Iron Age brain dug up after 2,000 years

Oldest surviving human brain
Article

Summary

Rachel Cubitt, an archaeologist, was digging in a muddy hole in the Heslington area of York when she found a soil-covered skull. It wasn’t a common skull they usually found because when she examines the skull she found a brain inside. It is Britain’s oldest surviving human brain, which is at least 2,000 years old, from the Iron Age. It is very rare to found a brain inside without any other soft tissues. The buildings they found during the excavations dating back to at least 300BC. They believed that the skull is used for a ritual offer. It is the second biggest discovery on that place, earlier they found one of Britain’s earliest victims of tuberculosis.

My opinion

It is unbelievable to me that they found a brain of at least 2000 years old, especially because it is soft tissue. You don’t expect that. It is good that they found this discovery because now they can do research and discover some things about the Iron Age. How they lived and maybe how smart people were at that time. I always wondering myself how they know the skull is probably used for a ritual offer. How do they see that? And above all, what can we do with that information? I hope they found more clues like this, it is very interesting.

Advent in Britain

Christmas is coming
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Summary

Advent is a period of four weeks before Christmas, 25th December. Each Sunday, during Advent, churches lighting a candle. British people aren’t very religious these days, but they all celebrate Christmas. Shops in Britain are responsible for that people buy their Christmas presents earlier and earlier, it starts in September or October. People in Britain spend a lot of money on Christmas, over £600 per person. They buy Christmas decorations, Christmas cards, presents, wrapping paper and most important food (roast turkey or goose, chocolates, nuts and snacks). Children are the most excited, they are making presents list and they have most of the time an Advent calendar.

My opinion

I like Christmas too, but we don’t have the opportunity to celebrate it this year and this year I’m on holiday in Egypt during Christmas. I can imagine how the atmosphere is in Britain during the Advent, especially in London. All the people are exciting, buying presents and other things for Christmas, the beautiful shop streets with coloured lights and music, with all happy kids. I’m very surprised that the people in Britain spend over £600 per person for Christmas. That’s a huge amount of money. We Dutch people don’t buy that much for Christmas. When I was I had also an Advent calendar, that was funny I remember.

Docs Find Worm In Woman's Brain

Worms
Article

Summary

On a day in Arizona, Rosemary Alvarez went to the emergency room and had an x-ray. Doctors found something very disturbing in her brain. They thought that it was a tumor, but when they did the operation they found an unsuspected worm in her brain. The operation was done by neurosurgeon Dr. Peter Nakaji. He laughs very hard when he found the worm. Luckily Ms. Alvarez is healthy now. There are a few ways how people can pick up a worm. The most common way is that people do not wash their hands after using the bathroom. Ms. Alvarez said, "Wash your hands, wash your hands".

My opinion

What an amazing, but very interesting article. I´ve already saw a program about a woman who has a horse fly maggot behind her scalp. In this story the worm lived in her brain. What this story also tells me, how important hygiene is, for example washing your hands. Maybe is it true, but I think that when we are very clean our resistance will decrease. Of course hygiene is important, but it is commercial blown-up. It is very sad for this woman that the worm lived in her brain. On the other hand how often does it happen that worms lives in brains?

Mum kills rat with vacuum after son is bitten

London
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Summary

Bromley, on an early Wednesday morning (November 26), around 4.30am, Mrs. Alison Law found her ten-year-old son, Charlie Mouncer, screaming next to her bed. He said to her that he had been bitten by a rat in his arm. When she heard this terrible news, Mrs. Law, who runs an ironing business, goes immediately to her son’s bedroom, closed the door, took a vacuum cleaner and killed the rat, which has the length of 10 inches. Charlie was taken to the Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough. Luckily Charlie makes a full recovery from his wound. Bromley Council, which runs the Waldo Road recycling centre, is responsible for the huge amount of rats in that neighborhood.

My opinion

I had to laugh when I read the title of this article, because a can imagine how a mother runs after a rat with a vacuum cleaner. Of course it is very unpleased for the small boy, but luckily he is still alive. I think that I also had killed the rat, if it was my son. Bromley Council should take their responsibility and have to do research to the recycle centre because I think that the whole neighborhood suffers of the rat plague. We have to prevent rat plagues.

Brain exercises are 'waste of time'

Professor says that nobody should be fooled by 'dangerous' myths about boosting creativity
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Summary

Sergio Della Sala is the professor of Human Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh and says that there are a lot of myths in the world to boost the performance of your brain. He researched the brain already over more than 20 years. In December this year he wants to expose many of these myths at the university’s inaugural Christmas Lecture. One of the myths says when you drink water it increases the oxygen supply to your brain. Della Sala said that this luckily is a myth; if it was true then you will probably die. Another thing he said is that it is not true that we humans only use 10 per cent of our brain.

My opinion

This article was really interesting for me, of course I know that some myths cannot be true but other things surprised me, because I really thought that we only use 10 per cent of our brains. That is why I think that it is good that he give a speech about this matter, to convince the rest of the world that the most myths are not true. He is very convincing to me so I think that he has a very good point. It is not surprising that he won an award for his research.

Minister calls for UK space facility

Climate matters
Article

Summary

Climate change is an issue debated in the whole world. Lord Drayson, the science minister of the UK, wants a new space facility to be built in Britain which will focus on the climate change from space. It would be based at Harwell in Oxfordshire. This facility also develops robotics for future mission. The only thing is that the government is concerned that there are too few Esa’s (European Space Agency) projects in Britain. The British space industry, worth £5.8 billion a year, containing already 16.000 jobs. Lord Drayson also wants Esa’s flagship back on track, called the GMES. The government already promised £128m for the GMES project. Climate scientists are concerned about that.

My opinion

It is a really good thing from Lord Drayson to build a new better space facility. This will improve always our knowledge about the climate change and then we can handle correctly in something happened. Ok it costs the community a lot of money, but where were we if we don’t had such facilities? I always said; there is always money for a good plan. So when Lord Drayson has a good plan, then the government should give him the money he needed. I wonder if it is a real problem if Brittain has the most projects from the Esa. They should be proud I think.

Rolls-Royce to cut further 2,000 jobs

Article

Summary

The engine producer Rolls-Royce has to response to the economic slowdown. They are planning to reduce 4% of their employees. From the 39.000 employees they want to demit around 1.500 to 2.000 people, including 140 at its assembly facility in Derby next year. They already have fired 2.300 people in January this year. The individual programmes, like the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787, are responsible for these cuts. The company tried to keep the cuts to a minimum. They do this by dismissing temporary staff and not replacing staff who retire. Rolls-Royce is not the only company who has to response the economic slowdown.

My opinion

It is a pity for the people who are fired, but sometimes it is unavoidable for companies to do this. Especially for engine and car producers like Rolls-Royce because they lend their money from banks. But everybody knows that there is an economic crisis that isn’t good for companies. It is good from Rolls-Royce that they tried to keep the cuts to a minimum, but I think that most companies do that. I hope that Rolls-Royce should survive this economic slowdown. It is a beautiful big company and did much for the world we know these days.