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The scientist I most admire: Edward Jenner

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Science is full of people whose contributions make them admirable. I particularly like biological sciences and among the many scientists related to this area I greatly admire Edward Jenner. I admire him because he was the father of vaccination, a discovery that has saved millions of lives. Edward Jenner was an English physician and scientist who developed the first vaccine, in 1796.  Although in those times there were already techniques to immunize the body against diseases, these were very dangerous, since several of these techniques consisted of introducing secretions into the body (for example, pus from scabs) containing microorganisms of the disease against which the patient was to be immunized, but this often led to the onset of the disease and even death.  Edward Jenner discovered that people infected with a cow disease called cowpox (a "smallpox-like disease" of cows that produces mild, non-lethal symptoms in humans) were immune to smallpox. Knowing this, Jenner inocul...

My kingdom for a pizza

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 My favorite food is pizza. This wonderful food consists of  a fla t dough covered with a base of cheese and tomato sauce. Various ingredients can be placed on this base, such as tomato slices, olives, ham, pepperoni or exotic ingredients, such as pineapple chunks. Personally, I like pizza with pulled pork, meatballs, red onions and  barbecue sauce. The ingredients and preparation of a pizza can be summarized as follows: You have to make a wheat flour dough, which is flattened and given a generally rounded shape, although you can also give it a long rectangular shape (actually the shape and size is up to you). This flattened dough should be covered with tomato sauce, cheese and the ingredients and condiments you want. Finally, the coated dough is heated in an oven until the dough is baked and the cheese is melted. The things I like most about pizza are: the cheese, and that it can be prepared with the weirdest combination of ingredients you can think of. Regarding the dou...

My favourite piece of technology

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 My favorite tech item is definitely headphones. I love listening to music and there is nothing better than good headphones to listen to it.  I use them mainly when I have to study and keep my concentration. The noises in the environment (car horns, building construction...) take my concentration away when I have to study but listening to music with headphones helps me to focus on my notes. I also use them when I listen to music while reading a book or just want to rest.  As I said before, the use of headphones helps me a lot to maintain my concentration and improve my academic performance, but I always listen to music at moderate volume levels, because high noise levels can irreversibly damage my hearing. I recommend their use to all music lovers and to those who like to study while listening to music, but without turning up the volume too high. You have to take care of your ears.

Why did I choose Chemistry and Pharmacy?

Well, when I was a kid I wanted to work in many things when I grew up. Among them, architect, scientist or train engineer. When I was a kid I really liked trains and dreamed of driving one. However, as a teenager I wasn't interested in what to work on in my adult life. It took me a few years after graduating from high school to decide to study Chemistry and Pharmacy. When I applied to university, I had no other career options besides Chemistry and Pharmacy. It was my first and last choice. It was all or nothing. I decided to study this career because I like both Chemistry and Biology, in particular human biology. They were the subjects I mastered best in high school, so this career seemed like a good career choice. My experience at the university has not been easy, but it is not hell either, I do not depend economically on my parents nor do I live with them, so I have to work to have money to survive. However, with the experience I have learned to keep my life under control. 

This is my story

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Hello! My name is Patricio and I study Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Chile. I was born in 1989 (yes, I'm millennial) in Valdivia, southern Chile.I studied high school at Liceo Rodulfo Amando Philippi, in Paillaco.  Apart from studying, I work on weekends in a building as a janitor. My hobbies are reading (I like JRR Tolkien´s books), listening music, playing guitar, gym and climbing hills. I live next to Cerro San Cristobal and take the opportunity to climb it in my free time. I currently live alone, but I used to live with my mom and sister in a small town called Pichi-Ropulli, located 60 kilometers south of Valdivia. I have also lived  in Lago Ranco and Valdivia, where I worked (and had a lot of fun) before living in Santiago. Pichi-Ropulli ("small deforested hill" in Mapudungun) is a town inhabited by approximately 700 people, it has few streets (about fifteen) and a train station. Until the 70's, train was the most important  transportation syste...