Val´s English class

 Minna Huotilainen born September 12, 1968 is a Finnish professor and brain researcher. Huotilainen applies the latest findings in neuroscience, especially to the development of working life. She is known for her ability to popularize scientific knowledge. She is a woman I admire for her work and publications. She is truly brilliant, as well as an example to follow as a science popularizer. I had the opportunity to meet her in 2018 at a conference on women and science given at the Faculty of Science.  Here is a quote from that talk: "In Finland there are many female students studying scientific disciplines and we have female academics in engineering, medicine and other knowledge, because there has been a huge investment in basic education to advance in this area. However, we must continue to be critical of teaching methodologies, as the contents of textbooks continue to promote certain gender inequalities. We must motivate girls and young women to empower themselves with their...

  The Chemistry and Pharmacy career has a wide range of possibilities to contribute to the world. From access to primary care in localities, to the development of technology in the manufacture of new drugs that can help people who had no treatment or cure for their diseases. But, the area that I love the most and where I believe I could make a great contribution, is science and research. I love working on creating new knowledge that can contribute to a better quality of life for people, as well as disseminating knowledge and putting it at the service of the community.  This post reminds me of my last work in a lab, before the pandemic, where a curcuminoid was synthesized and attached to a gold nanorod to produce a fluorescence effect to enable early detection of aggregates of the beta amyloid peptide involved in Alzheimer's disease, which is crucial for testing potential new treatments. I collaborated in a small part, performing the purification of the curcuminoids CRANAD-2 an...

  The image of the cherry tree reminds me of my childhood and the places where I was happiest, where when I woke up in the morning I saw its branches full of pink flowers and at night I saw how they moved with the wind through the window. It reminds me of my parents and my friends when I was little. This tree not only brings back beautiful memories, but also brings me closer to a culture that I admire very much. In japan, it represents how ephemeral life can be. in fact, there is a word in japanese that describes the act of the soft falling of its petals: hanafubuki. Also, for samurai warriors who lived with sincerity and inner beauty, the cherry blossom had a sacred value, as it represented the drops of blood shed in each of their battles, as well as the sacrifice of their life and its ephemerality. The Japanese cherry blossom is part of a lifestyle where the priority is to have spiritual, mental and physical balance. For this reason I would love to travel to Shinjuku Park and the...