TEXT I

The Jurutauí Legend

Jurutauí was the bird with the most beautiful song in the

forest and, because it sang so melodiously, it was truly admired

by the other birds. One day Jurutauí saw the moon shining

splendidly and fell deeply in love with her. Then, to be heard by

its muse, it flew to the highest tree to sing love songs through

the night, filling the forest with the most devoted sounds.

Jurutauí couldn’t accept such a distance from its lover and

flew higher and higher, trying to reach it. But the power of

gravity could not be overcome. After a long struggle Jurutauí

fell straight to the ground. Dizzy, it tried to recover and sing its

beautiful song, but only a strident and terrible screech came

from its throat and echoed through the forest. The other birds

surrounded Jurutauí and mourned for the loss of the most

beautiful birdsong in the forest. Now when the forest echoes

with raucous and sad notes, everyone knows that it’s because

Jurutauí is singing.

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A resurgence of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

The Brazilian Amazon is the size of Western Europe, and in the 41 years I have lived in the region and worked on problems of deforestation, an area larger than France has been cleared. Over the decades, I have watched as economic cycles, swings in commodity prices, and land speculation have led to peaks and valleys in the clearing of the Amazon, with 1995 setting a record for destruction: 11,200 square miles — an area the size of Belgium — fell to loggers, cattle ranchers, and farmers.

When the annual deforestation rate in Brazil’s Amazon plunged from nearly 11,000 square miles in 2004 to 1,700 square miles in 2012 — an 84 percent decline — I was of course relieved. But I had witnessed too much destruction in the Amazon to celebrate. Unfortunately, these widely publicized declines led not only to the impression among the international conservation community that Amazon deforestation was finally ebbing. It also led to a dangerous illusion taking hold in the capital of Brasília — the belief that deforestation was thoroughly under control, and thus the government could build roads, dams, and other infrastructure at will in Amazonia, without consequences for the world’s largest rain forest.

Clearly, that turned out not to be the case. Deforestation has trended upwards since 2012, with a sharp 29 percent increase in the rate of clearing in 2016.

What is TED?

[1] TED is a nonpartisan nonprofit foundation

devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form

of short, powerful talks. TED began in 1984 as

a conference where Technology,

[5] Entertainment and Design converged, and

today covers almost all topics — from science

to business to global issues — in more than 110

languages. Meanwhile, independently run

TEDx events help share ideas in communities

[10] around the world. TED believes passionately

that ideas have the power to change attitudes,

lives, and ultimately, the world. This

underlying philosophy is the driving force

behind all of TED’s endeavors, including the

[15] TED Conferences, TEDx, TED Books, the

TED Fellows Program, and the TED Open

Translation Project. With this philosophy in

mind, and with the intention of supporting

teachers and sparking the curiosity of learners

[20] around the world, TED-Ed was launched in

2012.

What is TED-Ed?
TED-Ed is TED’s youth and education

initiative. TED-Ed’s mission is to spark and

[25] celebrate the ideas of teachers and students

around the world. Everything we do supports

learning — from producing a growing library

of original animated videos, to providing an

international platform for teachers to create

[30] their own interactive lessons, to helping

curious students around the globe bring TED to

their schools and gain presentation literacy

skills, to celebrating innovative leadership

within TED-Ed’s global network of over

[35] 250,000 teachers. TED-Ed has grown from an

idea worth spreading into an award-winning

education platform that serves millions of

teachers and students around the world every

week.

[40] What are TED-Ed Originals?
TED-Ed Originals are our signature

content: short, award-winning animated videos

about ideas that spark the curiosity of learners

everywhere. Every TED-Ed Original

[45] represents a creative collaboration between

experts. Such experts may include TED

Speakers and TED Fellows, as well as

educators, designers, animators, screenwriters,

directors, science writers, historians,

[50] journalists and editors. These original

animated videos, paired with questions and

resources, make up what we refer to as

TED-Ed Lessons.
(Fonte:www.ted.com)

A group of US scientists have successfully transplanted living tissue constructed by a sophisticated and improved 3D printer, according to a study released by the British Scientific Journal Nature. This research, developed by the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre in North Carolina, represents a breakthrough for regenerative medicine, as it suggests that these tissues could be transplanted in patients in the future, and thus overcoming a number of technical obstacles that currently hinder the process, the study noted. The scientists managed to print "stable" cartilage, bone and muscle structures and after their transplant into rodents, they matured into functional tissue while developing a system of blood vessels. Although the new printed tissues are not yetready to be used in human patients, experts assert that the first results of the study suggest that they have the size, strength and functionality suitable to be used in humans. The accuracy of this new 3D printer means that, in the near future, it could perfectly replicate more complex tissues and organs of the human body.