From the Traditional Computer to the Quantum Computer

Quantum Computers differ from the computers we have today in a way where today's computers work with bits with values of either a 0 or a 1. However, Quantum Computers are said to use a qubit which can have a value anywhere between 0 and 1. Quantum Computers are believed to excel past the computers we have today in a way where computers today "think one thought at a time" where a Quantum Computer can "think several thoughts simultaneously." However, the problem with Quantum Computers is that it requires the polarization of nuclear spin which is a tough feat tough to overcome at room temperature. However, Linköping University researchers created a spin filter which overcomes this problem. The spin filter lets electrons through that only have the desired spin, which in effect polarizes the nuclear spin. Not only does this filter bypass the room temperature problem but it also leads to the ability for information to be read.

Computers today already seem efficient and compact enough for our daily lives but it seems that we still have a ways to go. The Quantum Computer may be the next step towards an even more efficient/smarter computer in this computer time period.

article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130430092420.htm

Tracking Gunfire With a Smartphone

A computer engineering team from Vanderbilt University's Institute of Software Integrated Systems has made it possible to use your smartphone to track gunfire. If one were to unfortunately find themselves in some sticky situation for who knows what the reason may be, one could simply use their smartphone to find the direction in which a shot was fired and from where. The technology consists of the use of both hardware and software which can pinpoint the location of a shooter. The hardware uses microphones and clocks to that listen for both the muzzle blast and the shock waves produced by the supersonic bullets in order to calculate the position and direction of bullets. The software will calculate and display the information on a map of the area showing a red arrow as the direction of a bullet which is placed essentially using triangulation. The smartphone version along with the military versions, require multiple 'nodes' in order to accurately pinpoint a shooter so there would have to be multiple smartphone users in the area in order to make an accurate reading. These nodes form a network, of which the data they receive from the hardware, will be shared among the network to make an accurate reading. However, another version was developed which is a bit bulkier, but it requires only two nodes to make an accurate reading, but it can only estimate the range of the shot. This technology is very useful in the military for protection so a more available version would certainly help police departments and other authority units to protect a community and make an area safer.

article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130425213800.htm

Drones and Their Uses

Drones are something that is to be expected in the United States in the next upcoming years but these drones could bring up a lot of problems. A drone with a camera becomes a surveillance drone. A drone with a weapon, becomes a weapon itself. By placing different devices on drones, the drone shifts into a different technology. As stated in the article, drones are just a platform. How does one censor the uses of drones so that spying or terrorizing is prevented? This is a big problem we face in the United States and it is certainly not an easy question to answer. Not to mention, although drones can be used to spy and kill, they can also be used for the greater good such as in emergency responder situations or finding a lost person. So because a drone can be used for both good and bad, how will we be able to differentiate between the two? We will never know whether or not a drone was spying on us, or simply just searching the area for a nearby lost child. It's frustrating that drones could be used in so many good ways, but also be used in so many bad ways; hindering its reputation and potentiality in a community. Even then, a community with drones in use would be a scary one because you would be getting spied on constantly without even knowing or you wouldn't even see a terrorist drone attack coming because of everyone being used to seeing drones all of the time. It's a very difficult problem to handle and I'm interested to see what the results will be in the oncoming years.

article: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/04/domestic_drone_surveillance_the_golden_age_of_privacy_is_over.html

Evolution Through Virtual Robots

A program built by a team at the Creative Machines Lab at Cornell University, simulates a variety of virtual species. The program builds these virtual robots out of 4 different types of cubes: Type 1 Muscle, Tissue, Type 2 Muscle, and Bone whereas tissue and muscle act as soft and hard supports respectively and Type 1 and 2 Muscles contract then expand and expand then contract respectively. The program then combines these blocks in seemingly random ways to construct these 'blocky' looking organisms. The Type 1 and 2 muscles are the main system for moving the organism and this movement can be simulated. Based off of this simulated movement, a distance over time calculation can be made and from this, the computer can simulate evolution with the concept: "quicker robots are rewarded with more children." These blocky robots are given the ability to 'breed' whereas the robots could, so to say, combine their DNA with other robots or some could produce in an asexual way. With this program, it is believed that concepts for robots that were not at all that easy to imagine can now be demonstrated and might lead to a design for an actual robot. However, these robots are very strange looking and I myself am having a hard time imagining what some of these robots may be used for, but the designs and the somewhat randomness does help to imagine what some of these ideas would look like. At this stage, all of the designs are very odd looking, and appear to act like Jellyfish, fumbling and wobbling around. It's actually quite creepy to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=z9ptOeByLA4#!

article: http://www.livescience.com/29092-virtual-robots-breed-and-evolve.html

The Big Dog

Currently, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) made the Big Dog robots which are hoped to serve as a robotic pack mule to accompany soldiers in terrain too rough for conventional vehicles. Instead of wheels or treads, Big Dog uses four legs for movement, allowing it to move across surfaces that would defeat wheels. Big Dog has a variety of locomotion behaviors. It can stand up, squat down, walk with a crawling gait that lifts just one leg at a time, and walk with a trotting gait that lifts diagonal legs in pairs, trot with a running gait that includes a flight phase, and bound in a special gallop gait. It looks ugly; DARPA did not do any aesthetic design on Big Dog, because the military is not very much concerned with the aesthetics either. What they want is a tireless animal that can do the job of an animal as well as an animal without the need to feed it, care for it, house it and train it. 

You may already know about the Big Dog from DARPA and Boston Dynamics from eight years ago. At that time, the Big Dog could wobbly walk up to 5 mph.  But now it has some bestial competition: the DARPA Cheetah. Its legs are so frightening. DARPA made a great change of the Big Dog which is called Cheetah now. It could run up to 23 mph in laboratory’s running machine. (Biddle, 2013)The robot's movements are designed to mimic those of fast-running animals in nature. The robot increases its stride and running speed by flexing and un-flexing back on each step, much as an actual cheetah does. The improvement of the Big Dog is not only running faster, but it also has added an arm, which can throw a cinder block weighing 35 pounds 17 feet while walking. In this case, the Big Dog can walk on the battlefield smoothly. Even there is something on its way; the Big Dog can easily clean up the way with its arm. That is really helpful.

 

A Reflection to "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace"

The documentary "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" is a really interesting 45-minute show about Science and Technology Studies. I like how it relates Ayn Rand's individualism ideology to the economic crisis in South East Asia in 1997-98. Ayn Rand was a Russian-American writer who inspired many of her American readers until today with her philosophies of individualism and objectivism. According to Ayn, the society should be free from any kind of governance, mutual relationship is irrelevant and happiness can only be achieved by fulfilling one's own desires.

How did these ideas trigger financial catastrophe in Asia? From the documentary, during her lifetime Ayn had a circle of friends who shared the same ideas as her, and among these was Alan Greenspan. Alan was loyal to Ayn-he was among the few who stayed with Ayn when her controversial work "Atlas Shrugged" drove away the literature community and when her scandal with one of the circle members, Nathaniel Branden, was revealed. Years later, Alan, who was an economist, rose up from being a consultant for Wall Street to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve in 1987. In less than two months after taking office, as the head of the country's central bank Alan faced a dramatic financial collapse as the stock market had the largest one-day drop in stock prices in U.S. history.

Alan was reappointed as Chairman for another two terms: first when President Bush took office in 1991 and next when Clinton became President. In 1996, U.S economy was still under recession. President Clinton believed that his political power could bring the country's economy back to its feet while Alan wanted deregulation of the market from political involvement, letting the free market decides for itself-the similar notion pointed out by Randian philosophy. Clinton's agenda of saving the economy using governmental policies failed, especially after his scandal with Monica Lewinsky was exposed. Clinton received criticisms from every angle and he was overwhelmed with it. He finally decided to listen to Alan's view and eventually, the American economy was in the hands of the Federal Reserve. The economy was free from political intervention and decision making was trusted to the machines, which calculated financial risks in the stock market. That time, economists, especially Alan, believed in the machines rather than men, that calculated numbers were more trustworthy and unbiased.

In 1997-98, many American companies have already invested in South East Asian countries and this propelled their economy significantly. However, after the stock market collapsed, the companies had major losses in stocks and wanted to move out of Asia. The fall of the large corporations means the fall of the entire American economy. So, the Federal Reserve bailed these companies out, leaving a huge sum of middle class workers in these countries out of job, inflation occurred and chaos erupted throughout the region. There was no such thing as a free market. When the government pulled its hands off the economy, the market didn't decide by itself. The power simply changed hands from the government to those who created the machines-the so called "1% of the population" who controls the central bank. Capitalist economy gave birth to a new form of dictatorship, not by any single entity but by a group of people who created the economic system and understand how to get around with it. It is interesting how the documentary related this back to Ayn's ideals.

As soon as I heard the name Ayn Rand, I knew I have encountered one of her works before. After the class, I typed in her name on Google search and found out that I have studied her work entitled "Anthem" few semesters ago. Anthem is a story set in the future about a man named Equality who lived in a collectivist society. The society was controlled by a central government, there was no "I" in their vocabulary as individuality was restricted, and knowledge and technology were limited to only a small group of society they called the House of Scholars. Equality knew that things were not right in the society and was tortured by the government for standing up against the system. He was pushed down to the lowest class in the society known as the House of Sweepers. One day when he was at work cleaning streets, he discovered the technology from the past. With this newly found knowledge, he liberated himself and his lover from the society to set out a new one, in which individuality will prevail.

From the documentary and also after revisiting Anthem, I learned that over time ideologies will fail. Communism does not serve well for the nations who implement them, capitalism is proven to oppress its society time after time, and even Ayn's opportunistic notion of individualism did not work nicely for her as she died alone, and sadly I assume, in her apartment in New York City. Yes people can say that ideals do not apply in reality and with the knowledge from the past, human civilization will improve over time. The questions is, for how far can we justify ourselves for the mess we are causing to the world? Are we really heading in the right direction?

Sources:
1. http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_ayn_rand_aynrand_biography
2. http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Alan_Greenspan.aspx
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthem_(novella)

Reconciliation

I took this class, simply put, because Professor Vinsel taught it and I needed something to fill the space. In that aspect, it was a bad decision, because it demanded much more time than other 100 level HUM's.

But I do not regret that. It was, by far, the best mistake I've made here at Stevens.

I'm a computer scientist, but before that I was somewhat of a historian. In high school I was a passionate student about global history, and I almost went to NYU to study classics and ultimately become a journalist or something like that so I could write about why the world was turning the way it was.

Every day I acknowledge that, in some way, I made a mistake by running away from that dream. Some days I don't know why I signed off for Stevens instead of NYU. Some days I do. But that's neither here nor there.

This class breathed life back into the last dying embers that I clung to of the man I once was.

I'm bad at time, but I'd wager that it was halfway through the term, when were discussing that we needed to factor in where actors were coming from, that a gentle breeze caused one of those last embers to flare up, for just a moment, as I was flung back into my past.

I remember reading a historical text in my sophomore year of High School, analyzing what the motivations of the writer were for some text written in the something-hundred's, and I remember what it felt like to be in love with analyzing others through what they say, through their lives, their stake's in a system.

I realized, once again, that I wanted to think about the other people again. This was it, I realized: here it was, the bridge between the self I thought I murdered years ago when I signed up for here, and the self I became in my travels thereupon.

I could not ignore the flames in my heart then, as I felt my older claw through a pile of ashes, and try and take over. If he did, I wouldn't be writing this blog post: I'd have transferred out of here, decided that I should go do half my schooling over again.

No, this class made me look in that strange mirror we all have in our soul's and take my own hand and admit "Maybe, maybe we can make this work, somehow. Let's reconcile it; because if either one of us keeps going, the other one's going to go away forever. And neither of us really want that."

And so it was that this class triggered many, many weeks of reconciliation. I started reading a little bit again, I started writing again. I had to reconcile two worlds I thought were totally different: the world of science and technology, and the world of the human being.

The class became much more interesting after that, because my older self had woken up. I took this class because I liked the professor and needed a class; now, leaving it, I realize that taking this class gave me much more. It gave me the ability to stare in the mirror and stop ignoring my past.

I regret that I could not give this course the attention I should have given it. I made some poor decisions this term, decisions that taxed me too heavily, that spread me too thin. Decisions that really made me suck as a student for this course.

I regret that I did not make this discovery three years ago, before I made a few mistakes with my time and path here. I am remorseful that I do not have the ability to change my minor within a year and get this one, instead.

For a time, this class was making me regret coming to this college. The things we've studied... they've made me a little more cynical, seeing how everything is a power struggle, talking about the ever-diminishing sense of privacy we have.

But this is a story of reconciliation. By this point I realize that this class was my saving grace. I would have gone one way or the other, but now I realize that I can be neither here nor there, and be happy with that.

So thank you, Professor Vinsel. Thank you, Science and Technology Studies. You reminded me of who I used to be, what I used to love.

You helped me stare into the mirror again and realize that there's more to me than a cog in the machine. There's a man who can turn around and talk about why the machine is there, what people can do about it, and why they even interact with it.

The next step is going to be up to me. It's hysterical that a 100 level free elective made me shift gears, reconsider where I was going for my long term career, but it's the truth.

I stand here, not sure what I'm going to change, but I know that I'm going to change something in the path ahead of me. Perhaps I'll go become some sort of journalist in my future. Perhaps I'll study the implications of the things I do in my career. Perhaps maybe all that will come is that I become a little more cognizant of how technology changes society, and vice versa, and factor that in every day.

I don't really know, but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

US ARMY CREATING NEW WAY OF NAVIGATION

The US army is working on limiting its dependence on GPS by developing the next generation of navigation technology  including a tiny autonomous chip. DARPA, the research group behind a range of spy tech and which helped invent the Internet, was also the driving force behind the creation of the Global Positioning System, director Arati Prabhakar said at a press conference. “In the 1980s, when GPS satellites started to become widely deployed… it meant carrying an enormous box around on your vehicle,” she said. “Now it’s got to the point where it’s embedded not just in all our platforms but in many of our weapons,” as well as in many civilian devices, she said.But “sometimes a capability is so powerful that our reliance on it, in itself, becomes a vulnerability,” she added. “I think that’s where we are today with GPS.”Among the fears: the GPS signal could be scrambled by an adversary, as happened recently in South Korea. Starting in 2010 DARPA has been working on a variety of programs aimed at developing new navigation and positioning technology, at first the goal of extending their reach to places where satellite don't work like underwater. Researchers at DARPA and the University of Michigan have created a new system that works without satellites to determine position, time and direction all contained within a eight cubic millimeter chip. The tiny chip holds three gyroscopes, three accelerometers and an atomic clock, which, together, work as an autonomous navigation system. This is shows how much universities today rely on funding from the government and vice versa. The University of Michigan is getting a lot of money to take on this project just like schools all over the US. Stevens maybe the next school to get a big project like that.

Will the Kalq keyboard finally spell the end for qwerty

Reasearchers at the Unversity of St. Andrews have developed a split-screen keyboard that they claim can increase typing speeds for touch screen users.Since the arrival of touchscreen tablets, our opposable thumbs have evolved to a whole new level of refinement. It has become second nature to pinch and swipe, slide and scroll: without knowing it, we have developed an intricate vocabulary of manual flourishes, a delicate finger ballet to conjure images and text across our screens.And yet the process of typing words on a touchscreen still remains unbearably clumsy. Whether you put the thing down and pretend it's a normal keyboard, or go for the handheld thumbs-only option, it is never a particularly elegant or satisfactory pursuit, like having a game of thumb war with your imaginary digital friend.They call their new keyboard Kalq (those are the letters at the bottom right of the keyboard), and its layout is a radical departure from the qwerty system, which has been with us unchanged for 140 years. Designed to save your thumbs stretching across the screen and making repeated taps, Kalq splits the keys into two blocks, 16 to the left, 12 to the right. Commonly used letters are clustered together and frequent pairs of letters placed on alternate sides, so each hand does the same amount of work."The key to optimising a keyboard for two thumbs is to minimize long typing sequences that only involve a single thumb," said Dr. Antti Oulasvirta  of the Max Planck Institute for intormatics in Germany, who collaborated on the research. "Experienced typists move their thumbs simultaneously: while one is typing, the other is approaching its next target. We derived a predictive model of this behavior for the optimization method."So what difference does it actually make? Their tests show that after only 10 hours of training, users were able to reach 37 words a minute, compared with the average of 20 words a minute on a qwerty device.

SSTS: A Semester of Science, Technology, and Society (Reflection)

So far I've shown you spider slavery, gene patenting, spider stuff again, and drones.  There are a few other things mixed in there, but I've been showing what others have had to say about x topic, albeit through my own words and analysis.  Now, let me use my words to analyze, well, my own words, about HST 120-B, otherwise known as Professor Vinsel's best class section, because who has even heard of HST 120-A?!

All kidding aside, as I usually say around this point in my blog entries, this class was a true turning point in my career as a Stevens student.  Prior to this, I've never had a such a course.  Last semester's classes were filled with only 15 credits, most used by CAL 105, an introductory Computer Science course, and some other "junk" that I needed to do to kick of my Visual Arts and Technology (VizTech) career.  This semester, credits were upped to 18, and my classes were much more interesting.  Alas, as Professor Vinsel might recall, I had some troubles with this course.  In fact, my entire schedule was based around the fact that I was enrolling in HST 120-A.  But, after moving Badminton elsewhere and re-adjusting some other courses, I took the course and entered section B.

In  fact, this course was something of an accident, as due to a miscommunication with the financial office, I was locked out of course registration for some time, so some of the humanities classes I had intended to take were gone, such as Psychology.  My adviser said it was a good course to take, in a general sense, so I did.  Not expecting much, my expectations were obliterated, as (excuse the sucking up) Professor Vinsel was a professor that made the uninteresting interesting, was very down-to-Earth and kind, and most importantly, was extremely knowledgeable in his field -- he knew his stuff.  Also, the material covered, in addition to the course's structure, was unlike other courses, and the "breath of fresh air" that was HST 120 elevated the class to be much more than a "generally good course."

Now, I don't want this to sound like a course evaluation, because it is starting to, so let me get to my point, so to say.  I entered this course as a VizTech, interested in perhaps donning a Computer Science minor, thinking it might be "best" to have that experience for whatever reason.  CS isn't a passion of mine.  Reading and writing, however, are.  Considering my decision to come Stevens was just before applications were due, and Fordham University was my sole focus, in pursuit of a degree in journalism and classics (Latin), this course reignited a passion I thought could only exist on Fordham's campus.  I now was writing again, on a biweekly basis, reading wonderfully interesting material, and becoming more educated on a field I wasn't even aware of.  Taking this course reminded me that I can still live out my other interests and passion, and even helped me discover a new one, in the STS program.

Thus, I almost immediately realized that I wanted to pursue STS, whether it be through Science Communications or the other STS (there are too many of them; seriously), and restructured my first semester as a sophomore to include three courses in the STS lineup for a double degree.  Perhaps this may seem hasty, but I am certain that my interest won't wane after HST 120.  Why? Well, I could say that this degree is quite complementary to my current one, as design goes hand-in-hand with STS, but that's not the reason I'm sure this isn't a fad.  I know my interest is permanent and genuine because it is a re-ignition of my original passion.  If I become a miniature Professor Horgan, I get to write (and read).  If I become a miniature Professor Vinsel, I get to read (and write).

No matter which direction I go in the STS field, I can't go wrong.  HST 120 exposed me to a wealth of knowledge about STS.  From Merton to Callon, and even Joseph Turow in the case of my final paper, I've learned a great deal.  To avoid repeating myself further, I just want to acknowledge that this course has been instrumental in guiding me to where and what I want to be in life.  From a kid who wanted to write and read Latin out of high school to someone who wants to be a graphic designer, I've had my fair share of uncertain moments.  Finally, though, I am certain.  Is it 100%? Well, it probably won't ever be until I'm situated in a job.  Heck, Pokemon trainer still sounds good to me!  But the point is, all I've learned has transcended regurgitation on a final exam or taking notes for a pop quiz; it introduced to an entire world, much like Pokemon, where there are hundreds of theories, models, and examples that I've yet to learn but want to.  Now that I'm excited, interested, and ready for the coming years, all I have left to do is "catch 'em all."

Adios,

- Frankie

Power Cords Aren't the Only Flexible Parts ofCharging Electric Cars

It doesn't take a genius to state that more power is used at night than during the day, more lights need to be turned on, and more people are home. This knowledge of power usage has been around for decades and electric companies have adjusted according, even offering lower rates for off-peak hours, such as the middle of the night. All of this seems to work well enough this far, but what if ALL of America needed a lot more electric, say for charging their electric car, then what? Michael Kinter-Meyer, of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory believes that even with a substantial number of Americans purchasing, and thus charging, electric cars, power problems could be a frequent issue if power companies are not prepared.

Kinter-Mayer describes a setting in which Americans, many traveling by way of electric car, all leave work, arrive home, and plug in and cause a problem, especially as the sun sets and power usage spikes. Companies are now looking into new ways to divide power so it may be evenly distributed. Though power companies may offer incentives to charge at odd times of day, few people would be motivated to wander to their garage at 3 in the morning. This is simply not enough. Scientists, however, have a few tricks up their sleeves. San Diego Gas & Electric President, James P. Avery, believes that we could see technology that would automatically charge cars when electricity rates were below a customizable level. The rates would vary on time of day, cloudiness, and even wind speed (especially in regards to wind-sourced energy). This would enable Americans to make the connection and wake up to a charged vehicle, even if that charging was scattered over 12 hours while they relaxed at home and slept.


Original article here.

Reddit Blacks Out Some Comments to Protest CISPA

        The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is a proposed law that would allow for the exchange of internet traffic data between the U.S government and private companies.  The general vagueness of the bill about how the government would be able to monitor the public set off multiple red flags for groups such as the Electronics Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the American Civil Liberties Union.  Opponents of the bill claim that digital rights lobbyists who are trying to push their agenda through under the guise of security in order to avoid opposition like SOPA did in 2011.  Reddit and thousands of other sites came together on April 22nd in a day of protest against the bill which they say gains little for security with much privacy sacrifice.
        Reddit blackouts appeared on the main page as well as on many subreddits which serve as smaller sub communities on the site.    It featured a banner announcement linking to the main CISPA discussion thread as a way of raising awareness of the bill.  Most major news networks and newspapers did not mention the CISPA bill despite the major privacy impact it would impose on Americans.  The bill is now headed to the Senate after passing a 288 to 127 vote in the house and faces a possible veto from president Obama.  This bill would change how many online businesses operate and social changes in the use of data would lead to changes in the way that many of our modern technologies are used.

                                            members of the senate discussing the bill







source: http://mashable.com/2013/04/22/reddit-cispa-blackouts/
http://rt.com/usa/cispa-limbo-senate-apathy-294/

My Final Reflection

        So it looks like we are just around the corner before ending the semester and I can honestly say it's been a wonderful experience. I was a late comer into the class-- I had a good amount of awkward gaps in my schedule and thought that it would be a good idea to get ahead and fill in those gaps up with another humanities course to get my requirements out of the way. I wanted to take the new Intro to Nanotechnology course, but I was already way behind on the coursework, and then saw that Intro to Science and Technology Studies still had a few open spots. I had no idea what I was getting myself into-- I was thinking the class would be like CAL-103 or CAL-105, that we would read, discuss, and write a paper after going over a certain amount of material: rinse, wash, repeat, right? But after completing the first reading assignment, taking a whole bunch or notes, and just spending hours at the library reading with my caramel macchiato next to me, I had already started to rethink my place in the course. I thought that if the reading on Mertonian norms was dense enough for me, imagine the rest of the semester! And I also began to doubt the class since my Thursdays with STS included was around 9+ hours of class, even more if I had a Calculus II exam that day. But I did not want to just drop the course, especially after reaching out to Professor Vinsel about the course and my interest. Nevertheless, I attended my first class as prepared as I could possibly be and was ready to learn about Mertonian norms and go over the readings for that day. That first class and the one after were  the determining factors as to whether I would stay in the class or not, and it looks like they went great-- I'm still here writing blogs, aren't I? But really, I thought the discussions were very informative, my only problem was how to engage in them more, especially since I am a shy person in general, but I have definitely gotten better at that through this course. The material after Mertonian norms was even denser, but it was also much more interesting, topics worth learning about. What was also great was that with the material that we covered in STS, I was able to relate and draw connections to in my engineering courses (That's pretty much the point of the field, right? To see and make such connections both in the theoretical and realistic sense?). I also really loved (but hated reading) the writings of Kuhn and his idea of paradigm shifts and scientific revolutions, especially since I also had to read some of Kuhn in CAL-105 and already knew what he was all about. I just found it amazing how Kuhn was able to identify these trends and organize them in such a way that made a good amount of sense on the macroscopic level, and that also goes along with all the other authors and theories that we have read about: the Strong Programme and David Bloor, Mertonian norms, and the actor-network theory with Michel Callon, to name just a few. I hated having to cram so much reading into my head, but finding out the reasons behind the madness was really interesting and fun. I am really happy for sticking it out to the end--my intentions are no longer about just getting rid of a humanities requirement, but they have transformed into what will hopefully be a minor in STS, or in the humanities in general. Thank you all for such a rewarding first encounter with STS.

-Rad

Vaccines Are Safe Again

It looks like yet again vaccines are proven to be safe for humans. Before this research, there were reasons to believe that a specific vaccine was linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). GBS is a disease that causes your body to confuses your nerve fibers as foreign cells and destroys them. Destroying your nerve fibers can cause paralysis temporarily. Luckily, this disease is very rare and affects about one in every 100,000 people.

Instead of the vaccine causing GBS, scientists are beginning to believe that the flu itself could have something to do with it. The researchers have found that in most cases of GBS, the person who got the condition had the flu within the past two months. With this information, it looks like the vaccine can actually help to prevent GBS. Since the vaccine would prevent the flu, it would decrease cases of GBS.

Time and time again vaccines are shown to be safe. There have even been reports of researchers fabricating results to show that they do cause harm. I think that most people are still kind of uncomfortable with the idea of putting foreign cells into their body. It is also possible that people have poor memories of the past when vaccines have had problems

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/19/us-study-vaccine-link-nerve-idUSBRE93I0Z420130419

stem cell transplantation

As growing knowledge of stem cells continues, some ethical controversies are raised by people, including both researchers and communities. Some claim that the research is unethical to experiment on the cells because they are taken from cells that have the potential to grow into complete human beings. Others fear that such research could put medicine on an ethical controversy in which unborn humans are harvested for cells. The discussion about ethics of this research exists in history starting from the 1970s. From 1978 until 1994, the federal government has banned the use of federal funds for human embryo research because of the ethical issues caused by this research. Then in 1994 the use of federal funds for stem cell research was allowed when the Human Embryo Research Panel presented a report to the National Institutes of Health suggesting that stem cell research is acceptable as long as embryos are not created expressly for research purposes (Wright).

                The ethical concerns about the stem cell research surround the source of the cells and their potential applications. Some argue that it is unethical to use human embryonic stem cells by killing an embryo after obtaining them because human life has not been respected during this process (Skene). Some people question whether this research is still necessary and valuable when its scientific benefits are compared with its moral issues. Even stem cell research can potentially bring our society huge medical and economic benefits, opponents still insist that the stem cell research as well as its application should be limited under a certain level;  not being regarded as killings of embryos. Besides this, some people think that religion is another big issue that makes stem cell research unacceptable. According to a study conducted by KRC Research, which is a full-service opinion and marketing firm, among the people who view the stem cell research from religious perspective only about one third of them approve of this research (Wright).  This is far less than those that view from a health perspective. However, majority of researchers and consumers still approve of stem cell research despite ethical concerns. Proponents with professional knowledge of stem cell support the research by claiming that since scientists have not killed the cells, only changed their fate, it is ethical to use them, and proponents who do not know too much about stem cells simply support it because of its huge medical benefits. According to the data given by KRC Research, even though most people believe the stem cell research raises moral and ethical concerns, more than half of them still choose to support this research. Additionally, some proponents refute the opponents by asking them will they still critique stem cell research when they get the disease that can only be treated by stem cell therapies.

reference:

 Skene, Loane. "Recent Developments in Stem Cell Research: Social, Ethical, and Legal Issues

for the Future." Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies 17.2 (2010): 211-44. ProQuest. Web.27 Mar. 2013.

Wright, Shirley J. "Human Embryonic Stem-Cell Research: Science and Ethics." American Scientist 87.4 (1999): 352-61.ProQuest. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.