Research on babies may find problems earlier

New technology of babies' eye movements could precisely pinpoints problems in a early stage and help children on areas such as educational help. A lot parents try to find out whether their screaming baby is tired or hungry while watching tv. For a lot of parents this is quite annoying, but for doctors this could be a great opportunity to make diagnoses. By movements of a baby's eyes they will be able to find problems related to attention, communication and languages development. However, the academics are trying to find out whether it is possible to identify these skills in babies as young as six months.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/16/research-babies-eye-movements

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Comment:

I find this a very strange kind of research, but nowadays nothing is strange enough for a research. I wonder too if it is possible to identify problems in a baby, since babies are still developing skills and such. I guess everyone develops different, and maybe one skills takes longer to develop than the other. Therefore I'm not sure if this will be really something to take serious and rely on. If this will ever work, then I think it's a great thing, since doctors will be able to find out what's wrong with a baby at a very early stage. And with this, I really hope that this research will succeed.

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How to learn Mandarin in two days

According to Paul Noble it is possible to speak Mandarin in two days. his course is entirely different from the system that schools use. Noble's method seems to be quite simple and is a lexixal approach, which means that a small selection of phrases, like chunks, are a lot more effective than learning long lists of words. Especially standard sets of words are more effective when you go to a restaurant, or to tell what I, he, she or it did. The main idea of this different approach in a language is to use verbs in a present or past tense. Noble thinks that is the best way to make things clear to natives, and to use these in all kinds of different sentences without a lot of trouble.

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Comment:

I think this way of learning a language can be effective, but I don't think you are able to speak Mandarin within two days using this way. I think learning parts of important sentences are more effective than learning lists of words, even though some words can be quite important. I just think that a combination of most used sentences + words are a must, instead of learning words how to say you're cleaning the floor because someone puked over there.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/18/speak-mandarin-in-two-days

Anorexic women are the target for ''skinny porn'' websites

Anorexic women are the target for ''skinny porn'' websites

Pro-anorexia websites are using pictures from vulnerable anorexic women. These women posted their pictures to show them to other people for ''thin-spiration'', but actually porn websites pay pro-ana websites to use these pictures. The porn websites are busy with signing up new clients, advertising images, movies, and even host anorexia porn on websites such as YouTube and anorexia pornography forums. These forums are there to make vulnerable women to explicit photographs of themselves. Many people against pro-ana feel that this is something for internet service providers to take care of. They think that internet providers are able to remove the most hardcore materials.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/apr/06/anorexic-women-targeted-by-porn-websites


Comment:

I think internet providers could be a solution to remove a lot, but that doesn't mean that every problem has been solved. These vulnerable women really need someone that keeps an eye on them, and make sure that they won't do what  people on the internet tell them to do. I also think that pro-ana websites should be sued when they earn money with people's pictures, because it is unfair that they earn money with these pictures, while the people who took them don't even know that their pictures have been sold. I hope governments can also do something about this, because in fact this is all about exploitation of vulnerable people.

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Pet owners can no longer afford their animals

Pet owners can no longer afford their animals

Owners of pets can no longer afford to provide their pets of food and visits to the vet, as economic times get harder. Half a million pet owners feed their animals with their own leftovers, and two-thirds try to find an average of £11.04 each week for pet care. Owners even pass the vet when something is wrong with their pet. The number of abadoned animals taken into centres have increased by 19%. Because of tough times, more than 4000 animals were given up voluntarily for financial reasons such as losing homes, losing jobs or to move house.  

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http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/latest/2011/05/02/pet-care-suffers-as-times-get-tough-115875-23101500/

Comment:

I think it is possible that people cannot afford their animals anymore, but they should have thought about that before they took an animal into their homes. I think financial problems are lame reasons to abandon your pet. A pet is part of your family, and it is quite insane to kick out your family members when you're going through a hard time. I think feeding and to give a bit of love to your animal are things that should be easily done. I do agree that vets are extremely expensive, but if you really can't afford it, then you have at least tried to save your animal.

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