Week 8 Nanotech+art

This week's topic is nano-tech and art which i am not very interested in at the very beginning because i do not know much about nano-tech. Coincidentally, my life science professor talks about nano-tech this week as well. It makes me know about nano-tech and i start to understand the relationship between nano-tech and art.Nano-tech is actually not something that is really complicated. People does not know much about it because it is about something that happens in micro level where people will not be able to tell the changes by their eyes.

There are actually many applications of nano-tech in animals. Take peacock, who is considered as one of the most beautiful animals, as an example. As we all know, male peacock will try his best to show his good-looking plumage to females to attracting mates. This is all about the genetic nano particle on the peacocks' tail. They change colors by their wish just like magic shows. Scientists start to learn the method of that function and probably in the future we will have some product that could do the same thing.

Nano-tech are also wide applied in many other aspects. If we travel by planes very often, we will find out that different airlines' plane have different painting on the outside. That is not only to distinguish each other from other airlines, but also the nano-tech they have to protect the plane. There are actually many differences between every kind of paints, some of them are super light while others are super good at protection of the plane from high air pressure.

As I learn more informations about nano-tech, i realize that there is also great potential in this area. Things happens in micro level is actually the basic of things change in macro level. There are also millions of combinations of particles in this level which will give us unlimited opportunities to make our creative ideas come true.

Citations:

Peacock Media Group. N.d. Photograph. PMGWeb. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.peacockmediagroup.co.uk/>.

The Amazing Potential of Nanotechnology. N.d. Photograph. 33rdsquareWeb. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.33rdsquare.com/2013/04/the-amazing-potential-of-nanotechnology.html>.

How safe is nano-tech. N.d. Photograph. The PCIJ blogWeb. 24 Nov 2013. <http://pcij.org/blog/2008/10/16/how-safe-is-nanotechnology>.

Bustamante, Jose. "New biotechnological applications of coconuts." Electronic Journal of Biotechnology (2004) 

Lawrence, D H. "Wintry peacock." New decameron. (1922) 

week 7 Neurosci+Art

This week's lecture topic is Neuroscience and art which really catch my attentions. People are always attracted by unknown stuffs. Human brain is really something that our technology has not completely discovered. The brain is why human is the species that dominate the whole world for a long time. In my personal opinion, i really consider neuroscience as the most important area that we do need to exploit.

There are actually many examples of neuroscience that we use recently. For example we are making robots that could do complicated tasks that we never thought in five years ago. They not only can communicate with us, but also save lives. They are working at all kinds of areas that makes our life better. This is really a huge progress of neuroscience.

The dolphins are always considered as a smart animal. The use of neuroscience makes them even smarter. People now train them to study things just as human beings. We teach them how to do math problems and how to find specific stuff. Their intelligence is being explored by scientist and they are able to help us finish all kinds of tasks.   

Those are all kinds of examples that neuroscience is helping improve our life qualities and I do think that there are still unlimited possibilities of human brain.

Citations:

Information and Facts about Dolphins. N.d. Photograph. dolphin worldWeb. 18 Nov 2013. <http://www.dolphins-world.com/>.

About Neuroscience. N.d. Photograph. Neuroscience Department Web. 18 Nov 2013. <http://www.neurosci.ucla.edu/Undergraduate study.asp>.

Aptima develops neuroscience-inspired sense-making system for military robots. N.d. Photograph. army-technologyWeb. 18 Nov 2013. <http://www.army-technology.com/news/newsaptima-develops-neuroscience-inspired-sense-making-system-military-robots>.

Robots and neuroscience. N.d. Photograph. welcome trustWeb. 18 Nov 2013. <http://blog.wellcome.ac.uk/2010/08/25/robots-and-neuroscience/>.

Bear, Mark F, Barry W. Connors, and Michael A. Paradiso. Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007. Print.

Week 6 Biotech+Art

This week's topic is biotech and art. I do think that people have a variety of different opinions toward the definition of biotech. Most of the people do think that biotech is something very complicated in microbiological level, and others think biotech is the modification that scientist trying to do in the lab. In my personal point of view,  I consider both as biotech art.

In the micro evolution level. All species evolved through millions of years to finally become the species we see today. They going under nature selections, genetic draft and mutations which makes them totally different from their ancestors. If we have a close look at one specie, for example horses, we would find out how amazing the process is and how artistic the nature is. They were short leg animal who could not run very fast but could turn sharply. As the environment evolved, coevolution makes them grow longer and stronger legs so that they get food at higher places and run faster.

Beside what the nature did to all the living life on earth, people nowadays start to modify animals' genes to make them serve as special functions. As my opinion, i do think this is a faster way to achieve what they want but it somehow does destroy the balance of the nature.

Clone is one of the most popular biotech topics people like to talk about. It is truly amazing when you can 'copy and paste' animals. As people being happily surprised by this technic, they also fear what this technic will bring to the human world. The movie 'Star War' makes people even horrified. Therefore, biotech technic is really a double blade sword.

Citations:

1. Horse evolution. 2011. Photograph. edublogWeb. 10 Nov 2013. <http://horsejumper.edublogs.org/2011/03/13/horse-evolution-and-brief-history/>.

2. Zhang, Michael. star war. 2011. Photograph. petapixelWeb. 10 Nov 2013. <http://petapixel.com/2011/04/14/famous-photos-recreated-with-star-wars-clone-troopers/>.

3. Cloning a failing Mac RAID. N.d. Photograph. The data rescue centerWeb. 10 Nov 2013. <http://thedatarescuecenter.com/blog/tag/cloning/>.

4. Biology modification. N.d. Photograph. Biochemistry and genetic Web. 10 Nov 2013. <http://the-biochemistry.blogfa.com/post-2.asp&xgt;.

5. "Optimal process mode selection for clone screening." Acta chimica slovenica (2011)