Genetic engineering is coming?

Genetic engineering is coming?

DNA is the blueprint of our life. DNA contains the instructions for building and running every part of the human body. The transcription of DNA is really complex and mystery.

The BBC News article “Dawn of gene-editing medicine” reports one baby named Layla, who is going to die because of Leukaemia, was treated well by an experimental therapy: genetically engineered immune cells. Some scientists predict Layla’s story may be the dawn of gene-editing medicine.

 

Biochemistry is my major and I do some experiments in my work. I am really happy and excited that Layla is rescued by gene-editing medicine. This is a world first. Nowadays, a new DNA region is easy to synthesize. We can take cells out of the body, modify and change DNA regions of a cell, and give it back to patients. Yes, it is amazing and it is really can be done by scientists. However, it is very difficult to target the very specific regions of the genome. That’s the point why gene-editing can’t be applied to therapy. Layla’s story opened up a whole new field. The technology is moving so fast. Scientists use virus to “infect” cells with a healthy copy of the DNA targeting the right sites of the DNA. So, I think disease of the blood and immune system, as well as some other illness will be given a new way to treat in the very near future.

Layla is so lucky and she makes a new era. I think genetic engineering is on the way.

Reference

Gallagher, J., (2015, November 6). Dawn of gene-editing medicine. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34744851

What is happened in this family? So mess.

In the world, there are many kinds of kidnaps for many reasons. This is something weird.



According to an article, a boy, named Julian Hernandez and now 18 year-old, has been found in Ohio since someone had kidnapped him in August 2002. This suspect was his real father but he didn’t have a legal parental authority.

These two photos are Julian Hernandez.

Left one is when he was 5 year-old. Right one is current him.

I’m very surprised reading this news. I think kidnap is committed by third person.

In general, when some people kidnap a person, they requires money or valuable things from his firmly or relatives to release his life, I think.    

 In Japan, after divorcing, the fight of children’s parental authority is often competed in the court. But it doesn’t happen one parent kidnap their children.

 What do you think the clime like this is common in your country?

Reference

Julian Hernandez missing for 13 years found safe in Ohio (2015, November,5). BBC NEWS. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34737471

A new life after getting back with family

Several years ago, a famous actress called Jarunee Suksawat has finally uncovered the truth about her parentage. She was raised by her mother without her father and had no idea about who he was; the only clue she had was a picture of him and his name. So the journey to find him began.

Unfortunately, Maryam Barootchian wasn't as lucky as she was separated from her family since young after Saddam Hussein dropped a bomb on Halabja in 1988 and then was  adopted into an Iranian family without knowing anything about her parentage. According to BBC's article 'Halabja: A 'lost daughter' finds her way home', she began her search on her family after her adopted father had died and the sense of not belonging grew stronger, and like many others unfortunate child, her search wasn't easy, but after years of struggling, her wish was finally came true when she finally found a perfect DNA match and realized her name was actually Hawnaz Eskander.

When I first heard about Jarunee's achievement, I was truly happy for her even though I do not know her personally. As both a daughter and a mother, I think I can understand the agony that Jarunee, Hawnaz, and her family had gone through. I couldn't imagine what would I have done if my daughters were to be separated from me. I would have searched my entire life for them. 

Even though Hawnaz and Jarunee found her parents, there are still many lost children out there who are on search for their family and vice versa. My prayer is on them. I believe every one deserves to find this basic comfort of humanity that only family can provide. 

Reference
Gol J.,Westcott K. (13, November 2015). Halabja: A 'lost daughter' finds her way home. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34723550

Errors to the rescue

How do you secure your smart devices to protect them and their content from theft or unwelcome strangers taking a look inside?

According to Paul Rincon, an advance has been made that should allow us to verify with confidence the identity of electronic devices by including a tiny tag that makes use of the inevitable atomic-scale errors that happen during manufacture. The peculiar random pattern cannot be copied, which makes it a reliable device identifier says Rincom in "Nano-scale 'fingerprint' could boost security" (2015).

The article presents a more dramatic example of why it's becoming increasingly important to verify with confidence the identity of an electronic device in a world where everything increasingly connects with everything. My own interest was bit more personal. These device identity tags won't stop me losing mine, but they will enable my devices to be absolutely sure that they are connecting to the right servers and other devices, not fakes trying to corrupt them or steal my data, and vice-versa. It will also mean that the true owner of a device is known, which might deter theft even better than the current device tracking and locking options that are available.

I love the interconnectedness of everything today: when I walk into my home, in fact, when I walk out of the lift, my phone, tablet and laptop all connect to my home wifi. Within my home, the TV connects with everything, and even my camera and printer are now wi-fi enabled. Getting rid of wires is cool. And the best thing is that everything is synced between devices. I usually read books and things on a tablet at home, but if I'm waiting somewhere, or on the BTS, I can whip out my phone and read from wherever I was up to; when I return to the tablet, it's at the same page.

The idea for the "identity tags" came
from imperfections that creep into
nano-scale structures

But the thing that first got my interest in the article and made me want to blog it was that this new technique works because of errors. I thought that was neat. It also reminded me of what often happens in our class. For example, if someone says that the verb conclude means "to sum up or restate a main idea," it's wrong, but clarifying how that mistake arose and became so common can help us to get a deeper understanding about the organization of ideas in an essay and other pieces of work.

For now, I'm glad I can use my fingerprint to access my devices - that's way more convenient than using a password, although I suspect it isn't quite as secure. Still, it's good enough for me. I don't think that any major governments are trying to find out what's on my smartphone. My thumb is quick and easy and means I don't have to worry about people looking over my shoulder as I enter a password, although I still use passwords for some things, such as the start up boot that also decrypts the content.

I suppose a determined thief could force me to put my thumb on a device, but then they could also force me to enter the password; I think that the current simple security measures are enough to keep out the snoops I'm likely to encounter most days. Ea isn't strong enough yet to forcefully hold my thumb on the right place to turn on the tablet so he can play with it. (Actually, I've set up his own account, which he can unlock with his fingerprint. Kids these days have so much more amazing toys than I had!)

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Reference

Rincon, P. (2015, November 10). Nano-scale 'fingerprint' could boost security. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34780787

Bedtime mode

Nowadays, there are many people always spend a lot of time before sleep with their smartphone and no one knows that it is disrupting their sleeping system.

The BBC News article "Phones need 'bed mode' to protect sleep" Prof Paul Gringras said new smartphone should filter out blue light that delay the body clock. This light is good for using smartphone during the day but it is awful if using at night because it make people awake again in the evening.

For me, I always use smartphone before go to sleep every night and after I read this article, I think it maybe influence me about going to sleep late because I often go to sleep after midnight. According to this article, I will try to avoid using my phone before bedtime and try to keep it far from my bed.

Recently, I found some information about new iPhone which has a lot of new idea from the creator and maybe launch next year, so I hope the new model include "bedtime mode" that can help to filter blue light and make me spend night time with the phone without disrupt my body clock.

What about you? How often do you use smartphone before bedtime?

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Reference

Gallagher, J. (2015, November 15). Phones need 'bed mode' to protect sleep. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34744859

The skyline of freedom

One of the most exciting experience in childhood or adolescence is the first time visiting a seashore, tasting the sea water and creating the sand castle. How long has this happen in tradition. BBC Culture has a quick tour of the invention of seaside perception in the series of the interesting paintings.

According to “The seaside: A modern invention”, the seaside is a space of the society and technology movement to make a value or different meaning as a result of time and people. From the few high society vacation house on the seaside limited for ruling class in a long time ago, More and more people can use the seashore as well from the change of society; moreover, they also create the meaning of lifestyle and art from a different culture and point of view.

My most impressed seaside is Bangpu recreational center. There have a lot of seagulls and mangrove forest, although the seashore is not that beautiful but the breeze and the landscape is very relaxing. It is not far from Bangkok, so you can drive within two hours from the central Bangkok to face the sea breeze and pure nature. My father took me on the boat to the other side of the bank and visit the cave among the bamboo forest. It is very calm, peaceful and mysterious experience at the same time.

I have known more about its background later when I has grown up. It is built and promoted in the Marshall Plaek Piboonsongkram government after Thai reforming to modernization, so the activity like wearing a hat or even recreation activity is promoted as a state policy in order to form a new “Thai” from the “Siam” traditional society and economy. 

Don’t be boring about the history because telling about the seashore also is a reflection of the society changing. The seascape emerging in popular culture need quite new invention of society. To visit the seashore, you need traveling and leisure time which can happen in modern societies after the labours have been protected their rights by the government welfare and can transport by the state’s transportation infrastructure. It’s not a easy job like building a sand castle to make the seashore became a destination for mass.

I hope that some day we can develop our resources and infrastructure of our country more wisely to serve more people without damaging the natural environment, so we can have more public spaces to express our creativity and identity for our better quality lives in modern world.

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Reference

Farago, J. (2015, June 4) The seaside: A modern invention. BBC Culture. 

Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150604-they-invented-the-seaside 

Non-driver car is useful or not?

Do you know some famous car companies in the world are developing about full-automatic cars?

According the article, a car which belongs to Google has been pulled over by police, because it was running a road too slow. The car was a robot car.

I think non-driver car is a good idea. Most of traffic accidents are caused by human faults. So if automatic cars are increased, the accidents which are caused by human fault are reduced. After that, car accident’s victims are also decreased, I think.

Recently, TOYOTA, which is famous car company in the world, issued that they will sell partial automatic cars in general market until 2016. This system is used in high way area. Also, they said, if possible, they introduce them in 2020, the Olympic year on big scale.

 I hope that day is coming soon.

 It is my first time to post a blog. It was quite difficult for me. Maybe my blog is the shortest one compare with other members.Next time, I try to write more sentences than this time.   

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Reference

Google car pulled over for being too slow. (13, November, 2015). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34808105

Do apes have emotions like us?

If you think that only humans have complex emotions such as caring and generosity, this article on BBC Earth might change your thinking. 

In “The wild chimpanzee who cared for her child with disability,” Melissa Hogenboom (2015) describes an unusual behavior that was observed in a female chimpanzee: she took very good care of her abnormal child who had an abdominal hernia, spinal damage and an extra, inactive finger. In general most animal mothers of a disabled offspring abandon their babies, but she did not. 

I have read many stories about baby animals that were kicked out by their mothers because they were born different. A recent case that went viral is about an adorable baby deer that melted many hearts with his white face, pink nose and crystal blue eyes. Unfortunately, his special appearance does not match the looks of his siblings; as a result he was rejected by his mother when he was a week and a half old. I think this is part of natural selection that occurs in most animals: they try to disregard weak ones in order to keep their species fit. This is the reason why I was surprised by the case of the female chimpanzee, because she devoted herself to her disabled child, rather than abandon her. Maybe because chimpanzees are our close relatives, their behaviors are somewhat similar to our species. 

Reading this story about this chimp mother reminds me of a story about the gorilla Koko, who was raised by humans and learned to communicate extensively. I am amazed by a lot of her behaviors that are very similar to human behaviors.  After losing her own child, she was in grief. Finally, she was allowed to take care of a kitten. Unfortunately, her kitten was hit by a car. Koko was very sad and she pointed to the sign that meant "cry" when she learned what had happened to her kitten. She seemed to be sad when she saw a picture of another kitten.

I used to think that animals did not have complex emotions as we do. After reading many stories like this, I have realized that they are smarter than I thought. This is why scientific research about apes is always appealing for me.  


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References

Hogenboom M. (2015, November 2015). The wild chimpanzee who cared for her child with disability. BBC Earth. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20151112-a-wild-chimp-cares-for-her-disabled-child

Koko’s kittens. The Gorilla Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.koko.org/koko's-kittens

Please stop hurting innocent people!

As normal person, we are brought up cautiously by our parents, we all love our family and cherish our happiness every moment. Everyone have a strong feeling of belonging in the family, however, what will happen if an unexpected disaster comes?

The BBC News article “Halabja: A 'lost daughter' finds her way home” reports one woman named Maryam, an Iraq baby at the time of Halabja attack, were brought up in Iran but recently returned to hometown to find out whether any relatives had survived.

Maryam is so lucky that she finds her mother and relatives by DNA matching under the help of the Halabja Chemical Victims Society. However, no one knows the exact number of children who are still missing. Maryam is just one of thousands of "lost children" who are now returning to Halabja to look for their roots.

When I read this BBC News, there were dozens of news about the Paris attacks which really astonished me that at least 120 people were killed in gun and bomb attacks in the city centre of Paris. Those people were just listening to a music concert, drinking some beer in a bar, or chatting with their friends when the disaster happened to them. They may have lost their parents, children, friends, or even themselves forever. Some other victims may have lost their legs, ears, suffering a lot of pain in body and mental. The whole world was shocked with angry and painful.

Losing family members is a disaster for anyone. I am wondering if the attackers also have the same feeling with me. If the gunmen lost their children or parents, will they feel painful as well? Those people who were killed in the attacks are just ordinary people in daily life, just like people around; they may be a sweet father to a girl, or a good husband to a wife, they may be planning to make a better life for their families. However that all cannot happens only because they were just killed by some extreme people they have never seen before. The gunmen not only destroyed hundreds of families with their hate and revenge, but also they have broken the dream of a peaceful and harmony world that we were dedicated to found for many years.

For the attackers, no matter what kind of purpose they want to achieve, I just want to say that please stop hurting innocent people; please don’t let terrorist attacks happen anymore. 

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Reference

Gol, J., Westcott, K., (2015,November 13). Halabja: A 'lost daughter' finds her way home. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34723550

To do good under a mask

A muscular man with tight-fitting clothes, showing vivid masculinity and a cool cape making mighty effect is a typical “superhero” in my sense. Who are they, where are they from, why do they possess such super-powers? - all keep me being in touch with their stories.

Natalie Haynes from BBC makes points in “Why comic books are more radical than you think” that film industry of comic-inspired superhero falls behind in publishing the original concept of superheroes in conventional comic where they, indeed, exist in every corner of society regardless of race, religion, gender or even sexual preference. In the other words, the films intentionally predominantly portray straight white man as an ideal figure of the superhero; the absence of societal complexity uneducates audiences the world as it is.

Midnighter, an active gay superhero character

My passion towards superheroes exist after firstly watching Batman film – Batman & Robin (1997), with the vivid memory of Mr. Freeze; then, I became a big fan of DC comics and later Marvel.  What has been catching my interest in Batman is not actually  Batman but all of his bizarre and storyful super-villain characters. They are extraordinary in their own ways, being sophisticate in background stories; for example, Penguin had been being bullied during childhood due to his physical appearance which eventually  drives his evil mind, or The Scarecrow, an intelligent psychiatrist, always terrify victims by using psychological tactics and phobias. Classic of Batman is at a stealthy and detective style of assaulting, as the name ‘dark knight’ deriving from. 

I was a bit surprised, and disappointed, at first to know that Batman can never accompany with X-MEN - my another favorite superhero team since they are from different ‘universe’.  Not long have I discovered the names Marvel and DC; it then led me to get two separated encyclopedias for both universes. Eventually, I could, as far as I have read and observed, distinguish the primary difference of them: Marvel characters and stories are prone to be more fancy and boundariless in imagination-no constrains in physic law we currently know; while, DC tends to create characters based on pragmatic aspects and dimensions – Batman possesses no super powers, yet from intensive practices with human master.

My expectation is placed highly on Black Panther, the first Marvel African superhero who has his own standalone film; nonetheless, Suicide Squad from DC is not less interesting than, the super-villain team forming up to handle a specific event. These signal blazing a trail on superheroes film industry.       

I already found myself difficult to withdraw from the passion in superheroes, also no point of doing so.

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Reference

Haynes, N. 2015, November 5. Why comic books are more radical than you think. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20151105-why-comic-books-are-more-radical-than-you-think

After War

February 3rd, every year is the Veterans Day in Thailand and it is the same as other countries that also have this day but depend on each country what date is announced to be the Veterans Day. Every war has many things to talk or think about and sometimes you may lose person you love in the combat.

According to "War across the generations", The Huffington Post, Bill Becker was a combat journalist, talks about his reaction from war that every war makes worst experience to both warriors and victims. For 50 years, he cannot understand about effect from wars and the new generation who are sent to combat may think and feel like him because some things about war never change in his opinion.

For me, I always feel sad when I heard the story about wars. I never know why people try to kill each other because everyone knows what happen after this situation or I might be young enough to understand why the war happen or why they do not find better way to avoid the war.

While I am writing this blog post, Thai people may still feel good about the result of Thai football national team that they won Taiwan last Thursday. Could I call this football match as a war? For me, it does not war, it just be a competition and then after a whistle blown you can see something that are called spirit and sportsman ship on the field.

This is my first blog. It's difficult to start and conclude it. Now, I'm waiting for see all of your blog post and try to adapt to mine next time.

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Reference

Becker, W.S. (2015, November 11). War Across the Generations.HuffPost, The Blog. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-s-becker/war-across-the-generation_b_8535572.html

Creating excellence: quantity or quality

Imagine your aim is for your pottery class students to produce the most beautiful piece of pottery that they can, not the primitive, rough looking Edomite figure Hartmann shows us on page 73 of Quest, but something really well designed and perfectly made. Which is the better way to tell them that they will be graded: by the total weight of all their work for the term, or by one piece of work chosen by them as their best piece?

In "Viewpoint: How creativity is helped by failure," Matthew Syed argues that creativity and excellence in art, technology, animated films and science come not from aiming at perfection the first time but by trying things out and making many mistakes (2015). Syed further reports that academic institutions increasingly show the series of failed attempts that often underlies brilliant finished products in art, science theories, cartoons, technology and elsewhere in order to help students better understand the creative process for their own work.

One of Syed's examples is the experiment that tested what my lead in question asks. The answer is that the students who had been told they would be graded simply by weighing how much pottery they produced over the term produced higher quality work than the students who were told they would be graded on the quality of one piece of work. That is, the students who turned up with 50 kg also produced, along with a lot of rubbish, higher quality work than the group who were told they would be judged on their one best piece of work weighting perhaps 0.2 kg,  Naturally, this somewhat surprising result needs an explanation, and Syed has given it.

But  what caught my attention was the relevance to our class. As Hartmann acknowledges when she includes both an academic writing exercise and a response writing exercise in every chapter of her book, it's important to work on both quality and on quantity. In the academic writing exercises we do, such as the almost concluded one on the image on page 165 of Quest, we worry very much about quality, even proofreading to fix spelling mistakes, wrong use of articles (a / an / the / -), and prepositions, along with more substantial errors such as part of speech, wrong word choice and lack of a main clause. In addition, and more importantly, we worry about the ideas and organization of a piece of academic work, which your revision, after reading your classmates' work, did much to improve.

Our response writing is more for quantity, but as Syed reminds us, that is a great help to quality. When we blog, we can write at ease, we can try out new ways to express ourselves, play with new structures and so on. And we get feedback in how our classmates respond to our ideas. Disagreement is especially important here as it is in our academic writing. When you were looking for ways to strengthen your answer about Hartmann's chosen image to introduce the topic abnormal psychology, the most useful of your classmates first drafts where the ones that said your answer was wrong: these presented you with ideas you needed to be able to overcome to persuade your classmates to change their minds. And of course, they were looking at your opposing ideas to persuade you that you were wrong. Similarly, disagreement, or a simple request to clarify, helps us to spot and correct possible weaknesses in our writing, and this practice gradually makes those weaknesses less likely to occur.

So blog every day.

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Reference

Syed, M. (2015, November 14). Viewpoint: How creativity is helped by failure. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34775411

Alien is true?

I always visit many places that far from Bangkok.I love to look at the sky and many group of stars, and the one of my thinking is there are living things in these stars? If someone talks about alien you trust it?

According to "Coming soon: first weather report from super-Venus exoplanet" (2015), The MEarth team of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported they discovered a new exoplanet (a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun) called GJ 1132b. The planet’s atmosphere is not suitable for living thing because of too high temperature,and more bad chemical or ore, but this discovery is a good starting for researching geography of it and looking for the other planets in the same system that is similar to the Earth.  

duplicate of GJ 1132b

While I write this blog I think of many movies about alien that I have watched since I was young such as Alien vs predator, E.T., ID 4, Star war, etc.There are two type of alien.First one is aliens that are friendly with humans. The second one is bad alien that want to acquire or destroy the world. what are you think about alien? It is real? For me I think the universe has many stars. At-least one of it should have living thing like a human.The next question, it knows the world? it is friendly?  

Alien (movie: Alien vs Predator)

Although many movies are made by Hollywood that show a bad side of alien,we maybe discover some documentaries to show that the alien contact with human for helping them invent beneficial things. For example, the Mayas invented the 5000 years calendar. It would simply mark the beginning of another 5,125-year-long cycle. This innovation people in 5000 years ago can invented? or it was made by alien. In addition,we have doubtfulness about alien that can not prove such as statues that have appearance like an alien in Mexico, And pyramids the huge building in 6,000 years ago. The human can construct these things? It is unbelievable.       

Mayan's calendar

Statues in Mayan

This morning, I appoint my old friend for visiting Amphawa .I am going to eat a fresh seafood.Then I maybe think of the alien while I am seeing stars at night. 

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Reference

Coming soon: first weather report from super-Venus exoplanet (2015, November 11). Newscientist. Retrieved from https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28479-coming-soon-first-weather-report-from-super-venus-exoplanet/

Child, B. (2011, September 29) Mayan documentary to show 'evidence' of alien contact in ancient Mexico. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/sep/29/mayan-documentary-alien-mexico

The picture on page 165 of Hartmann (2007)

This is a colour version of the image that Hartmann chose to introduce the topic of abnormal psychology for chapter 6, which is also titled "Abnormal Psychology" (2007).

Ward in the Hospital in Arles. Vincent van Gogh, 1889.

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Reference

Hartmann, P. (2007), Quest 2 Reading and Writing (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

How the stars could help the underprivilege.

When I see the title 'George Clooney visits cafe in Edinburgh to support homeless people' on BBC 's webpage, it piqued my interest on the event. To be a famous actor like George, whenever you visit, whatever you do, all make people excited and look forward to the time. The excitement and expectation to meet the stars are the major parts that make this event successful.

According to the article, George visited the cafe' which donated all their profits to homeless people; in addition, the star also donated 1,000 USD for this cause. During this visit, many of the fans were waiting for him outside the cafe.

I think it would be very ideal if all the famous people get up and follow George's step. This is an example of a famous star who knows how to give. Being a part of the founders of a charity explains his true character better than any other actions or words. In a society where there are a lot of underprivileged people who are waiting for a chance for a better life, their hope will not be true if no one is willing to give them an opportunity.

In Thailand, some stars have done the same things, but since they are not internationally well-known, their deeds will never be mentioned in a global scale like George's. For example, Bin Banluerit- a very famous actor in Thailand, he helps many handicapped and support many sick people to get an appropriate treatment. Another is Yai Fundee who is a volunteer in a charity called Ruamkatanyu foundation which help people in accidents.  

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Reference

George Clooney visits cafe in Edinburgh to support homeless people. (12, November 2015). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-34793207.

But is it edible?

The coat of arms of Australia features our two national animals, the emu and the kangaroo. Both are delicious.

The British hedgehog at home

The BBC News article "MP Oliver Colvile calls for hedgehog as UK symbol," which concludes with examples of public and private efforts to protect them, reports that  in order to "enthuse people to protect it," a British politician has proposed that the British hedgehog should replace the lion as the national symbol, although the environment minister has opposed this, suggesting that its sleepy and timid habits do not make the animal an appropriate symbol for the United Kingdom (2015).

Coat of arms of Australia

When I saw the title on the front page of the BBC News as I sat down to my invigorating and delicious morning drug dose, I thought immediately of my country's national symbols, two of which are the kangaroo and the emu. These animals symbolize my country well because they are unique to Australia, but I don't know that they have any special quality that makes them great symbols: emus are very large birds that look awkward and are prone to violence, kangaroos are pests that look cute, but have also been known to attack when threatened and I can't think of any other particular virtue that either animal symbolizes. They are just unique to Australia. But the kangaroo is especially useful as a food source.

It's probably only in the last 20 years that kangaroo has become widespread as an alternative to beef, pork and the other tasty animals that our species kills to eat because we like the taste, which really is the only reason today, whatever might have been the case for our ancestors. I usually enjoy at least one kangaroo steak on my annual visit to Australia. Emu is OK, but not so tasty in my opinion. I've never tried it, but have heard reports that koalas are fairly disgusting as meat, which isn't surprising considering that their sole diet is one type of strongly flavoured lead. In fact, I think koala meat might be poisonous: I remember my brother, who has koalas on his property, telling me that when they die, other wild animals don't eat them, but leave them to rot as a feast for the local mould and bacteria.

Of course, I don't kill the kangaroos that I eat myself, although when I was growing up, I did kill, or at least actively participate in the killing of the ducks, chickens, pigs and cattle that my family bred to eat. No, these days, I pay other people to kill animals for me. I guess that makes me, and every one else who eats meat, animal killers who, like a mafia godfather, order and pay others to do our killing and cleaning up for us. But we are still the killers and we are still responsible for the deaths of the animals that we eat - I think its a bit dishonest to pretend that if you order a beef steak, or some tasty kai yang, or yummy salmon sashimi that you are not ordering and paying other people to kill animals. And most of us seem happy with being killers of other species, although this does raise an interesting question: why is it OK for us to kill and eat other animals? Is it OK for us to kill and eat other animals? Always? And if its OK to kill and eat elephants, chickens, kangaroos, pigs, dogs (also very tasty), and lambs, is there any good reason why it is not also OK to kill and eat human beings?

For breakfast this morning, I'm following my coffee, which I've just finished, with some beefy beans; definitely no hedgehog was killed for my breakfast. And you?

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Reference

MP Oliver Colvile calls for hedgehog as UK symbol. (2015, November 11). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-34786004

Ming's favorite academic subject

Physic is my favorite subject because I like to solve problems. When I was young, I prefer to study mathematics because I like the number and after I grow up, I think mathematics is related to physic.
In physic, I can solve the problems by using the formula, and I graduated in civil engineering so physic can help me find the result of number that related to build the building, road and every construction.

Union's favourite academic subject

My favourite academic subject is the human's brain. I think it is the most mysterious organ of the body. When It gets sick, It affect not just to a biological function in form of the disease only but also your personality and social function too. Many people don't even know that their problem caused from the impairment of their brain. The psychiatric problem is also the main affect of the brain's illness, but many people and society still has lack of information about it or a lot of misunderstanding. I think it would be great if the society can have many way in order to access the information for understanding and fixing their own problem.

Pong's favorite academic subject

I like all academic subject that relate to supply chain. the supply chain is important skill for industrial engineering should has such as, production planning, inventory planning,  and logistic.

Actually, I graduated in industrial engineering and do research about logistic tools.

Nori`s favorite academic subject

My favorite subject is  Marketing. Marketing is used in many field. especially in business.Companies use marketing to attract costumers.  Each company has each marketing. Evrything is different, none is same. So I'm interested in this subject. 

Peter's favourite academic subject

it's really hard to pick just one subject as a favourite. I read in economics, history, psychology, science (popular, easy accounts these days) and other areas all the time. They all interest me. But I guess philosophy is still my favourite if I have to pick just one.

I first became interested in philosophy in high school when one of the Catholic brothers introduced me to it. In fact, he was also my maths and physics teacher. I'm not sure why introduced me to philosophy. Perhaps he thought that because I loved science and mathematics I might stop believing in Christianity and that the philosopher he introduced me to would save me. He suggested I read Kierkegaard, a very gloomy Danish philosopher and founder of existentialism, but unlike his existentialist followers such as Jean Paul Sartre, Kierkegaard was a Christian and tried to give solid reasons for maintaining a faith.

It didn't work out as Brother Graham had hoped. I became really interested and read as much as I could from Plato onwards, and that did not help me keep any religious faith. In fact, 73% of professional philosophers are atheists, only beaten by scientists, of whom I think about 80% are atheists. (I need to check this last statistic.)