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Showing posts from 2018

English Language Challenges

My experience learning English at the University was quite interesting and useful. Not only did I learn from the current English program, I also learned a lot with the previous subjects of English, whose contents were related to science and the four careers of the faculty. I think that currently learning other languages ​​opens up many opportunities, it allows us to expand our way of interpreting content and also to express ourselves. In my career, important scientific publications are in English and reading or publishing papers in English is essential. Also, if you want to study abroad, just by knowing how to speak English you can do it in almost any country in the world. Likewise, you can get jobs that others do not. I particularly liked the idea of ​​writing blogs on different topics. Writing relatively long texts in English is not something I'm used to doing, but this activity put me to the test, and I think I made progress with every blog I published. I also like...

Changes to my study programme

I have been studying biochemistry for four years and I changed from the old curriculum to the innovated one. This is why I do not feel there is a need to change many subjects ... most of the changes made were good. However, something that I would like to change would be the type of CFG's, I think there should be more variety, better schedules and that they were not so demanding ... the academic load is enough already. Another important point is the duration of the career, which is designed for eleven semesters. In many countries professional careers last around eight semesters ... perhaps if some theoretical subjects were removed from the academic curriculum and more practical learning was prioritized, the career would be shorter, and you could decide to continue studying a specialty focused on the area in which you really think about working in the future. Regarding the infrastructure of the faculty, I think there is something much needed ... a library large enough for...

In my opinion...

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Hello everyone, today is the time to give my opinion about some topics of public interest.   What is your opinion about climate change? Climate change is no longer a problem of the future, we are living it right now and the more we pass the time without doing something about it, life on this planet gets worse. That is why it is important to take serious and drastic measures to stop and, if possible, reverse the damage we have caused. What is your opinion about having an exotic pet at home? I think it's not right to have an exotic animal at home. These animals belong to a specific habitat and no matter how hard we try to give them the necessary care, we will be harming them by removing them from their place of origin. What is your opinion about Immigration? In recent years, our country has received a significant number of immigrants of various nationalities, the majority being of Latin American origin. Personally, I love the m...

From cartoons, animes to TV series

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Hello everyone, today it's time to write about cartoon, anime and TV series.   About anime I do not know much, I've only watched Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist. Although I liked them, I think that anime in general is not for me. I must clarify that I do not consider myself a big fan of anime, animated series, I only see them occasionally when I have some time. I particularly like animated series that are for adults, for example Rick and Morty or BoJack Horseman. The former is an animated series about the infinite adventures of Rick, a genius alcoholic and careless scientist, with his grandson Morty, a 14-year-old anxious boy who is not so smart. Together, they explore the infinite universes; causing mayhem and running into trouble. The latter is an american adult animated comedy-drama series about BoJack Horseman, a self-loathing alcoholic horse currently in his 50s, whose acting career peaked when he starred in a succes...

POST GRADUATE STUDIES

Hello everyone, today it's time to write about postgraduate studies. Honestly, it's kind of overwhelming to think about that at this moment, when I'm just running my current career, but I guess that time is moving fast, and we have to think about the future now. First, I think that acquiring new knowledge is always good and for a future biochemist it is probably necessary as well. I will finish the major and the professional degree and later I will do a master's degree in biochemistry that will lasts approximately two years. Later I would like to work for a few years and maybe continue with a diploma while I work. I would also like to have some experience abroad, work and / or study outside of Chile. Now a topic that must also be considered is the cost associated with all specialization courses ... it is not easy to study and work, so getting some type of scholarship is the best idea. For that reason, I suppose that my postgraduate studies will depend...

Your new job

Hello everyone, today I wrote to you about the work that I would like to have in the future. Of course, it is just an idea because everything depends on the opportunities that arise and the decisions we make along the way. Well, broadly speaking ... I would like to have an exciting job in the field of biochemistry, in a laboratory or perhaps in a huge industry. I would like my job to allow me to travel around the world, to know as many countries as possible (either for work or in my free time). Obviously, I would like to have a good salary, I do not want to be a millionaire, but I do not want money to be a concern either. And finally, I would like my job does not demand so much time, life is not just work (however much you like it). I imagine that all these ideas sound quite good, but to achieve them it is necessary to think about the possibilities and set some goals. It would be good to take some major and learn new languages. Honestly, I still do not know which one I woul...

OPTICAL TWEEZERS

The science of Nano scale structures deals with the investigation moreover as utilization of parts or systems that are 10 9  times smaller than the quality size of parts.  Biochemistry  deals with numerous metabolic and biochemical processes of living beings. Consolidation of those two technologies resulted in starting of  Nano biochemistry . This knowledge base combination of applied science & biochemistry will produce various innovative tools. Currently, optical traps are one of the most preferred methods for manipulating objects in microscopic systems in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology and engineering. In  articular, optical tweezers with gradient forces have proven to be an ideal tool in single-molecule biophysics. With the aid of modern positional analysis apparatuses, the motion and forces of a trapped biomolecule during biochemical interactions can be measured and studied. A variety of biological mechanisms have been investigated...

About pets, love and friendship

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Hello again, today I will tell you about my favourite pets. Being quite honest, I do not consider myself a fan of pets, but…I have six cats (yeah, like the crazy old woman of The Simpsons). If you are wondering how I got to have six… The truth is that for some reason people leave cats in front of my house. Of the six cats, five are completely black and their names are Pino, Almendra, Pepe, Pelusa and La Cosa. All of these are around six and eight years old… On the contrary to what people usually say, they have not given me bad luck. The sixth member arrived recently, she was abandoned at about three months of age and is a blonde tabby cat, because of that her name is Panqueque (for the orange crepe cake). I particularly like cats because they are quiet animals, they do not usually bother me, and they are very independent and intelligent ... which does not mean they do not need care and attention. Also, each one has a different “personality” and I like that. Pa...

Holidays

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Hello again, today I will tell you about my last trip. I do not think it was my best holidays, but I'm too lazy to write about another trip. Playa Chica beach, El Yeco So, this not so memorable trip was at the beginning of June this year, when five friends of the university and I planned a quiet week of winter holidays in El Yeco, Algarrobo. During the first days it was mostly sunny, so we went to the beach and stayed as long as possible because we knew rainy days would come. It was just as we planned, we were absolutely alone, the whole beach just for us and it was really relaxing to disconnect from all the hustle and bustle of Santiago. The following days we enjoyed touring the pine forests and spent time relaxing in the small cabin where we were staying, cooking delicious food (really), listening to music, drinking a good wine and smoking some weed.  The best thing of all was that we got to know each other better between friends and we also had time to clear ou...

A country I would like to visit

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Hi everyone, today I would write about a country that I would like very much to travel, Colombia. I think there are many reasons to travel to Colombia, it has a great cultural and gastronomic richness, besides having extremely beautiful natural landscapes. It is the only country in South America that has coasts in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, has a variety of tropical and mountain climates, the best coffee beans, the carnival of Barranquilla, the vallenato and is also recognized for the kindness and hospitality of his people. I personally would like to make the coffee route, a trip through the western center of the Colombian Andes, where you can enjoy the beauty of the forest and its richness in crops, as well as beautiful thermal springs, such as Santa Rosa de Cabal, a place where you will find exuberant waterfalls that form natural pools wrapped in the intense green of the vegetation. I would also like to relax a few days in San Andres; s...

EVALUATION OF YOUR BLOGGING EXPERIENCE

Hello everyone, finally it's time to write the last blog of the semester. Well, the experience of writing these blogs was a little different than what I'm used to. I think I started by hating them a little bit, but as the semester progressed, writing about the proposed topics was easier and I liked it. I guess the latter is because I started to improve my writing skills. I think my vocabulary also improved a bit. The proposed topics seemed good to me in general, some were a little harder to write than others, but it is not that they were a torture. Particularly the topics that I liked the most were “Favourite movie”, “Career-related website” and “Favourite picture”. In the future it would seem good to me that there was a correction of the writings week by week during the semester. In this way one could correct their mistakes and not commit them again in the next blog. I also think it's a good idea to allow that one or two blogs have a free choice topic. ...

FAVOURITE SERIES, MOVIE OR BOOK

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Hello everyone, today I will write about a movie that I enjoy a lot, it is not my favorite, but it is an excellent cinematographic piece that I think not many know (but m aybe some of you know that a whole chapter of "The Simpsons" is a wink to this movie) . I speak of "Run Lola run", German movie of the year 1998 written and directed by Tom Tykwer. The movie starts with Lola, who receives a desperate phone call from her boyfriend Manni, a criminal who has collected 100,000 deutsche mark in cash from his most recent crime. Lola had agreed to meet Manni and drive him to deliver the money to his boss, Ronnie. However, when Lola fails to arrive on time, Manni loses the bag with the cash in the subway. Manni tells her that unless he raises 100,000 mark to give Ronnie in the next 20 minutes, Ronnie will kill him. Lola implores Manni not to do anything stupid and to wait while she gets the money somehow. The rest of the film is divided into three runs by Lola. ...

A SUBJECT YOU ENJOY STUDYING THIS SEMESTER

Hi, everyone, the truth is that it is difficult for me to talk about a subject I enjoy this semester, because I am repeating a couple of subjects and the rest still belongs to the basic career plan. But I think that the elective subject bibliographic seminar is quite interesting. Bibliographic seminar is a subject in which you must develop a research project and present this research at the end of the semester with a written report and an oral presentation. Initially, a teacher presents a general topic and you develop an investigation of something related to the topic. My topic for this semester are cytokines and their role in immune processes, and my research is about biological inhibitors of TNF-α as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. What I like about this subject is that I have enough time to do the research and I can manage it as I want (it is quite flexible). Also, I can research about something that I really like and learn a lot. I just have to attend a meeting a...

CAREER-RELATED WEBSITE

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Hi everyone, today I would write about a website related to my career… well, related with any scientific career I guess. Because if there is something that all biochemists and related careers hate, it is paying to read a paper. SCI-HUB...to remove all barriers in the way of science. SCI-HUB is a website with millions of academic papers and articles available for direct and free download. The amazing thing here is that this website bypasses the publisher paywalls  allowing the access for anyone. This project was founded by Kazakhstani graduate student Alexandra Elbakyan in 2011,  as a reaction to the high cost of research papers . I remember that a couple of years ago different academic publishers filed a legal complaint and a lawsuit against SCI-HUB by copyright infringement, and the website died for a while. But keep calm because it just change the web domain and works like always. I use this website very often, about three times a week when I have ...

MY FAVOURITE PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY

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Hello again, today I will tell you about my last trip. I do not think it was one of the most memorable trips, but I'm too lazy to write about another trip. So, this not so memorable trip was at the beginning of June this year, when five friends of the university and I planned a quiet week of winter holidays in El Yeco, Algarrobo. During the first days it was mostly sunny, so we went to the beach and stayed as long as possible because we knew rainy days would come. It was just as we planned, we were absolutely alone, the whole beach just for us and it was really relaxing to disconnect from all the hustle and bustle of Santiago. The following days we enjoyed touring the pine forests and spent time relaxing in the small cabin where we were staying, cooking delicious food (really), listening to music, drinking a good wine and smoking some weed.  The best thing of all was that we got to know each other better between friends and we also had time to clear our minds. ...

FAVOURITE PICTURE

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Hello everyone, today I will show you one of my favorite photos. I warn you that it is not of the best quality, but at least it has some special meaning because I took it on my last trip. This photo was taken in February of last year and it shows ancient ruins of Isla del Sol, Bolivia. This island and others more located in the Titicaca lake allow to have an incredible view of the nature and also allow to size the immensity of the lake (it is like being in the middle of the sea). It is inside my favorite photos because of the memories it brings me from the trip. On this Island, I particularly met many people of different nationalities, with cultures and realities very different from mine. Thus the group gradually enlarged on this trip, continuing the route through other impressive places in Bolivia and Peru. Currently many of these travel companions are friends and we keep in touch by whatsapp and instagram.

MUSIC - FAVOURITE GENRE

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I'm not one of those people who spend all day listening to music. However, I listen to all kinds of musical genres such as rock, reggaeton, pop, reggae, classical, EDM, etc. It is a little difficult to choose a favorite musical genre, but I think it would be EDM (Electronic Dance Music). I started listening to this music when I was about 15 years old. I like it for its synthetic and organic sounds with repetitive rhythms, and depending on the style or subgenre, I listen to study, sleep, smoke weed or even to have sex. EDM has multiple subgenres, including house, trap, techno, trance, drum and bass, dubstep, etc. When I listen to this music I do not really care much about the DJ ... I guess I do not have a favorite "musician". But I'll attach a video of some song that I've listened recently on Spotify.

MY FAVOURITE PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY

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I should start by saying that I am not one of those technology fans. However, in these times it is difficult to think about living without a cell phone, and this is my favorite piece of technology or at least the technological piece that most influences my life. Because now you can do practically everything with a cell phone, communicate from different platforms, take photos and videos, access the internet and from there all the possibilities of the world in the palm of your hand. I had my first cell phone at approximately 12 years old and I remember that it was not so much what you could do with one of them ... well in addition to important functions like calling or sending text messages, you could share songs by infrared or something like that (ID to the shit). Luckily they evolved and now you have apps for everything. I still use it mainly to communicate with my friends and family, but I also listened to music on Spotify, I travel on Uber, I share content on Instagram, I mak...

WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS PROGRAMME/CAREER?

To be totally honest, since childhood I had no idea what to study in the future. It’s very typical that children want to be astronauts, doctors, dentist or even lion tamers…no matter what the career was, my point is that they know what to study. I guess I didn´t look much into the future and that is how I finished the highschool without knowing which career to choose. So I decided to take a gap year. In that year I was free to do anything I wanted… and among other things find my “vocation”. I visited many universities and researched several professional careers, especially those in the medical and scientific field. Finally I decided to study biochemistry as the only option. Today I´m studying biochemistry in the University of Chile. Is my fourth year here and I don’t really know if starting this career was the best decision. I like my career, but university life makes you question your decisions at least a couple of times… dedicating so much time to study can make you want to...
My name is Sebastián Nicolás Valdés Palacios. I was born in 1995 in Santiago, Chile. I´m living in the Ñuñoa district since always. In my family we are six: my grandmother Eliana, my two parents Pablo and Margarita that are married, my eldest brother Pablo of 25 years old that is a psychologist, my younger sister Catalina of 16 years old that studies in the high school and me...yeah the middle child, I´m 22 years old. Almost forgot a few pets, I have five black cats that are pretty quiet and that luckily they aren´t my responsibility. I did my elementary and high school studies in the same school, Santa María School. Currently, I study biochemistry at the University of Chile. My hobbies are mainly, running, travelling, playing some sports like rugby, but never soccer because is boring for me. Also, I like to go out with friends, watching series and movies. If I have to remove something of this world, it would be the TV.