Daily Read 10: Essay Aeon | 100 RCs for Practice - CAT PDF Download

Essay 1

Essay Name: The gender of dementia
By: Kate Gregorevic (Edited by Pam Weintraub) 

Auguste Deter died on the 8 April 1906, aged 55, after spending the last years of her life in a psychiatric hospital in Frankfurt, Germany.

Read the full essay here: https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-life-paths-of-men-and-women-affect-the-diagnosis-of-dementia

Summary and Theme

The article examines how gender and social roles impact the diagnosis and understanding of dementia. It questions whether women are truly at a higher risk for dementia or if societal factors and life experiences skew this perception. The theme addresses the complexity of diagnosing dementia, the influence of gender roles on its manifestation, and the need for a more nuanced approach to understanding the disease across different life paths.

Difficult Words

• Dementia: A group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking, and social abilities severely enough to interfere with daily functioning.
• Amyloid plaques: Protein fragments that the body produces normally. In Alzheimer's disease, these fragments accumulate to form hard, insoluble plaques.
• Neurofibrillary tangles: Abnormal accumulations of a protein called tau that collect inside neurons.
• Pathology: The science of the causes and effects of diseases, especially the branch of medicine that deals with the laboratory examination of samples of body tissue for diagnostic or forensic purposes.
• Oophorectomy: Surgical removal of one or both ovaries.
• Occipital lobe: The rearmost lobe in each cerebral hemisphere of the brain, responsible for processing visual information.
• Apathetic: Showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern.
• Labile: Liable to change; easily altered.

Essay 2

Essay Name: The cosmic chasm
By: Pedro G Ferreira (Edited by Sally Davies) 

One afternoon in February 2016, I watched in rapt attention as a team of scientists unveiled the first definitive evidence for the existence of gravitational waves – ripples in space and time, produced by a pair of massive black holes crashing together 1.3 billion light-years away from Earth. 

Read the full essay here: https://aeon.co/essays/we-are-at-a-crossroads-in-the-search-for-a-new-physics

Article 2 Summary and Theme

The article explores the current state of physics, highlighting the tension between the established laws and the unexplained phenomena of the universe, such as dark matter, dark energy, and the origins of the universe. It discusses the challenges faced by theorists and experimentalists in bridging the gap between known physics and these mysteries, and the potential need for new, creative approaches to advance our understanding of the cosmos.

Difficult Words from Article 2

• Gravitational waves: Ripples in the curvature of spacetime that are generated by certain gravitational interactions and propagate as waves outward from their source.
• Higgs boson: A fundamental particle associated with the Higgs field, which gives mass to other particles.
• Cosmic microwave background: The thermal radiation left over from the time of recombination in Big Bang cosmology.
• Inflation: A theory of exponential expansion of space in the early universe.
• Phenomenologists: Physicists who apply theoretical physics to observable phenomena.
• Cosmological constant: A constant in Einstein's field equations of general relativity that is associated with the energy density of space.
• Quantum interference: A quantum mechanical phenomenon where the probability of an event occurring can be modified by the presence of other possible events.

Essay 3

Essay Name: Lessons from all democracies
By: David Stasavage (Edited by Sam Haselby) 

Today, many people see democracy as under threat in a way that only a decade ago seemed unimaginable. 

Read the full essay here: https://aeon.co/essays/democracy-is-common-and-robust-historically-and-across-the-globe

Summary and Theme

The article challenges the notion that democracy is a fragile, fleeting form of governance, arguing instead that it is a robust and common system throughout history and across the globe. It suggests that democracy is not a singular invention but a collective evolution of governance where rulers must have the consent of the governed. The theme revolves around the idea that understanding the diverse manifestations of early democracy can provide insights into strengthening modern democratic systems.

Difficult Words

• Backsliding: The reversal or stagnation of democratic progress.
• Insurrection: A violent uprising against an authority or government.
• Demokratia: A term of Greek origin meaning "rule by the people," from which the word democracy is derived.
• Autocracy: A system of government by one person with absolute power.
• Meritocratic: Relating to a system in which advancement is based on individual ability or achievement.
• Polarisation: Division into two sharply contrasting groups or sets of opinions or beliefs.
• Subsidiarity: A principle in politics that decisions should be made at the most local level possible.
• Checks and balances: A system that ensures no one branch of government becomes too powerful.
• Vigilance: The action or state of keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties.