Sunday, August 29, 2010

Friday, August 27, 2010

JOURNEY TO THE ANTS; A Story of Scientific Exploration

     I read this book translated in Korean at twelve years old. When I was younger, I had read a book, Ants, which was written by Bernard Werber. This book is a long novel, told about ants' life and their adventure. I was completely attracted at this story. Since I read this novel entirely, I have become to be absorbed about ants' behavior and their life style.

    After I was interested in ants, I wanted to know passionately the scientific informations which deal with ants' life, behavior, construction of their nest and all about them. So I started looking for some books in libraries. Finally, I could contact with this book, Journey to the ants. I immediately borrowed it.

Book cover


     While I first read this book, I felt wholly excited. Because this book has many informations related to ants. This book deals with lots of scientific things about ants. The contents of this book are divided in 18 chapters, at the same time, can be separated in 4 parts according to the outline of the story; First, authors, Edward O. Wilson and Bert Holldobler, tell the story about their childhood and the motivation to study ants. Second, the book deals with scientific informations such as ants' life cycle, construction of their colony, ants' caste which divied ants' class anatomically and ethologically, unique ant species, their cooperation and conflict, dominance, the method of communicating and etc. Third, authors explain about how ants can control the nature. They compare what they are saying in their book with some mistakes which the human has been doing. At last part of the book, writers teach some methods which we can study ants and raise live ants' colony easily. Especially, they are also telling about the material and device making specimen of ants.


     In the first part of the book, the part of telling about authors childhood, I quite agreed with their enthusiasm. I was affected to decide my future goal by reading the story about their growth period. In particular Wilson and his animal-liked friend's story remind me of collecting activities with my friend.

     Holldobler saw that ants carried fast their cocoons and larvae to be safe their nest after his father turned the rock which the ants had lived under. He was interested in this situation, and he gathered live colonies and studied them in artificial nests, learning the local species, drwing their distinctive anatomical traits, and observing their behavior. All the while his enthusiasms bubbled over. At last, he became an entomologist when he graduated curriculum of the university.


     Another author Edward O. Wilson, an honorary professor in Harvard university, is my idol. He lived in Miami, United states of America, filled with most various species of plants and animals. As he was young, he liked to fish. One day, he was looking for pin-fish, who has some sharp spine in their body, for catching a stingray. However, when he pull up his fishing rod, he was caused an accident that he was struck his left eye by a pin-fish's sharp spine. For this accident, he could just see the two-dimension because of his one eye, he was gradually attracted by insects living the upside of earth like ants. At the same time, Wilson could contact with diverse species of ants and he kept, collected ants for rasing and observing.

              Edward O.Wilson(Left pic.) and Bert Holldobler(Right pic.)



      In second part, dealing with scientific informations, my most interested part is 'The origin of cooperation'. In this part we can learn the origin of ants' cooperation. Authors explain how ants live together for using genetic research. Previous scientist thought that the weakness ants didn't have vritical weapons which can threaten their natural enemies, they could be hunted easily. So they were gathering members to protect themselves, and it becomes the origin of cooperation.

     However, this theory was disused in 1980s. Because of the trend of researching genes in 1960s, scientists could know many epochal informations and applied in various parts of science. In this part, Wilson and Holldobler explain the beginning of ant societies' cooperation to refer to genetic factor. The species which are belonging to Hyneonptera have a unique genetic trait known as haploid. Because of this feature, each gene-closed ants could live together. When I first contacted this theory, I was wholly attracted. How perfect it is! If I could not see this book, I would never consider such as this fact.

A queen Polyergus breviceps with a host Formica argentea worker.

      Except for mentioning contents, this book has many interesting informations and pictures. In the part of 'Social Parasites',  we can see the most strangest ants' picture and learn about their biological features, ethological traits. Ants is one of the most successful insects. So another species of insects try to be a parasites on an ants colony. But what I concerned is polyergus which is genus of ant to be parasite other formica's colony. This ants have some distinctive anatomical features such as a pair of jaws which are sickle. Using this jaws they can easily hunted other ants colonies' pupae. After hatching out hunted pupa, this worker serve for polyergus colony permanently.One of the species of polyergus, Polyergus samurai, live in the Japanese Island, the continent of China and the Korean Peninsula. As I saw this ants in my eyes, imagine this situation! Polyergus walked fast to their hunted ant nest, and some of hem returned to their nest carrying slaves' pupae.


      I could learn about ants from reading this book. It led me to be intented on biology. After I read it, I collected and studied ants actively. I followed the methods explaining to make specimens of ant and raised alive ant colonies. Observing and studying an alive ant colony made me happy. At now, I want to be an entomologist. Exclusive of scientific informations, It is consturcted authors' passion and I can feel the biologists' life. I strongly recommed you to read this book, if you concern for ants. It can be a starting point which make you be a biologist!

  


August 28th, 2010
wirtten by 21205 Kim jae hyeon.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Aren't you afraid of riding the bus?

(사진 제공 : 조선일보)

These days, citizens who commute by bus afraid of the explosion that might be happen while they ride in the bus. Citizens' anxieties made the bicycle stock price increased. This is because of the explosion in the seoul in Aug, 9th .
In that explosion, 17 people got hurt. 11 of them was in the bus, and 6 of them was walking around the bus when it exploded. Riders in the bus run away through the broken glasses and the broken pieces even hit the buildings' windows around that area. One of the injurers was a girl who got severly injured her foot, and she got surgery to cut them off. Citizens feel sorry for her because she known as a girl who devoted herself to her family after her father left.

This bus was manufactured in 2001 and it was expected to be disused from next year. Experts assume that explosion was because one of the 8 gas tanks under the bus exploded. Experts suggested to bus drivers not to charge over 90% of the gas.

Between 2005 to 2008, there were 8 CNG gas related accidents, but it was first time to exploded while running. These CNG buses are known as eco-freindly vehicles and show its power by cleaning air of cities. Currently 95.5% of all buses are CNG bus, and before this year ends, the rest 4.5% planned to be changed. As the bus trend become CNG, the bus needed to be checked regularly.



20834 한혜진

Plant Factory

20804  Do Han Kim



  "Plant Factory" is a factory that grows vegetables or gains on a large scale like making products in a factory. A professor of Columbia University, USA said, "30- story building can feed 50 thousands of people." At that time, it was considered as a cock and bull story or far future story. But now it becomes realization.

  Japan has 50 plant factories and is going to build another 100 factories until 2012. Europe also has such factories. For example, Holland, a agricultural developed country, runs lots of rural plant factories using glass greenhouse and solar energy.

  Plant factory is a developed form of original vinyl greenhouse, which provides only a blocked circumstance. The Plant factory injects carbon dioxide, controls temperature with an air conditioning system and supplies nutrient solution and LED light instead of soil and sun light. Additionally, it uses robot automation technologies and unmanned production systems.

  This factory does not need large land and water, which is the best advantage of this plant factory. It does not care of bad weather such as typhoon or abnormal climate in production. Also, it can generate fresh, organic products on the time you want.
  In spite of these advantages, the reason why this "Plant Factory" spread is limited is because of costs. It's facility costs about 17 times of that of vinyl greenhouse. And because it uses artificial light, it need huge amount of electricity.

  However, the spread limit will change soon. As cities develops, vegetable supply increase and the transportation costs very much. And LED is effective material for plant factory, therefore plant factory will used all over the world soon.

Stevie Wonder, Seoul Once Again

Fifteen years after his first show in Korea, “Eighth Wonder of the World” and Motown legend Stevie Wonder will be in Seoul next month to call on his Korean fans and tell them he loves them once again.
As part of Hyundai Card’s large scale concert series, the multi-Grammy Award winning hitmaker will stage his latest show at the Olympic Park Gymnastics Arena for a one-night only performance on Aug. 10.
Organizers promise the much beloved singer will perform some of the timeless classics which have come to define his career, such as “You are the Sunshine of My Life” , “Isn’t She Lovely” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You.”
Songs like “Living for the City” are more identified with his grass roots fans than crossover ballads like “I Believe.”
With more top 10 hits to his name than any other male solo artist in the North American Billboard charts, Wonder also reigns supreme with more than 30 singles, as well as being the most honored Grammy Award-winning solo musician with a total of 22 songs.
Blind since birth, by age 13 the young musical prodigy had already cracked his first major hit with “Fingertips (Pt. 2).” Also by that time, Wonder was already skilled in playing the piano, organ, melodica, clarinet, harmonica, and a host of percussion instruments.
Wonder also received an Academy Award for Best Song for his 1984 hit single “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” featured in the film “The Woman in Red.”
In 1989, he was honored by his peers for his contribution to music when he was inducted into The Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame.


G20 SUMMIT IN SEOUL, KOREA


-Signification of G20 Summit to Korea-


written by 20212 우연수

In November 11th, 20 countries are going to gather in Seoul to participate G20 summit. G20 summit has been held since 2008. and upcoming Seoul G20 summit is fifth meeting. G20 was first held in Washington to solve global economic crisis. Before 2008, the economic global meeting wasn't G20, but G7, G8, and so on. However in 2008, 20 developed and developing countries gathered because of very serious economic downturn. Anyway, it was the first economic summit, which invited the top of each countries. G20 is very influential and big meeting.



So it is very impressive that G20 will be held in Seoul, Korea. As it is big and important event, Korea steps up preparing for G20 in terms of transportation, security, and other convenient facilities. Not only is G20 beneficial to whole world, it is also good chance for host country. It is rare chance but Korea was remarked as fifth G20 host country. It's because Korea was the fastest country who overcame recent global economic crisis. Many countries acknowledged Korea's ability to deal with economic crisis. Moreover, President Lee showed leadership in previous G20 summit, so it was also main factor. With high global expectation, Korea has both responsibility to lead G20 well, and chance to get benefit.



Through G20 summit in Seoul, Korea will get much economic benefit. Seeing shortly, many foreigners including presidents, ministers, and guards from each countries will visit Korea and spend money. Then Korea can build a lot of profit through accommodation, transformation, shopping, and tourism. The economy will be active. Furthermore, in the long run, the Korea's image goes up, which means Korea brand value rises and gives confidence to global customers. And until now, the global market adapted Korea Discount. It means Korea exported products with 1% discount, so Korea got 1% loss. However, after G20, Korea predicts to get Korea Premium which guarantees the original price of products.



G20 in Seoul has more signification over economic benefits. Having G20 in Seoul is one of the best diplomatic result among many deals. It is the historically memorable event. Secondly, Korea is the first country in Asia who hold G20, because it always has been held in Europe or North America. This shows how much Korea developed. Thirdly, holding G20 summit, the international financial meeting, means that Korea may take initiative in global economy, not only leading the international meeting. If Korea succeed in holding G20, it will take a lot of benefit.



However, if Korea fail, it will get dishonor worldwidely. To avoid this situation, Korea should prepare perfectly in terms of the meeting contents, convenience, and security. Also, citizens' role is very important. Many foreigners visit and see Koreans, Therefore, all Koreans should show the aspect of cultural citizens, and give good images. Success only depends on Koreans.

Beyonce is enemy of peace?

Rcent pop diva Beyonce was in hot water in Egypt.
Islamic conservatives are blame her and exert pressure cancle the consert.
Especially,Islamic lawmakers and thier supporters have campaign in online accusing goverment consent the consert.
Also, Beyonce cancled her consert in Malaysia beacause of opposite of Islamic organization
If the consert in Egypt is accond plished,it is the first stage of Beyonce in NorthAfrica

20907 김동휘

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Insole Commercial

10308김은혜 10319이주원 10328탁영서

Driving power of miracle

[essay]
 20822 myoung-jin, Lee


Driving power of miracle

- fighting spirit & passion



Republic of Korea accomplished the miracle:a round of sixteen of the World Cup held in foreign country, for the first time.

A round of sixteen (Uruguay vs Republic of Korea) was a little inconvenient.
However, it was also great match because players and the whole nation ran together with their one mind.
Korea Republic claimed the victory in first match(Greece vs Republic of Korea).
Korea Republic shutout Greece 2:0. It gave entire nation a hope.
Although our team lost, we saw stronger play of them in second match(Argentine vs Republic of Korea).
In third match(Nigeria vs Republic of Korea), they made a big mistake, but they never gave up their play.

Although Red Devils and Taegeuk Warriors were separated, they shared joys and sorrows. Maybe, result of World Cup is not a miracle. Taegeuk Warriors had fighting spirit and Red Devils cheered our team passionately. Also, we have had deep national consciousness. These three points make the incredible result.

There is noteworthy thing about our cheering sight. The entire nation wore red T-shirt and poured out onto the streets. It is more valuable than outcome.
The more people love the festival, the more they have the mature sense of citizenship. So, the sight was better than before.

Taegeuk Warriors gave us victory and delight. They will remain in our memory forever. They are real winner.
World Cup presented everyone a wonderful gift. We will never forget this summer, 2010.

Monday, August 23, 2010

-20820유지원





Some people who like robots believe that without doubt SF films will come true. In such belief of ours, with development of science, machines are becoming smarter and smarter. These machines can be found easily in our daily lives or will be made soon. These are intelligent robots, smart phones, etc.

'Asimo' developed by Honda is a humanoid robot that can walk erect for the first time. It can go up and down the stairs, run and avoid obstacles. What makes it special is that they can conduct an orchestra. All over the world it gives people hope that we can make a robot with artificial intelligence.

'Hubo' has similar functions, too. Kaist developed Hubo in 2009. It is the first robot that walks erect in korea and can play rock-paper-scissors game. And it can dance slowly with men and when Hubo shakes hands with a man,                         it   notices a counterpart's strength so that this robot does it with proper strength.
                                                                                                                       
'Hanako' is a useful and unique robot. It was developed in Japan by several dentists and robotic engineers. This robot was used as an instructional and practical tool for the dentist trainees at the beginning. When the trainees prick Hanako's teeth, made of synthetic resin, by mistake, it can tell that it is sick, turn its head. And it can move chin and tongue, drool in the mouth and bleed. Besides, it can recognize voice, speak function. So they not only practice medical skills but learn effective ways to talk to calm down the patients. Hanako can also evaluate the trainees' skillfulness.


'EveR-3' is an acting robot. It acted a leading role in 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', and a traditional performance of the National orchestra of Korea.


Although these robots are not well-known to the general public, now many intelligent robots have already developed. There are robot cooking, runnig errands that buys things by a shopping list input through a mobile device, teaching English, and doing housework. Even we can find some robots acting as an infant, smiling, laughing, and crying, etc. These robots have not been put into practical use yet. However, will the dream that we live in harmony with robots come true someday?




20820 유지원

Thursday, August 5, 2010

English contest







The Popularity of Inception









Christopher Nolan, who achieved great success through The Dark Knight, recently released his newest movie, Inception. Inception hit the Korean box office with more than 3 million viewers in its first two weeks. What is the reason for the popularity of the movie?







First of all, its interesting plot attracted a lot of people. Cobb (Leonardo Dicaprio), the main character of the movie, is a special security guard who steals others’ thoughts, as well as protecting peoples’ mind using the dream machine. One day, Cobb was offered proposal by Saito(Ken Watanabe) to incept a business decision into the mind of Robert Fisher Jr. (Cillian Murphy). So, Cobb organized the best team for success, and set to work. This fresh and interesting plot with incredible special effects like the zero gravity scene join together to create exquisite harmony.





Secondly, the great actors made the movie perfect. Characters in the movie have complex psychological depth. Especially Cobb, who is the character who not only is the leader of the team, but cannot escape the memory of his late wife, Mal(Michael Caine). Leonardo Dicaprio performs Cobb’s complex psychology perfectly, as audiences can feel what inner conflict Cobb has.









Finally, the ending of the movie is the aspect of the movie that makes people so captivated. This is because the movie jumps from dream to dream, so people get confused with the boundary between dream and reality. Furthermore, the director, Christopher Nolan didn’t give a concrete conclusion to the movie, so there are many different opinions about what the ending means. Surely, because of the imprecise ending, more and more people will get interested in the movie.



Personally, my favorite scene is Ariadne’s first experience of using the dream machine. In her dream, she reconstructs a city as an architect, trying even unscientific things like folding Paris, expanding a bridge, and so on. This scene represents the unlimited possiblities of dream, where ‘anything is possible'. I was really surprised with the director’s imagination, and its special effects that make the director’s imagination come true.



There has been no movie like Inception. Thanks to the reasons above, the popularity of Inception probably won’t end for a while.


-Yujin

Paradis

Bernard Weber's new book!

Paradis is the new book of Bernard Weber, who has many korean fans. It was published in 2010.

He has novel ideas and a unique imagination. He also wrote Ant, Dictionary of Common Knowledge(comparative and absolute), Tanato note, Empire of Angles etc...

God is especially popular, and sold 1 million copies in France alone.

The main idea of Paradis is that what we imagine about the past and the future could possibly be true.

Many people have already bought and read it. Paradis looks easy for God to read.

New Movie: "Salt"

These days, one of the famous movies in Korea is Salt

Salt is produced by Pillip Noyce in America.

Its main character is famous actress Angelina Jolie, so this movie became famous more quickly.

Salt's entire focus is on Angelina Jolie, so she stands out in this movie.

Because Angelina Jolie's name in the movie is salt, "salt" became the movie's title.

Many people saw Salt and it is getting good reviews.

The number of people seeing salt is increasing day by day.

If you see the movie, you won't regret it.


                                                                                                                                                    By Eun Ji

A Great Sized Donation

According to Naver News, 40 American billionaires will donate their property to various charities. The Giving Pledge said billionaires like William Henry Gates and Warren Edward Buffett have promised that half of their property will be donated.

Forbes announced, “the minimum amount of donated money is 100,500,000,000 dollars”.

Warren Buffett led the way by coming up with the idea for these donations. He said, “our donations are just the beginning, but this trend will influence other billionaires to do the same.”

Bill Gates already donated beyond 28,000,000,000 dollars. Also, Warren Buffett promised “I will donate 99% of my property to charity”.




  
                                                                                                                       Heo Jong-min

The Best Weird Ice Cream In the World

The Best Weird Ice Cream In the World.


It’s really hot these days. Everyone wants to eat something cool, such as ice cream.

However, ice cream is not good for your health.

So, we want you to lose your appetite for ice cream.

Let’s have a look at the best weird ice cream in the World.


The first flavor to take away your appetite is ‘Oyster Flavored Ice Cream’



This ice cream gives you an entirely new taste. You can feel fresh oysters in your mouth with this ice cream. In addition, oysters are good for your health. The cute sea shells have a lot of calcium.






The second kind of ice cream you don’t want to encounter is ‘Fish Flavored Ice Cream’




This tasty ice cream has a creamy texture and has a fresh fish smell.

It has a very fishy flavor and is quite salty.

This can make you feel like you are in the ocean.

In addition, it has a reasonable price.

It’s only 2$





The last ice cream you’d never want to eat is ‘Cheese Burger Ice Cream’

This ice cream is mashed up hamburger.

You can eat this Ice Cream in Heladeria Coromoto in Venezuela.

It contains meat, cheese, and French fries.

After you eat this ice cream you can put your name on the eater list.




Mmmmm…sounds tasty!





by. 박주형

The Boom of Twilight

The Twilight movie series is popular these days.

The Twilight series is about teenage vampires and romance with a girl,Bella.

The first movie of the Twilight series was shown to international audieces in 2008.

It was a big hit in the world, so sequels are continuously being produced.

Since 2008, the Twilight movie series's popularity has gone on without end.

People of the world like the movie because the original novel is very popular so, It is already known by many people.

Another popularity factor is that it appeals to both men and women because it has action and romance.

Lastly, the movie's actors are very attractive.

Evidence of the popularity of the series size of the audience.

Twilight's audience was about 1.3 million viewers, and the second movie , New Moon, grabbed even more audience than Twilight.

Furthermore this movie introduced people to new stars such as, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

They swept the almost all of the awards at the MTV movie awards in 2010.

The consequence is that the boom of the Twilight series continues.

Due to this boom, more vampire movies and dramas are emerging.



By Eun Saem

Harp Seal Hunting.

In ancient times, People hunted animals just for their survival.


Although, nowadays, people don't have to hunt them excessively, they keep on hunting for personal profit.

Supposedly, hunting Harp seals is permitted because they eat too much, so the authorities allowed killing of seals even though it is too cruel. In 1960s, the general populace.

The public kjnew about hunters' merciless methods for killing seals, and they protested about it. Thus, the Newfoundland area regulates the number of seals to be hunted and prohibits cruel methods of killing.

In spite of these efforts criticisms continue about the hunting of baby harp seals.

As a result, Harp seals are in danger.

In many ways, hunting animal is not illegal or a bad thing, but unprovoked killing must be excluded and limited by strict laws.


                                                                                                                                       By. wonji

The City Of LA Declares Yuna-kim Day -By Sun-a

The City Of LA Declares Yuna-kim Day


The city of LA set August seventh as the day of Yuna-Kim to celebrate Yuna-Kim`s visit to LA. The municipal assemblymen of LA passed this proposal by unanimous consent. Yuna Kim was selected by American`s Overseas Koreans Support Foundation as a proud Korean Prize winner, so celebrate Yuna-Kim attended the awards ceremony. The city of LA declared Yuna-Kim`s day as August 7.


One of the municipal assemblymen held a press conference and he said "I`m glad to declare Yuna-Kim Day and I`m happy a very excellent athlete like Yuna-Kim is visiting LA."


Yuna-Kim arrived in LA August 6th before the awards ceremony. Yuna-Kim is going to sign autographs on August 6th and she signed skates the are going to be kept permanent at LA city hall.



By Sun-A Jang