The Young Chronicle: For Grade 3 December 5th, 2014 | Page 2

YOUNG CHRONICLE

November 28th, 2014

THE YOUNG CHRONICLE
What is the European Union?

The Brain’s GPS!

Rambo and Pranks have always been curious about the
European Union. When papa told them that a new president
had been elected, they grew more curious. Why would so
many countries unite and have one Visa and One Currency
when every other country had separate ones?
Mumma and Papa then decided to start with a brief history of
the European Union or EU. The EU is an economic and
political union of 28 member states, located primarily in
Europe. These countries are committed to regional
integration, (if you have travelled to Europe, you may know
that many countries just need one Schengen visa to travel…
there are many more such rules). In fact, most of these
countries (apart from the UK) follow the same currency too,
called Euro.
Rambo and Pranks were curious as to why this union was
created? Rambo and Pranks had heard of the World Wars.
They didnʼt know the exact details but their father explained
that the wars were very damaging, and after the Second
World War, the entire continent of Europe was devastated.
This was because some countries had upheld their national
interests over others. After the Second World War, the face
of Europe changed with many more countries breaking away
to form new ones. To create some unity amongst the various
nations, there was a need to create a body that unified the
countries together.
The EU was established on 1st November 1993. The treaty
led to the creation of the Euro Currency. It also led to a
common Foreign and Security policy (which enables people
to travel to member countries with a single visa), which also
includes a common defence and anti-terrorism policy. The
EU also has a parliament and court of justice which take
care of policies and crimes respectively, at the European
Union level.
To Read
About
Donald
Tusk, the
new
president of
the EU, Go
to Page 6. If
you havenʼt
subscribed
to the paper yet, click ʻFull versionʼ to read the article.
Activity: See how many country flags can you identify.

How do we know where we are? How can we find the
way from one place to another? And how can we store
this information in such a way that we remember the
path, the next time?
This year's Nobel Laureates, May-Britt Moser, Edvard
Moser and Late John O’ Keefe have contributed
towards the discovery of a positioning system, an
"inner GPS" in the brain that makes it possible to
orient ourselves in any space.
In 1971, John O'Keefe discovered the first component
of this positioning system. He conducted an
experiment on Rats and found that a type of nerve cell
in an area of a brain called the hippocampus was
activated when a rat was at a certain place in a room.
Other nerve cells in the hippocampus were activated
when the rat was at other places. O'Keefe concluded
that these "place cells" formed a map of the room.
More than three decades later, in 2005, May-Britt
and Edvard Moser discovered another key component
of the brain's positioning system. They identified
another type of nerve cell, which they called "grid
cells", that generate a coordinate system and allow for
precise positioning and path-finding. Their subsequent
research showed how place and grid cells make it
possible to determine the position and to navigate.
Know more about the Brain GPS on Page 5. If you havenʼt
subscribed to the paper yet, click ʻFull Versionʼ to read the
article.