DESMA 9 Blog Summary

DESMA 9 Week 6

Biotechnology has always been an extremely controversial field, especially since the damning documentary entitled “The World According to Monsanto” which highlighted the dangers of using biotechnology. One example of biotechnology gone wrong would be the genetically modified(GMO) wheat, produced by Monsanto. The “super crop” is now a pest in many farms in the United States, since its genetically modified resistance makes the plant hard to kill. Another example would be the bovine growth hormone which Monsanto injected into cows to increase milk production. Unfortunately, this resulted in horrific side effects, like pus growing in the udders of cows. Said pus is then found in the milk produced by the cows. More importantly, due to the udders becoming more susceptible to infection, cows injected with the hormone end up dying. Given the above, it was interesting and yet deeply disturbing for me to learn that artists are dabbling into biotechnology. Side effect of the growth hormon...

DESMA 9 Week 3

Growing up, I developed an interest in robots. To me they were smart, immortal, and efficient beings capable of great feats of strength and intelligence. Movies such as The Iron Giant, and the entire Star Wars franchise further reinforced my perception of robots. This love for robotics lead me to read books written by the great science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke. Arthur C. Clarke's Most Iconic Work Hence, I was unsurprised to learn that the modern concept for robots was inspired by a play written by a Czech writer, Karel Capek. In many ways, Sir Clarke had a similar impact on the scientific world as Mr Capek. An apt example would be the artificial intelligence computer named HAL 9000, in Sir Clarke’s book entitled “2001: A Space Odyssey”. In the book and the similarly named movie, HAL 9000 is an on-board computer for a spacecraft, responsible for maintaining ship functions and to act as a companion for human crew. However, due to a series of events, HAL malfunction...

DESMA 9 Week 9

My father has always enjoyed the concept of space travel and was the reason he became an aerospace engineer. Hence, I grew up watching science fiction films like “Star Wars” and “Star Trek”, just to name a popular few. Unsurprisingly, this led me to read books by Arthur C. Clarke and Jules Verne. All the above fuelled my interest in space and technology, in fact one of the reasons I choose mechanical engineering as a major is due to a childish dream to build a lightsabre. Therefore, it is safe to say art plays a huge role in inspiring advancements in science. Movie Poster for R.U.R. In truth, there are many examples of how art propelled science to greater heights, many of which have been mentioned throughout this course. The most prominent example would be robots, which was the subject of the lecture in week 3. The term robot was first coined by a Czech writer, Karel Capek, as the subject of his play entitled R.U.R., which explored what happened when sentinel robots were use...

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