Category: Communication

Example of drugs from plants are:

Aspirin, quinine, morphine and many more. However a large proportion of drugs made from plants are not medically used.

Drugs must be tested before given out to people to use. This is because they are substances that cause changes to the body. If they are not created correctly for the person, it could cause harm instead of help them. The first stage to testing a drug is with human cells grown in a laboratory to make sure it is not toxic to us, make sure it is safe. This first stage is very crucial as this is probably the first version of the drug and it may not be developed right. It is common for the substance to fail this first test. After the first stage the drugs are tested on animals. A specific amount is given and then the animal is monitored very carefully for more or less the whole time, looking for any effect to appear. If the drug passes the second stage it is tested on healthy human volunteers. They are given a miniscule amount to make sure that there are no problems. Finally an optimum dose of the drug is tested on them and they are monitored. There is always the possibility that the dose could have unexpected side effects that harm, causing the drug to undergo more development, costing more and more money.

Antibodies play a key role in our immune system. They are proteins that are produced by the immune system to target and fight off antigens trying to cause an infection. For example this could be bacteria, a virus or another organism that is invading our body.

A pathogen will enter our body and soon our cells will recognise that it is an invader, an antigen. Then the particular white blood cells called lymphocytes would be alerted of these intruders and start creating antibodies. The antibodies are specifcally made to fight that certain antigen. Eventually the invader will be engulfed by numerous white blood cells known as macrophages or phagocyte. They are both called T-cells.

When the antigens have been dealt with, the antibodies still remain in case the same antigen attacks again. This means those antibodies will be ready the next time and respond almost instantly. For example if chicken pox returns for the second time, the antibody created by the immune system would remember how to fight it and kill it before the infection even starts. This is known as immunity.

The invention of the microscope was a huge step forward to our knowledge of almost everything. We are now able to discover things on a microscopic level. This allows us to find out about the structure of cells and what they do. We were able to discover our genes and why we are how we are. Without the microscope we would not have been able to cure all the diseases that have developed. Everyday new things are being discovered and a part of that is because of this helpful tool.

Magnification and Resolution:

Magnification is when we make smaller things appear larger or in other words enlarging it. We enhance or sight and allow ourselves to be able to see things that are so small that we cannot see it with the naked eye. The larger we can get it to be, the more detail we can find out. Things that we need a microscope to see are microscopic. Resolution is the ability to find the minimum distance between two objects – the ability to distinguish between two different point.

Electron and Light Microscope:

Both microscopes are are good at looking at things that are far too small to see with the naked eye. One uses electrons and one uses photons/light. Electron microscopes can magnify up to 2 million times which is a lot higher than light (2000 times). As well as that it is possible to view the outside shape in 3D. Electron microscopes have disadvantages as well. One of them is that they are very expensive and take longer to set the experiment up. The thing that is being viewed sometimes needs a thin layer  of metal on top if it to reflect electrons, must be dead and completely dry.

Darwin’s theory of natural selection is when species over millions of years slowly adapt to their habitat to survive. Some are born with small characteristic changes that make it easier to survive and pass these traits on to their offspring. An example of this is peppered moths. Over a long time their pale colour turned into black so it could camouflage with the black trees around it. This let it have a much higher chance of not being killed by predators and reproduce whereas the pale moths would be spotted instantly and die. That is why we see more darker coloured moths in our civilisation today. This theory is called natural selection not because someone chooses what dies and what does not but because of how the more adapted species live out the others which have not evolved. It is inevitable to happen over time as anything living does whatever it takes to survive.

This film is a western film. The main character is a 14 year old girl named Mattie Ross who goes on a journey to take revenge of her father’s death. She knows that the killer is a man called Tom Chaney but he had fled a long way before getting caught. Mattie goes to seek help to catch Chaney and ends up finding deputy Marshall Rooster Cogburn and a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf. There are many aspects of the theme of ruggedness such as gunfights or kill or be killed. Mattie near the start of the film straight away shows grit by crossing a deep river on her horse to catch up to Cogburn and LaBoeuf who had left her behind because they thought she would weigh them down. Many arguments occur between if she can keep going through all the dangers but it still works out. This is because Mattie has something quite special. Her convincing and arguing skills are so good. She managed to win her way with a stable master and get good bargain. The Marshall showed the most grit. He had a gunfight on horseback against four people and won with the help of the Texas Ranger’s amazing sniper shot to finish off the last guy. Even after that, Mattie is poisoned by a snake and needs treatment immediately. Cogburn rides his horse carrying Mattie for miles. Since the horse was injured from the earlier gunfight, it falls over and dies. Cogburn carries Mattie in his arms for even longer until he falls and a house is nearby. How wouldn’t all of this be grit or ruggedness with your life or someone you care abouts life on the line.

In this non-fiction book a man, James Bowen, lives rough on the streets of London. Taking drugs, and busks for a living. This means he has barely enough money to keep the rent on his apartment and potentially could end up on the streets. Already this links to the theme of ruggedness because it is someone struggling to survive in modern day London. James has more problems. As he busks in a very public place, some police patrol the area. He does not have a busking license so he gets kicked off the site.

A ginger cat, who later is named Bob, changes James’ life. Bob follows him everywhere as well as on the bus. This is because James found the cat with a broken leg and took him to the vet. Since Bob does not stop following him, he walks around with Bob on a leash and sometimes on his shoulder. This attracts more people towards him while he is playing guitar and then give money. This helps James survive and earn more money for himself and his companion, Bob. I did not realise at first how this book could link to ruggedness because it was set in modern London instead of something classic like a post apocalyptic theme. It made reading this book interesting to see all the ways it does link as well as it is an autobiography.

Voting is important. It lets you tells your thoughts on things without anything stopping you. In elections for president, we all want that one person we agree and like to be president. However if you do not vote, there is less of a chance of them being it. Some may say that them self, the one out of millions of people, do not really contribute that much to the vote as so many other people would do it. But that is wrong because for example the votes for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney for being president of the United States was very close. Obama only won by about 4%. If those people did not speak their mind then USA could be a different place with someone else leading it. Everyone wants their country to be run the best it can. You can quickly and easily make a difference to what your voting for and no one can disagree or take away that vote. Why would you not vote if could?

I started off saying talking about how we ‘all’ want something. This makes everyone feel included in the speech. I gave reasons why we vote and why some people do not feel the need to vote to tell both sides of the argument. To counter the argument of not voting I gave an example of how such a small difference can change big things. Then said that it is so easy and quick so why would you not speak your mind.

The door of Michael’s chicken and chip shop opened. Two men walked in. There was one man at the counter.

‘What you gonna have?’ One of the men said.

‘I dunno yet,’ The other one said. ‘what are you going to have Al?’ Al ignored him. He was too busy looking at the food list above the counter. The lights were bright inside. It was about 7pm so it has gotten dark outside.

‘So,’ said Al ‘I’m going to have a chicken leg along with large chips.’

‘There are only wings left.’ The man behind the counter intruded.

‘What?’

‘There are no-‘

‘Why is it up there then?’

‘We ran out about ten minutes ago from the recent customers.’ A head poked out of the doorway leading to the kitchen. The cook knew arguments were going on. He went back round the corner of his small kitchen to stop getting involved.

‘Just give me what you have then.’ Said Al

‘Same here.’ Said Max, Staring at the counter. The two men were given a box with their food. They kept the hoods of their black coats on whilst eating.

‘What drinks do you have mate?’ Max said wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

‘Um, Coke, Fanta, Sprite and more.’ The man replied.

‘Lucozade?’

‘What did you say?’

‘You trying to be funny? Do you have Lucozade, George?’ Max said looking at the name tag on the man’s shirt.

‘Sorry, no.’ George replied.

‘What kind of place is this!’

‘This place ain’t good enough.’ Al said. George was confused. Most people who want a drink let it pass if the place only has a certain selection of drinks. He wanted to be rude but realised it was better of trying to stay off arguments.

‘What’s that look on your face, huh?’ Max said. George quickly turned his face to look at the wall.

‘Do you think I’m stupid?’

‘No.’

‘Why you lying.’

‘I’m not.’

Max grabbed George by his shirt. ‘You’re annoying me now.’ Max said. A man in a business suit walked in. He was looking at the floor as he pushed the door open. Al turned round. ‘You better get out of here.’

‘Huh, what’s going on?’ The man looked up darting his eyes around.

‘Unless you wanna get banged, get out.’

The man slowly back stepped through the open door. He was shaking slightly. He walked round the corner until he was out of sight of Al. He reached for his phone in his back pocket. He tried to switch it on and it stayed black.

‘No, switch on!’ He said loudly. Al was about to help out Max until he heard the voice of the business man outside. He pulled open the door and took a look round the corner.

‘Ay you, I see that phone.’ Al shouted. ‘Do you think I’m that dumb, you calling the police.’

‘No I’m not, it is not what it looks like.’ The man said frightened. Al ran out towards him and snatched the out of battery phone.

‘Go home or we’ll get you later.’

The man scrambled off in the dark. Al tried to turn on his phone. The cracked screen stayed black.

‘He wasn’t lying.’ Al said. He returned to the shop. Things returned to a calmer state. Max was sitting on a chair with his arms rested on the table. He put his head down on the table.

‘Ay Al, what’s going on?’

‘Bruv, I had to make sure he didn’t call the police or something.’ Al said.

‘And?’

‘And what?’

‘Did he do it?’

‘Nah, I stopped him.’ Al said looking for the man behind the counter. ‘Where’s, um, George?’

‘He’s been dealt with.’ Max said putting away a kitchen knife.

‘Alright then, we done here?’

‘Yeah, let’s get out of this budget place.’

Max and Al walked out the chicken and chip shop. They put their hands in their pockets.

‘You going home now?’ Max said to Al.

‘Yeah sure.’

‘K, see you later bruv.’

‘Cool, see ya.’

Max went the opposite direction of Al. However he realised someone was behind him. Max went into an alleyway but still heard someone’s footsteps at the same noise level.

‘No one goes down this short cut. They’re always afraid of getting mugged or something.’ Max whispered to himself. ‘Is it the police?’ He continued to think a walk. The person behind kept a steady pace.

‘Nothing’s going to happen if I turn round anyway.’ Max thought. ‘It’s probably someone just walking home as well.’ He then acted like he saw something on the wall as he walked past it a tried to catch a glimpse of the person.

‘Damn, didn’t see it properly,’ Max raged in his head. ‘I’ll try again.’ He turned around and flicked his head back. The person was a very tall man. His hands were in his coat pockets. Max walked out of the alleyway to a silent road. His flat was across it.

‘It’s been a busy day, I wanna go bed now.’ Max said to himself whilst rubbing his eyes a bit. The man’s footsteps behind were louder and faster. Max ignored that, he was rummaging all of his pockets for keys. Accidentally he dropped a small pocket knife.

‘Didn’t want to do that dammit, where are my keys?’ he said. The tall figure tailing Max whispers to himself  ‘Good, I’ve been following the right one.’ Max paused outside the flat door to find his keys. He thought he may have dropped them and turned around to see the man crossing the road towards him.

‘You looking for something?’ The man asked.

‘Yeah, I lost my keys somewhere.’ Max said rubbing his eyes again and yawning. His vision became quite blurry. The man noticed this.

‘Are they silver? Is it this?’ The man said getting closer.

‘I think so, pass it here.’

The man held the silvery object by a handle. Max realised too slow. The metal glinted before it pierced his stomach.

‘That’s what you get for killing George.’ The man said. He then put his hands back into his pockets and walked away. Max was left on the pavement bleeding.

I stand here alone. Watching the clouds drift by as the sun sets in the horizon. Soon it will be dark, and I have no where to go. All I do and can do is wander around aimlessly whilst observing everything carefully. It’s like some power I have. Whenever I look at something it’s like I analyse everything about it, almost like words just appear next to the object telling all info about it in front of my very eyes. It’s like not knowing how you move your body, you just somehow do it.

I don’t have a name. I don’t know who my parents are. And I have yet to find out these things. Someone probably murdered them since I can just recall some faint memories of my old village being very rough and dangerous. People were maniacs running around with no brains whilst threatening each other with weapons such as chainsaws. This mechanism must be very treacherous to others but to me not so much. No one would try to kill me. Why? No idea. The sun seems to be lowering slower than usual today. Another thing I have no answer for. I guess I should just sleep and work out what to do next other than to keep wandering around this whole world.

…

What is that!? A rift? Wait a minute. It just says ???. I mean that means it’s not even from this world. To see what’s through this would be amazing but clearly a stupid idea. But then again what else do I have to do with my pointless life. I’m in the middle of no where with nothing to do. Scarce on food and remaining water. Exactly 237ml remaining. I could probably survive and escape this area but what is the point when I had all the time in the world to do that yesterday. Here goes everything I guess…

The open rift instantly collapses inwards whilst ‘The Wanderer’ warps through unconscious. Then he gets spit back out into an old village. He awakes to a familiar sight. The environment is spamming him with numbers and letter in a random sequence due to his mysterious power. This Makes his  brain weak from all the ‘warping’ and is unable to cope all of it. The last sound he heard was a revving chainsaw swerving furiously about  before everything went pitch black.

Shakespeare, a well known man of literature, uses many methods to keep his audience interested in his plays. A play which has many of those methods is Macbeth. For example even things like how the characters argue, fight and influence each other is a sort of method for hooking the audience interest as well as keeping them interested. There ar more of these techniques that Shakespeare uses to make his plays so good.

A technique which is used often in the play Macbeth is ‘Soliloquies’. This is when a character says his thoughts aloud to the audience. Also the person which is saying the soliloquy is usually alone with nothing else around to listen. In a way it’s like when speak to yourself so quietly, no-one can hear it. An example of this is in act 2 scene 1. Macbeth can see a dagger but it isn’t real. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle towards my hand?” I think that this is a part where Macbeth starts to show signs of madness and being thirsty for power – to be the king. This is happening because Lady Macbeth has convinced him so much he can see illusions. This is a soliloquy because a couple lines before the quote in the scene showed that everyone had left the room.

A technique which is used throughout the whole play of Macbeth is ‘dramatic irony’. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something the characters may now know. An example of this is when there is a group of people plotting to do something that will lead to a disaster. Like when Lady Macbeth are plotting to commit treason. Only he two of them know about this. This technique kind of links to soliloquies because the person or people are revealing a plot to the audience with no one else around. Except soliloquies have only one person. “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t”. This is showing that Lady Macbeth is kind of saying that it will be alright as long as we cover it up and not get suspected. By flower and serpent it means that act all innocent but inside you are actually horrible and a killer. This is dramatic irony as only Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the audience would know about this.

Dramatic irony maintains the audiences interest a lot because it may give a feeling that you want to shout out to the actors that they are going to be murdered. Also it makes the audience want to know how the plot turns out afterwards. Is it successful or not? It builds up a lot of tension which keeps everyone alert. In a way it’s like at the end if a TV show where they make some sort of climax to make you watch the next episode. For instance the main character is on the brink of death or a battle is about to commence.

Most likely one of the most important things which keeps to audience interest is simply the characters. Every story needs characters which are good, bad, trouble makers, etc. A large characteristic used in the play Macbeth is how they influence each other. Changing their thoughts, ambitions and making them a completely different person.

At the start of the play, Macbeth is quite a good, loyal soldier. He thought that king Duncan was a great man and stayed loyal to him. Then the three trouble maker witches came in. These three made a prophesy which made Macbeth have his first change of thought. Deep down, he actually wanted to become the king due to the witches telling him he would in the future. “Let not light see my dark and deep desires.” he says in one of his soliloquies. This quote shows his change of mind, It gradually gets worse and worse once he is convinced by Lady Macbeth to kill Duncan. Once he killed king Duncan, Macbeth becomes king and kind of goes on a blood rampage, killing anyone who might threat his crown. He soon does realise this but says in act 3 scene 4 “I am in blood stepp’d in so far, should I wade no more.” This explains that he has killed so many people already, why stop now? There is no going back. This keeps the audience attention because it makes them see how everything can change from a character’s influence on others.

Another thing that was mentioned a bit before is the large theme of ambition. This comes from and is very similar to the sense of influence. In the section before the changes of mind actually all links to ambition. Macbeth wanting to be king then killing all opposing him and Lady Macbeth wanting much more power. This throughout the play is like what leads the play making it more intense. Also it kind of teaches that power isn’t always the way to go and can change you a lot – but not in the right way.

A small part in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, is how it’s written as a script. The language is thought about quite carefully when it was written. You can tell this because the words have a sort of rhythm called the iambic pentameter. It can be said and written de DUM. In a way it’s like your heartbeat. There other ways of writing it too but these are the easiest to say. (when finished, example here) There are these rhythms all the way through the play. This may answer why someone might start talking in their script and then someone else talks and their text is like all the way on the right of the page beside where the first speaker’s text ended. It can mean that the people speaking are close friends or know each other well to recognise each others rhythm easily and almost finish their sentence.  This gives off some interest to the audience because it’s quite cool to know that it’s more than just words.

Another technique used is personification. This is when an object or something abstract is treated or talked to like a real living thing like a human. For example ‘The sky weeps’. The sky can’t actually weeps but it has been ‘personified’. In Macbeth an example for this is in act 2 scene 1 where he sees an imaginary dagger. “The handle towards my hand? Let me clutch thee… Thou mashall’st me the way I was going.”