The last lesson!

Today is the last session of Technology and World Change module. I have learnt a lot during the course. When I attended the first session of this module, I know hardly anything about technology, its development and its impacts on human lives. In the first session, I was exposed to the historical timeline of technology and the role of human civilization with technology emergence. The session was really important because it brought to me basic knowledge for the whole course. Then through each class, I really broaden my knowledge on this field. I have learnt about industrial development, biobusiness technology, energy revolution and many more interesting topics. Although these technology developments have been around, without this Technology and World Change class, I will have never known all these information.

Today is also our group’s presentation. We decided to do the topic of vaccines because vaccine is one of the most significant innovations of the world in medical field. Before the invention of vaccine, the level of mortality due to serious pandemics and infectious diseases was really high. It was only until 1796 that the first vaccine was invented by Edward Jenner. This first vaccine creation was the foundation of vaccine development. After the first invention, many more vaccines were developed to protect people from variable diseases.

In the future, for the industry to grow, there have to be drivers. Despite high standard of living, human still have to face many serious pandemics and diseases around the world. And rapid growth of population put pressure on producers to provide sufficient quantity of vaccine for the population. Therefore, companies and societies need to invest in R&D to invent new vaccines to prevent human from potential diseases. There is also technology driver of vaccine development. The draft of human genome mapping was finished in 2003, brings deeper understanding about human body and can be a lead to vaccine innovations in the near future. Nanotechnology and genetic technology will also contribute to the development of vaccine. In the future, we will have needle-free, pain-free method of vaccine delivery. There are two possible new methods: Nanopatch and edible vaccine. Using nanotechnology, Nanopatch comprises arrays of densely packed projections. Edible vaccine is a vaccine in which an antigenic protein is engineered into an edible plant. After ingestion, the protein is uncloaked and recognized by the immune system. New vaccine delivery methods will brings a lot of benefits to human life because they reduce cost of delivery, reduce risk of needle injuries and make vaccines more accessible.

Although my group has put a lot of effort to the website and the content, we still have to research more on future possibilities of vaccines such as cancer vaccines and therapeutic vaccines.

To sum up everything, I can not expect more or ask for more from class. Each week is truly an enlightenment for me on different field of technology. But the course is not only about technology but it also focuses on how technology can create a sustainable and equal future for the world. Moreover, the course also builds me a habit of reading technology news, which is really helpful and help me to be more up-to-date with developments.

Finally, I rated today session and the whole course 10 out of 10. I wish that the course lasted longer!

Week 12

“You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.” – Oscar Wilde

Today is the first session of group presentations. Topics that my classmates’ groups choose are wide-ranged from e-commerce, kinetic technology, GM food to finding love online. All of these topics are elaborated in depth and in detail. Groups also put a lot of effort on their websites.

With the presentation on online love, I get a lot of new information about this interesting field. Because I have never tried any love finding online website, the presentation really helps me to understand more about the business.

Kinetic techonology brings to me a comprehensive understanding about future technology which can really bring changes to how the world will generate energy in the future.

Last but not least, the presentation on GM food also bring depth understanding to me. As I talked about GM food for my individual presentation, I can see that the group has put great effort to research on the topic and actually give me some new information about GM food. Genetically modified food is food derived from genetically modified organism which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally

Crop can be genetically modified to be more nutrious, have bigger sizes or pest & insect resistant. The articles focuses on genetically modified seeds which are created to lock insecticide chemicals into the structure of plant cells to make them less attractive to the insects which want to eat them.

There are 3 main advantages of growing GM plant. First, GM crop produce higher crop yield since its gene is resistant to insect. The tradtional method of using insecticide is not as effective because insecticide is often spread unevenly around the crop field. But when insecticide chemicals are inserted in plants’ genes, it assure the effectiveness of insect resistance and therefore, the crop yield is improved. Second, GM plants help protect environment. It saves waters and also protect soil from absorbing toxic chemicals from pesticide. Moreover, growing GM plants reduces the amount of tilling that leads to soil erosion. Third, by growing insect-resistant plants, farmers do not have to dirrectly contact with pesticide which is really harmful. Having said that, people should be careful when they produce GM food to make sure that it is safe for consumption.

In conclusion, I rated this class session 9/10 because all presentations are prepared thoroughly and give me new understanding about wide ranged issues.