Dinobirds - September 29th

Ever since I remember, I knew dinosaurs were extinct. The discussion was how they disappeared not if. And even though there is no final word about it, the consensus is that dinosaurs suffered from a series of dramatic changes in the climates supporting their voracious appetites and necessities.

However, evolution is hard to predict. So a hypothesis started ringing the bells of science and modern scientists claimed since the 19th century that birds were the living descendants of dinosaurs, and ever since the discussion has been in place, supported mostly by the discovery of fossils such as the Archaeopteryx, strongly linking dinosaurs and birds.

Besides, it doesn't take much comparing an ostrich with the image of a velociraptor, they are about the same size, strong legs for running, long neck and elongated snout, etc, etc. Of course, that is out of my imagination, but it's not difficult to see the resemblance, moreover when we talk about certain key bones being conserved in both animals.

Anyway, PLoS just published a study done in a Aerosteon riocoloradensis, a dinosaur that lived 85 million years ago in Argentina and that possessed a bird-like respiratory system. A very interesting report that tells us about the "invention" in nature of a structure later exploited by a different species. Related or not? Probably, until we have a certain anser these reports bring us something good to read.

Etiquetas de Technorati: dinosaur,bird,evolution,bone,nature,science

Green thoughts, or so i thought - September 27th

I remember reading about serious green movements in the early 90's when I was coming out of my teenage years. It sounded as the right thing to do, but how much have we done ever since? Buty "we" I mean us, society, you, me and everybody else. Governments sign agreements, treaties, one less respected than others. As with any other world topic, it is subjected to politics but, in this case, mainly to economics. Yes because it is the money the ruler of any movement right or wrong trying to save our planet.

Our society and even the industry predicates the good manners to conserve our planet. Be sure that I started being very concerned when news kept coming about global warming, ice caps melting, icebergs breaking down, hurricanes increasing frequency and intensity, El Niño visiting us more often, etc.

All of this made me think, how are my two children going to live in this world. When they turn 25, the world's population will be around 9 billion people, and I'm sure the oil will still be driving the economy, but it will have a very strong competitor, water.

Yes, water shortage is a reality. and not a projection. Not in vane "Thirst" was the winner of the SlideShare annual contest, because it is something we are living, not something we're hypothesizing.

THIRST

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: design crisis)

Hear me on this...or you won't later - September 27th

I'm a great fan of technology and the products derived from it. It amazes me that we are able to handle information (audio, video, documents, etc) in the way we do nowadays, whatever the information is we can carry it, send it, remix it, upload it, download it or anything that a computer allows us to do.
But as any other human activity, if we don't control its use responsibly, we can lose important things such as your ability to hear.
NIHL (Noise Induced Hearing Loss) is a condition that is on the rise because most earphone users are not paying attention to the big picture, keep it low.
The use, or abuse, of loud sounds directed to your ear canal will have a damaging effect if you don't control its use.
I recommend you to follow simple guidelines published in this document from the Minnesota Department of Health.
And please, don't let this message fall in deaf ears!

Daring Education - September 21st

Every single time I open my bloglines account, or visit my favorite sites from my delicious account, I get constant reminders that information and communication technology (ICT) is the current technology. it's difficult to adapt to changes, but that's what human beings excel at, no wonder we have advanced more in the last 200 years than in the previous 18 centuries. Before people use to create friends communities by postal mail, waiting for replies every month. Nowadays your replies can take a minute or two, literally. Communication has experienced a revolutionary growth speed. Videoconferencing by Skype, or other tools such as Ekko, help you realize that the world isn't that big, and that we are closer to each other than we suspect.
Denying that ICT is a major tool to spread the knowledge is like going back to light up cities with candles and oil torches. Could we make it to our final destination? Sure, at some point. Is taking too long being necessarily conservative? No, it is just denying a reality.
Try it. Give your students the power to speak, podcast, webcast, reply 24/7.
Check out the following video, a daring video with a reality that is closer to you than you realize. If not, ask your son or daughter how many people can they meet through the WWW.

TecnoEducación - Septiembre 20

El nivel de exigencia que se vive hoy en día en la educación va cada vez más en aumento. Pero no me refiero a la exigencia hacia los alumnos por hacer tareas y estudiar, más bien es la exigencia de los alumnos sobre el sistema de educación y la metodología educativa lo que cambia, evoluciona y demanda una renovación constante acorde con las nuevas tendencias mundiales.Hasta hace no muchos años se pensaba que al Perú las cosas tardarían varios años en llegar, más aún cuando se trataba de tecnología. Sin embargo, el mundo de hoy es un mundo que se puede recorrer en segundos a través de tours virtuales con Google Earth, Educación en Europa, Mitos Mundiales, etc.
Uno de los ámbitos en donde el uso de la tecnología viene siendo utilizada con gran amplitud es la Educación. Veamos una pequeña prueba de ellos en el siguiente video:



Nuestro Colegio está seriamente comprometido con liderar el uso de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación. La implementación de las nuevas tecnologías: Podcast, Webcast, Moodle, y las innumerables herramientas Web 2.0 vienen siendo parte de una gran capacitación a nivel de docentes, para poder utilizarlas de forma directa en las aulas. Nuestros docentes se encuentran en una constante capacitación y entrenamiento en estas herramientas.
La información está esperando para que cualquiera la encuentre, analice y modifique. Nosotros, los docentes, somos los encargados de señalar el camino de forma interactiva y dinámica.