Similar proteins protect the skin of humans and turtles, new research shows.

In a genome comparison by a working group of the University Department of Dermatology at MedUni Vienna, discovered that genes for important skin proteins arose in a common ancestor shared by humans and turtles 310 million years ago. 

The aim of the turtle shell is to defend and it clearly distinguishes turtles and tortoises from other reptiles. In the study, the working group investigated the genes responsible for the skin layers of the shell of the European terrapin and a North American species of turtle, in order to compare them with the genes of human skin.

The study findings suggest that a hard shell was formed as the result of mutations in a group of genes known as the Epidermal Differentiation Complex (EDC).


What is remarkable is that the basic organisation of the EDC genes is similar in humans and turtles.


NEWS LINK

2nd TERM

I think this term will be interesting because of the theme, it seems attractive.

SPEECH

1. WHAT´S THE UNIVERSE? The Universe is all of time and space and its contents. The Universe includes planets,   stars, galaxies, the contents of intergalactic space, the smallest subatomic particles, and all matter and energy. There are between 100 and 200 billion galaxies in the universe and ours is called “milky way”.

2. WHAT´S THE UNIVERSE? The universe was created about 13.77 billion years ago. The age of the universe is the time elapsed since the Big Bang. It’s size is not know and it is possible to be infinite. The average temperature of the universe is 2.72548 K, a very high temperature.

3. MILKY WAY: The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. Its name "milky" is derived from its appearance as a dim glowing band arching across the night sky whose individual stars cannot be distinguished by the naked eye.

4. MORE INFORMATION: The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy that has a diameter of 150,000–180,000 light-years. It is estimated to contain 200–400 billion stars and probably 100 billion planets and 8 of them are part of our system, the solar system.

5. SOLAR SYSTEM: The Solar System comprises the Sun and the planetary system that orbits it, either directly or indirectly. It is full of planets, moons, comets, asteroids… The Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud.

6. THEORIES (GEOCENTRIC): Ancient civilizations’ scientists, such as Aristotles and Ptomely, believed that the earth was the center of the universe and that the sun, moon, stars and planets circled it. The geocentric model held sway into the early modern age, but from the late 16th century onward was gradually superseded by the heliocentric model of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler. There was much resistance to the transition between these two theories

7.THEORIES (HELIOCENTRIC): is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the Solar System. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at the center. With the observations of William Herschel, Friedrich Bessel, and others, astronomers realized that the sun was the center of the universe as heliocentrists at the time of Copernicus had supposed.

8. STARS: A star is a luminous sphere of plasma held together by its own gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Other stars are visible from Earth during the night, appearing as a multitude of fixed luminous points in the sky due to their immense distance from Earth.

9-10. SUN: The Sun  is the star at the center of the Solar System and is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth.  It is a nearly perfect spherical ball of hot plasma,with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth.

The Sun is roughly middle aged and has not changed dramatically for four billion years, and will remain fairly stable for another four billion years. However, after hydrogen fusion in its core has stopped, the Sun will undergo severe changes and become a red giant. It is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large to engulf the current orbits of Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth.

11 PLANETS: A planet is an astronomical object orbiting a star, and in our case that star is the Sun. In the Solar System there are 8 planets, which are  Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars (smaller than the others), Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune (bigger than the others).

12. MERCURY & VENUS: Mercury is the smallest and closest to the Sun of the eight planets in the Solar System, with an orbital period of about 88 Earth days. It has no known natural satellites. Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. It has no natural satellite.

13. MARS: Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury. Is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, his own moons, which are Phobos and Deimos and it looks reddish from a distance because of rusty dust kicked up in the atmosphere.

14. JUPITER & SATURN: Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System and Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System. Infrared observations of these gas giants have mapped weather patterns, observed asteroids and comets crashing through their atmospheres, and discovered a huge new ring around Saturn.

15. URANUS & NEPTUNE: Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius. Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 times the mass of Earth, and not as dense as Neptune. These two planets are callde ‘’ice giants’’.

16-17. EARTH: Earth is the third planet from the Sun, the densest planet in the Solar System, the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets, and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. Earth was formed about 4.54 billion years ago. The earliest life on Earth arose at least 3.5 billion years ago. Life appeared in its oceans and began to affect its atmosphere and surface, promoting the proliferation of organisms. Since then, the combination of Earth's distance from the Sun, its physical properties and its geological history have allowed life to thrive and evolve. 71% of Earth's surface is covered with water.

18. OUR MOON: The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is one of the largest natural satellites in the Solar System. The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth and its gravitational influence produces the ocean tides, body tides, and the slight lengthening of the day. Although It is the second-brightest regularly visible celestial object in Earth's sky its surface is actually dark.

19. TRIPS TO THE MOON: There have been numerous unmanned trips to the moon. The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission, on 13 September 1959. However, Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans on the Moon, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on July 20, 1969.

20. LIFE OUTSIDE THE EARTH? The 4 most likely places to find life outside the earth are Enceladus (one of saturn’s moon), mars, europa (one of jupiter’s moon) and titan (one of saturn’s moon). However, the life that this planets may have has nothing to do with the typical alien we imagine, it would be just microorganisms.

POWER POINT

THE UNIVERSE - solar system

MASS MEDIA & SCIENCE

	SCIENCE SECTION	FRECUENCY	EXTENSION	GENERIC THEMES	PSEUDO SCIENCE
N. GUIPIZCOA	Sub section: Internet&science	1 per week	1 page	Sports: Health Economy: Technology	NO
EL PAÍS	YES	Every day	1 page	Science Technology Sport	Horoscope
LA RAZÓN	Sub-section “a tu salud”	Forthnightly	½ page	Culture Religion Society	NO
BERRIA	NO	----------------------	-------------------------	Society Religion News	NO
ABC	Sub-section “technology”	Every day	????????????????????????????	Religion News	NO
GARA	YES	Every day	½ page	Relevant news	NO
VANGUARDIA	NO	-------------------------	--------------------------	Sport Technology Life	NO

In my opinion, there are quite a lot science TV programmes. For instance, in “la 2” we have daily documentaries about science, biology and technology. They are useful because you can learn new things while having a great time. There are many other channels that broadcast science related programmes, like “El Hormiguero 3.0” in Antena 3. That’s why I think mass media and science are very related.

SCIENCE NEWS

NEW HUMAN VIRUS DISCOVERED

This new was taken from Science magazine on the 23rd September 2015.

The newfound virus is similar to Hepatitis C virus which can cause serious liver damage, and to the harmless human pegivirus. Because of that the new virus was named hepegivirus 1.

The scientist scoured blood samples from a cohort of 46 people that were collected before and after they received a blood transfusion between 1974 and 1980. That’s why it’s far too early for blood banks to take any action.

Almost every year, scientists identify a new virus in humans. Where are these viruses coming from?. Are they recently in the human population or have they been around for a long time?

EUROPEAN NEWS

Hundreds of refugees and migrants - most of them Afghans - continue to live rough in Victoria Square in central Athens waiting to start the next leg of the long journey to their final destination, Germany.

Tents and blankets are strewn across the grass and concrete. Suddenly there is a rush as a Greek man parks his car and starts handing out food and clothes.

Munir Ahmed, who is from Afghanistan, says the authorities have not given him anything since he arrived here days ago.

Like many of the Afghans, he is stuck until he can get more money to pay for the train and bus journeys to northern Europe. He is relying on a relative to help him out.