mm284's blog

Kids and technology…

mm284 — Thu, 05 May 2011 06:30:51 +0000

Kids these days have so much technology available to them. I have a younger sister and shes on her phone all day! Even when I am in my room she texts me from the room next door. She really cant get up and ask me in person? i just find it a little bit lazy and I feel as if our younger generation is losing their need to interact not via texts or technology. I’m also on my phone all the time, but i still communicate with people other than using my phone.If you look at the comic strip above you can see what i mean. I have seen this happen in my house all the time. My sister and her friends would be in the same room and then they text each other instead of talking. I mean maybe its just me that thinks this is a little odd? The way we are advancing with technology have a lot of positives but I think the usage that kids have with technology is a little bit unhealthy. Any thoughts?

Technology taking over…

mm284 — Thu, 05 May 2011 05:08:12 +0000

Taking my recent STS classes and doing my research project this semester I realize that our world is being taken over by technology! I don’t know if people have noticed these little bar codes everywhere?Well these bar codes are generated with coding and all you have to do is scan it from your phone and you get all he information it has coded in it. Can you believe how technology is taking over? I’ve seen these bar codes on posters and instead of writing out all the contact information all you have to do is scan it and you get all the information you need. I find it so amazing. I would have never thought that all we had to do is scan a bar code to get information like phone numbers and email addresses. I’m just amazed on how we have evolved socially at such a fast pace. I feel like pretty soon we will see these bar codes everywhere! If you have a blackberry,iphone, or android please scan the bar code to be linked another blog post. If you dont have a phone capable to link to the webpage please click the link provided.

Technology taking over…

mm284 — Thu, 05 May 2011 05:07:17 +0000

would you do it…

mm284 — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:27:46 +0000

If you had the choice to pick what your kids would look like, would you?Why not just let it happen the way god intended? Would you genetically modify you child if it could help you ohter child live or have a chance at living life?
Many parents have been approached with these questions when going into get invitro fertilization. Since there has been progress with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis,there have been many more options before having in-vitro done.Parents with sick kids like luekemia have had the oppuirtunity to have another child in order to save the sick child’s life. Others just want to have kids with blonde hair, blue eyes, and tan skin. In the end it is the parents choice, but there is so many issues that can rise from their choice.

Fall 2010 Semester comes to an end..

mm284 — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 17:46:22 +0000

My last fall semester has finally been completed!!! Im done with classes and all that’s left are finals. This has probably been one of the most difficult semesters of my whole college experience.I went through a lot of changes this semester and some of these changes took a toll on me. For the first time I ever I had to depend on myself for everything. There was no mommy or daddy to run to. I had to learn how to do things on my own and financially take care of myself. I have never had to really work because I always had my family to help me out, but this year the economy hasn’t been the best. I’m taking this semester as a growth and hopefully I can learn from everything that has happened to me. It was a lot to take in for one semester, but everything happens for a reason . It was a difficult time but I’m glad i could get through it and also help my family out with what I could. I had to balance work, school, and my family. The issues that went on in my life weren’t the easiest but the saying is”what doesn’t kill you…only makes you stronger”. So farewell to the fall semester of 2010 and hello winter break!

Human Genome Project Presentation…

mm284 — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 05:44:08 +0000

I had a group presentation to do for philosophy class this week. We had to present Philip Kitcher’s views on the human genome project. I have already been doing a lot of research on the human genome project,molecular genetics, and designer babies ;but i never really researched the first thoughts of the the project and older information on the issue. I have been researching recent articles and view on it but I haven’t really explored older articles and information. To read about the views he had and what he predicted like 15 years ago and to see the path where the project has gone is so different! Back then they didnt think we would have the technology now to even go in the direction that scientist are going with the human genome project findings. To see how they thought and what they predicted what might happen was really eye opening to me. It also made me realize that philosophers are very insightful and think about so much more than just the science in something. They think about the ethical views, political views, and just put everything into different perspectives. I really enjoyed doing this powerpoint presentation. I added more to my research and have a lot more to look into now because of it!

Being right handed or left handed can be linked to dyslexia?

mm284 — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 04:22:15 +0000

Scientists in the UK have found a variant of the PCSK6(Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 6) gene that is associated with handedness and language related disorders, like dyslexia. We all know that right-handedness is much more common than left handedness and scientists say that this is because the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and vice versa. The left side controls most of our motor functions and language, therefore if some people have damage to some of their left side they have language impairments. This gene has never been linked with handedness but it is interesting that it has an association with people with dyslexia. This will allow the scientist to investigate more and see the difference that carry the variant and don’t. This can let scientists further research the biology of language related disorders and take a look at the evolutionary track of both language and handedness.

UMDNJ Prof.David Kaback

mm284 — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 03:48:52 +0000

Choosing someone to interview was a very difficult process!! I searched on both the UMDNJ website and the NJIT website. After an hour of searching each Professor I finally decided to choose Professor David Kaback, a professor at UMDNJ in the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Department. Professor David Kaback has been doing research on meiosis, which is the cell division between sperm and egg cells. With his work and process may lead to a way to prevent Down, Turner, and Klinefelter’s syndrome. His work can lead to many insights into the first trimester and pairing of the sperm and egg cells. An article written about Prof. David Kaback and his research is very interesting and very insightful. I think I chose him because I’m interested in Genetics and the early detections of any syndrome or health issues the fetus may have. I was actually surprised to find a Professor in the Newark Area that was even interested in the genetic issues of fetuses and other organisms.There is quite a bit of articles and information about the research he is doing in this certain area of genetics but not much about himself. I wonder how he got interested in this field of study and how he went about starting these researches. There must be so much that goes into funding and being able to have the tools that he needs in order to continue his research. I hope that I do end up doing my interview on Prof. David Kaback because his work does interest me and I think other people would find it interesting as well.

Designer babies…

mm284 — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 04:01:37 +0000

Can you imagine going to the doctors and being able to tell him what you want your baby to look like?? What color eyes you want them to have? Hair color? Sex? Why would you even want to change what your baby will look like? Why cant you let it be? Why do some people want to basically customize their baby? I just don’t understand why baby’s genes have to be change to what the parents want? Why cant you just let nature take its course and be happy with just having a child! Some people can’t even have that privilege. I guess since I’m somewhat religous i feel that God does certain things for certains reasons. He put both man and woman on this earth to procreate and populate the world! He never said we can choose what we look like or what genes we can delete from our genetic code! Imagine if we had this technology back in Hitler’s time? All kids would have had blonde hair and blue eyes!! I understand that Science is advancing and so is the technology of the world. I just dont understand why we would want to mess with nature. I have been reading articles for my thesis paper and its just so mind boggling that so many people are willing to “customize” their babies? I just see it as something unmoral, but everyone is entitled to their opinion..It’s just something for thought…

what if..

mm284 — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 18:50:19 +0000

Have you ever thought to yourself… What if? In any situation your in.. Just what if? Most scientist ask themselves this all the time… Every scientific finding has had to start with the question what if? Most of the theories that we know of are because someone somewhere asked what if? Like the bing bang theory and then you probably heard someone say “ Well, What if…..” that simple thought can lead to great things. .. great minds given that thought came up with most of the theories and findings we have.. an example would be Benjamin Franklin.. he went out with a kite during a thunderstorm to attract electricity… and im going to say that he asked himself.. Well what if there is some way to attain this electrical charge?

I remember my grade school science teacher always starting a scientific theory with the question what if? It made us think and brought our attention to her just how simple a question could lead to so many things and how “what if” just makes you think of all these solutions as if that question triggers your brain to automatically just think of solutions; your brain works at twice the speed and you need to figure out the solution. But this is all just a thought that came to mind while I was watching the discovery channel and history channel. It just puts that question in my head…”What if?”