On the 19-th of February, after 27 days of traveling I got this amazing cover from Spain which I was looking forward to! There are the stamps from my favorite topics: Europa and science. Europa stamps was issued in 2007 when the topic was scout movement. The science stamps are devoted to botanics and genetics. These fields of natural science are very important for our everyday life, even though we have been already used to their achievements and don't pay attention to them. I found a very good description of it on the Spanish post service page:
Botany or Phytology, is the study of plant life and their development. For a long time it has been used for the description, classification and use of vegetable species. It was Theophrastus (300 B.C.) who wrote the first two botanical treaties which constitute the most important contribution to botanical science during Antiquity and on into the Middle Ages. In the XVI century, the great explorers brought to Europe many species which were gathered in treaties and catalogues by Andrea Célaspin and Gaspar Bauhin who classified 6.000 plant species in natural groups. Years later, new discoveries on the anatomy and physiology of plants and the complex phenomenon of photosynthesis were made. Botany is divided into different subdisciplines such as anatomy, physiology, cytology and phytopathology. Botany is also applied to the pharmaceutical industry since many medical drugs come directly from the plant kingdom, for example aspirin is based on the pain killer salicylic acid which originally came from the bark of willow trees. Many natural materials, such as cotton, wood, paper, linen, rope, and rubber also come from the plant kingdom.
Genetics, a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms and the way human inherit traits from their parents. Genes correspond to regions within DNA, a molecule composed of a chain of four different types of nucleotides. The sequence of these nucleotides is the genetic information organisms inherit. The first investigations in Genetics were made by Gregor Mendel in 1865 (The Mendel Laws) . In 1990 the Human Genome Project was set up to study the sequence of the human genome which was essentially completed in 2003. Scientists have discovered a large number of genes that play important roles in human diseases, thus leading the way to the manufacture of medical drugs to fight them. Research on human genetics will enable scientists to develop an individual approach to preventive medicine.
Thank you very much, David!
