Planned obsolescence: technological product with an expiry date

From Industrial Revolution, technology has not ceased its evolution. And as the time goes by, this process is getting faster and faster that manufacturer companies are in the need of launching newer and improved versions of their products in short span. Sometimes, it responds to real needs or just caprices of consumers.

Unfortunately, in most of the cases, we have to change our appliances due to their technical failure and the high cost of their repair. In a way, it forces us to buy new ones.

Before watching the documentary The Light bulb Conspiracy - Planned obsolescence , I naively  beloved the fact that the life time of computers, cell phones, and electronic devices in general depended on how well we manipulated them, but it was a great fallacy; it does not mind if you are careful or not since it is a matter of design. In fact, in the video, it is explained that companies like Phillips asked their engineers to design their products so that they fail in a specific amount of time with the aim of keeping economy working well.

Now all makes sense; it was obvious: if they launched high-quality goods, people would stop buying, and industries would lose many millions of dollars yearly as a consequence of that.

On the other hand, those blamed for this legal rob defend themselves arguing that they do it with an altruistic purpose: to avoid a worldwide economic depression. However, for me, it is just a communication discourse that businessmen use to keep people in silence and be able to continue with their profit.

What do you think regarding this issue? is it an economic strategy or a fraud?

If you want to learn more about this controversial topic, click here.

You'd better work it out!

Summer is closer and for some people that is a strong reason to sign up in a gym, or simply to put into diet and to do some  exercises by their own.

Some scientists at the University of Glasgow have been tried to figured out if there is a difference when you work out before breakfast or after of it.

When I read this article, I remember a discussion with my brother about this topic, and I told him: “I consider that eating first and then working out; it will mean that you will burn some calories that you just have ingested”. Now, after reading the article, there’s a chance that I was wrong.

According to the scientific article, the study was conducted in ten overweight-not regular exerciser men. Each man was under three trials for 1-2 weeks: no exercise then eating breakfast; walking briskly for an hour before eating breakfast; and doing the walk after eating breakfast.

The results were: 49kcal unburnt fat without exercise; 216kcal when they exercise after breakfast; and 298kcal when the group exercises before breakfast.

 As you can see, both trial including exercises were fat burning, but before the breakfast was greater. Even though, the premise is to work out, no matter if you do it before your first meal of the day, or after. Doctors and the scientific community encourage people to exercise due to the high level of obesity around the world.

It’s important to mention that to have a good diet and a routine to working out is not related just to aesthetic parameters, but to health. We as future teachers need to be aware of it, for instance, as teachers we will spend most of the time stand up, and that will affect our legs –especially the circulatory system. No matter what kind of routine you decide to follow, as long as you keep working out! 

Do you think this investigation is transcendental? (consider the number of participants on it).

If you have been under diet and working out plan, have you noticed a difference if you exercise before a meal or after of it?.

Daniela Carez & Felipe Gaete OP

NAKED BEFORE YOUR EYES

The current methods to diagnose illnesses and viruses are expensive and not reliable enough since they requiere sophistecated equipments, and specific conditions to be perfom (sample quantity and temperature). A research conducted this year developed a new and revolutionary method that would substituted the conventional test: Plasmonic ELIZA. 

Watch our presentation and be aware of the new developments that this field brings!!!

The control is in your brain

An action as common as grabbing a glass for us could be almost impossible for someone whose arm was amputated. A new technological device such as a “bionic arm” could perform this action only by thinking. You may wonder how? Well simply, using our brain. 

Claudia Mitchell, whose arm was amputated after suffering a terrible motorcycle accident, was a fortunate woman who fits with this kind of amazing prosthesis.  The “bionic arm” can work mainly with an amputated limb. This is simply, firstly, because the area that control de voluntary muscles movement, the motor cortex, after an amputation could be still sending signals to the non-existence muscles. And secondly, if a doctor has to amputate a limb, the professional will be very careful to leave the nerves almost intact which then could reconnect with another group of them.

Reconnecting the nerves with a machine is not as simple as we think. The surgeons reconnect the nerves into the chest looking for a reactivation of their functions. What comes next is to setup electrodes into the chest which are going to control the motors of the prosthesis. As the brain is still thinking that those nerves are connected with an arm, the person thinks “open hand” and the brain is going to send the signal to the tissues in the chest and the electrodes are going to detect the activation of the nerves and the hand will open. 

Despite all the complexity of this new technological device, it is an excellent choice for whose unfortunately have lost an arm. Having the opportunity to use the benefits of our magnificent brain; they can continue with their lives in a normal and, at the same time, in an extraordinary way.  

To learn more about this interesting topic, you can visit the next page: 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1356079/Bionic-arm-controlled-mind.html

Is love dangerous?

Have you ever felt fear whenever you are in a relationship?  Maybe, that happens when people are really into a person and are seriously in love. Insecurity invades your mind and you start distrusting your beloved one, because you think you might get hurt.

Nowadays, human beings tend to take a relationship less serious than in the past. For me, it seems they prefer having affairs and having no compromises with anyone; the problem here is when you are committed and involved with your girlfriend or boyfriend and you really want the relationship lasts. What can you do then?

Experts say that unconditional love is not healthy at all. There should be limits to establish reciprocal and loving partnership to keep your heart straight.

Dr. John Marsden from UK, describes love as a drug pretty similar to dopamine - which is liberated by the brain when it is aroused. “Attraction and lust really is like a drug. It leaves you wanting more," the National Addiction Centre head said.

It means while you are falling in love you do not want to leave that person, and you start wanting her or him more and more, sometimes desperately.  Your heart beats three times faster than in a regular bases and causes “blood to be diverted to the cheeks and sexual organs, which causes also the feeling of butterflies in the stomach, he says. What an extraordinarily experience so, why it is so dangerous?

Other scientists affirm that in that state, people do not think rationally and “The suppression of neural activity in areas involving critical thinking and judgment suggests that love is not only blind, but also stupid,” says Dr. Karin Anderson, Associate Professor of Psychology and Counselor Education at Concordia University in Chicago.

Perhaps, boundaries are directly related to putting us in a more balanced way and make us diminishing needless arguments between you and your partner.

Do you think love could make us vulnerable? I am not saying we should love another person, but isn´t it true that sometimes we avoid getting into a boy or a girl, only because we are afraid of what may happen next? There is an article that may help to understand better this idea.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3236328.stm

 

 

 

 

I do not want a child now!

After long analyzes and studies, oocyte cryopreservation, commonly known as "Egg frezzing" is no longer an experimental procedure, and now it has been used in high scale in "mainstream" clinics.

It may sound perfect since more couples are deciding to delay pregnancy and for women with fertility or cancer treatments. But data is rather incomplete: it suggests that reproduction might not be successful as former studies showed. It is a fragile procedure that can affect the cells and provoke long-term effects such as increasing the risk of rare disorders as the Angelman Syndrome (a neurological condition). 

In 2008, when the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) decided to label this technique as "experimental", only women going through fertility-damaging treatment for cancer or other type of treatments had the option to freeze their eggs to use them in the future and finally have a baby. However, it was used for other purposes too--which society didn't approve that much--such as for delaying having a baby (even if they didn't have fertility issues). But it wasn't until October 22, 2012, that mainstream clinics were allowed to offer this service (for a fee), encouraging more people to use this service. But not all clinics can offer these services since the ASRM policy is very strict. 

It may sound amazing that more than 900 children were born by using this procedure, but reproductive biologists keep on discussing the benefits and success of this technique in younger women, mainly because cells productivity may decrease with age. 

Who should use this technique?

In the case of women that don't want to have babies at the moment, is delaying reproduction by egg freezing just a fancy (and expensive) technique that crosses the line of natural reproduction?     

Would you like to hear the experts' opinion? Also, a woman explains why she decided to freeze her eggs. 

Browsing the Internet: How Ads Are Troubling Our Navigation

Have you noticed the increasingly high amount of ads we can find on the Internet? That ads have gained power on the Internet is no surprise for us, avid users of this technology. They are all over the websites, offering products and services, which sometimes are worth checking and nice to look at.

However, browsing the Internet gets too tiring when ads pop up out of nowhere with just a click on any part of the web page. Many websites that were ads-free in the past are now allowing pop-ups to appear, such is the case of the well-known torrent site The Pirate Bay. Even important and serious websites like Forbes permits ads to appear when clicking an article, and even though there are no pop-ups, you have to wait roughly twenty seconds or click “continue” to access the web page.

Such advertisements are necessary and I am in favor of them; in the end, it is the only way a website can earn money and subsist. But, such abuse of pop-ups and ads is immoderate, and I believe a website can be online eternally with banners at the head, bottom, and sides of the web pages.

Finally, it does not matter how a website is filled with advertisement, as long as they have imaginative and colorful designs. The problem comes when our browsers are interrupted by pop-ups and unwanted web pages. Have you noticed this phenomenon? Does it stop you from browsing the Internet? What do you do to avoid it?

Try clicking on the websites mentioned above, and see for yourself what I was putting forward in this entry. Also, in this webpage you can get to know the types of pop-ups under a website designer point of view.

Your smartphone is spying on you!

Nowadays, people are relying more and more on their Smartphone, they even save all their private information on their phones without thinking of the consequences. A group of scientists from Indiana University and the Naval Surface Warfare, built a cellphone spy malware called “PlaceRaider” to show that smartphones are a major security risk, and that they could be turned against their users.

This malware works on all versions of Android 2.3 Gingerbread and above.  It’s functions consist of taking random pictures every two seconds of wherever its user is to produce a 3D picture without attracting attention.  The pictures are sent to a server that filter the numerous graphics and rebuild the scene in a 3D format, getting as a result a clear and detailed idea of the place. This is possible through the orientation and location functions that are incorporated in the program

The access that SpaceRaider requires are similar to the ones of many advanced camera applications, so users can install it without knowing that they are giving permission to this malware to take pictures and send them. Additionally, once it is installed, the shutter sound is deactivated, so the victim will not notice that pictures are being taken. Therefore, burglars could download the physical space to steal the objects in it, such as information on computer monitors, financial documents, and personal information.

              Pictures taken  at different hours

However, we don’t have to be afraid “yet.”  As I said before, it was built as an academic exercise, but can you imagine yourself being stalked and having things stolen from you through your cellphone? What if the government were to use this kind of malware to spy on its citizens?. It is  clear that we are losing more of our privacy every day, so we must be more careful with the programs that we choose to download from the internet,we should always have antivirus software installed and above all else, keep our private information in a safe place.

-You can find further information in this research paper, written by the scientists from Indiana University and the Naval Surface Warfare:http://arxiv.org/pdf/1209.5982v1.pdf

The Generation Gap

Today’s afternoon I found a very interesting article on one of my student’s books when I was preparing the material I was going to teach him –by the way, he is studying something related to technology too. So, I took a moment to read it and I decided to write something about it.

In a few words, the article pointed out that there is always a difference between one generation and the next –-this is considered to be a gap. In the past, these differences were usually limited to clothes, music, or style. Nowadays, however, technology is taken part of these factors, contributing to expand much more this so-called gap.

Why is this happening? Today’s young generations were born in the digital age and have grown up with new technology. Internet, computers, e-mails, cellphones, social networking, and text messaging are all part of their everyday lives –Ok, shame on me because I don’t belong to this group! What’s the evidence? According to some studies in the U.S, teenagers send 2,272 text messages in just one month, and 70% of 15-17 year old girls have created and use a social networking profile.

How does this create the “generation gap”? Given the explanation provided above, teenagers are considered as “digital natives”. In the same way, older people are referred to as “digital immigrants”, because they grew up without technology; therefore, they must get familiar with it in order to learn to use it. Besides, there is evidence that supports the idea that old and young people process information differently because of the way their brain works.

As a consequence, teenagers are more likely to use lots of different technologies in their day-to-day life and they can often do three or more things at the same time; in other words, they can multitask — that’s not entirely true!

On the contrary, here there is a video that reveals the disappearance of the generation gap. What do you think about it? How is the information provided in the video contrasted with the information I read on the article?

Life is not a movie or is it?

It can't be denied that movies are part of our lifes, movies are useful to have a good time with friends, to make us feel emotions through them and even to inspire us, not only emotionally, but also technologically. We can say that the seventh art has been a technological oracle, this is because many technological devices have emerged after their appearance in films, among which we can mention the following:

 1. Back to the Future - The legendary sneakers that adjust themselves were created by Nike, you just have to put your foot inside them and they will tie and adjust instantly. 

2. Minority Report -  In this futuristic film we can observe Tom Cruise seeing a future crime while he is using a screen which he doesn't touch. the prediction of the crime is still impossible, but nowadays thanks to Kinect of Microsoft and to a Pc it can be possible to manage programmes just by making specific gestures.

3. Star Wars - The holographic message that princess leia send to Obi wan is now possible  because scientists have discovered how to paralyze the light, which is the main step to create holograms, so maybe in a near future our messages will be sent by holographic images.

 4. Harry Potter - The newspaper with talking images that exists in Harry Potter's world is about to be part of ours too. This technological advance will be use for 90-seconds advertisements on the pages of the US Magazine Entertainment Weekly.

Sometimes it seems that there is nothing that technology couldn't do, all these inventions were just part of the imagination some years ago, but now they are here and we don't have to be a character from a movie to enjoy them.
There is any technological device present in movies that you would like to see in real life?

Hey, pay attention to your diet!

    Most people do not care too much about their daily diet. In fact, people tend to think that eating in a fair amount carbohydrate, proteins, and fat is good for health. Most of the time, we do not realize what the implications of what we are eating are. Obviously, eating is a need for us as human beings, but there are a lot of food that are harmful for our body and system. Indeed, diet can have a notable impact on us, especially on our reproductive health.

    So, men, be careful with your diet, above all with dairy and carbs. A recent scientific research suggests that the more carbohydrates or dairy (milk) a man eats, the poorer the quality of his sperm. Similarly, two other studies focused on in vitro fertilization, and found that women who lowered their carb intake while upping their protein consumption stood better chances of becoming pregnant. In these studies, a dietary analysis revealed that carbs accounted for roughly half of all calories consumed among the participants who experimented with. The group of scientists found that carb intake did not appear to have any impact on sperm mobility or shape. However, they found that the more carbs consumed, the lower the man's overall sperm count. 

    Of course, we would indeed expect that something produced by the body would be affected by the quality of nutrition put into it. For one thing, we have known for years, from the female perspective, that the quality of nutrition that a woman takes in at the time of conception, or even before conception, has an influence on that child's health long term in all sorts of ways. So, it should not be surprising that nutrition would have an impact on men and the quality of their sperms, which are basically made by protein, or on in vitro pregnancy rates. You can read the article here and know how the experiment was conducted
    At some point, we realize that some things around can be dangerous for us — things that we consider good and important in our life. In this aspect, technology cannot do much, but science can; it has helped people to be aware of good things in order to have them in life, and has discovered damaging and hurtful aspects in order to avoid them and have a better way of living. What would happen if science did not exist? Would it be easy for us to take care of ourselves? What would happen if science did not discover how bad milk and carbs are for men? Sometimes small details in life are considered insignificant, but at some point can they affect people's life? 

Is there life after death?

At some point in our lives, we've all wondered if there is life after death. There are many beliefs say that yes, there is. For instance, some religions that say that we should have a good behavior in life so that, after this, we won’t go to hell. However, there was still no evidence to prove it so far. Dr. Eben Alexander, after suffering a near-death experience in which his brain stopped working, has returned to the world convinced that there is a higher spiritual dimension and that consciousness does not depend on the brain, it exists beyond the body and death.

Near-death experiences are one of the most interesting research areas in neuroscience. For most scientists are a phenomenon that can be explained perfectly by the physics (spiritual divinity is a conceptual experience generated by the brain), but people who have experienced these close encounters with death, do not listen to the voices of men qualified white coat and, seduced by the beauty of his visions.

Dr. Eben Alexander, neurosurgeon from Harvard University, had experienced one of the most commented encounters about death. He wrote a book Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Near Death Experience and Journey into the Afterlife, and a condensed version of his experience has been featured on the cover of Newsweek (one of the last editions of this iconic print magazine).

He claimed that he did not believe in the phenomenon of near-death experiences. He understood what happens to the brain when a person is near death, and always believed that there was an adequate scientific explanation for extracorporeal heavenly visions described by those who narrowly escaped death. Nevertheless, after 7 days in a coma in which the human part of the brain, the neocortex, was off, he experienced something so profound that gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death. All the main arguments against near-death experiences suggest that these experiences are the result of a least transient or partial malfunction of the cortex. His near-death experience; however, did not happen when the cortex was malfunctioning, but when it was just off. According to scientists, there is no way in which he could have experienced even the slightest and dark consciousness during coma. He argues that while his neurons were obfuscated in complete inactivity by the bacteria that had attacked, its free-of-consciousness brain traveled to another dimension larger the universe: "a dimension I never dreamed existed." – he says.

It is hard to believe that there is life after death, but according to this neurosurgeon, there is. In my opinion, I do not believe in heaven or hell. I think there is some kind of dimension in which we all go after we died. Do you believe in something similar? or do you think that when we died, our spirit and body died too?

Nails of Tomorrow

   The space race has brought thousands of invention to our daily life as a direct consequence from developing technology to reach the outer space. Written pieces of literacy like Jules Verne’s Sci-fi books inspired the first pioneers, and now Sci-fi films inspire the new ones. Every book or films base on the space show us spaceships, space fighters and laser guns to blow up your enemy; however, the idea of a space community has been usually highlighted thinking about the environmental problems that our planet would suffer in the future. Can you figure out how the engineers would assemble those space buildings? ...Bolts? Nails? Glue? The answer is easier than you think, Superconductivity. 

   Yes, Superconductivity. Well, maybe will sound quite familiar the term of cold fusion, which is a scientific procedure to obtain some derivate from nuclear reaction, superconductivity is quite similar. Having considered the basic principles of magnetic fields and electrical resistance, certain metals (superconductors) under critical temperatures are able to levitate from another superconductor, just by being set it at that distance; more important, it keep its place no matter how the strength you use to take it away. 

   The levitation of superconductors or Quantum Levitation (QL) is a phenomenon well-known from hundred years ago, but lack of technology and resources had stopped its development up to now; Through QL houses affected by hurricanes will resist with minor damages; perhaps could be the key to build spaceships or space colonies buildings in the outer space. Can you imagine that? Would you live a house whose walls are held just by magnetism?

 Check this video out about Quantum Levitation:          

   

The Holy Grial of science: A new planet

Some would say that a new planet found would be great. Some would say a new planet in another system “similar” to ours would be amazing. But, although scientists consider it to be way close to Earth, it is at a distance of four light years.

It would take four thousand years with the current propulsion power to get there.

Alpha Centauri B, besides the new planet

Scientists are revolving in the fact that the planet, discovered by Observatory’s La Silla of Chile, is orbiting a star called Alpha Centauri B. It has been found that the planet is orbiting its own sun, and because of that, heat has been sensed there. Actually, the estimated temperature of the orb is of 1.200 degrees Celsius. Some people say it is too hot for some living organism to develop there. But, if you reader think about it, this very planet was too hot when compared to others in our solar system, so, it is not totally wrong to think there would be some developing organism.

The same happened in Earth thousands and millions of years ago, when organisms started to react whether in the water or under the effects of the sun’s heat on some organisms.

The media coverage has induced a whole scientific spirit, taking men to out of their best to achieve such a goal as a way of analyzing better the new planet is.

The Holy Grail of science is about to be discovered. Even though man could not travel there due to the distance, if it is proven that there is life or that there is the chance for it to be so, it would be a tremendous and astonishing breakthrough. But the question is: Would those organisms develop on time for scientists to see them? Might have they grown enough to contemplate humankind as inferior due to their “superiority”?

View media coverage here
http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/17/closest-planet-found-outside-solar-system/

Article related here
http://www.space.com/18089-earth-size-alien-planet-alpha-centauri.html