Zita Martins and her findings on the origin of life

One of my colleagues from my first university course back in Portugal is now a Research Associate at Imperial College:

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/people/z.martins

Zita Martins has been studying meteorites for a few years now and seems to have found good evidence that they really contain amino acids and even nucleobases which might have had a major role in the establishment of life on Earth. Her team was able to prove that the samples were created out of the Earth because of enrichment in C13, as she explains in a very recent interview to channel4:

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/basis+of+life+comes+from+stars/2286077

Or as published earlier in:

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/amino+acids+found+in+meteorites/1780047

In parallel, there have been some recent changes in the believes of what made up the primordial soup. These apparently invalidate the studies which lead to the most common explanation that amino acids were created in the early Earth’s environment.
This allied to the confirmation that meteorites could have brought life’s building to Earth seem to indicate that live here had an alien origin.

For me this continues to bring up the same question, either here or out there, why suddenly some complex molecules formed? These findings might show that life is not an exclusive of Earth, however they don’t prove it. Because it still might be the case that only Earth had the proper environment for the development of life as we know it, though the building blocks might have come from abroad. Without knowing how those building blocks first came to being we have no idea how they got into the asteroids and whether other life forms might exist.

Just to make it very clear, I’m not an apologist of alien life forms, but neither do I deny their existence. Anyway, for me it is quite interesting that this was proven. I’m also very proud that it was done by someone I know and whom is not saying it just for the money or fame, it’s because the research has lead to this conclusion.
I feel the universe is too big for us to be the only life forms in it; however I don’t feel a bit worried if we somehow descend from other life forms. I believe there is a high probability that the differences and the distances are huge.

Cátia Moreso - One of the best voices in Portugal

Yes, she is one of the best voices in Portugal nowadays.

Check her at the final of the 1st Lyric Singing Contest held by the Portuguese Rotary Foundation, where she got the 2nd place plus the public prize:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ioTfbAJ0nQ
and also from the same contest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKYHUzrUM4Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oyrtc_rZtqI

I meet Cátia in the symphonic choir Lisboa Cantat, where I’ve been singing since the end of 1999… unfortunately, she left the choir a long time ago and I myself have been absent for over a year now, first to finish my MSc thesis and then because I’ve moved to the UK…

I’ve been singing all my life, first with my mother, my older brother being a very special listener, and then in a few choirs. I don’t really like singing alone, but I love the choir effect – not just many people singing at the same time, but singing different things together.

In my hometown I grew up with the Eborae Music Association, first in the children’s choir, then the youth choir and finally the polyphonic choir. This Association was created to bring back to knowledge and increase awareness of the 17th century Évora Cathedral Music School and has now become the Regional School of Music.
http://eborae-musica.org/

When I moved to Lisbon to begging my undergraduate studies I took part, for a couple of year, of the recently revived choir of my university – Universidade Técnica de Lisboa.
http://www.utl.pt/page.aspx?idCat=132

Then came an opportunity to sing the Carl Orf’s Carmina Burana with Lisboa Cantat, indeed a very special concert in a very special place… and I haven’t quit them since then. This allowed me to sing big master pieces: Mozart’s, Verdi’s, and Braham’s Requiem, as well as one from a Portuguese author – Eurico Carapatoso; Haydn’s The Creation; Prokofiev’s Oktober Cantata; part of Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances; Portuguese folk songs arranged by Lopes-Graça and Carrapatoso; and many more.
http://www.lisboacantat.com/

The story of stuff

My sister sent me an email with a link to an interesting video… you can watch the original version and see The Story of Stuff website at: http://www.storyofstuff.com/

But you can also find it in youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucMJ32-xp64
or also with portuguese subtitles at:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3412294239230716755
(for both links there might been some problems with sound synchronization)

I found it interesting and think it might help raise conscientiousness about some of the problems our societies are facing nowadays. However, I don’t agree with everything they say.

Of course I cannot approve the almost random use of the words “toxics” and “chemicals”. And I find that some things are obviously exaggerated, not only the chemical part, but that doesn’t mean there are no grounds for the claims made.

For me, the main things to remember are:
the explanation of externalities - very simple and effective
the origins of the shopping race - very enlightening
the emphasis on the linearity of the process and the need to transform it.

I believe that one of the major problems we face is in fact this last one. We need to realize that we live in a finite world with finite resources. Money doesn’t grow on trees and therefore we have to be very careful when trying to apply economic theories which are clearly based on the assumption that economic growth is limitless.
We are told that we are becoming richer each day, but the concept of richness depends on how you definite it – this isn’t a new idea to anyone I hope. But I feel this is a chief issue, and it seams some people are finally trying to include other factors that money alone in the way we perceive a country’s wealth. However as the video points out, companies are getting much heavier than governments, uplifted by the globalization of markets, leading to the conclusion that our world is run by companies not governments. And so if companies continue to command us and their solely purpose is to strive for money this will carry on as a vicious circle of exploitation of our minds, bodies and all the surroundings.
I’m not saying that money is bad, or progress is bad, or any of that. I’m just saying we have to make an effort to understand how we can create a virtuous circle which allows us all to achieve some kind of equilibrium between us and between us and the world we live in.

Don’t just give in to the work – watch TV – shop scenario they describe.