WHAT WOMEN ARE BECOMING!

It has been proved that the image of a leader is still associated with men. But this trend is started to lose its credibility. Thirty years ago, women had a different position in society. They were not allowed to work, to vote, and they had to stay at home to look after their children.
Nowadays this has change overnight. Women are no longer at home. They are part of big corporations, factories, shops, aor they have even set up their own enterprise. Nonetheless, there is a still a beleif that did not change at all: How do women have to behave to please others? Should they be charming? or Should they behave in a tough way?
According to a reaserch, women who act in ways that are consistent with gender stereotypes — defined as focusing “on work relationships” and expressing “concern for other people’s perspectives” — are considered less competent. But if they act in ways that are seen as more “male” — like “act assertively, focus on work task, display ambition” — they are seen as “too tough” and “unfeminine.”
In the United States and in England, people said that "inspiring others" was the most important skill in an employee and women are less skilfull in this than men.
In my opinion, the oppossitte happens in our country. Women are employed not aonly because they have certain qualities or NOT but also because they look nice. It is true that certain types of jobs imply being pretty but, in some cases, this becomes priority.
On the other hand, there are positions which requiere a lot of preparation whether you are the beauty or the beast.
Women and men have the same capacities and gifts. It is true that there are many activities and roles that women cannot undergo. But we are not so weak as we are thought to be.
In Argentina, there is a new president and this time, it is a woman in charge of the nation. Some are in favour and some are against of her being female. Only time will tell.


Review Nº 4.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/fashion/01WORK.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087&em&en=a17ca146f001412f&ex=1194148800
Article's title: The Feminine Critique
Date: November 1st, 2007.

http://www.universia.com.ar/materia/materia.jsp?materia=25542
Article's title: Cómo se percibe a las mujeres candidatas.

Genetic Roots for Homosexuality?

Name: Aldana Vercellone




Article: Gay brothers may hold genetic clues.




Source: Msnbc.com




Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21309724/
















In the search of an explanation for homosexuality, about one thousand pairs of gay brothes are taking part in the largest study in order to look for clues for their sexual orientation in genes.




The majority of families in which two or more members are homosexual are considered to build a gene which affects the sexuality of its members, and homosexuality may be viewed as a genetic trait like height or hair colour.




In a study published in 1993, it was found that gay brothers shared genetic markers in a region of the X-chromosome, which men inherit from their mothers. The location of such markers in that region imply the influence of genes on sexual orientation. That is why, the study being held nowadays rely on blood and saliva samples in the search for clues of the "gay gene".




On the one hand, there is a strong belief in homosexuality due to genetic roots, but on the other hand, some scientists suspect that there isn't a gene causing it, but they believe that there may be several genes, which, in interaction with non-genetic factors like social and psychological influence, determine a person's sexual orientation.




The results of this study are feared by the majority of gays due to the fact that the identification of such a gene, can lead to discrimation, prenatal testing and even abortions to eliminate homosexuals.

Teens and Pills.

Name: Aldana Vercellone.

Article: Teens seek "safer" high, get hooked on pain pills.

Source: msnbc.com

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12803776/

A recent survey showed that even though there's a drop in alcohol use and smoking in teenagers, the use and subsequent abuse of pain pills is putting boys and girls into a higher risk.

It is considered that about 1 in 5 teens have tried "getting high" with prescription drug painkillers, such as Vicodin, which, to make things worse, it is easily found in any ordinary person's medicine cabinet.

Regarding teens' opinions, they allegue that experimenting with prescription drugs is "much safer" than illegal ones. Besides, there are no "dealers" involved, making it easier for them to get drugs almost everywhere and with a cheaper cost.

As the source of drugs is now the family medicine cabinet, the emphasis is put on parents, who should be educated so as to note any kind of strange behaviour in their children, mainly because, when they were teens, prescription drug abuse did not exist.

Apart from that, teenagers should be educated as well due to the fact that there are too many myths regarding prescribed drugs, making them believe they are dealing with safer stuff, but the after effects could be damaging their bodies too.

In our society, the abuse of painkillers has not been "discovered" by teenagers yet , but there is an increase in the ingest of anti-depressants, which, together with teens lack of information, is causing several deaths at an early age.

The most popular case occured some months ago in Buenos Aires, when a fifteen-year-old girl took four Rivotril pills plus an Ecstasy pill. The determinant factor for her death was, in my opinion, her lack of information regarding drug use, because, instead of drinking water (which is a premise when taking ecstasy or anti-deppresants) the girl drank alcohol, which made her body collapse causing her death.

In my opinion, Education is the key to fight against addictions, and as a society, all of us have to take charge in changing deadly habits.

DNA PINPOINTS 1975 KILLER, BRADFORD COURT HEARS

Castree waiting for being tried

Name: Fernanda Martín
Article: DNA pinpoints 1975 child killer, Bradford court hears
Source: Guardian Unlimited
Author: James Orr and agenciesDate of publication: Tuesday October 23, 2007
Links:
Articlehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2197526,00.html#top
Photo: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2726748.ece?CMP=KNC-LBN&HBX_PK=ronald+castree&HBX_OU=50


A man, Ronald Castree is on trial accused of rapping and subsequent murder. He was 23 when he sexually abused and then stabbed an 11-year-old-girl in the moors near Manchester in 1975.
Samples of semen were left on the child’s body and clothes. Unfortunately the DNA analysis was not possible and available at that time as it is today. In a misunderstanding Stefan Kiszka was convicted of the killing he had never committed spending 16 years in prison. The proof against Castree cam about when the police took a DNA sample from him by chance when Castree got involved in unrelated incident.
It is really horrific that a person like Castree can go on living without any sense of guilt or remorse. Even worse than paedophiles like him go on with their unnamed acts, it is the problem of how Judges impart the so-called Justice and also it has to be mention the thirst of revenge society has. They wanted someone to pay the high price of Lesley’s life. And they got it. An innocent was condemned and punished with the deprivation of his freedom and the burden of amorality in front of a blind society. I only hope that the trial goes on the right track. Intolerable characters like Castree must not walk around freely in the streets.

Grading Parents

Review n 4
Name: Mauricio Catena
Article: Connecticut School District Wants Report Cards For Parents
Source: www.foxnews.com
Author:Catherine Donaldson-EvansLink: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,306003,00.html

A member of the Manchester Board of Education in Connecticut wants parents to be evaluated in some tasks, as feed their children properly and make them do the homework. "I tried to design something modest [measuring] things that virtually everybody would agree parents should do to help their kids," Steve Edwards says, and he also claims that he doesn´t want people to think that they are going to do a subjective evaluation.

In spite of his explanations, the idea has offended parents, and they are trying to fight the plan. As Jackie Madore, president of the Manchester Parent Teacher Association Town Council(PTA) said, the introduction of this plan will offend the whole educational community and will make parents be against the Board of Education.

Edwards plans to give parents a check with a positive or negative grade depending on how well they fulfill the needs of their children, and he wants to hand them out in the biannual parent-teacher conferences. People form the Connecticut Association of Boards of Educations say that they would prefer parents work with the boards of education on what is their role and to help them to assist their children rather than grading them. They are also against Edwards´s idea because according to their opinion it is intrusive and intimidating for parents if it is not applied in a sensible way.

This district is not the only one to consider using report cars for parents: Chicago district also implemented it but failed. Edwards is aware that this is a controversial issue, and that he doesn´t want people to consider it as something punitive for parents; according to him ,it is just a tool to identify people who need extra help to bring up their children.
One important percentage of childen who attend elementary school in this district are from lower socio-economic area and they are from single-parent homes or homes where both parents work long hours to earn money, according to Madore. She thinks that implementing this plan would be unfair for these people, because their economical restrictions will affect their good scores on the report cards. She is devising a plan of action to oppose to this idea.

Water shortage in US: What else do you need?

US is facing a major threat in water shortage. Scientists say that it is an imminent fact that they will not have enough water supplies for al its inhabitants. The truth is that the Great Lakes are shrinking and the mountains are melting down, which means that freshwater will not be sufficient.
The US needs urgent measures, mainly based in recycling, and conservation of water resources. The problem is that they are not quite serious about this issue.
"The last century was the century of water engineering. The next century is going to have to be the century of water efficiency." said Barry Nelson, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council. However, I think it will be difficult to change the mind of a country which has such high rates of contamination, pullution, and wastes.
It is incredible even for an imaginative person, to reflect on the amount of water that it is wasted every year in the United States. Hundreds of billions of treated water are dumped to the Atlantic through pipes, instead us reusing it to irrigate their soil.
Although, all over the world , we have similar examples of water shortage, that is why we all have to be careful with freshwater usage. We have to think not only about ourselves but about the future generations. We cannot be as reckless as to think that water shortage is not our problem. Water shortage is a world’s problem as well as every environmental failure that our lifestyle may provoke.

Name: Patricia Romano
Title: U.S. Could See a Water Shortage
Date: Friday, Oct. 26, 2007
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1677007,00.html

Today’s taboo: Co-sleeping with your child

In most countries, sleeping next to your child is a neccesity, but in the West, the practice is highly disapproved. The problem is that many studies have shown that it is quite common nowadays.
When asked about sleeping habits, parents will not accept that their children sleep with them. This is seen as an unhealthy custom. However, a study conducted in Britain using infrared cameras, showed that children may start sleeping on their own, but at some point during night, they go to sleep with their parents.
When I was pregnant, I became addicted to reading magazines specialized in parenthood. Thanks to those magazines, I understood beforehand, that sleeping in the same bed with my baby would be quite dangerous for him. The first two months he slept in a bassinet beside my bed. I made sure that when he woke up in the middle of the night, after feeding him, he went back to his place. After this time, since my house was like a small apartment, he started sleeping in the kitchen in a travel bassinet (it was easily dismantled). When he was eight months old, he had his own bedroom on the other side of the house. He may have come to my bed 20 times in 7 years, more due to my wishes than his willingness. In fact, sometimes I want him to stay with me at siesta time, and he is reluctant to. He prefers sleeping in his own bed, away from us.
In a paper in Infant and child Development, Dr. Kathleen Dyer, an assistant professor of child, family and consumer sciences at California State University, Fresno, proposed that co-sleeping families can be divided into three categories: Intentional co-sleepers, reactive co-sleepers, and circumstantial co-sleepers. The first group is constituded by those who want to sleep with their children, the second, by those who do not want to sleep with their children, but the necessity obliges them, and the third by those who sleep with their children only ocassionaly because they are on holidays or a relative is staying at home leaving no beds left.
Either way, it is seen as a taboo nowadays to accept that you sleep with your children. Moreover, some parents who publicly recognize it, generally start and finish their stories by saying “I don’t know what can I do to change this situation,” when in fact they do not truly wish it. In today’s families, the main issue is not the child’s dependance on parents, but the parents’ inability to be independent from their children. This is clearly shown in these cases where parents still co-sleep with their children.

Name: Patricia Romano

Title: Shhh...My Child Is Sleeping (in My Bed, Um, With Me)
Date: October 23, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/23/health/23well.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087&em&en=610ece6cab261445&ex=1193630400

Birth order differences: Not only on my mind

I have always thought that being an outcast in my house was my parents’ fault. Everything was based on their preferences. They preferred their oldest son, because he was the first born child, the youngest, because he was always seen as a baby, and I was the middle forgotten child. When I was a teenager, I used to have many arguments with my older brother. My younger brother on the contrary, was all the time trying to do exactly the same as the eldest and me. The three of us used to complain about being treated differently. The oldest would argue that my parents’ were too strict with him, I would argue that they did not let me go out with my friends as much as my older brother, and the youngest would say that he never wore new clothes as much as his siblings. Since ancestral times, sibling relationships have been marked by human idiosyncracy. These differences were originally attributed to a simple matter of preferences on behalf of parents. However, due to thorough research, it has been discovered that birth order is a crutial factor in each person’s possibilities to stand out.
There are many examples in history which show the contrast between first-born children and their succeeding siblings. We could name Teddy and Elliot Roosevelt, the former being a well-known writer and president of the United States of America, and the latter dying of alcoholism without anything important to be remembered for. Of course, this was not the only case. There were Richard and Donald Nixon, Bill and Roger Clinton, and George and Neil Bush. Being the younger brothers in the preceeding samples charged with a variety of crimes.
A group of Norwegian researchers, released a study which shows that firstborns are generally smarter than their siblings, enjoying on average a three-point IQ advantage over the next eldest. The second child, in turn, is a point ahead of the third. Sometimes I feel that this is true. My Older brother seems to be smarter than me in some aspects, but I am definitely smarter than my younger brother in some others. Anyway, even when this has been cientifically proved, I have my doubts, because I am the only prospective proffessional among the three of us.
Studies in the Phillipines, show that later born siblings tend to be shorter, weight less and have less possibilities of being immunized. I have to argue again, because in my family, my younger brother is taller than me, and I am fatter than my older brother.
Even in nature these differences are substancial. That is the case of egrets, which lay many eggs but only raise with extreme carefulness the first two or three chicks. Moreover, orange trees carry about 100.000 pollinated blossoms, but only 500 will successfully become oranges. In nature, feelings are not involved as with human beings, that is why, everything is limited to the practicity of feeding the ones that have more possibilities to make it. This can be clearly seen with dogs, when the mother abandons the lastborn puppy, or, going to the extremes, even tries to kill it by herself if she believes that is too weak to go on living.
Parents provide more time, attention, and emotional nourishment to the firstborn. It is not a coincidence that family scrapbooks are usually stuffed with pictures and report cards of the firstborn (in my mother’s case, even hair and teeth), and successively fewer of the later-borns. This was proved in my family. While I was preparing a family slideshow last year, I found out that there was no evidence of my younger brother being a baby. What is more, there was not a single photo of him standing alone.
Siblings who want to stand out in a family, often do so by observing the elder child and doing exactly the opposite. There is some truth in it, however, children tend to be brightly selective in terms of imitation. They know that there are some aspects that have to be done in the same way as their older siblings, but some others which require urgent improvement to please the parents.
The birth-order effect is not indestructible. In 2005, investigators at the University of Birmingham in Britain conducted a research about abused children. In general, they found out that when only one child was abused, the scapegoat was usually the eldest.
To conclude, we have to agree that in sibling relationships we can find a strong sense of jealousy, that even when this is not consciously promoted by parents, in one way or another, they are the ones to be blamed for this. The firstborn child is likely to receive more attention until the next sibling appears. This follows the logic that after parents have a second child, the attention has to be undeniable splitted.

Name: Patricia Romano

Title: The Power of Birth Order
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1672715-1,00.html

Bad ethics or nice sensitivity?

A young woman went on surgery for a biopsy of a lump she had in her collarbone. She was really aprehensive for anaesthesia's risks, so, she asked the surgeon for a local anaesthetic. The doctor was worried about her having a nervous breakdown, because he had to use a special tool to cut a piece of her bone, but he agreed on her request anyway. The woman was nervous, however, she bravely tolerated everything. They stayed in the OR until the pathologist called on the intercom with the results. The doctor did not want to receive such data throught the intercom, but the pathologist could not listen to the doctor´s insistence on saying that the patient was awake and listening.
The pathologist said that this woman had a serious case of cancer. The woman freaked out, and started screaming and crying for mentioning her children. In a matter of seconds, the anaesthesiologist put her through an IV a milky substance which erases the last ten minutes from memory, and the woman fell in a heavy sleep.
The nurses were quite upset about this, arguing that they should not have done that. However, the doctor only said “Well done” to the anaesthesiologist.
The doctor needed more time to do more tests, and to reasure that things would not change for this young mother. His idea was that, even when anything would change in the patient’s condition, he would have more time to choose the best way to give the worst news. Moreover, the patient would have a different mental preparation to receive whatever comes.
In the end, the woman died from cancer six years later, without knowing of the OR’s incident. The doctor still holds his idea of having done something good. He claims that it is not that anyone can use this drug at any time, but in some moments, you have to reflect upon your patient’s mental welfare. Doctors are not only to fix the physical failures, but to preserve the patients in a hollistic way.
I agree with this doctor’s choice, because it is not that he did not say the truth to this woman, but he managed it in a different way. He cared for the person, not for the medical problem. It would be quite interesting to find more doctors like this one.

Name: Patricia Romano
Title: The Ethics of Erasing a Bad Memory
Date: Monday, Oct. 15, 2007
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1671492,00.html

No Fear

Review n 3
Name: Mauricio Catena
Article: Bullying Fear Can Harm Children
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Author: Aislinn Simpson
Date of Publication: October 29th ,2007
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/29/nchild129.xml

Tim Gill, a former government adviser who has been investigating children behaviour,
claims that normal rough and violence of childhood which is sometimes interpreted as bullying is important for children to build up their character and to deal with difficult social situations. In his book, No Fear: Growing up in a risk averse society, he accepts that it is important to protect kids from sexual predators, kidnapping and peers violence, but we have to do it without overprotecting them.

Nowadays, parents tend to wrap their children in a cotton wool, and this exaggerated behaviour can damage the child´s normal encounter with reality and how to deal with their own problems. This overprotection can build anxiety disorders in the child, apart form damaging the social interaction with their peers and other members of the community.

The author claims that the vast amount of money spent by the government in vetting child abusers could have been invested in training and raising awareness since most kids are abused by their family members. He also thinks that nowadays children are no more in danger than they were 20 years ago, and that there is a culture of risk averse in society. Maybe the only way to solve this problem is to build a child-friendly society, where communities take care of each other and the government should encourage people to make this happen. According to him, it is true that we as adults have the responsibility to take care of our children, but a risk averse behaviour is not the solution to this problem.

In my opinion, I think that nowadays there is a real increase in violence between young people; just look at the phenomenon of school shooting in several institutions all over the world, and also the way kids shoot themselves fighting or bullying their peers. It is reasonable to think that overprotection is bad for kids, but we have to find a way to protect them without affecting their freedom. It is true that bullying is not the only danger at which our children are exposed to in the present, and it would be very positive to raise awareness about other matters such as sexual abuse and kidnapping.

Africa Connected

Review n 2
Name: Mauricio Catena
Article: Africa Waiting For Net Revolution
Source: BBC News
Author: Darren Waters
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7063682.stm

Nowadays, only a few percentage of the population in Africa use the Internet, and the broadband penetration is below 1%. These were some of the topics dealt at the Connect Africa meeting in Kigali, Rwanda. This conference took place in Africa in order to solve these problems and to try to get financial support to improve technology and telecommunications in the continent.
The head of the International Telecommunication Union, Dr Hamadoun Toure, called for “immediate action” and is rather optimistic about the future:” "If you have just 1% of broadband access today you have 99% of opportunity.The good news is that Africa has had the highest growth in mobile use globally - twice the global average over the past three years. For the first time economic indicators are positive from Africa."
In this continent, high-speed access to the Internet is rare and this situation prevents Africa from being part of the rest of the world. This problem also affects education and telecomunications, as the institutions cannot update the technological devices they have. The main problem in Africa is the lack of interconnectivity: more of the 70% of internet traffic within Africa is routed outside the continent, increasing the costs for business and consumers. According to Dr Toure, the solution is to attract the private sector investment so it can help the continent´s economy to grow.
In Toure´s words” The heads of state present will give assurances to the private sector on the availability of competition and the creation of a proper regulatory environment for them in which to evolve," he said. "The private sector from outside Africa and inside will make fruitful partnerships." "Africa has to create the opportunities; Africa doesn't need charity”. "We need to make sure we have a good environment that will attract private sector investment. There's nothing wrong with making profits in Africa”.
It is believed that Africa will achieve its goal by 2015, when more people will have access to the Net and much more money will be invested in telecommunications and technology. Up to now, more than $ 8bn was invested in telecommunication infrastructure across the continent in 2005. We hope that people from this continent will have the chance to improve their economy and be part of the world.

HELP, I NEED SOMEBODY, HELP

The title of one of The Beatles hits pictures exactly what most of our teenagers and children are shouting for: HELP. As I was reading the newspaper this morning, a sad artcle on Nueva magazine caught my eye. This article said that 51% of children between the age of 11- 14 were already drinking alcohol. And the percentage rises in adolescents. According to Alicia Belmonte, IPLAS' director, nobody can sell alcoholic drinks to minors. But it seems that not all of the shop owners respect the law.

But the problem is that drinking beers and other alcoholic substances is not as bad as consuming marihuana. So if we see teenagers drinking we will not tell them this is harmful for them. Therefore, this is a beleif we must change. Smoking, drinking is as dangerous as drug consumption. In fact, most of car accidents, are caused by excessive amount of alcohol.

There are several reasons WHY teenagers drink alcohol: Self-gratification, pressure form their peers, psycho-dynamic relief. Therefore, young alcoholics need a great deal of help to overcome this problem. In this sense, parents must work in unison with doctors and shrinks in order to save their sons and daughters. Otherwise, they will be in a no way out road.

In Tucuman, there is a worse problem. Dancing clubs and discos close at 4.30 at night. But teenagers do not go back home. They stay at somebody's house and drink there until they are no longer masters of their will. Consequently, I shall repeat my idea: Parents take care of your children, see where they are going. Do not ask WHY my son or daughter drinks alcohol. Just do something about it.

Hopefully, adults will re-gain consiousness about this problem and will try to tackle this problem. Until then, youth will be killed by vicious. Please, let's do something!

Source:

• http://www.contexto.com.ar/nota.


• http://www.wcg.org/lit/booklets/alcohol/teenagers.

The End Of The Record Industry?

Review n1
Name: Mauricio Catena
Articles: “Radiohead Says: Pay What You Want” by Josh Tyrangiel, October 1st, 2007, Time.com; “Radical Remix” by Josh Tyrangiel, October 3rd ,2007, Time.com. Link: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1666973,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1668161,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar


The world of Rock, and the record industry in particular, were shocked some weeks ago by the news that Radiohead, the English Alternative Rock band, was going to release their most anticipated new album without a record label, through the Internet and with no suggested price. The announcement was posted by the guitarist Jonny Greenwood in the band´s blog Dead Air Space. Their contract with EMI/Capitol expired in 2003 after their sixth album, Hail to the Thief was released. According to the members of the band, the way in which their new album In Rainbows is released is in part an experiment; it is exciting for them to know how much music costs for people.

Buying the record is rather simple; people enter to www.radiohead.com , download the record and pay what they want for the album, and it´s perfectly acceptable to pay nothing at all. Everthough Radiohead´s strategy is a risky one, they are going to release a “tangible” version of the album in the traditional way, but this time it will be a box-set that will include an extra album, two vynils of the record and extra material such as a booklet and pictures.

Record industry executives are stunned by the band´s choice of commercializing their music on their own without the support of a record label. They claim that this could the beginning of a new era concerning the way music is sold. However, young bands won´t get benefit from this action because they need the support of a record label to get radio play and placements in record stores. Important and recognized bands should pay attention to this experiment; nowadays there is a decline in the sale of CDs, and artists get most of their income from touring. Apart from preventing record piracy, musician are the true owners of their music and they are free to sell it to the audience without the need of any intermediary. Record labels can be useful to the artists to get them live performances and publishing, so in a way they are not so prejudiced by the way the bussiness is done.

However, most of the consumers prefer one-stop shopping for their music, and a wise thing for the major labels to do is to help to create an ultimate digital-distribution site, where each band can sell their records at the price they want. The existing sites for purchasing music in digital format, such as iTunes, dislike record labels because of their insistence on controlling the prices.

Is it going to be the end of the record industry? We don´t know by now, but we have to be sure that the changes are coming.

I am creating artificial life, declare US gene pioneer

Yarek Waszul Source: www. The economist.com

The first synthetic chromosome has been built out of laboratory chemicals, it can be concidered the first new artificial life form on Earth. This announcement will provoke heated debate about the ethics of creating new species, and could unlock the door to new energy sources and techniques to combat global warming. Craig Vender, an American DNA researcher involved in deciphering the human genetic code, is the leader of a team of 20 top scientists involved in this creation.

The synthetic chromosome is 381 genes long and contains 580.000 base pairs of genetic code. The DNA sequence is based on the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium which the team pared down to the bare essentials needed to support life. The wholly synthetically reconstructed chromosome, christened Mycoplasma laboratorium has been watermarked with inks for easy recognition. It is then transplanted into a living bacterial cell and in the final stage of the process it is expected to take control of the cell and become a new life form.

Some people believe Mr Vender has created a chassis on which almost anything could be built, from new drugs for the treatment of multiple diseases to bio-weapons that could be used as a threat to humanity. Although I agree with this belief, I think that carefully controlled this improvement can be a great contribution to humanity instead than a threat. In my opinion the threat in fact is the manipulation that corrupted powers could make of it.

Name: Cristina Soledad Guzmán - Review nº 2
Source: www.guardian.co.uk