Endangered Languages: Strategies for Preservation and Revitalization (SkRW4, pp. 60-61, Developing critical thinking)

What we read

We have now read and checked our understanding of author Mari Loos's paper "Endangered Languages: Strategies for Preservation and Revitalization" (in Boyle & Warwick, pp. 60-61, 2014). As usual, Boyle and Warwick now invite us to respond to the ideas in a critical thinking exercise.

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Boyle and Warwick's questions

Think for 1:00 minute, and then respond to Boyle and Warwick's first two questions in a comment.

1. Think of three things people can do to help save endangered languages. Do you think these efforts are likely to succeed? Are they worth the cost?
    
2. In what ways does the writer say that the loss of a language affects everyone? Which of these points makes the strongest argument? 

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Think for another 2:00 minutes; then answer Boyle and Warwick's last question. 

• Think of two ways technology has helped endangered languages and two ways it has hurt them. Overall, to you think technology is a good thing for the world's languages? 

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Reference

• Boyle, M. & Warwick, L. (2014). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 4. London: Macmillan Education

The saving a language from an extinction: Is it worthy and important?

What I read

In her paper “ Endangered languages: Strategies for preservation and revitalization” , Loos (2014) talks about the languages spoken by very few native people, clarifying the challenges that face these languages. There are several factors causing a language to become endangered, such as globalization, economics, technology, education policy, and changes in cultural attitudes. Beside the great loss of the extinction of a language for the community in which it is spoken, it is also a loss for the whole world since the language expresses concepts, values, stories, and of course viewpoints that are unique to its community. Moreover, numerous efforts to revitalize endangered languages have been seen in recent years, including the documentation as well as the encouragement of use of them among young generations.

My response 

No person on this earth wants his own language to become extinct or even endangered language. However, sometimes there are compelling circumstances lead to undesired results. Herein, I would like to tell you about one ethnic group from India who left their country because war and came to settle in my country from several years ago. In fact, I do not know when exactly they came to my country, but what I remember is over than 100 years ago. After they arrived to my country, they divided into three smaller groups and lived in three different cities. One of these small group lived in my city.  What I know about them is that they speak different language among them and they are kind to other people. Eventhough their young generations entered the schools who teach Arabic, but they never forgot their own language. Their language is not written in books and also there are not any Alphabets as well, but they learned from each other orally. It is really amazing way to save their own culture and history by keep learning their own language to their grandchildren in so simple way. There are not books, videos, and database to teach, but there are motivations, encouragements, awareness of the importance of language, and of course love of their history and values.          

My question

If your own language become endangered, why is it important to preserve it? and how could you do that?  

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Reference

• Loos, M. (2014). Endangered languages: Strategies for preservation and revitalization. In M. Boyle & L. Warwick, Skillful Reading & Writing, Students Book 4 (pp. 60 - 61). London: Macmillan Education

Getting into Unit 6 = Legacy (SkRW4, p57, Discussion point)

What we read

As we have already seen in Unit 5, Boyle and Warwick introduce Unit 6 of Skillful, "Legacy" (2014,  p. 57), with a large image and some discussion questions to start us thinking about the topic of this unit. 

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Boyle and Warwick's questions

Think about these questions for a minute, then respond in a three paragraph comment.

• What languages do you speak? Do your parents and grandparents speak the same languages?
   
• Think about the idioms, expressions, and other ways of speaking you use in your first language (or in English). Which of these things has had the biggest influence on the way you speak? 
  
   
• Would the world be better off if everyone had the same first language? What are some advantages and disadvantages of this? 

You can answer the questions in any order you like. 

As you write, imagine that you are writing for readers who have not seen the questions. That is,  make your answers stand as clear statements independently of the questions. This will make your writing here stronger. 

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Reference

• Boyle, M. & Warwick, L. (2014). Skillful Reading & Writing, Student's Book 4. London: Macmillan Education 

Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound

What I read

Neuroscientist reports that people ‘reading circuit’ seem to be changed by today's digital-based modes of reading. ‘Reading circuit’ in human has developed in our species brain for more than 6,000 years ago, evolved from decoding basic information to nowadays decoding complex literacy. Researchers in psychology bears people have less patient to long texts. The use of digital screen that are fast, multi-task oriented may be causing the new norm in reading that is ‘skimming’. With skim reading, we can’t touch the complexity, feelings, aesthetic and create our own imagination. Skimming also decreases people comprehension skills. The ‘bi-literate’ reading brain need to be cultivated in order to sustain knowledge and wisdom that is a necessity of good society.

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My response 

It's true that I have less patient to reading text on screen than on print. There are many reasons I could think of that effect my concentration while reading on screen. One thing is about screen light, for me it's difficult to stare at long text on screen for a long period of time. Though, looking at pictures like on Instagram or reading short texts are not my matter. Maybe because the content itself is made for fast consumption. When I found an article that is really interested me I sometimes print them out. I personally like to note down on paper when I want a deep learning about something. However, there are such a lot of information online I can access, the difficulty turns to which article I would print out to read. So, now I have such a lot of articles I marked as 'read later' on Facebook (meaning I rarely read them).

I still buy a lot of books (whether I rarely finish any of them) because I love 'thereness' of text and value book as a beautiful object.

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My question

Do you prefer to read on print or on screen? and Why?

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Reference

• Wolf, Maryanne. (August 25, 2018). Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/25/skim-reading-new-normal-maryanne-wolf.

The difference, and growing of internet

What I read

An article from Scientific American "5G Devices Are about to Change Your Life", not recently, we have technology 4G for using in our routine. Now, we have new technology, which called 5G. This one has more high potential than the old one. In some case, no quality drop for downloading when we out of lack of Wi-Fi, or when the 5G get into a smart device, the efficiency of it will similar to a computer. Furthermore, the arrival of 5G benefit in both industrial machines, farming equipment and even vehicles. Although, this technology still has restrictions, for instance, more wire is required in order to support the 5G system. Nobody knows that 5G will be released for using in 2020, but we can access it in late of this year.

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My response 

Nowadays, the technology is improved by many humans that want the convenience such as scientist, and engineering. Growing of technology affects to people both benefit and detrimental. About medical, we can find an important information to rescue when emergency cases occur immediately in time, for transportation, we can check the arrival, and departure time, with regard to connect, people can easily connect with each other. The example that I show are the advantages of the internet. If I think of the disadvantages of the internet, I will focus about laziness because it is the cause of excessive convenience..

For me, the internet makes me lazy more than when I was young. It’s easier when I want to find some rare information than finding in a textbook. I can talk with my family, although we far away. When I have the internet, I feel that I don’t worry anything because it’s easy to access almost all that we want. I think, people should reduce using a smart devices which involving to the internet. In each day, if the humans can deduct this behavior, I pretty confident that people will alert when they do something,or quality of learning will increase, too.

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My question

Should you reduce using the internet? And, Why?

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Reference

• Pogue, D. (2018, October 21). "5G Devices Are about to Change Your Life": Scientific American. Retrived from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/5g-devices-are-about-to-change-your-life/

Whether you like it or not, it is coming.

What I read

In "Lab-Grown Meat" G. Owen Schaefer reported about meat produced in a laboratory without killing animals. Simply, technicians collect stem cells from the tissue of muscle sample token from animal, multiply them dramatically and then allow them to differentiate into primitive fibers,and finally bulk up to form muscle tissue. Mosa Meat, a startups,  says that a 80,000 quarter-pounders can be made from one tissue sample of cow only. Lab-grown meat, also called clean meat or cultured meat, has many advantages over conventional meat. It can eliminate the cruel, unethical treatment of animals that are raised for food and reduce the considerable environmental costs of meat production.
On the other hand, traditional meat producers say that the  meat generated in lab is not meat at all and should not be labeled as such.

My response 

" Wow, really? what are the scientists and technicians trying to do? ". This was the first sentence lighted up in my mind after I read this wonderful article. To be honest, this is first time I heard about this meat and it is really attracted me a lot to know more about it because it is quite different form conventional meat. 
This type of meat is believed to be healthy because it may not require artificial growth hormones and  the cell-cultured process may also decrease exposure of the meat to bacteria and disease. Furthermore, due to the strictly controlled and predictable environment, the clean meat could reduce the exposure to dangerous chemicals like pesticides and fungicides. A study by researchers at Oxford and the University of Amsterdam found that cultured meat was "potentially ... much more efficient and environmentally-friendly". Without any doubt, animal rights groups will be so happy and grateful to this invention. 
Let us look at the another side that pushes back and argues about this meat. The taste was quite different form conventional meat and overly dry. Also, it is definitely expensive. Memphis Meats estimated the cost of production to be around $5,280/kg. 

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My question

As you are meat consumer (lover), what do you think about lab-grown meat? Have you tried it before?  

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Reference

• Schaefer. G. O. (September 14, 2018). Lab-Grown Meat. Scientific American. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lab-grown-meat/

How to live in the world full of toxic air.

What I read

In "Never exercise at rush hour: six ways to avoid pollution.", Emine Saner (2018) report that air pollution is the biggest risk to public health in Europe. It causes an premature death and has several severe effects on our mind and body, such as lung, cardiovascular system, cognitive function, etc. However, there are six suggestions to protect ourselves and our children from sick air: avoiding congested streets, using application for air-quality checking,  playing sports indoor, wearing effective mask, eating healthy food and covering your baby carriage.

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My response 

While I was reading this articles, I was not thinking of other ways to avoid pollution. "Is it better? to do something to help curing the problem or to alleviate the sick world", I asked myself. I was considering of how can we do to make the world a better place for living. I have reused plastic bags for more than five years but people around me keep throwing them away. Some of my friends also said that our little thing we do can reflect nothing since the action from one person is too small. My strong will to recycle, reuse or reduce using some materials cannot compare with massive disposable waste from huge manufacturing. 

Nonetheless, I am very pleased to know about Zero-waste campaign at Chulalongkorn University. All restaurants in the college start to use biodegradable paper cups. There is also a reusable water bottle giving away activity, encouraging students to using reusable water bottles in stead of disposable ones.

Although it is just a tiny action from one person, one shop or one institute, I do believe that every small action from millions of us can make a big change. 

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My question

Have you concerned of air pollution or any other one? Can we solve the problem? or How do we live happily in the polluted world? 

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Reference

• Saner, E. (2018, October 9). 'Never exercise at rush hour': six ways to avoid pollution. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/oct/08/never-exercise-at-rush-hour-six-ways-to-avoid-air-pollution   

Diversity

What I read

Tiffany Abreu: Before trans vs After trans
Source: diaadia.com.pa

In 'Why not?': Transgender candidate busts stereotypes in Brazil' Kaiser A.J. (2018) reported that Tiffany Abreu, a 34-year-old transwoman who is the first transgender allowed to play in a female volleyball league in Brazil,  will be the first transgender lawmaker in its national congress. Due to her age, she will meet the end of her career, she believes that politics is where she can help people the most. She was running for the lower house in the general election, defying those who think trans people can't make into a legislative body. She claimed that people like her need to occupy spaces in the national congress to govern in LGBTQ+ people's interests and reverse the stigma of trans people. 

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My response 

Source: hellogiggles.com

Recently, LGBTQ+ (click for a meaning) is becoming popular among many countries in Asia such as China, Taiwan, and Philipines. On the contrary, this topic is still taboo to a majority of people in there, including some parts of Thailand. I want to share my experience of LGBTQ+ to make you know more about that and it might convince you to feel more about the article I'm presenting. I am also one of the members of the LGBTQ+ community as I came out since I was young. Being a part of that makes me feel more comfortable to be me but have me been through a hard time since then as being mistreated for several years; i.e. being teased, mocked, and discriminated. Even though I am nearly 30 now, I, sometimes, have been treated differently by an old school adult who goes against LGBTQ+ people. Fortunately, however, I was born in a family which my parents don't care about the difference of their daughter because unless I do thing illegally, it’s OK for them to be different. That's why I never feel regretful to be me, on the other hand, I feel fantastic and pleased to be who I am.

For me, the required things for LGBTQ+ people are an acceptance, comprehension, opportunity and good perception toward those people. I think the opportunity is vital for them to prove themselves that they are able to work even their appearance is not the same as their gender. According to the news, thanks to Thai's government for recognizing the powerful ability of LGBTQ+ people that is worth working for them as you can recently see those people working for government unit such as being a municipal politician, teacher, governor or else. I believed that one day in the future, to change an gender identification word of LGBTQ+ people and their marriage will be legalized as in many western countries. I think if there's a chance for those people to work as a parliament member or be a part of a government.

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My question

Would you mind having LGBTQ+ people in your family?

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Reference

• Kaise A.J. (2018 October, 5). Why not?': Transgender candidate busts stereotypes in Brazil. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45731951

GM Mosquitoes: A quantum-leap tool against malaria

What I read

In the article "GM mosquitoes a ‘quantum leap’ towards tackling malaria", Vaughan reports a quantum-leap technology, genetic modification of mosquitoes, that will make a hefty contribution to abolish malaria. Female mosquitoes (Anopheles gambaie) is a vehicle of malaria that kills more than 1 million people per year, especially in African children. To protect mosquitoes-biting, people use different ways: bed nets and insecticides, nevertheless, they are not sustainable ways for breaking; therefore, the Imperial College London launch a new technique by injection the mosquitoes with a gene called “I-PpoI” isolated from slime mould that causes a vast majority (95%) of the mosquitoes’ offsprings to be male because males don’t bite humans. The GM mosquitoes consequently give a long-term benefit by making substantial supplementary to eradicating malaria, combined with other tools such as insecticides.

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My response 

After reading the article, most people might honour the genetic modification of mosquitoes (GM mosquitoes) technique as a sustainable and effective way to reduce the growth rate of female mosquitoes that is the vector of Plasmodium falciparum causing malaria disease. This technique not only indirectly decrease the death rates of malaria but also friendly to environment because of without insecticides or other chemical agents. In addition, from my point of view, I believe that lots of countries in the tropical zone: Africa, Kenya, Kana and others, dramatically hope that the GM mosquitoes will be completed and publicly released soon; moreover, they probably have no problem with lacking of mosquitoes.  

One one hand, I rebut that the GM mosquitoes, although, seem to be a quantum-leap method that possibly use to reduce a population of the female mosquitoes by changing to males in their chromosomes and might cut down the human deaths rate of malaria, it might be bad for the world's ecosystem. Concerning the genomes, it could be said that the genome sequences of organisms in the same genera or species are similar. This point clearly illustrated that if the GM mosquitoes have bred with other females in same genera, the whole gene of I-PpoI or its residues might be transmitted to their offsprings. What happens with the offsprings? Surely the ecosystem may be permeated only with male mosquitoes; hence, the mosquitoes might finally be extinction.

Based on the malarial infection, the mosquitoes are not the main factor, but the real organism that causes the disease is Plasmodium sp. including P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae. Consequently, to completely eradicate malaria, we have to find how to remove Plasmodium sp. from the mosquitoes instead kill or reduce them.

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My question

Do you agree with the GM mosquitoes technique for reducing the deaths from malaria? And why do you agree or disagree? 

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Reference

• Vaughan, A. (2014). GM mosquitoes a ‘quantum leap’ towards tackling malaria. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/10/gm-mosquitos-malaria-genetic-modification.

What's make people commit suicide?

What I read

In “Why Do People Kill Themselves?”, an article in Scientific American (2018), reports that, people cannot perceive the Neurochemical working process of the brain, even those who was in the suicidal affair cannot understand what they thought because of the too complexity of human behaviour. The reason why they commit suicide is divided into two main categories, DNA, the genetic which experts given their explanation as “dizzying in their variety”, is the cause of death of 43 percent among the population who have suicidal behaviour, and the other reason is by the surrounding environment, for example, social, academic career and etc, could be the beginning of the depression, leads the remaining of 57 percent belongs to the environment factor.

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My response 

Suicide is an action that I never ever thought of committed it due to serious injuries later on after retrieving the consciousness or probably already be a death body. From my point of view, suicide has many options for the people to choose, for instance, jumping from height, cutting wrist, poisoning, hanging, self-strangulation etc. All of choices that I mentioned above, of course, are out of my interest because it’s lethal and I have to endured too much pain before die. If asking me to choose one option, I would prefer shooting myself by a gun, because it is less pain as possible as it could be. About the depression, I manage by finding things to do - reading novels is one of my  option - instead of being sad and adventure in bad memories.

In middle of this year, I talked to my friend who has Major Depressive Disorder, MDD. When my friends and I was talking about why people commit suicide and what are they thinking, my friend who had MDD said, “I had been in that state before, at that time I don’t think of anything even my family, I only thought that if I gone from this world, everything would be better and everybody would be happier.” I was lost after hearing her story and shocked after knowing that she hurt herself because she wanted to called back her consciousness. This occurrence is to shared an experienced to remind everybody not to ignore the people besides and expressed your feeling towards them before it is too late.

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My question

If you were depressed with the surrounding environment and the solution of yours is not committed suicide, what will you do, and why make you think you will be able to get yourself to do that?

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Reference

• Shermer, M. (2018). Why Do People Kill Themselves?. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-people-kill-themselves/

Modern issues: Which ones concern you?

What we see

You can also watch the slide show in a full browser.
Or use the full screen button on the bottom of the embedded presentation, as I've now learned.

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Our response 

Over the past two weeks, your blogging in response to articles in the news has prompted us to think about a range of modern issues. The slide show above is to invite similar reflection on a few more issues that might be important to you, even if not all of them interest you. 

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My question

The questions are already in the slide show that I've embedded. They are: 

• What issues of modern life are represented by the images?
   
• Are these issues of concern to people in your country?
   
• To you personally?
   
• What should be done about each? What is a good response to each issue? 
• And what are opposing responses that you disagree with? 

Although my main purpose in posting this was to suggest a few more topics to think about, you are also welcome to comment on any that particularly interest you. A few of the modern issues shown in the images have already come up in your blog posts, and I'm sure more are coming soon. 

Solving the Problem of Informal Settlements (SkRW4, pp. 50-51, Developing critical thinking)

What we read

We have now read and checked our understanding of author Rajan Kamal's paper "Solving the Problem of Informal Settlements" (in Boyle & Warwick, pp. 50-51, 2014). As usual, Boyle and Warwick now invite us to respond to the ideas in a critical thinking exercise. 

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Boyle and Warwick's questions 

Think for a moment, and then respond to Boyle and Warwick's questions in a comment. 

• What conclusions does the author make? Is he exact about his conclusions or is he vague? How do you know?
   
• Do you agree with the author's conclusions? Why or why not?
   
• What do you think governments should do to prepare for future migration from rural to urban areas? 

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Reference

• Boyle, M. & Warwick, L. (2014). Skillful Reading & Writing: Student's Book 4. London: Macmillan Education

Books to Get Grips with the Pace of Life

In 'Moving too fast? Books to get to grips with the pace of life', it suggests books which related to the idea of fast living and how to slow down. According to the article, the awareness to rapid living and the solution to time saving aren't new topics that caused by today's fast-moving digital technology. From the books suggested in the article, there are many factors that effects the value of time such as the growth of capitalism in early 1900, the change in cultural value that prioritises hyper-productivity speed. The books suggested in this article are not a kind of how-to time management books but books that provoke a notion on the value of time and a question on what we want to save the time for.

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My response 

The article for me is thought provoking with the question 'what do we want to save time for?'. It also made me think of the cliché questions 'What is your hobby?' or 'What do you do in free time?'. It's getting harder to answer this simple question when grow up. In childhood days, tasks for children are simple and it's not difficult to find the boundary of 'being occupied' and 'being free'. So, when I was asking as a kid I can answer immediately 'drawing'. Today, when my hobby becomes my job, my free time activity turns full time responsibility, I wouldn't say 'drawing' is my hobby anymore. Many factors effect the method I use for drawing such as economical issue, deadline or client comments. Charging in an hourly rate, meaning the fastest I produce my drawing the worth of money I get. For me this is sad because deeply I would like to list 'drawing' as one of the things I want to save time for.

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My question

What do you want to save time for?

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Reference

• Judy Wajcman (2018, October 1). Moving too fast? Books to get to grips with the pace of life. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/01/books-to-understand-pace-of-life-further-reading.

The brain needs a exercise, doesn't it?

What I read

In " How does exercise keep your brain young? ", Kelly Servick talks about how exercise can keep the brain healthy and change the pathway of diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. The secret behind the exercise is that it helps the brain to produce new neurons. Although there is a controversy between scientists about whether humans can make new neurons throughout life or not, but the experiment conducted on mice running on a wheel shows its ability to make new-born hippocampal neurons. Furthermore, “the exercising mice that showed brain benefits in the memory tests also had markers of neurogenesis”. Moreover, the scientists suggest that neurogenesis in the absence of exercise might not help the brain. 

 

My response 

Even though the mechanisms behind the role of exercise to protect the brain from diseases are still murky, but it is well known that exercise keep the human active, healthy, and increase the immune system. Moreover, exercise led to active the blood circulation in the body and makes the heart stronger. 

By return back to the article, the author didn't mention about the types of exercise that brain needs. The only one type of exercise was about running which is considered as physical activity. However, it is believed that there are different types of activities that helping to keep the brain young, e.g., chess game which can be classified as mental activity. On the other hand, there is thought that the brain needs both of these types of exercise that I mentioned above because the brain requires a series of important things that keep it in well-condition including a good environment and healthy food.

My question

According to your own experiences, what types of exercise do you need to keep your brain healthy?  

Reference

• K. Servick. (2018, September 6). How does exercise keep your brain young?. Science. doi:10.1126/science.aav3283

Two British Women Died after undergoing Brazilian Butt Lift Surgery

What I read

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPs) said that Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) is one of the most dangerous cosmetic surgeries to proceed. There is estimated one death in 3000 according to what BAAPs told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire Programme. Leah Cambridge, a 29-year-old British woman, died while undergoing a BBL procedure in Turkey. Furthermore, a second British woman in her late 20s also died this year. Gareth Lambe, consultant plastic surgeon and BAAPs member explained that BBL has the highest death rate of all cosmetic procedures for the reason that the risk of injecting fat into veins into the butt can travel to the heart or the brain.

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My response 

I've seen many American celebrities underwent BBL like Kim Kadashian, Nicki Minaj, Kylie Jenner then appeared in the media. They have huge influences on huge amount of people especially teenagers. When these celebrities did BBL, many viewers see it as a way to be nearer to the ideal of "beauty". Many women would risk their lives to appear more attractive.
According to https://www.medmalfirm.com, not only BBL costs a lot of money but it also causes dangerous heath effects. For example, bruising, stretch marks, blood clots excessive blood loss, cardiac and pulmonary complications, fat embolism, deep vein thrombosis, complications associated with liposuction and anesthesia and necrosis of fat.
In conclusion, celebrities should convince the people to embrace their own natural bodies. Also, the people should develop their own confidence by visiting a therapist if necessary. Finally, primary schools should organize creative activities for the students so that they can heighten their self-esteem and reduce insecurity which make them be secure grown up adults in the future.

My question

If you could ban Brazilian Butt Lift surgery, would you ban it? Why? 

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Reference

• Izundu, C. 2018. Second Brit Dies after Brazilian "Butt Lift Surgery". https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/oct/01/cashless-britain-banks-atms. Accessed October 4 2018.
• 2018. Dangers of Brazilian Butt Lift. https://www.medmalfirm.com/resources/articles/dangers-brazilian-butt-surgery. Accessed October 4 2018.
  

Mental Health is a thing

What I read

Infograhic of American statistic of depression
Source : Cigna

In ‘The surprising truth about loneliness’ Hammond C. (2018) reported the result of an online survey showing that adolescences feel lonelier than elders as there are changes happened at that age making them lonely and separate. Some people agreed that loneliness may be optimistic. Furthermore, neuroscientist, Cacioppo J., supported that when people feel they are segregated and feel lonely, they will find a way to contact others. However, people should not feel lonely chronically because it will become a depression later. The survey also reported that an anxiety from social situations makes lonely people harder to handle the situations not a lack of social skill. And winter is not the worst season for lonely people as thought. 

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My response 

I identified myself as an introvert since I do love being alone and separate from a crowded, spend my weekend at a cozy corner of the coffee shop with a cup of Americano, hate taking part of social activities and prefer having a few close friends. Lots of my friends told me that they had never imagined those would be my lifestyle as I always am energetic, enthusiastic, friendly and easy-going person. When I told them those are what I consistently do, they kept asking me 'Don't you feel lonely nor boring the things you do? It kind of corny and dull.' I, at that time, was thinking about the answer for that question. I tried to figure out why I never feel lonely or I do feel lonely but I know how to deal with it and Eureka! I got it, the answer is 'I do feel lonely but I know how to deal with it'. I personally think that feeling lonely is good for me somehow. Firstly, There are plenty time for me to take care of myself (physically and mentally) as I regularly won't hang out with my friends, thus I also have time for my family. In an addition, there is a time to better myself such as study more and learn new things.

A trend of depression and suicide in Thailand from 2009-2016
Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

However, in accordance to the article, most of feeling lonely people is in the age of 16 to 24 years old and chronically feel lonely. The thing that we should think further is whether it does not stop only feeling lonely, what should we do? The result of the survey quite surprised me that even Thailand, a country where is in the opposite side of the world to the UK, the result is almost the same. Moreover, a situation, here in Thailand, should be concerned crucially as the number of depression patient and suicide during 2009 to 2016 is gradually rising year-by-year. (as in diagram) 

Some of my friends had a depression, they have problem to manage their feeling and thought and tried to homicide many times but they still had self-conscious not to homicide themselves because they felt sorry to their family. Therefore, I have tried to figure the way out to help them and found that what I could do to primarily help them is to listen but no suggestion. They just need someone to listen to their problems and concerns and not to sorry or feel pitiful that they have the depression. Moreover, I also recommend them to see a psychiatrist for a proper treat. Now, they are better and happier than the previous gloomy days of them.

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My question

If one of your precious ones have a depression, what would you do?

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Reference

• Hammond C. (2018 October, 1). The surprising truth about loneliness. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180928-the-surprising-truth-about-loneliness

A Plankton toxin: It's Biosynthesis Pathway

What I read

According to "The making of a plankton toxin" (2018), it revealed that phytoplankton is unicellular photosynthetic organisms commonly found in the world's oceans and plays a key role as the base of the marine food chain, some taxa- diatoms- produce toxins poisoning to marine animals and humans. Domoic acid, produced by Pseudo-nitzschia, acted as the neurotransmitter analogue can

Fig 1. algal bloom in the Pacific Ocean
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6409/1308 

interact with the human central nervous system causing nausea, diarrhoea and neurologic symptoms before coma or death. A biosynthetic pathway of domoic acid illustrated that it started with N-prenylation reaction of glutamic acids and geranyl pyrophosphates to furnish isodomoic acid, and the two oxygenase enzymes have further isomerised this acid to domoic acid. The pathway could consequently use to monitor algal bloom and screen the domoic toxin in other diatom species.      

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My response 

After I have just read this article in the Science Magazine, I argued that it is an interesting issue now because some people can seriously risk for getting toxins after eating seafood when the algal bloom in the ocean. Some algae, especially diatoms and dinoflagellates, can produce toxins after they grew fastly in vast abundance in the sea. If you ever see the pink or orange zone in the ocean, you can measure that is the blooming of phytoplankton. What causes of the blooming? Surely, that algae are blooming in the area containing excessive of organic compounds and light, but lacking of oxygen. The toxin such as domoic acid could be accumulated in marine wildlife particularly in shellfish. Many people know that this toxin is a cause of amnesia because it acts as the analogue of neurotransmitters which specifically destroy the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS controls the memory system, so when humans had eaten toxin-contaminated raw seafood, they will suddenly nausea, diarrhoea, confused in neurological effects and then memory loss, coma or death. However, people do not know the biosynthetic pathway of the domoic acid, they tried to study and finally found that the acid was formed firstly by N-prenylation reaction and further isomerisation to the domoic acid using oxygenase enzymes. In my point of view, the finding of knowing the domoic acid pathway could be used to reduce the factors that enhanced toxins production.

According to the symptoms that caused by the domoic acid, it might be let numerous researchers discover new drugs which can immediately treat the neurological symptoms. I think the new drugs should have attached the CNS faster than the CNS-targeted toxins and it should be produced in the injection form. I finally suggest it's important to note that to prevent yourself from the toxin-contaminated in unknown seafood, you should cook by heating before eating. The heat can damage the almost toxins produced by diatoms or other plankton.       

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My question

1. Conforming to the article, do you agree that the discovery of the domoic acid biosynthetic pathway could be use for mornitoring rate of algal bloom? 

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Reference

• Pohnert, G., Poulin, R. X., Baumister, T. U. H. (2018). The making of a plankton toxin. Science, 361(6409), 1308-1309. DOI: 10.1126/science.aau9067     

JD Central investing with e-commerce in Thailand

What I read

An article from Bangkok Post “JD Central plans automated shop”. JD Central is preparing to be a leader of online retail market in Thailand, because Vincent Yang said that E-commerce in Thailand will develop to 10% of retail market in three years. About planning of JD Central plans to change manpower to be robots, and autonomous vehicles in Thailand. Mr Yang said “We are focusing on customers with authentic products, If the customers find  any fake products, we will refund three times the original price to them”. Due to the idea of JD central, many humans are interested in the JD Central because JD Crentral’online orders have improved to 15 times.

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My response 

When I think about the online store, I always think of Shoppee Online Store. It has many different products in a platform such as electronic devices, clothes, furniture, etc. Platform of Shoppee is easily to access and order the products. It has many activities to decrease the price such flash deals have many goods that they are decreasing prices every day, shoppee shake shake will make us to play this activity to get some coins, and take these coins to reduce the price. I believe the products that they are almost authentic, but you must to carefully find the stores that have Guarantee by shoppee sign-it makes you confident that you can refund the goods.These are the advantages for people who want the convenience and low price.

Referring to Mr Yang, if the customers receive our products which is contradict to the advertisements of the items the company would refund three times of  its original price. Although the online stores guarantee that they don’t have fake goods, but how do we check these products, whether it is an authentic one or grade A china stuff. Basically, people don’t have an ability to detect the difference, therefore shall we spent our a little time to visit the store instead of taking a risk of an unpredicted quality product. All of these are the disadvantages that make people afraid to order the products from online stores.

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My question

What do you think between shopping online and directly buy it at the store?

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Reference

• Leesa-Nguansuk, S. (2018, September 28). "JD Central plans automated shop". Bangkok Post.  Retrived from https://m.bangkokpost.com/tech/local-news/1547970/jd-central-plans-automated-shop.    

An experiment which contrast with the Quantum Mechanics theory

What I read

Referring to the Scientific American article "Reimagining of Schrödinger's Cat Breaks Quantum Mechanics—and Stumps Physicists" (2018) illustrates that two physicists, Frauchiger and Renner, had tried to prove the Copenhagen interpretation, which is founded by Niels Bohr and Weinger Heisenberg, by adjusting the experiment of a paradox, which are replaced by two physicist friends instead of cats and a person by the Hungarian physicist Eugene Wigner. In terms of the experiments, one of the physicists, Alice, tossed the coin and sent a clue to the other box, which Bob will be using his knowledge of quantum mechanics to answer. In response, after they got off, each gave their own certain answers, but in contradiction. This indicates that the Copenhagen interpretation could be concluded as it would not be precise in reality.

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My response 

Due to the article that I read, It was really difficult to understand the meaning of all the text, which has written in the website. As the result, I have to surfed for more information, which is stated that the Copenhagen interpretation or the quantum mechanics doesn't admit a precise value of the system. Processes in the interpretation are stationary and transitional, for the static state, the initial and final condition is the same, while the transition state, they are different, but those values are only probabilistically comparing to Classical quantum, which all of the factors must be taken into account, preparative, intermediary, and finally measuring. 

When I thought of the possibility of Bob would be hearing the signals which Alice gave, is quite impossible because they were in different boxes, even the tossing sound was on the amplifier, the only way of predicting the result is to listen to it super carefully, of course, there must be an impact reflecting from the floor before stop rotating, that's the only way to predict its shown face. The important things is that, sending the message to Bob by using quantum physics? How is that possible? Quantum physics is about the study of the behavior of photons, electrons, the other particles and wave, but the human ability aren't capable of detects the tiny-micro wave and particles. So, different environment, places and surrounding would be result in a different way.

I'll show you the example of what I think it is similar, we are in a big room, is separated in 2 sections, which has the same room temperature at 25 degree Celsius. When two people enter in different section, the room temperature will change depending on the visitor's body. Referring to the reality, you will see that everything is unpredictable, even using the theorem which founded in the past. The world is not orbiting around yourself, so, the things that someone has stated before another could be mistaken. We shall understand, correct the mistake and accept to improve further instead of being shock.

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My question

What do you think about an experiment that contradict the Quantum mechanics which stated above?

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Reference

• Castelvecchi, D. (2018, September 19). Reimagining of Schrödinger's Cat Breaks Quantum Mechanics—and Stumps Physicists. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reimagining-of-schroedingers-cat-breaks-quantum-mechanics-mdash-and-stumps-physicists1/