History of Science and Technology

News European Pupils Magazine News

EPMagazine PROJECT MEETING
The 6th EPMagazine meeting took place in Land-
graaf, Netherlands during 11th-17th December with the
first participation of the new partners from Greece and
Turkey. All the participating school partners from Bul-
garia, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey and the
Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland had the op-
portunity to meet at Eijkhagen College and share ex-
periences and ideas about the process of the Project.
On the first day the headmaster of the host school
addressed the participants who also had, the opportunity
to see the facilities of the host school and meet some of
the other staff.
They later visited the town hall and were informed
about the history, the way of living and the social activi-
ties of the local community. MEETING IN LANDGRAAF

On the second day the participant schools presented their

town and country, their school and work done so far. On the
third and fourth day Rick Hilkens, student of Eijkhagen
College, presented the new EPMagazine web-site. Italian
pupils and Bulgarian partner presented their proposals about
the new layout of EPMagazine followed by a fruitful discus-
sion about corrections and improvements on them. Then the
Greek partners, taking in consideration the above proposals
and discussion, presented a final proposal. Afterwards, the
pupils rushed to work and prepared an example of the new
layout.
The meeting came to an end with discussion on the Re-
newal Form of Joint Application to Comenius Grant, on the
MEETING IN LANDGRAAF
tasks of every participant school and the future of the col-
laborating program of the EPMagazine.
The partners decided to renew the EPMagazine Award 2006 contest with the same prize and the same rules
approved for the previous competition. The criteria to select the best article will be the same as in the previous
two years.
Besides the hard work the partners had the opportunity to visit the Industrion museum at Kerkrade, the
town of Maastricht and to know each other better in the goodbye meeting dinner at Heerlen.
Waterford Inst. of Technology, Waterford University, Ireland Sheila Donegan
School Ne 127 Ivan Denkoglu, Sofia, Bulgaria Tzvetan Kostov
Özel Yildirim Lisesi, Zonguldak, Turkey Umit Serkek
Eijkhagencollege, Landgraaf, Nederland Hans Luesink
Experimental School of Macedonia University, Thessaloniki, Greece Stelios Friligos
Mustafa Özkan Anadolu Lisesi, Kayseri. Turkey Ali Kalem
Bunyan Anatolian High School, Kayseri. Turkey Uzug Hatice
Liceo Statale Boggio Lera, Catania, Italy Angelo Rapisarda

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HOW WE STUDENTS SEE IT
From Liceo E. Boggio Lera, Catania, Italy
About Cloning …
Stefano Toscano
The word clonation refers to the creation of an exact
copy of a living organism thanks to its DNA. The
process of clonation has already been tested success-
fully by the scientists, because they had succeeded in
creating the clone of a sheep (the famous Dolly), in
1997. The human clonation has always been a reason
for many debates because the opinions always divide
into two well-distinguished groups: the scientific and
the Catholic ones. The first group affirms that human
clonation could be a great step-forward for science,
because it could treat a big number of diseases, trans-
planting cells with the corrected DNA to the ill person
stopping disease this way. The Catholics think instead,
DOLLY AND ITS CREATOR IAN WILMUT
that the creation of a copy of anybody is against God’s
law because, in their opinion, only God has the power of creating people. My opinion about this subject is the
following: if on a side human clonation could help the doctors from all over the world to eliminate many dis-
eases, on the other hand, it could be an offence to create the clone of a human being already existing. Besides the
risk increases if we think that clonation could be a commercial event, because, only for the wish of having a
baby, many people would think about human clonation.

Luca Loria
Human cloning is a medical-experimental system to cure many diseases. This is possible with stam cells.
Stam cells can generate other different cells that are inserted in the human body as substitutes of dead cells. In
this system the embryo is essential because it produces stam
cells. Unfortunately, some people want to use this system to
create new human beings, they want to create life. This is
not possible because we are not Gods, we have not the
power to do that. In human cloning there are many risks;
many times the experiments on animals end with the crea-
tion of monsters, terrible creatures with horrible deformities.
Scientists cannot risk doing experiments with human em-
bryos, It would be a scandal as well as a very dangerous
process. If they create a deformed being then they cannot
kill it because they have not the right to do that.
I think that human cloning is an insult to life; nobody
can give life as well as nobody can give death. Life is not a
laboratory experiment, life is the last natural and beautiful TWO BABIES
thing in this world.

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Gianfranco Distefano
Scientific discoveries have always roused discordant
opinions; in the past illustrious and capable scientists
were accused of heresy or even witchcraft. Cloning has
certainly multiple values, as it implies religious, moral
and social beliefs.
In my opinion it is difficult to keep silent in front of
such an important discovery but it is also difficult to
give a well-balanced opinion if we consider both the
positive aspects of cloning and the horrors and the dam-
ages caused by genetic experiments.
Not much precise information has been given by the
media, but listening to friends’ opinions I have come to
the conclusion that cloning may turn positive when try-
ing to reconstitute parts for whole human organs, but
I am thoroughly against any cloning of human beings, CLONING
as it is contrary to any natural
laws.
Iconography Visit our web-magazine
www.liceoboggiolera.it/epm
www.ecologiasociale.org
www.focus.it
www.clubgemelli.com

Partecipate to our 2006

EPMagazine competition

Visit our restyled official Website

www.EPMagazine.org
Rick Hilkens

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GOING TO ... XPLORA.ORG

We would like to present you Xplora www.xplora.org,
the online gateway to science education in Europe.
It is aimed at teachers, pupils, scientists, science commu-
nicators and science educators; it is published in English,
French and German.
The Xplora gateway is created as part of PENCIL, a Sci-
ence and Society project funded by the European Commis-
sion's DG Research.

What can you do on this portal?

-Read science education news, pedagogical tips, ideas for teachers
-Search the database of websites and digital learning resources for science education
-Get insight into innovative practical science approaches and projects
-Obtain guidance on freely available Open Source tools for science education
-Find out about the Pencil and Nucleus projects that support the Xplora portal

For registered users the Xplora portal offers many other features, such as:
-A resource management tool – search for and store learning resources in your personal folder
-Online communities – create or join online communities for science education Online chat tool
-Moderated forum discussions to use our tools for creating online communities and join online discussions

You can join the Xplora Community for free, just registering at:
www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/community/register.cfm
The Xplora team edits an online newsletter (every 6 weeks) in which news, activities, events, related to sci-
ence and education, are featured.

If you would like to receive the newslet-

ter by email for free, visit this page:
www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/news/
newsletter.htm, and put your email address
in the apposite box, on the left section of the
page. You can also write an email to: laura.massoli@eun.org, putting “Xplora newsletter’ as subject.
If you would like to have a look at the previous Xplora Newsletter issues:
www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/news/newsletter.htm. You can read and download them for free!

Regards
Laura Massoli

EPMagazine
Web Editor

European Schoolnet
Trierstraat 61, rue de Trèves
B-1040 Brussels
laura.massoli@eun.org

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TAXONOMY TASSONOMÌA
Aristide Tomasino
Dip. Biologia animale “Marcello La Greca”
Via Androne, 81 - Catania, Italy
aristide.tomasino@virgilio.it

History of Science and Technology

European Pupils Magazine
EPM News – December 2005

The EPM European Editorial Board regrets to inform you all, friends,
co-operators, past and future contributors that Dr. Aristide Tomasino, the
author of the article Taxonomy, published on EPMagazine 2/2005 page
16, sent us word that he is not working at

Dip. Biologia animale “Marcello La Greca” Via Androne, 81 - Catania, Italy

and that the information published in his article, is due to a mistake in the
submission form sent to the EPM Italian Editorial Board.

Dr. Tomasino and we are extremely sorry for the occurrence.

On his own request, the EPM Italian Editorial Board is publishing the
ERRATA CORRIGE in a whole page of this issue and will send a letter to
all the mail list in Italy and Europe in order to give the widest extent to Dr.
Tomasino’s mistake.
Angelo Rapisarda
EPM - Italian Editorial Board

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