Wednesday, October 27, 2010

[TED] Poverty, money, and love - Jessica Jackley

1. Summary

She talks about the natural sympathy people feel towards the poors, and her experience from Africa. She is honest about how she felt, and what she saw. She says that she found out that it is best for them to have control over their own lives, instead of having others do all work for them and feel bad. Small details that started changing in their lives touched her and changed her view towards the poors. She explains how those people have 'stories' and how a loan is different from donations and the importance of on-going actions.

2. Question

It isn't much of a question, but :

Why is it that our world is divided so clearly into the relatively wealthy people and the poors? Why couldn't we have shared the wealth?

3. How it changed me

I've heard about Kiva at school, and how people get to support themselves by starting their own small business. I think Kiva is a very interesting program that will not only help the people in poverty, but also change the idea of the poors that people have.

4. One word

together : things get easier when done with others' help. It is much more meaningful and effective; people should work together and cooperate to change the world.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

[TED] Bonnie Bassler - how bacteria "talk"

Interesting facts:
10 times bacterial cells than body cells
100 times bacterial genes than human genes
we are 90~95% bacterial.


Bacteria provide us with invisible armour, they digest our food, they make vitamins, and they educate our immune system. Some bacteria are very harmful, that if they ever get in or on human body, they will cause serious diseases.

One cool example she explained with the chemical communication of bacteria was a Hawaiian squid that uses bacteria for light in order to stay safe from its predators.

The bacteria uses its receptor that works like lock and key to communicate. They make chemical words and others will recognize the words, so that they can work in a group.

How I should change: I always thought bacteria are bad and harmful. After watching this video, I have a better understanding of the importance of bacteria. Maybe I shouldn't be so grossed out about them anymore~

A question I have is, is there any way to create a multicellular living organism with bacteria? And also, can we decipher their chemical language?


One word:
significance - most people think bacteria are useless or even harmful. However it is important to find significance in even small things like bacteria.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

[TED] Jessa Gamble: Our natural sleep cycle

In this video, Jessa Gamble talks about our sleeping cycle.
She says that without any artificial light, people sleep twice a night, once from 8pm-12am and another 2am-sunrise.

Two questions I have are: What determines the natural sleeping cycle of a person?

Is sleeping cycle genetically inherited?


One word to describe this would be: endless - everything works in a cycle, even our sleeping periods. Nothing ends, all it is is a cycle that comes back to the start.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

[TED] Patricia Burchat

http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_burchat_leads_a_search_for_dark_energy.html

1. Brief description

Patricia Burchat studies the structrue and distribution of dark matter and dark energy. She talks about the existence of dark energy that we cannot see. According to what she says, the mass of clusters of galaxies are much bigger than they can account for; therefore, the dark matter around the galaxies is what make up the most of the weight. She explains the 'cone shape' of ray of light that observers see when the ray from a galaxy is bent by the dark matter. She introduces the Einstein's ring (3D shape of the rays coming into the observer's eyes or a telescope).

2. How it changed me

To be honest, I'm ALWAYS overwhelmed by how interesting and mysterious the universe it. It always comes to be as a shock, and this one was no different. I feel like I am this small little particle who has no effect on the universe.

3. One question

How did Einstein find out all these equations and come up with theories with much less technology? If he could do it, why isn't the process of discovery speeding up as more advanced technology is invented?

4. One word of expression

Extreme - we are billions of years apart from those galaxies. Everything and anything in the "dark" side of universe is massive and big. It's all about big scale and big ideas.

Friday, October 1, 2010

[TED]

1. 1 video every thursday
2. how it changed me
3. one question
4. one or two quotes
5. one word of expression