Arte/Art 2017

Todos los trabajos realizados en las materias Arte y Art a lo largo del año.

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Movies

It’s sometimes hard to choose a film that fits your mood purely on the basis of the poster or the description on the cover of the DVD. That’s why I wrote this review of the most depressing and the most uplifting film I have seen. They are Marley and Me and Grown Ups 2, respectively.

Marley and Me is a touching comedy about the lives of a dog, Marley, and it´s owner John (Owen Wilson), and their relationship. It starts right before John buys Marley as a present for his wife Jenny (Jennifer Aniston) because he didn’t want to have a baby. It shows how their lives develop, as well as their bond with Marley. The movie has funny moments, but it also has some really depressing ones, and that’s why I see it as the most depressing film I’ve ever seen.

As Marley and Me, Grown Ups 2 is a comedy. It is about a group of friends that, after reuniting 20 years after their graduation (in Grown Ups 1), move to their hometown and decide to organize a party in the house of one of them. I chose it as the most uplifting film because I couldn’t stop laughing at any moment of the movie. Something that makes this possible is its great cast, with iconic comedians such as Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock and David Spade.

I really liked both of them, as they are great films, and recommend them both. Perhaps, Marley and Me is more suitable if you want to chill and enjoy a good movie, while Grown Ups 2 is perfect for laughing and having a good time.

Los sentidos

Los sentidos nos diferencian y nos hacen ser lo que somos. Al evolucionar los primeros seres vivos en ambientes acuáticos, la mayoría de nuestros sentidos surgieron originalmente para ser utilizados bajo el agua.

Visión

La visión es el sentido más importante para el ser humano. 

Hace unos 800 millones de años, los seres vivos acuáticos desarrollaron un cáliz recubierto de células sensoriales capaces de percibir la dirección de la cual provenía una luz y movimientos cercanos. 

Ese caliz evolucionó a lo que hoy son los ojos, con la aparición de las fosas orbitarias.

Los primeros anfibios podían "enfocar" la vista, ya que poseían un grupo de músculos que comprimían el ojo contra el fondo de la fosa ordinaria para ver de cerca y que lo liberaban para ver de lejos.

Los mamíferos enfocaban mejor la vista, ya que aplanaban su cristalino para ver lejos y lo relajaban para ver de cerca.

En los primates que habitaban los árboles apareció la visión binocular, que les permitía medir distancias con exactitud, aunque tenía una menor amplitud que la de los mamíferos.

El color blanco de la esclerótica permite ver hacia donde enfoca la vista el otro. Los perros y los humanos comparten la esclerótica blanca. Es probable que se haya producido una evolución paralela por la relación social existente.

Oído

El oído es fundamental para el ser humano, ya que somos animales sociales que dependemos del lenguaje hablado, y este sentido permite la comunicación oral. 

Este sentido está muy relacionado con el equilibrio, ya que al ser nuestros antepasados marinos, estos percibían las ondas sonoras (debajo del agua) con un órgano desarrollado para el equilibrio.

Gusto

El sabor es el conjunto del gusto y el olfato. En la prehistoria, los animales usaban el gusto para diferenciar entre alimentos sanos y peligrosos. 

Al sentir el sabor salado o dulce de los alimentos podemos decir que se encuentra en buen estado. Mientras que el amargo y el ácido ocurre cuando están en mal estado o dañinos, ya que tienen bacterias.

Olfato

La nariz es el principal órgano olfativo del humano. Algunos seres vivos (abejas, mariposas) tienen sus órganos olfativos en las antenas.

La nariz despegada del rostro le permitió al Homo erectus una mayor entrada de aire tanto cálido como húmedo. Ademas de su valoración estética característica del ser humano por ser un animal social, ya que es la facción más destacada del rostro.

Una persona puede identificar muchísimos olores, aunque estos no tengan nombre, ademas de usar el olfato para saborear alimentos.

Dexter

I have seen a series which I consider a strong candidate for the "Best Series Ever" award: "Dexter". I utterly enjoyed it, as it is a great mix of drama (in a higher percentage) and comedy. 

Dexter Morgan

Dexter is a drama about a forensic (Dexter Morgan) who works for the Miami Police by day, and is a reckless serial-killer by night. All along its eight seasons, it shows how his life evolves and how his actions affect him and the ones he loves. It is an almost perfect combination between drama and comedy, very vividly portrayed by its great cast. It is really thrilling and it has various touching scenes. The only drawback I can find (to it) is that it is a bit clichéd in its last two seasons, as it seems that the screenwriters lost a bit of their imagination.

In conclusion, I strongly recommend it for everyone who likes a good drama, despite its bad things, which are almost none.

¿Es así o no la evolución?

En la materia de Biología, buscamos alguna publicidad de la televisión que hablara sobre la evolución y, a partir de lo estudiado, analizamos si la idea que plantea sobre este proceso es correcta no.

La publicidad plantea una idea errónea de la evolución. Esto es así porque, en la explicación que la nena da, esta dice que las bacterias “cambian”, volviéndose mejores. Lo que en realidad sucede en el proceso de evolución no es que las bacterias cambian, sino que se favorece un fenotipo específico dentro de la población de bacterias, y así al genotipo que lo genera. Esto hace que las bacterias portadoras del genotipo favorecido, que puede ser la resistencia a algún antibacterial, sobrevivan, mientras que las bacterias no portadoras de tal genotipo no pueden reproducirse satisfactoriamente o mueren. Las bacterias no cambian, sino que sobreviven las que se adaptan mejor al ambiente y logran reproducirse satisfactoriamente.

War in Afghanistan vs Korean War

War in Afghanistan vs Korean War de tomipaladino

Potsdam and relations between the West and the USSR

A. What was decided at the Potsdam conference?
The allied leaders arranged for July 1945 in the Berlin suburb of Potsdam, a conference. There weren’t taken any decision, due to the fact the distrust between Stalin and Truman, so they had different disagreements, over what to do with Germany, over reparations and also over Soviet policy in Eastern Europe.

B. Why did the wartime unity of the Allies break down between 1945 and 1947?
The wartime unity of the Allies broke down because there was tension and suspicion between the USA’s president, Truman, and the USSR leader, Stalin. Because of these, in the Potsdam Conference, they did not come to an agreement in some major aspects: what to do with Germany, reparations and Soviet policy in eastern Europe.
Furthermore, in the months after the Potsdam Conference Stalin achieved the control of eastern Europe. Poland, Hungary, Romania Bulgaria and Albania had all Communist governments that were loyal to Stalin. Churchill described the borders between them and the West as an “iron curtain”. With Communist governments in all eastern Europe, Stalin tightened his control, eliminating opposition. In 1947, he set up the Cominform to organize and control all the Communist Parties, replacing independent leaders with people who were loyal to him.

C. "The Truman Doctrine generated much more tension than the Berlin Blockade" How far is that statement true?
Different things increased the Cold War tension, such as the Truman Doctrine: giving money to countries that were going to turn into Communism, to stop that movement. Or the Berlin Blockade, with USSR taking control of Germany. But what event produced more tension?
On the one hand, the Truman Doctrine added tension to the Cold War because USA was sending equipment and advice to any country which was, in the American view, threatened by a Communist takeover. They did this as a way of containing Communism.
On the other hand, the Berlin Blockade added much more tension to the Cold War, because as people living in the Soviet zone wanted to leave that zone, and Stalin, who had the control of Germany´s capital, closed all the railways and any possible way of going away from that zone, and that hurted a lot of countries and people.
To conclude, I think the Berlin Blockade added more tension to the Cold War that the Truman Doctrine because that involved more countries.

Vietnam War

 1. Describe American involvement in South Vietnam between 1854 and 1963
In 1954 the US applied a different rule: it prevented elections from taking place because it feared that the Communists would win. The Americans thought that China and the USSR were planning to spread Communism, and if Vietnam fell, many other countries (Laos, Thailand, etc.) would fall with it, and Americans were determined to resist the spread. In 1955, US helped the extremely corrupt president of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, to set up the Republic of South Vietnam (set up in December 1960), as he was anti-Communist and prepared to exile Communists. By 1962, President Kennedy was sending military personnel to fight the Viet Cong, arms and soldiers that were called “Advisers”. In 1963 and 1964, tension between North and South Vietnam increased and so did American involvement. However, Kennedy said he was determined that the US would not “blunder into war, unclear about aims or how to get out again”.  On March 1965, America was at war in Vietnam.

2. Why was Cuba important to the USA? 
Cuba was important to Usa since they were allies and negotiate together. Also Usa owned most of the businesses of Cuba and they had a huge naval base in the Cuba Island. Between 1959-61 Castro took over all this business and he wanted to run Cuba without interference, so Usa broke of diplomatic relations with Cuba. The invasion of USA  in the Island suggest that the USA was unwilling to get directly involved in Cuba. The soviet leader, Krushchev was scroful of Kennedy’s pathetic attempt to remove Communism from Cuba. Soviets was helping Cuba and Americans watched all this with great alarm, so Kennedy asked himself what he could do (Invade, Do nothing, Surgial Air Attack, Blockade, Diplomatic pressures).

3. How far is it true that the USA left the Vietnam War because of military failure? 
The US was involved in the Vietnam War from 1954 to 1973, when they retired all of their forces from the country. Many historians claim that this was due to military failure, but, how far is that true?
To begin with, the war was very different from how the Americans had imagined it. They thought their soldiers would win it easily, as they had largely superior technology and firepower, but the guerrilla tactics implemented by the Viet Cong fighters made this practically impossible. There were also other incidents, as the My Lay massacre and the Tet Offensive, that undermined the USA’s involvement in Vietnam. After the Tet offensive, President Johnson came to the conclusion that the war could not be won militarily.
There were also other factors that contributed to the end of the American involvement in Vietnam. A very important one of them were the huge peace demonstrations in universities and public spaces, in which people complained about the war in Vietnam. These were mainly because the USA was not only spending enormous amounts of money in the war, but also because they were sending hundreds of thousands of young men to fight a war that was not theirs. Moreover, many people were horrified when the My Lai massacre came to light. President Nixon (the one who pulled the USA out of Vietnam) was also involved in the Watergate Scandal.
In conclusion, military failure was an important cause for ending the USA involvement in Vietnam war, but there were also other reasons that made this happen.

4. Why did the unity of allies break down by 1945 and 1947?
The unit of allies between USA and USSR break down by 1945 and 1947, because they had different thoughts and wanted different things, Truman didn’t trust Stalin. Stalin was not respecting the agreement.

Información genética en las poblaciones

En el área de biología estuvimos trabajando con la evolución y luego vimos el ADN, una de las pruebas de la evolución. A partir de lo que leímos tuvimos que escribir un texto relacionando los conceptos genes, ADN, proteínas y evolución.

 

Todas las células tienen núcleo, dentro del cual hay moléculas de ADN, que están dentro de nuestros cromosomas. Los humanos, por ejemplo, tenemos 46 cromosomas, cada uno de ellos formado por una única molécula de ADN enrollada alrededor de proteínas. La estructura de la molécula de ADN es siempre la misma en cada persona. El ADN está formado por nucleótidos que a su vez están formados por un grupo fosfato, un azúcar y una base nitrogenada. Los genes son un segmento del ADN, ubicados en una parte específica de los cromosomas.  La información genética permite relacionar a restos fósiles con individuos vivos actuales, ya que muestra cuán parecidos son a nivel molecular. Lo mismo sirve para encontrar la relación entre las especies (si provienen de un mismo antecesor), ya que las especies que son parecidas en sus genes están emparentadas entre sí, y la diferencia de cromosomas muestra que tan lejanas son, dando evidencia de la evolución. También muestra que lo que evoluciona son las poblaciones, y no los individuos, ya que los individuos de cada población tienen características parecidas entre sí. Esto es así porque la evolución es una propiedad de las poblaciones (grupo que incluye a todos los miembros de una especie que viven en una región específica). Los cambios evolutivos que sufre una población sí dependen de sus individuos, pero al estar todos expuestos a las mismas condiciones ambientales es más probable que reaccionen todos de una misma manera. Para que una población evolucione se tienen que dar las siguientes características:

• Debe haber mutación.
• Tiene que haber flujo de genes entre poblaciones (movimiento de alelos hacia dentro o fuera de una población).
• La población debe ser pequeña.
• Los apareamientos no tienen que ser aleatorios, sino con una tendencia hacia ciertos genotipos para aparearse con otros genotipos específicos.
• Debe haber selección natural (todos los genotipos no se reproducen con el mismo éxito).

¿Viajar o no viajar?

A partir del análisis del video de Space Oddity, de David Bowie, se nos propuso buscar algún otro video o película que esté relacionado con el viaje (al espacio) y analizar la idea del viaje que cada video da, comparándolos. En mi caso, elegí la película Zathura.

La película, protagonizada por Josh Hutcherson (Los Juegos del Hambre) y con la participación de Kristen Stewart (saga Crepúsculo), cuenta la experiencia de dos chicos, Danny y su hermano mayor Walter. Los hermanos se llevan mal y, luego de un conflicto, Walter encierra a Danny en el sótano. Allí, Danny descubre un juego de mesa llamado Zathura y convence a Walter de jugar. Cuando el juego empieza, la casa es trasladada al espacio. Ahora, los chicos emprenden un viaje en el que deberán terminar el juego, pasando todos los obstáculos, para poder regresar a casa y que todo vuelva a la normalidad.

La idea que ésta película da del viaje es que el viaje puede ser peligroso, pero termina siendo algo positivo. El trailer muestra la escena cuando se dan cuenta que la casa está viajando por el espacio (Danny abre la puerta y se encuentra con un: en ese momento, los chicos están preocupados y no saben que hacer, pero luego el viaje, a medida que avanza, se va convirtiendo en una aventura. El viaje es peligroso por todas las cosas y peligros por las que los hermanos deben pasar (meteoritos, extraterrestres, un robot, un agujero negro, etc.). Más allá de todos los peligros, termina siendo positivo porque les sirve para mejorar su relación como hermanos, aumentando la confianza entre ellos.
En contraste, la idea que el video de Space Oddity da sobre el viaje es que este puede resultar adictivo. Es así porque Major Tom, a pesar de tener una esposa en la Tierra, decide quedarse en el espacio, con las estrellas, perdiendo el control de la nave y dejándola volar libremente. Él se quita el casco y el traje en el espacio (en esa escena las estrellas son representadas por mujeres que lo desvisten), probablemente muriendo allí y quedándose en el espacio para siempre.

En lo personal, yo pienso que un viaje puede ser algo bueno si te hace conocer cosas nuevas (lugares, gente, etc.), o lo haces con gente con la que te llevas bien.

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Ground Control to Major Tom (ten, nine, eight, seven, six)
Commencing countdown, engines on (five, four, three)
Check ignition and may God's love be with you (two, one, liftoff)
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare
"This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do
Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you "Here am I floating 'round my tin can
Far above the moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do"

The presidential election in 1932

The Republicans won the presidential election in 1928 when the economy was still booming. Their candidate was Herbert Hoover. One year later, the Wall Street Crash happened and brought severe consequences for the USA’s industry and people. In the next presidential election, in 1932 (the first one after the Wall Street Crash), Hoover lost to the Democrat candidate, Franklin D Roosevelt. Many people state that this was mainly because of the Republican policies and their reaction to the Crash, but, how far is that true?

Herbert Hoover

To begin with, the Republican policies are four: Laissez faire (not interceding with people´s economy), tariffs for importation (they protected US industry against foreign competition), low taxation (they thought people would buy goods or invest in industry with that money) and trusts (huge corporations that dominated industry). Republicans wouldn´t change their basic policies, mostly because they believed that the Depression was caused by economic problems in Europe, not by failures in the US economy. They thought that business could solve its problems alone and that help from the Government was no needed. Moreover, they claimed that business consisted on a cycle of boom and bust, so prosperity would come back alone. It was because of the policy of Laissez-faire that Hoover did almost nothing to help people who were hit hardest for the depression, as he thought that social security and relief were a responsibility and should be provided by local governments. He faced bitter criticism because of that.

Franklin D Roosevelt

Nevertheless, there were other causes for Roosevelt’s success in the presidential election, which were Hoover’s flaws and Roosevelt’s characteristics as a politician. As regard Hoover’s flaws, he was known as a “do nothing” president, even though he tried to do something, but that was not enough. He tried to restart the economy by cutting taxes and to persuade business leaders not to cut wages. Moreover, he set up the Reconstruction Finance Company to prevent banks from going bankrupts. He also tried to protect the US industry by tariffs, but this made the Depression worse. In connection to Roosevelts characteristics as a politician, he believed in an active government to improve people´s lives. He wanted to spend public many to create jobs (he already did this as Governor of New York), and asked for advise to experts (factory owners, economists and union leaders). He didn’t have a specific plan, but he realized that people wanted action and he gave them that.

To conclude, even though the Republican’s reaction against the Crash had to do with Roosevelt winning the election in 1932, Hoover’s flaws and Roosevelt’s characteristics were also very important. This was so because Hoover’s flaws exposed him to great criticism and turned public opinion against him, while Roosevelt gave people what they wanted.

Viaje a la SuperTierra

En clase de la materia Literatura, y a partir de los textos leídos previamente sobre la presentación de personajes y focalización, la profesora Florencia Casanova nos propuso escribir un cuento corto, en parejas, tomando con el tema principal un “viaje al espacio”, usando las reglas de Lodge para presentar al personaje y usando los distintos niveles y modalidades de focalización.

 

En lo personal, pienso que fue una buena experiencia, porque es más fácil trabajar con un compañero. Lo único que no me gustó tanto fue que el tema del cuento se limitara a un viaje al espacio, pero no fue un problema porque igualmente era un tema interesante. Para escribirlo, tuvimos una clase para pensar en el final de la historia y como queríamos que nuestro personaje fuese, y luego pensamos el resto de la historia partiendo desde ahí.

En cuanto a la focalización, decidimos que esta sea interna, fija y en tercera persona, ya que, por más que esté en tercera persona, está narrada desde la visión de Jorge, el personaje principal. Habíamos empezado a escribir en primera persona, pero luego vimos que nos salía mejor en tercera y decidimos cambiar eso. En cuanto a lo temporal, la focalización es pancrónica, porque el narrador conoce todo lo sucedido en todo el espectro temporal de la historia, es panorámica porque se conocen los sucesos en la Supertierra y en la Tierra (cuando Jorge llama y festejan). Las emociones son objetivas, porque se sabe lo que siente Jorge cuando está solo y, en cuanto al conocimiento, se conoce lo mismo que él.        

Utilizamos los métodos de Lodge para describir a Jorge, ya que no solo narramos su biografía y lo describimos físicamente, sino que también hablamos de su ropa, que muestra su estilo de vida, y mostramos su forma de pensar (cuando no le molesta sacrificarse por hacer un bien a la humanidad).

Reasons for the economic growth

There was a great economic growth in the USA in the 1920s, which led to the “Boom” and the “Roaring Twenties”. Between its many reasons, there were hire purchase, that consisted on buying the good at the moment but paying it later on instalments, set by the seller; and credits, that were loans given by banks to consumers, so they could buy products. How important were hire purchase and credits among others causes for the economic growth?

There is many people who firmly believes that they were the two main causes for the boom. To begin with, the Boom was a consumer-led boom, so the industries needed people to buy their products. Credits and hire purchase had an important part on making this happen, as they made possible for people such as factory workers and farmers to be able to afford to buy goods, such as cars, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, radios, etc., as banks would lend people or small companies if they needed so, and most shops and companies used the hire purchase scheme. Moreover, hire purchase was used by many firms, such as the motor car industry, revolutionized by Henry Ford, due to the fact that the number of sales increased because of it and it was an easy way of making people buy what they produced. Credits allowed many speculators to invest on companies, what caused a rise in their shares’ prices, as there was more demand than offer. It was possible for them to buy shares because they bought them on the margin, what meant that they only paid for 10% of the total value. Most of speculators got the money to pay for shares by borrowing it (mainly from bank credits), and payed back when they had already sold the share and recovered money. Most people saw the share stock market as a quick way of getting rich, and many new millionaires flourished from that market indeed.

On the other hand, some people believe hire purchase and credit were not major reasons for the economic growth. Even though they were very important reasons, there were other causes. One of the main causes was the USA’s industrial strength. The country’s industry was successful because they had the raw materials they needed within its borders and did no needed to import anything, added to the fact that electricity made everything easier, allowing factories to produce goods (the new household consumer goods as vacuum cleaners and radios) faster and in higher quantities. Besides, they were able to produce everything they needed for their population`s consumption, and exported their surpluses to other countries. Moreover, other main cause for the economic growth was the development of new methods of production, as Fordism, the use of new technologies and the Republican Policies (Laissez-faire, tariffs for importation, low taxation and the development of trusts). Another thing that boosted goods sales were the mass-marketing and advertising strategies used: the advertisers who campaigned to encourage people to join the army in the WWI now worked with companies to sell their products. Furthermore, some people believe the First World War had great influence in the economic boom, since it allowed the USA to sell arms and food to the allies and this one-way trade gave the American industry a great income. Moreover, after the First World War the USA became a world leader in several sectors of industry, such as the chemical industry which had been led by Germany before the world ruined the country. 


The way I see things, despite the fact that credits and hire purchase were indeed two major causes for the economic growth in the USA in the 1920s, this would not have been possible without the other reasons, such as advertising, the country’s industrial strength and the influence of the First World War.

Gases Contaminantes

Gases contaminantes de tomipaladino

Darwin y la Evolución

Charles Darwin nació en Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Reino Unido el 12 de febrero de 1809 y falleció el 19 de abril de 1882 en Kent, Inglaterra por una insuficiencia cardíaca (mal de Chagas).

Venía de una familia acomodada de la Inglaterra Victoriana, era hijo de un médico prestigioso, Robert Darwin, cuyo padre era el también médico y naturalista Erasmus Darwin. Su madre era Susannah Wedgwood, hija del famoso fabricante de porcelanas Josiah Wedgwood. Su padre lo impulsó a estudiar teología en Cambridge y medicina en la universidad de Edimburgo, pero abandonó sus estudios. Tenía 5 hermanos y tuvo cerca de 10 hijos.

Por más que estudiaba medicina y Teología, su interés principal, influenciado entre otros motivos por la lectura de las obras del alemán Alexander von Humboldt, eran las ciencias naturales. Este interés le impulsó a incorporarse a una expedición alrededor del mundo como naturalista, ahí fue donde comenzó a realizar sus observaciones.

Realizó sus principales observaciones en el H.M.S. Beagle (1831-1836), al mando del capitán Robert Fitzroy. También viajaban prisioneros patagónicos de una anterior expedición del Beagle, entre otros.

Visitó América del Sur, las islas del Pacífico, Australia, Nueva Zelanda y el sur de África.

·         Islas del Cabo Verde (Santiago): dedujo que la sucesión de eventos volcánicos había transformado la superficie de la isla.
·         Brasil: Observo fósiles de 32 especies extinguidas de cuadrúpedos terrestres. En Rio de Janeiro exploro la selva.
·         Uruguay: Desenterró grandes colmillos, un cráneo y garras de Toxodondo parecido a un hipopótamo. Eran restos de animales desconocidos.
·         Valparaíso, Los Andes y la Isla Chiloé: Observo grandes volcanes y encontró fósiles gigantes de mamífero en la isla. Concluyo que las montañas eran la barrera natural que determina el surgimiento de especies diferentes.
·         Galápagos: Observo especies animales y vegetales únicas, grandes tortugas y pinzones. Especies desconocidas de peces insectos y plantas. Darwin atribuye su teoría de la evolución a las observaciones en esta isla.
·         Australia: Especies animales diferentes: Canguros, Coalas y Marsupiales.

Presentó las conclusiones obtenidas en el viaje en su libro “El origen de las especies” en 1859, que se agotó en una semana. Como Darwin preveía, no le cayó bien a la sociedad británica del siglo XIX, muy conservadora, que lo consideraba como una herejía. Por ello recibió críticas y ataques a su persona durante el resto de su vida. El trabajo no fue muy aceptado por la sociedad científica en su momento, por lo que también Darwin recibió muchas críticas por parte de colegas y fue víctima de burlas. Hacia 1877 la teoría de la Evolución por medio de la selección natural había sido aceptada por la mayoría de la comunidad científica, que empezó a reconocérselo públicamente y a concederle los honores durante tanto tiempo negados, obteniendo distinciones, medallas, títulos, y lo integraron a las sociedades más importantes de la época, hasta que apenas quedó alguna recompensa científica que no hubiese conseguido.

Las principales ideas o postulados de su teoría, junto con Wallace, son que la variedad de diseños de seres vivos obedece a un proceso de tener descendencia con modificaciones y en el cuál cada generación cambia, aunque sea un poco en relación a la anterior. A lo largo del tiempo, estos cambios se acumulan y llevan a grandes transformaciones. Llegaron a concluir como se realiza el proceso de evolución basándose en cuatro postulados acerca de las poblaciones.

·         Postulado 1: los miembros individuales de una población difieren entre sí en muchos aspectos.

·         Postulado 2: por lo menos algunas de las diferencias entre los miembros de una población se deben a características que se transmitieron de los progenitores a la descendencia.

·         Postulado 3: en cada generación de una población, algunos individuos sobreviven y se reproducen con éxito, pero otros no.

·         Postulado 4: el destino de los individuos no está determinado por el azar o la suerte. En vez de ello, la probabilidad de supervivencia y reproducción de un individuo depende de sus características. Los individuos con características que les confieren ventajas sobreviven más tiempo y dejan el mayor número de descendientes, un proceso que se conoce como “selección natural”.

http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/d/darwin.htm

http://servicios.educarm.es/paleontologia/darwin.htm

Libro

Sports and health

Not many people are really aware of what they eat and the exercise they do. That is a big mistake, as an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise may result in health problems (as obesity, which is a world problem). That can be prevented by only being conscious of your situation. Moreover, aesthetically, being fit depends largely on what you eat and the amount of exercise you do.

An alternative as a possible solution for this problem might be the promotion of sports and a healthy lifestyle through advertising in the media, mainly television and social networks, which have most users/consumers. This option may have a good outcome, as it will be widespread due to the great number of consumers media has. A drawback of this option can be the high cost of TV advertisement.

Otherwise, the ultimate solution may be in education: children can be taught the importance of a healthy lifestyle. If it is done successfully, those children will implement this knowledge all their lives. This strategy has its weak point, and that is that it takes a long time to put in practice, added to the fact that not all children have access to education.

To conclude, both solutions are necessary, as kids need to be well-educated about this theme and sports and a healthy lifestyle need to be widespread to people that were not educated. In my opinion, the option of education will be the better in the long term, as if kids are aware of this since a young age, they will take care for ever.

Cars in big cities

Cars can be very nocive for human life and, especially, for the environment, as they generate pollution (air, noise and visual) because of the fumes they produce and the noises they make. Moreover, traffic jams pollute visually and can cause inconveniences to people who may have to arrive somewhere. The effect cars make is worse in big cities, where you have to add the huge buildings, factories and overcrowding. Therefore, it is important to reduce the number of cars.

There can be possible solutions and measures governments could take to reduce the amount of cars in cities using taxes as a method. One of them may be making businesses pay for their employees’ parking, so they will look for a new place to relocate. Otherwise, they could try making enterprises or businesses pay a tax for each employee who goes to work with its own car, which may make the business adopt a policy of asking their employees to come to work by other means.

In exchange, governments could try to take measures by using education as a method. One possible solution is teaching people how better pedestrianized city centres work, so as people would prefer going to work on foot. Moreover, governments may make people conscious of the impacts cars have towards the environment, which may change people’s minds about using cars.

In conclusion, I think that the solutions using taxes as a method could be more efficient and easier to put in practice, as the government would only depend on itself for implementing them (in the ones with education they would also depend on the people learning).