Week 5: Future medicine: artificial organ regrowth

In my presentation I would like to talk about the future of medicine, about stem cells and growing organs in the lab or inside animal`s body.

Please watch the following movie showing some part of knowledge in this field:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_91_nARa0E

It’s a big problem for medicine and of course for patients that in case of organ damage like a kidney, a liver, a heart, a patient`s life depends on his place on the transplant list. It also means that somebody has to lose the organ in order to give it to someone else. Organ transplantation itself is only a life saving procedure, it is not perfect and means that a recipient needs to take immunosuppressant pills till the end of his life in order to avoid rejection and he/she  lives with many restrictions.
There are many  researchers all around the world at leading universities and laboratories that grow organs using special technology inside an animal`s body such as pigs. The most popular animal is the pig because of similar organs` size to human. In the lab organs are grown using a patient`s stem cells and special scaffold. Growing organs inside pigs requires to make genetic changes. In both cases the aim is to make properly working organs and avoid rejection without a need for taking immunosuppressant pills.
Lets imagine a situation like in the movie. We can grow organs, tissues perfectly fitting  our bodies. Of course in the case of emergency we have a perfect solution which saves a life but let’s talk about something different. Let us imagine replacing all organs except our brain.

My questions:
1. If it was possible as I wrote above, would your life be  different?  Why? Would you drink more alcohol, still smoke cigarettes, use other substances making you happy in an artificial way, do extreme sports?
2. Would it be a problem for you if there was a need to grow a pig or some other animal containing part of your DNA, next take a needed organ and let the heroic pig die? :) Would you like to have pigs’ eyes;)  Does it go with your beliefs or religion.

Week 5: Creating superheroes

The determinant of a comic book superhero popularity is the number of copies sold and created albums. Over the years, many heroes became famous and gained many fans - Batman, Superman, Spider-Man and Wolverine. There were also those, whose star of glory faded quickly - Madame Fatal, The Red Bee and The Elongated Man. There is no perfect method to create a comic book superhero who will be loved by  millions of readers around the world. But there are some questions that developers need to answer at the very beginning of design, such as:

• What powers and abilities will my superhero have?

• How do he/she possess these powers?

• What is his/her history?

• How he/she develops and uses powers?

• How does my character look like?

• How he/she behaves in everyday life and does he/she have alter ego?

• What are his/her weaknesses?

• What is his/her attitude to the world around?

• What is his/her name?

http://wallb.com/assets/2013/10/Aquaman-Batman-Cyborg-DC-Comics-DC-Comics-Flash-superhero-Green-Lantern-Justice-League-Superman-Wonder-Woman-comics-dark-superheroes.jpg

These are just some of the issues that must be considered during the process of creation. Analyzing the history and origins of the DC Comics and Marvel Comics superheroes,  you can find some templates or patterns, which motivated developers who wanted to create a fascinating and interesting to the reader character.

The origin of the power and skill are often one of the most important dilemmas faced by the developers. You have to provide not only interesting, but often also a logical sequence of events that led to the creation of a hero. Important  is the right moment in the life of the hero, the circumstances and the consequences the event caused. The powers, combined with the back-story of the characters and the nature of the superhero’s strength are those factors which influence how he is perceived by the reader. Marvel and DC Comics have developed at least six main ways in which the heroes gained their outstanding ability:

I. Lucky accident

A random situation or a combination of factors that led to positive results:

- Spider-Man (Marvel) – bitten by radioactive spider

- Fantastic Four (Marvel) – cosmic radiation giving superpowers

- Hulk (Marvel) – exposure to gamma rays

- Flash (DC Comics) – thunderbolt  stroke chemicals with which the character was working
- Captain Atom (DC Comics) – accident while testing the strength of spacecraft

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl_S88DGm0QdRwbcRm7PHouPXuNWpo7iDSAA0JaGNJnU6-8uSEd8JB-Gt0ShNqRsrwjDV1ondchJ1vNBB-MOIXHe6B7g-mD5kOiY4xjAziIPdEHEgjR8wTD63XPX_7Z5aYWRMlIXOsU-OQ/s1600/accident_4.jpg

II. The chosen one

Superpowers offered by the powerful being or acquired in a magical way:

- Silver Surfer (Marvel) – as a messenger of Galactus he gained powers and magic board
- Iron Fist (Marvel) – by defeating the dragon called Shou-Lao, he gained magical abilities

- Captain Marvel (DC Comics) – mystical power offered by the wizard Shazam
- Green Lantern (DC Comics) – ring offered by the Guardians of the Universe

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/266/2/4/silver_surfer_and_galactus_by_jonathan_moore-d5fnvb5.jpg

III. Powerful aliens

The following characters are considered on Earth as superheroes, because they have an innate abilities characteristic for their breed / species:

- Thor (Marvel) – god of thunder and storms coming from Asgard
- Black Bolt (Marvel) – ruler of Inhumen (non-humans), race of warriors created by an Kree (aliens)

- Superman (DC Comics) – powerful man coming from Krypton

- Martian Manhunter (DC Comics) – last surviving Martian having a plurality of superpowers

 http://www.misfitsofscifi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Superman-Martian-Manhunter.jpg

IV. Own creation

Scientists, engineers or random people who use their inventions and devices to help people:

- Iron Man (Marvel) – Tony Stark created hi-tech combat suit

- Ant-Man (Marvel) – Henry Pym created a liquid that allows him to reduce and increase size and a helmet to communicate with ants

- S.T.R.I.P.E. (DC Comics) – Patrick Dugan created his armour to fight criminals

- Cyborg (DC Comics) – after a tragic accident, Victor Stone uses a metallic prosthesis to fight evil

 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2013/08/ant_man_art_a_l.jpg

V. Training and discipline

Ordinary people who decided to undergo hard training to use their experience, intellect, skill in the fight against crime:
- Hawkeye (Marvel) – Clinton Burton trained with Trickshot and Swordsman at the age of 14

- Black Widow (Marvel) – Natalia Romanova was trained in the Soviet Union to be the best Soviet spy
- Batman (DC Comics) – Bruce Wayne after the death of his parents decided to train to fight crime in Gotham
- Green Arrow (DC Comics) – Oliver Queen, who mastered archery, decided to use his skills to help others

http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/6/65659/1352338-green_arrow_dc_comics_251211_1024_768.jpg

VI. Innate abilities

Earthlings who had their powers from birth, most of which were the result of some mutations (not caused by the accident):
- X-Men (Marvel) – group of mutants with different superpowers

- Mr. Immortal (Marvel) – Craig Hollis is immortal - whenever he dies, he comes back to life without any damage
- Black Canary (DC Comics) – blessed with a shout, with a strong destructive power

- Lilith (DC Comics) – with ability to read minds telepath, who also have telekinetic abilities

http://www.wallpaperup.com/uploads/wallpapers/2013/02/24/44260/b68d0e97312dda21f34f6b4644334402.jpg

Task:

Please make up a superhero and write a few lines about him/her in comments J

Week 5: The art of trolling

I would like you to read/watch and comment on/discuss the presentation – The art of trolling

 You will find it at  

http://konwersatorium2-ms-pjwstk.blogspot.com/2013/11/week-4-to-care-or-not-to-care-that-is.html

Comment on  it here.

Week 5: Things you can learn about on the internet. Or simply enjoy them.

Today internet is all around us. Can you imagine a day without it? (Yes, I know you can, but making it real is very hard - I know what I’m saying, this year during holidays I put myself in a weeklong internet-rehab). We use it everywhere. At work, home, just after waking up, moments before falling asleep. We even take our English classes sitting before computers connected to the internet.

Listening to one episode of one of my favorite podcasts (about podcasts later) Radiolab (I cannot recall which one) I have heard that daily amount of information that people are absorbing these days is dozens of times bigger than one for people living a hundred years ago (I cannot remember exactly, but it is really a great difference - today we are everyday bombarded with information which people from the beginning of previous century would hear in a month). Very frightening for me is that this information often isn’t that much valuable. That most of things we hear, see or find on the internet are just a regular junk.

Much of this invaluable information comes from the internet - popular pages with dummy pictures, YouTube with its stupid videos or sensational, useless news. I don't like it and I don't like to realize how much time I waste vainly browsing the internet either.
But as we now have to, and in future will have to use the internet (because of its ubiquity) I like to use it to make things that can turn out to be useful. And I want to share some of them with you - I hope you will like them! At least some of them:)

1. Webcams
There are millions of public webcams out there on the internet. They are mostly very boring, but I like to watch them in the background - as a substitute for TV. In the meantime I can do something productive, just enjoying the view or find something more about things I can see. Of course you cannot always explore the topic, e.g. when you find a webcam in a cat hotel or in Icelandic sports hall (although you could try to find out what sport it is - probably some kind of training golf field?) or Croatian old town (can bring back memories from vacation:) + you can try to search its history) or printing factory or an always empty hotel lounge looking like it was build few meters below ground (couldn't find a link to this one). But... From time to time you can find something really interesting. You can watch the Earth rotating (did you know about pendulum? If not - you should read about it!). You can admire Polish wildlife (are you familiar with polish Żubr and its history? Do you know that they're not Polish?) - I recommend this one for long winter evenings. You can also wait for a pitch drop to drop (bottom of the page here or http://www.theninthwatch.com). I found this one about 1,5-2 years ago. Recently it became a little bit viral, so now you can watch it in HD or like it on Facebook. Pitch is a solid polymer. The experiment started about 80 years ago when Professor Thomas Parnell of the University of Queensland wanted to prove his students that pitch although it appears to be solid is in fact very-high-viscosity fluid. He had to wait for the first drop for 11 years. The most interesting fact about this experiment is that no one ever saw the drop! Even when they used cameras to record it - the cameras broke just before the most important moment. If you want to learn more about the whole pitch drop experiment – check the wiki or an official experiment page.

2. Google Maps
While wandering on google maps you can also find amazing places. For example: the black spot on a desert which is an iron ore mine - you can try to follow the train track back to the harbor on the shore (or just click here) - it's also all black from the dust. You can also climb the mount Fuji using the street view or walk with penguins through Antarctica.

3. Podcasts
I just love them. It is very easy to find them on the internet. You can listen to them while using the internet but I prefer to download them onto my phone and then listen to them on my way to/from work. My favorite ones are 99% invisible about very interesting things that happen in our surroundings and RadioLab about science.

Do you know any interesting webcams? Have you ever spotted anything unusual on google maps? Do you listen to podcasts on the internet?
What do you think about my efforts to take advantage of internet while wandering it? Do you also do this? Do you have your own tested methods? Or maybe you think it doesn’t make any sense?

P.S. While searching the internet you should always try to avoid the weird part of it and not to reach its end.

Week 4: National Day Celebration

On 11th November we will celebrate our independence day in Poland. I would like to present to you some examples of how it is celebrated in other countries.

USA

4^th of July is probably most recognized day of independence in the world. As you may or may not know, people of USA tend to celebrate this day very loudly, with lots of fireworks, flags, festivals and fun.

This photo was taken in NY 2013 under the Statue of Liberty.

Here you can see children in a parade – Americans like parades and it is very fascinating but maybe we will talk about this some other time J

Also you may find a lot of photos from 4^th July parades here:

https://www.google.pl/search?q=4th+july+parade&client=opera&hs=lr7&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=CNB2UotepJbQBaW0gZgO&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1582&bih=774#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=BIJECH7nweP-jM%3A%3BGpBWe6lGoStFhM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F2.bp.blogspot.com%252F_I1-bBJ3ZMlw%252FTCrrG2ne_9I%252FAAAAAAAAAUo%252F-P-5NTz_Lww%252Fs1600%252F4th-parade.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fworldholidaytravel.blogspot.com%252F2010%252F06%252Fholiday-tours-travel-to-celebrate-4th.html%3B1250%3B1074

Some NYC 4th July videos:

So as you can imagine they love their country, they celebrate independence etc… but do they know some facts about their own history? This question sounds not so brilliant, but please check this video that I have found during my research:

Spain

12^th October 1982 – this is the date of first Spain national day. I had read that Spanish people celebrated their independence day on many other days e.g.: 7^th October, 9^th December etc. 12^th October became the national day of Spain on 27^th November 1981 as a royal decree, it was named: Día de la Hispanidad.

As you can see also in Spain people celebrate this day in a special way.

Below you can see a parade in Madrid

Flamenco – Spanish national dance J

England 

23^rd of April – the beginning of history of this day we have to search in 13^th century. A red cross – which was the symbol of crusade, was used by Genoa as a symbol of the country. The English king paid a tribute to Genoa to use this flag to sail safely in the Mediterranean. The red cross was also a symbol of St George who is a patron of England. It is hard to say when exactly England started to celebrate this day as some sort of national day. I have found some information that it started about 1222.

Here you can see some photos from that day:

Here you can see some videos:

Poland

We have 2 days which we may call the national day. 3^rd May and 11^th November.

In May we celebrate our constitution day and in November we celebrate our independence day. I’ve pasted some videos and pictures below:

You can find some photos here: 

http://wyborcza.pl/duzy_kadr/5,97904,13846745,W_marszu__biegu_i_nie_tylko__Obchody_222__rocznicy.html?i=0

Photo below is from 20^th century : 

 The Polish government sworn in on November 18, 1918, from J. Moraczewskim at the helm. From left seated: S. Thugutt, J. Moraczewski, J. Pilsudski, L. Supinski, L. Wasilewski.

Summary:

Looking at pictures and videos from countries like USA or Spain I think that they are much happier than we are. If you look at their faces you can see smiles, in opposite of that when I look at our countrymen faces I see grim mood. I’m wondering why we are more nostalgic. We are as a nation, reluctant to be happy, we do not cherish these days with happiness. I think that we should be happier, we have our freedom finally, after so much suffering and fighting. We should be happy but we are not.

For me these days are very important. I try to find some time to display the flag, and to learn something about my ancestor’s history. I want to know why they did not abandon their hope in Poland, why  they fought against all odds to make me a free man. Maybe because of these thoughts I feel reverie, and maybe all other people who seem to be sad, they all think about this – or they should J

And now maybe some questions to start our discussion:

You all know how we celebrate our Independence Day and Constitution Day. What do you think about other nation’s celebrations?

What do you think about the whole idea of Independence Day or any national day?

Do you know or have experienced any other country national day?

Week 4:Happiness and Money

What is happiness? How can it be obtained? Of course happiness is a subjective thing and means something different to different people. Many claim that it is something that you can’t put a monetary value on. Are they right? People commonly say: money can’t buy happiness. But have you ever wondered if it is true? Well, in the light of recently published studies the answer may be surprising. Those surveys reveal that money has a lot to do with happiness.

 

FROM: http://www.demotivation.us

FROM: http://cheezburger.com

 

                                                    FROM: http://jpegy.com

Before I explain what is the exact conclusion of those studies I would like to tell you about another experiment. It was made by Benjamin Wallace – an American journalist and writer. Wallace wondered what was the reason for people to spend a great amount of money to buy things. He also speculated if all those goods asserted them a better and happier life. To find the answer for those issues he decided to try things considered to be the most expensive in the world: he ate Kobe beef and white truffles, stayed at the Ty Warner Suit in the Four Seasons Hotel at Manhattan, tasted Per Me Olive Oil, drunk Chateau Cheval Blanc and Kopi Luwak coffee, drove Bugatti Veyron and did lots of other things unavailable for ordinary people.

http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_wallace_on_the_price_of_happiness.html

So what was his conclusion after trying those improperly pricy things? Could he find an answer if it was possible to buy happiness? Wallace did not give a positive answer. During his experiment he satirized spending money on something just because it was luxurious. He also made an interesting conclusion that we worship certain things according to our belief in its value. Of course Wallace's conclusion can be considered from the other side. We can analyse the journalist's experiment and ask some questions - what if Wallace did not enjoy spending this money just because he simply did not know where to do it. Once, a popular actress said: “Whoever said money can’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping". Or maybe, to be more precise, Benjamin Wallace did not know how to spend money properly and that is why the effects of his experiment were unexpected.

It is commonly known that money has an effect on life satisfaction, especially because the more funds we have the more money we can spend to satisfy our basic needs. But how to spend money in the right way, so the spending brings happiness and benefits? Is there a proper way to do that? A professor of psychology Elisabeth Dunn and a professor of marketing Michael Norton in their book Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending try to convince us that the key to happiness is to spend our money right, in a smart way. But what is important, they reveal that the amount of money spent is not important: a good coffee in the morning bought in our favourite coffee house can be equal to diamond rings if you do it in a proper manner.

So how can we achieve happiness by using our money in an intelligent way? According to the authors, we have to try to implement a few principles:

1/ Buy experiences. Researchers show that anticipation of an event often increases a feeling of happiness more than the event itself. Avoiding buying material things can be a good idea because satisfaction with possessing them is temporary, and after a while they start to become trivial. On the contrary our brains process experiences all the time, so they are harder to forget and provide increasing benefits over time.

2/ Make it a special treat. Things that are used daily bring us less pleasure after time. It is a good idea not to repeat them every  day but once in a while, so they will be much more valuable and bring more positive feelings.

3/ Buy time. It is a good idea to hire somebody to help with everyday tasks just to obtain more leisure time. Free time gives an opportunity to do more interesting or favourite things. And the more time somebody has the more he appreciates the things he does.

4/ Pay now, consume later. There is nothing to explain on that subject! Paying for something right away brings more pleasure from buying it. Repaying a loan reduces the joy of purchase.

5/ Invest in others. Spending money on others makes it more fun than spending on ourselves. Need a proof? See a movie below, which presents interesting results of the experiment in which people had to spend money on themselves and on the others:

http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_norton_how_to_buy_happiness.html

Despite the findings mentioned above many psychologists express profound skepticism concerning the statement that happiness can be bought. They claim, inter alia, that wealth diminishes our ability to enjoy things we bought. A famous American psychologist, Sonja Lyubomirsky – a professor at the University of California, who made ​​the subject of happiness her scientific domain, says that the more money a person spends the higher expectations of the happiness level money should bring, and that can be very harmful and deceiving. So which approach is correct? I guess each of us must answer that question.

Here is an article by Sonja Lyubomirsky concerning the topic of money and happiness and a film in which she explains what is happiness.

Additional questions:

How can you explain the word “happiness”? What does it mean to you?

In your opinion does paying for happiness have more advantages or disadvantages?

What are the ways to achieve a good relation between money and happiness level?