Eat healthy food and have a healthy body. We have know this for a long time. Eat fruit and vegetables and stay physically healthy. However, we now know that there is also healthy food for your brain. Eat healthy food and have a healthy mind. This is not perhaps a surprise. After all, we all know how chocolate can change our mood. However, new research clearly shows the link between diet and mental health.
For a few years, there has been a campaign to improve school meals in the UK. Daniel Brown is the head teacher of a school that banned junk food and started serving healthy food in 2006. Our research shows that, since 2006, the childrens behavior in class has been a lot better. They are now calmer and they concentrate more. As a result, they are learning more.
The UK Mental Health Foundation has started a campaign Feeding Minds topublicise its own research. John Powell has been a psychologist for thirty years. This research shows that our diets have changed a lot, and the level of mental illness has increased. Now, I always consider my patients diets, especially when they complain of depression and insomnia.
The final piece of research concerns the Mediterranean diet. Since 1950, scientists have know that this diets (fruit, vegetables, fish, olive oil and red wine) helps you live longer. Since 2006, they have know that it also prevents Alzheimers disease, a serious mental illness that affects the elderly, and they are now telling the world about this important discovery.
So, what all this research suggest you eat? To improve your memory, eat salmon. To improve your concentration, eat vegetables. To fight insomnia, eat nuts. If depression is a problem, eat brown rice. If you worry about your later years, cook with olive oil. Whatever you do, use your brain and shop for your mental health.
Causes of animal extinction
Imagine you run a small food shop in your local neighbourhood. Suddenly, a giant supermarket opens for business opposite your shop. What happens to you and your business? In the natural world, things are often the same. The red squirrel was living happily in England when, in the 1880s, many people brought grey squirrels from North America as pets. Since then, these pets have escaped into the wild. They now eat the same food as the red squirrels, and they eat it more quickly.
Consequently, now there aren't many native squirrels in England and they are in danger of extinction. There are many invaders that don't cause extinctions, but they do destroy plants and harm the economy. For example, European red deer are destroying the forests in South America because they eat the young trees. Rabbits have spread from Europe and now eat farmers' crops all over the world. These kinds of invaders are causing problems for humans, unlike the grey squirrels, which cause little damage to plants and don't damage the economy. Few invaders are large land animals; most of them are fish or small animals like insects.
There are thousands of these invaders and these smaller animals often mean farmers lose a lot of money. The apple snail from South America doesn't cause much damage in Europe, but it causes a lot of damage in southeast Asia because it loves to eat rice plants. There are very few positive sides to these animal invasions. However, in Britain today, one invasion story offers some hope. Chinese mitten crabs first came on ships from China. These crabs destroy local environment and attack fish in fish farm. However, in China these crabs are an expensive food, so, now, Britain is selling them back to China. The crabs are travelling on ships again, but this time they are food, not invaders; and this time they are helping the British economy, not harming it.
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Social future opportunity
The world is constantly changing. The society is changing. There are a lot of positive changes in society, like education system, creativity in the arts and science, multicultural population, voluntary work. All these make an illusion of positive future. But it is only one sight on the problem. New figures showed yesterday that Germany has the highest percentage of childless women in the world. 30% of German women have not had children, and this figure rises to 40% among female graduates. Germany's Family Minister, Ursula von der Leyen, said that if the birth rate does not go up, Germany will die. Germany's birth rate is one of the lowest in Europe, with an average of 1.37 children per woman, compared with 1.75 in Sweden and 1.74 in the UK. German mothers are also the oldest, with an average age of thirty when they have their first child and most parents choose to have only one child. According to Professor Norbert Schneider of Mainz University, the reasons for Germany's low birth rate include poor childcare, a school day that ends at 1 p.m., and old-fashioned attitudes among employers. In addition, many German women are already in their mid-thirties when they finish university and get a good job.
Ms von der Leyen, a mother of seven, says that another difficulty is that some women cannot find a suitable man. `Uncertain' men (who are unsure about becoming fathers) are also responsible for the low birth rate, she claims.
The minister has developed a plan to encourage people to have more children. First of all, if parents need private childcare, they will get help from the government, by paying less tax.
Secondly, families will get up to 1,800 euros a month from the government if men stay at home for two months after the birth of a new child. But some men, even in the minister's own political party, are unhappy with this last idea. Professor Schneider says that in Germany it is acceptable for women to take time off to have children. However, if a man takes time off work to look after a new child, his career will be over. The typical family picture is very much alive in Germany, he said. Women look after the children while men go out work.
Worlds innovations
Nowadays the question of innovations is number one in every sphere. The more developed humankind is, the harder it is to invent something completely new and useful. No doubt, our planet needs innovations, for instance, due to rapid global warming, due to wars and etc. There are lots of things we cant imagine our life without. Among inventions that have changed the world are nuclear energy, aeroplanes, cars, DNA, clocks, printing press, telephone, computers, television and radio, electricity, refrigerators, Internet. All these inventions belong to different sciences: mathematics, economics, history, biology, chemistry, medicine, physics, astronomy and so on.
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DNA became revolutionary invention for forensic science. This science deals with crime interviewing witnesses, collecting evidence, look for fingerprints, hairs, blood. DNA test is being prepared 20 days, but in many cases its worth waiting.
Printing press appeared in the 15th century and have changed social life forever. It made it possible to produce books and newspapers in large numbers and quickly. This meant that ideas could be spread much faster than before. Printing press led to education for everyone. Thanks to printing press people could become professional writers and journalists.
Behind all these invention are people famous scientists. One of them is Stephen Hawking. He is well-known for his work on black holes. He believes that the birth of the universe (the Big Bang) created many small black holes. A black hole is a place in space where gravity is very strong. Anything that falls into it never comes out. Nothing can escape from it, not even light. As a result it is impossible to see a black hole.
It is quite evident that science and technology can solve all most any problem and it is important for governments to spend more money on scientific research.
Working at night time
The standard working day is from 9 to 5. However, for some people, its bedtime. These people are the night workers nurses on the night shift, lorry drivers crossing continents and bakers preparing breakfast bread. Working at night brings particular problems: family life is difficult, social life is limited, cafes are closed, there are few buses and its bad for health. With all these problems there are people who choose to work the night shift, and the many of these people are planning to stay in their jobs.
Some people work at night because its the only time when its possible. There are advantages and disadvantages of working in the dark. For example - astro-photographers. They are fascinated by the stars and they find it great to take pictures of them. Good point is that stars are amazing. The main drawback is poor social life. The main solution is to bring laptop to work and join an Internet chat room to make friends with people abroad.
Night security guards also work only at night. Good thing about this job is that it brings rather good money. As for disadvantage, it is boring, quiet. But it is possible to turn this problem into an advantage. People may start a degree in some subject by distance learning, and read course books during long quiet nights.
Some peoples work involves repairing the railway tracks, so they have to work at night, because it is impossible to stop the trains during the day time in developed countries. Good points about this job are great spirit team and getting paid extra. The main disadvantage is that it is tiring and hard.
Some people work in international call centers that function 24 hours. It is a good job with a good salary, there is a possibility to practice foreign language. As for drawback, working at night is depressing.
Employment
As famous Russian writer Maxim Gorky once said When work is a pleasure, life is a joy. Of course it is ideal, but it is possible to achieve it. When people are trying to find a job, they naturally prioritize. In a job people look for different things, like good pay, friendly colleagues, a well-known company, pleasant working conditions, opportunity to travel, learning new skills, and even having fun. Combination of all these things is a very rare thing, if ever possible at all. In this respect job searchers have to take into consideration peculiarities of industry they are going to work in.
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One of the most popular industries now is oil industry. Here employees are well-paid. Oil is sometimes called black gold, because it is extremely valuable. It is made by very small plants and animals that died on the sea bed millions of years ago. Over 50 per cent of the worlds oil is in the Arab World. Russia and other countries that were once a part of the Soviet Union also have a lot of oil. When oil is founded in the sea bed, a special platform called a rig moved in the right position. Oil from the ground or sea bed is separated into different types of oil in a special factory called refinery. Oil is used for fuel (e.g. in car engines) and to make electricity. We also make plastics with it.
Global Affairs
The United Nations is an organization that works in many different areas. In order to carry out its work, the UN has a large department of international civil servants (the Secretariat). Fifty countries founded the United Nations after the Second World War, on the 24th of October 1945, to be exact. After such a terrible war, they founded the UN in order to maintain world peace and security, to develop friendly relations between countries and to improve living conditions and human rights across the world. There are now 191 countries in the UN, thats nearly every country in the world, and representatives from these countries meet at the UN headquarters in New York.
The head of the UN department is the Secretary General and there are about 9,000 other staff members. The Secretary General is responsible for the day-to-day organization of the UN and its many projects. For most people, the Secretary General of the UN is the face of this massive organization. Over the years, Secretary General has come from many different countries, such as Egypt, Peru and Sweden. The current Secretary General is from South Korea.
As well as these working responsibilities, the Secretary General is a symbol and face of the United Nations. He or she is also a spokesperson for the people of the world and can ask the UN to help with difficult situations in the world.
The Secretary General also chooses the Messengers of Peace. These people publicise the work of the UN and they are chosen from the field of arts, literature and sports. Messengers of Peace have included Luciano Pavarotti (opera singer) and Muhammad Ali (boxer).
The UN works in a wide range of areas, with a general aim to improve the lives of ordinary people and to keep peace in the world. For example, the UN helps refugees, helps the economic development of poorer countries and runs the court of international Justice. Two areas that the UN is not involved in are entertainment and religious education.
Global warming
During the long history of our planet, the climate has often changed for natural reasons. This is because the energy that we get from the sun changes regularly. The planet was warmer during the time of the dinosaurs, and during the ice age it was four degrees lower than today. However, nowadays the climate is changing faster than before. This rapid change is known as global warming. It is caused by the current high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.
There has been CO2 in the atmosphere for millions of years. Animals produce CO2 when they breathe, and plants use it to make energy and oxygen. The CO2 that is not used by plants forms a blanket in the atmosphere. In a positive way, this blanket traps the suns energy and keeps the planet warm. However, CO2 is also produced when we burn oil, coal and gas the fossil fuels. Because of this, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is now higher than at any time in the last 600 000 years. The CO2 blanket is getting thicker and thicker, and this means the planet is getting hotter and hotter. This is causing the rapid climate change and it is a danger to life on this planet.
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We can see early effects of global warming in the polar regions the Arctic and the Antarctic. The sea ice is melting earlier every year and this means that life for the polar bears is getting harder and harder, because they can only find food when the ocean is covered with ice. Sea levels are rising because the polar ice and mountain glaciers are melting. This means that islands in the Pacific Ocean are disappearing under the sea. As well as this, the seas are also getting hotter. This is causing problems for both the rainforests and the coral reefs. The warmer seas means there is less rain in the rainforests. In the Amazon rainforests, the larger trees are dying and there are serious droughts. Coral reefs are very sensitive to temperature changes and we are now losing some of the richest environments in the world.
People have the power to slow, and possibly to stop, the rise in temperature. We have to produce less CO2 and to do that we have to change the way we live our lives.
Sports psychology
There are different kinds of sport in the world most of which are not very popular, so called minor sports (for example, badminton, judo, fencing, archery, etc.). Unfortunately, there is lack of media interest in these sports, poor facilities and funding. There should be proper government investment in facilities and training. There is also a need in sympathetic media that tells young people about less well-known sports in order to develop their interest. It is important that kids get the chance to experience different sports from an early age.
There is one more side of the story, big sport is big business. To illustrate this we may turn to football, the World Cup, in particular. Female football fans are everywhere. However, despite the recent increase in the number of women watching the World Cup, the majority of the advertisements during the games are aimed at men. There have been some adverts that have been aimed at women. However, this adverts have seen women not as fans, but as people who dislike the game. For example, one airline has been offering women-only holiday trips to escape the World Cup.
Advertisers have been too interested in women who hate football and theyve forgotten about those who hate football and they have forgotten about those who love the game. But some companies think they have been clever. For example Adidas decided to focus on adverting to men during female football. Some companies have noted that women tend to be more casual watchers of TV sport than men, so it is difficult to keep their attention during the adverts.
