: rastrejat
· Groundwork: treball preparatori
· Batch: tanda, lot

LINK: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/02/24/20-years-after-dolly-sheep-what-have-learned-about-cloning.html

NEW POSSIBLE HABITABLE PLANETS FOUND

This news talks about the new discovery the NASA has made: they've found 7 planets that are similar to the Earth, which means that could contain liquid water and, therefore, life. 

The planets are orbiting around a star called Trappist-1, which forms a system that is about 40 light-years away from the Earth. But this star is not like our sun, it is a dwarf star, so it's much smaller compared to it. Although, planets still can orbit around it and the experts have said that three of the seven planets are in the called "habitable zone", which means they are highly likely to contain water, while on the other four, it depends on the composition of their atmospheres.They believe all the planets are rocky, just like the Earth, so it is another reason to think that there might be life in them. 

In the news, they explain how the star was find, and it was actually because of its dimness. When they find a star that is temporary not shining, it is probably because a planet is orbiting in front of it, so it's a way to find the planets, even though it doesn't work with the small ones. 

The astronomers believe that by 2018 a new telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope will be launched and it will have the ability to examine the atmospheres, so in case it finds gases like oxygen, ozone or methane, life could exist in those planets. 

They actually announced the discovery of the three planets that are most likely to be habitable, but now they've found four more of them. This discovery is promising, because it gives a lot of new chances to find life outside the Earth. And also, astronomers say that there are many stars like Trappist-1, so it enlarges the possibilities.

PERSONAL OPINION:

I found this news very interesting, and it's related to a topic that has always seemed curious to me. I believe there is life somewhere else apart from the Earth, because the universe is infinite, so I don't think it is possible to be the only ones in all of it. So, the discovery of planets that may have similar features as the Earth is very promising and could lead to the discovery of life in other planets, which I think it would be amazing. 

VOCABULARY:

· Dimness: penombra, foscor

· Washed out: difuminats

· Yield: cedir, donar pas 

LINK: http://www.vox.com/2017/2/22/14698030/nasa-seven-exoplanet-discovery-trappist-1

ONLINE SHOPPING

Internet is everytime offering more and more facilities, which can lead to a point in which we will be able to do anything through it.  Shopping is one of the activities that is becomind more popular to do online, but is it really an adavantadge or it has more cons than pros?

On the one hand, shopping on the Internet can be a good option in terms of convenience

because you don't need to leave your house and this can be useful for people who don't have much time or for who it it difficult to go and buy in the shops for any other reason. Also it broadens your possibilities, because it allows you tu buy things that are not sold close to where you live. This means you can get to products you would only be able to get to moving to the place it is sold, which can sometimes be so far away. 

Also, on the Internet you can sometimes find the products cheaper than they are in a regular shop, so you can save some money. Even though you may have to pay the shipping costs, in some cases it can still end up being cheaper, because you haven't had to pay for the transport to go to the shop, that sells the product at a higher price than online. 

On the other hand, however, shopping online can be a risky. In the first place, you can't be sure if the web page in which you are shopping can be trustable. It can be a good online shop and you can get your products perfectly the way you wanted, but there's also the possibility you pay and then you never get your purchase and you have no way to have your money back. In the second place, shopping online doesn't allow you to really see what you are buying. On the Internet there will be a photo, but it can be retouched or it can be a photo of a totally different product. And also, even though the photo is real, you can only see the product through a photo, you cannot see it and judge it in real life. This means that when you get the product it might not be what you were expecting as it can't turn out to be a different thing or maybe the quality is a lot worse than you expected.

Furthermore, buying on the Internet stops you from going to regular shops, which means that those business are losing money and this leads to the reduction of jobs and the clousure of the little shops that maybe have been opened for generations. 

In conclusion, I do agree in the convenience online shopping offers, as well as all the different possibilities and advantadges, but it is also important to keep in mind all the disadvantadges it has and its consequences. From my point of view, it's okay to buy some things on the Internet, but not everything. This way you keep buying things that are not necessary to be bought online in regular shops. On the Internet you can buy, for example, things that maybe only sell in a different country of far away from where you live, or things that can be trustable, for example books, that you can be sure it will be the same quality as if you buy it in a shop. But in other cases, I think it's better to buy them on a regular shop, so you can exactly see and be aware of what you are buying. 

TDR ABSTRACT

EDGAR ALLAN POE ON SCREEN

We all watch films, but what's the process behind them? The main objective of this project is to produce a short film, based on one of the most famous Edgar Allan Poe's takes, "The Oval Portrait", in order ti see, bit by bit, all the necessary steps that finally allow us to enjoy the film. 

The project is divided in a theoretical part which involves different aspects related to Poe's literature, the cinema and the connection between both topics; and a practical part that consists in the production of the short film, bearing in mind the previously treated aspects.