UNIT 4. LIVING THINGS (NATURAL SCIENCE)

UNIT 4 – LIVING THINGS

A CLOSER LOOK AT LIVING THINGS

            All living things are made up of cells. In multicelular organisms, cells that have the same function form a tissue. Groups of tissue form organs (for example, the heart) and groups of organs form systems (for example, the circulatory system). All the systems form the organism.

           

·         Cell structure

-          The parts of an animal cell are: Nnucleus, Vacuole, Cytoplasm,  and Cell membrane.

-          The parts of a plant cell: Nucleus, Vacuole, Cytoplasm, Cell membrane, Chloroplast and Cell wall.

·        Type of animal tissue

There are different types of tissue: nerve tissue, epitelial tissue, muscle tissue and connective tissues (bone, blood and loose connective tissue).

·        Some organs and systems in mammals

THE MONERA, PROTIST AND FUNGUS KINGDOMS

·        The Monera Kingdom

-          Unicellular organisms

-          They are prokaryotic ( no separate nucleus)

-          They have asexual reproduction.

-          They are in all the environments.

-          The largest group in the Monera kingdom is Bacteria.

-          Bacteria produce illnesses but they are also used in the process of fermentation and desconmposition.

·        The Protist Kingdom

-          Organisms in this kingdom can be unicelular or multicelular.

-          They are eukaryotic (nucleus with genetic material).

-          Prostists are usually in water or damp  environments.

-          Some protists have chlorophyll and produce their food through photosynthesis. Other absorb food from the environment.

-          Some of them have tails or feelers to move around.

-          Some examples of Protist kingdom are Algae and amoebae.

·        The Fungus kingdom

Fungi are found in all the environments.

-          They are eukaryotic.

-          Some are unicelular and others are multicelular.

-          Fungi absorb food from the environment and many are parasitic because live on their hosts.

-          They reproduce by spores.

-          Some can be eaten (mushroom, for example) and others, like yeast, are used to make bread.

-          Fungi help with descomposition.

THE PLANT AND ANIMAL KINGDOMS

All organisms in plant and animal kingdoms are multicelular and eukaryotic, but they have some differences:

·        The plant kingdom:

-          Plants produce their own food using the energy from the Sun in a process called Photosynthesis.

-          Plants don´t move but they react to stimuli like water or light.

-          Flowering plants have sexual reproduction using sedes. There are two types: Angiosperms (produce seeds in fruit) and Gymnosperms (produce sedes in cones).

-          Non-flowering plants include ferns and mosses and they have asexual reproduction through spores.

·        The animal kingdom:

-          They feed off other living things.

-          Most animals can move and interact with the environment.

-          Invertebrate animals haven´t got internal skeleton. They include: insects, worms, jellyfish, snails and starfish.

-          Vertebrates have internal skeleton. They include fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

UNIT 4. THE EUROPEAN UNION (SOCIAL SCIENCE)

UNIT 4: THE EUROPEAN UNION

THE EUROPEAN UNION

·         EU objectives

-          Political objectives:

Some of the areas that the EU covers are: education, culture, fishing, transport, the environment, agriculture, health, etc

Example of policies are:

o   Do not pay at national borders.

o   To reduce pollution.

o   To promote  democracy and freedom.

o   To fight cybercrime, terrorism and human trafficking.

o   To improve the infrastructure between member states.

-          Economic objectives:

Some of the areas that the EU covers are: trade, the single market, budgets, etc

Example of policies are:

o   To develop small businesses and encourage innovation.

o   To create jobs and promote economic growth.

o   To make it posible for goods, Money and services to move freely between countries.

o   To act together to help memeber states with economic problems.

·         EU symbols and institutions

-          The euro is the currecy of the Eurozone,but there are some European  countries which do not use it (UK, for example).

-          The EU flag has a circle of twelve stars  that represents unity between the  members.

-          The European anthem  is Ode to Joy

The institutions of the EU are:

-          Council of the EU (LEGISLATIVE POWER): It passes laws, approves budgets and signs agreements with non-EU countries.

-          European Parliament (LEGISLATIVE POWER,  its memebers are elected by EU citizens): it debates and passes laws and shares budgeting decisions with the Council of the EU.

-          Court of justice of the EU (it is the highest court in the EU): ensures all members apply the laws.

-          European Council (strategic body of the EU): dicusses about the political direction of the EU but can not make laws.

-          European commision (EXECUTIVE POWER): make proposals for new laws  and spends EU funds.

-          European Court of Auditors (audit agency): invetigates how EU Money is invested and presents audits to the Comission.

THE EURO

The euro was introduced in 2002. The name of euro was chosen in Madrid in 1995 by the European Council. The symbol  was chosen from a competetion. It is based on a Greek letter and the two bars mean stability. Security for a currency is very important and notes are controlled by watermarks and holograms.

Most of the countries of the EU adopt the Euro currency, but there are some countries that don´t do it. The European Central Bank (ECB), in Germany, mantains Price stability for the Eurozone.

·         A single market

-          How does a single market work?

The single market in Europe started in 1986 with a common law about trade. Then, since 1993, people, goods, Money etc could move freely. First, the single market started in 12 countries. Nowadays, there are 28 member states. It has got a lot of advantages and make citizens´ life easier, for example: all products have the same standards and all products meet the same technical specifications.

THE POPULATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Europe is the third most populated continent in the world. There are bout 739 million inhabitants in Europe and 500 million in EU.

·         Ageing population

The birth rate of Europe is low and life expectancy is increasing.  Europe´s population is growing, mainly due to migratory movements, because a lot of immigrants are coming. There are three types of migratory movements: international emigration, internal migration and international immigration.