November 30th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
There are many kinds of narratives and organizing principles. Science is driven by evidence gathered in experiments, and by the falsification of extant theories and their replacement with newer, asymptotically truer, ones. Other systems - religion, nationalism, paranoid ideation, or art - are based on personal experiences (faith, inspiration, paranoia, etc.).
Experiential narratives can and do interact with evidential narratives and vice versa.
For instance: belief in God inspires some scientists who regard science as a method to “peek at God’s cards” and to get closer to Him. Another example: the pursuit of scientific endeavors enhances one’s national pride and is motivated by it. Science is often corrupted in order to support nationalistic and racist claims.
The basic units of all narratives are known by their effects on the environment. God, in this sense, is no different from electrons, quarks, and black holes. All four constructs cannot be directly observed, but the fact of their existence is derived from their effects.
Granted, God’s effects are discernible only in the social and psychological (or psychopathological) realms. But this observed constraint doesn’t render Him less “real”. The hypothesized existence of God parsimoniously explains a myriad ostensibly unrelated phenomena and, therefore, conforms to the rules governing the formulation of scientific theories.
The locus of God’s hypothesized existence is, clearly and exclusively, in the minds of believers. But this again does not make Him less real. The contents of our minds are as real as anything “out there”. Actually, the very distinction between epistemology and ontology is blurred.
But is God’s existence “true” - or is He just a figment of our neediness and imagination?
Truth is the measure of the ability of our models to describe phenomena and predict them. God’s existence (in people’s minds) succeeds to do both. For instance, assuming that God exists allows us to predict many of the behaviors of people who profess to believe in Him. The existence of God is, therefore, undoubtedly true (in this formal and strict sense).
But does God exist outside people’s minds? Is He an objective entity, independent of what people may or may not think about Him? After all, if all sentient beings were to perish in a horrible calamity, the Sun would still be there, revolving as it has done from time immemorial.
If all sentient beings were to perish in a horrible calamity, would God still exist? If all sentient beings, including all humans, stop believing that there is God - would He survive this renunciation? Does God “out there” inspire the belief in God in religious folks’ minds?
Known things are independent of the existence of observers (although the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Mechanics disputes this). Believed things are dependent on the existence of believers.
We know that the Sun exists. We don’t know that God exists. We believe that God exists - but we don’t and cannot know it, in the scientific sense of the word.
We can design experiments to falsify (prove wrong) the existence of electrons, quarks, and black holes (and, thus, if all these experiments fail, prove that electrons, quarks, and black holes exist). We can also design experiments to prove that electrons, quarks, and black holes exist.
But we cannot design even one experiment to falsify the existence of a God who is outside the minds of believers (and, thus, if the experiment fails, prove that God exists “out there”). Additionally, we cannot design even one experiment to prove that God exists outside the minds of believers.
What about the “argument from design”? The universe is so complex and diverse that surely it entails the existence of a supreme intelligence, the world’s designer and creator, known by some as “God”. On the other hand, the world’s richness and variety can be fully accounted for using modern scientific theories such as evolution and the big bang. There is no need to introduce God into the equations.
Still, it is possible that God is responsible for it all. The problem is that we cannot design even one experiment to falsify this theory, that God created the Universe (and, thus, if the experiment fails, prove that God is, indeed, the world’s originator). Additionally, we cannot design even one experiment to prove that God created the world.
We can, however, design numerous experiments to falsify the scientific theories that explain the creation of the Universe (and, thus, if these experiments fail, lend these theories substantial support). We can also design experiments to prove the scientific theories that explain the creation of the Universe.
It does not mean that these theories are absolutely true and immutable. They are not. Our current scientific theories are partly true and are bound to change with new knowledge gained by experimentation. Our current scientific theories will be replaced by newer, truer theories. But any and all future scientific theories will be falsifiable and testable.
Knowledge and belief are like oil and water. They don’t mix. Knowledge doesn’t lead to belief and belief does not yield knowledge. Belief can yield conviction or strongly-felt opinions. But belief cannot result in knowledge.
Still, both known things and believed things exist. The former exist “out there” and the latter “in our minds” and only there. But they are no less real for that.
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Pedophiles are attracted to prepubescent children and act on their sexual fantasies. It is a startling fact that the etiology of this paraphilia is unknown. Pedophiles comes from all walks of life and have no common socio-economic background. Contrary to media-propagated myths, most of them had not been sexually abused in childhood and the vast majority of pedophiles are also drawn to adults of the opposite sex (are heterosexuals).
Only a few belong to the Exclusive Type - the ones who are tempted solely by kids. Nine tenths of all pedophiles are male. They are fascinated by preteen females, teenage males, or (more rarely) both.
Moreover, at least one fifth (and probably more) of the population have pedophiliac fantasies. The prevalence of child pornography and child prostitution prove it. Pedophiles start out as “normal” people and are profoundly shocked and distressed to discover their illicit sexual preference for the prepubertal. The process and mechanisms of transition from socially acceptable sexuality to much-condemned (and criminal) pedophilia are still largely mysterious.
Pedophiles seem to have narcissistic and antisocial (psychopathic) traits. They lack empathy for their victims and express no remorse for their actions. They are in denial and, being pathological confabulators, they rationalize their transgressions, claiming that the children were merely being educated for their own good and, anyhow, derived great pleasure from it.
The pedophile’s ego-syntony rests on his alloplastic defenses. He generally tends to blame others (or the world or the “system”) for his misfortunes, failures, and deficiencies. Pedophiles frequently accuse their victims of acting promiscuously, of “coming on to them”, of actively tempting, provoking, and luring (or even trapping) them.
The pedophile - similar to the autistic patient - misinterprets the child’s body language and inter-personal cues. His social communication skills are impaired and he fails to adjust information gained to the surrounding circumstances (for instance, to the kid’s age and maturity).
Coupled with his lack of empathy, this recurrent inability to truly comprehend others cause the pedophile to objectify the targets of his lasciviousness. Pedophilia is, in essence, auto-erotic. The pedophile uses children’s bodies to masturbate with. Hence the success of the Internet among pedophiles: it offers disembodied, anonymous, masturbatory sex. Children in cyberspace are mere representations - often nothing more than erotic photos and screen names.
It is crucial to realize that pedophiles are not enticed by the children themselves, by their bodies, or by their budding and nubile sexuality (remember Nabokov’s Lolita?). Rather, pedophiles are drawn to what children symbolize, to what preadolescents stand for and represent.
To the pedophile …
I. Sex with children is “free” and “daring”
Sex with subteens implies freedom of action with impunity. It enhances the pedophile’s magical sense of omnipotence and immunity. By defying the authority of the state and the edicts of his culture and society, the pedophile experiences an adrenaline rush to which he gradually becomes addicted. Illicit sex becomes the outlet for his urgent need to live dangerously and recklessly.
The pedophile is on a quest to reassert control over his life. Studies have consistently shown that pedophilia is associated with anomic states (war, famine, epidemics) and with major life crises (failure, relocation, infidelity of spouse, separation, divorce, unemployment, bankruptcy, illness, death of the offender’s nearest and dearest).
It is likely - though hitherto unsubstantiated by research - that the typical pedophile is depressive and with a borderline personality (low organization and fuzzy personal boundaries). Pedophiles are reckless and emotionally labile. The pedophile’s sense of self-worth is volatile and dysregulated. He is likely to suffer from abandonment anxiety and be a codependent or counterdependent.
Paradoxically, it is by seemingly losing control in one aspect of his life (sex) that the pedophile re-acquires a sense of mastery. The same mechanism is at work in the development of eating disorders. An inhibitory deficit is somehow magically perceived as omnipotence.
II. Sex with children is corrupt and decadent
The pedophile makes frequent (though unconscious) use of projection and projective identification in his relationships with children. He makes his victims treat him the way he views himself - or attributes to them traits and behaviors that are truly his.
The pedophile is aware of society’s view of his actions as vile, corrupt, forbidden, evil, and decadent (especially if the pedophiliac act involves incest). He derives pleasure from the sleazy nature of his pursuits because it tends to sustain his view of himself as “bad”, “a failure”, “deserving of punishment”, and “guilty”.
In extreme (mercifully uncommon) cases, the pedophile projects these torturous feelings and self-perceptions onto his victims. The children defiled and abused by his sexual attentions thus become “rotten”, “bad objects”, guilty and punishable. This leads to sexual sadism, lust rape, and snuff murders.
III. Sex with children is a reenactment of a painful past
Many pedophile truly bond with their prey. To them, children are the reification of innocence, genuineness, trust, and faithfulness - qualities that the pedophile wishes to nostalgically recapture.
The relationship with the child provides the pedophile with a “safe passage” to his own, repressed and fearful, inner child. Through his victim, the pedophile gains access to his suppressed and thwarted emotions. It is a fantasy-like second chance to reenact his childhood, this time benignly. The pedophile’s dream to make peace with his past comes true transforming the interaction with the child to an exercise in wish fulfillment.
IV. Sex with children is a shared psychosis
The pedophile treats “his” chosen child as an object, an extension of himself, devoid of a separate existence and denuded of distinct needs. He finds the child’s submissiveness and gullibility gratifying. He frowns on any sign of personal autonomy and regards it as a threat. By intimidating, cajoling, charming, and making false promises, the abuser isolates his prey from his family, school, peers, and from the rest of society and, thus, makes the child’s dependence on him total.
To the pedophile, the child is a “transitional object” - a training ground on which to exercise his adult relationship skills. The pedophile erroneously feels that the child will never betray and abandon him, therefore guaranteeing “object constancy”.
The pedophile &ndash stealthily but unfailingly &ndash exploits the vulnerabilities in the psychological makeup of his victim. The child may have low self-esteem, a fluctuating sense of self-worth, primitive defence mechanisms, phobias, mental health problems, a disability, a history of failure, bad relations with parents, siblings, teachers, or peers, or a tendency to blame herself, or to feel inadequate (autoplastic neurosis). The kid may come from an abusive family or environment &ndash which conditioned her or him to expect abuse as inevitable and “normal”. In extreme and rare cases &ndash the victim is a masochist, possessed of an urge to seek ill-treatment and pain.
The pedophile is the guru at the center of a cult. Like other gurus, he demands complete obedience from his “partner”. He feels entitled to adulation and special treatment by his child-mate. He punishes the wayward and the straying lambs. He enforces discipline.
The child finds himself in a twilight zone. The pedophile imposes on him a shared psychosis, replete with persecutory delusions, “enemies”, mythical narratives, and apocalyptic scenarios if he is flouted. The child is rendered the joint guardian of a horrible secret.
The pedophile’s control is based on ambiguity, unpredictability, fuzziness, and ambient abuse. His ever-shifting whims exclusively define right versus wrong, desirable and unwanted, what is to be pursued and what to be avoided. He alone determines rights and obligations and alters them at will.
The typical pedophile is a micro-manager. He exerts control over the minutest details and behaviors. He punishes severely and abuses withholders of information and those who fail to conform to his wishes and goals.
The pedophile does not respect the boundaries and privacy of the (often reluctant and terrified) child. He ignores his or her wishes and treats children as objects or instruments of gratification. He seeks to control both situations and people compulsively.
The pedophile acts in a patronizing and condescending manner and criticizes often. He alternates between emphasizing the minutest faults (devalues) and exaggerating the looks, talents, traits, and skills (idealizes) of the child. He is wildly unrealistic in his expectations &ndash which legitimizes his subsequent abusive conduct.
Narcissistic pedophiles claim to be infallible, superior, talented, skillful, omnipotent, and omniscient. They often lie and confabulate to support these unfounded claims and to justify their actions. Most pedophiles suffer from cognitive deficits and reinterpret reality to fit their fantasies.
In extreme cases, the pedophile feels above the law &ndash any kind of law. This grandiose and haughty conviction leads to criminal acts, incestuous or polygamous relationships, and recurrent friction with the authorities.
V. The pedophile regards sex with children as an ego-booster
Subteen children are, by definition, “inferior”. They are physically weaker, dependent on others for the fulfillment of many of their needs, cognitively and emotionally immature, and easily manipulated. Their fund of knowledge is limited and their skills restricted. His relationships with children buttress the pedophile’s twin grandiose delusions of omnipotence and omniscience. Compared to his victims, the pedophiles is always the stronger, the wiser, the most skillful and well-informed.
VI. Sex with children guarantees companionship
Inevitably, the pedophile considers his child-victims to be his best friends and companions. Pedophiles are lonely, erotomanic, people.
The pedophile believes that he is in love with (or simply loves) the child. Sex is merely one way to communicate his affection and caring. But there are other venues.
To show his keen interest, the common pedophile keeps calling the child, dropping by, writing e-mails, giving gifts, providing services, doing unsolicited errands “on the kid’s behalf”, getting into relationships with the preteen’s parents, friends, teachers, and peers, and, in general, making himself available (stalking) at all times. The pedophile feels free to make legal, financial, and emotional decisions for the child.
The pedophile intrudes on the victim’s privacy, disrespects the child’s express wishes and personal boundaries and ignores his or her emotions, needs, and preferences. To the pedophile, “love” means enmeshment and clinging coupled with an overpowering separation anxiety (fear of being abandoned).
Moreover, no amount of denials, chastising, threats, and even outright hostile actions convince the erotomaniac that the child not in love with him. He knows better and will make the world see the light as well. The child and his guardians are simply unaware of what is good for the kid. The pedophile determinedly sees it as his or her task to bring life and happiness into the child’s dreary and unhappy existence.
Thus, regardless of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the pedophile is convinced that his feelings are reciprocated - in other words, that the child is equally infatuated with him or her. He interprets everything the child does (or refrains from doing) as coded messages confessing to and conveying the child’s interest in and eternal devotion to the pedophile and to the “relationship”.
Some (by no means all) pedophiles are socially-inapt, awkward, schizoid, and suffer from a host of mood and anxiety disorders. They may also be legitimately involved with the child (e.g., stepfather, former spouse, teacher, gym instructor, sibling) - or with his parents (for instance, a former boyfriend, a one night stand, colleagues or co-workers). They are driven by their all-consuming loneliness and all-pervasive fantasies.
Consequently, pedophiles react badly to any perceived rejection by their victims. They turn on a dime and become dangerously vindictive, out to destroy the source of their mounting frustration. When the “relationship” looks hopeless, some pedophiles violently embark on a spree of self-destruction.
Pedophilia is to some extent a culture-bound syndrome, defined as it is by the chronological age of the child involved. Ephebophilia, for instance - the exclusive sexual infatuation with teenagers - is not considered to be a form of pedophilia (or even paraphilia).
In some cultures, societies and countries (Afghanistan, for instance) the age of consent is as low as 12. The marriageable age in Britain until the end of the nineteenth century was 10. Pedophilia is a common and socially-condoned practice in certain tribal societies and isolated communities (the Island of Pitcairn).
It would, therefore, be wise to redefine pedophilia as an attraction to or sexual acts with prepubescent children or with people of the equivalent mental age (e.g., retarded) in contravention of social, legal, and cultural accepted practices.
John Hay High School
John Hay High School is poised to host the two newest additions to the Cleveland Schools‘ long list of academically challenging magnet schools. Rather than focusing on only one discipline, John Hay High School will develop two completely separate programs for specially selected students. As part of its mission to better serve the students of the Cleveland Public School District, the school will screen applicants in two interesting and academically rigorous fields. One program will focus on Architecture and Design. The other will focus on Science and Medicine.
The Cleveland School of Architecture and Design
The Cleveland School of Architecture and Design is open to students in the Cleveland Public School District, including some qualified home school students. The school is focused on the commercial and applied arts as part of a highly competitive four year, rigorous, public, college preparatory program. In addition to their regular coursework, students will have the opportunity to take advanced coursework on campus as well as participating in activities and learning experiences at nearby institutions such as the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Cleveland Institute of Art.
Cleveland Public School District students will have to take on extra work in order to qualify for this unique opportunity. The school will have an extended school year and require students to participate in activates beyond regular school hours. All students will also have to maintain a high standard of personal and academic achievement, including following a rigorous code of conduct, a dress code, in addition to maintaining a high grade point average and school attendance record.
To be considered for the school, Cleveland Public School District students must have an overall high grade point average in addition to showing talent in the arts. Exceptional talent in the arts, including design and computer art, are weighed alongside potential for leadership and the demonstration of ethical behavior.
The Cleveland School of Science and Medicine
Like its counterpart in Architecture and Design, the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine is open to students in the Cleveland Public School District, including some qualified home school students. The school is focused on the fields of science and medicine within a rigorous academic institution. In addition to campus based learning, students will have opportunities to study at Case Western Reserve University as well as major local health care organization and the world renowned institutions in the University Circle neighborhood.
Like students at the school of Architecture and Design, the Cleveland Public School District students who join the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine will have to participate in educational activities outside of regular school hours as well as attend an extended school year. They will also be held to rigorous academic standards, including a high grade point average.
Cleveland Public School District students eligible for the program must show a demonstrated interest and talent in science, medicine, and mathematics and will be judged by the coursework they have already completed as well as their personal and ethical behavior. Like their fellow students in the school of Architecture and Design, the Cleveland Public School District students accepted into this program must follow a strict code of personal conduct.
Psychology is more an art form than a science. There is no “Theory of Everything” from which one can derive all mental health phenomena and make falsifiable predictions. Still, as far as personality disorders are concerned, it is easy to discern common features. Most personality disorders share a set of symptoms (as reported by the patient) and signs (as observed by the mental health practitioner).
Patients suffering from personality disorders have these things in common:
They are persistent, relentless, stubborn, and insistent (except those suffering from the Schizoid or the Avoidant Personality Disorders).
They feel entitled to - and vociferously demand - preferential treatment and privileged access to resources and personnel. They often complain about multiple symptoms. They get involved in “power plays” with authority figures (such as physicians, therapists, nurses, social workers, bosses, and bureaucrats) and rarely obey instructions or observe rules of conduct and procedure.
They hold themselves to be superior to others or, at the very least, unique. Many personality disorders involve an inflated self-perception and grandiosity. Such subjects are incapable of empathy (the ability to appreciate and respect the needs and wishes of other people). In therapy or medical treatment, they alienate the physician or therapist by treating her as inferior to them.
Patients with personality disorders are self-centered, self-preoccupied, repetitive, and, thus, boring.
Subjects with personality disorders seek to manipulate and exploit others. They trust no one and have a diminished capacity to love or intimately share because they do not trust or love themselves. They are socially maladaptive and emotionally unstable.
No one knows whether personality disorders are the tragic outcomes of nature or the sad follow-up to a lack of nurture by the patient’s environment.
Generally speaking, though, most personality disorders start out in childhood and early adolescence as mere problems in personal development. Exacerbated by repeated abuse and rejection, they then become full-fledged dysfunctions. Personality disorders are rigid and enduring patterns of traits, emotions, and cognitions. In other words, they rarely “evolve” and are stable and all-pervasive, not episodic. By ‘all-pervasive”, I mean to say that they affect every area in the patient’s life: his career, his interpersonal relationships, his social functioning.
Personality disorders cause unhappiness and are usually comorbid with mood and anxiety disorders. Most patients are ego-dystonic (except narcissists and psychopaths). They dislike and resent who they are, how they behave, and the pernicious and destructive effects they have on their nearest and dearest. Still, personality disorders are defense mechanisms writ large. Thus, few patients with personality disorders are truly self-aware or capable of life transforming introspective insights.
Patients with personality disorder typically suffer from a host of other psychiatric problems (example: depressive illnesses, or obsessions-compulsions). They are worn-out by the need to reign in their self-destructive and self-defeating impulses.
Patients with personality disorders have alloplastic defenses and an external locus of control. In other words: rather than accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions, they tend to blame other people or the outside world for their misfortune, failures, and circumstances. Consequently, they fall prey to paranoid persecutory delusions and anxieties. When stressed, they try to preempt (real or imaginary) threats by changing the rules of the game, introducing new variables, or by trying to manipulate their environment to conform to their needs. They regard everyone and everything as mere instruments of gratification.
Patients with Cluster B personality disorders (Narcissistic, Antisocial, Borderline, and Histrionic) are mostly ego-syntonic, even though they are faced with formidable character and behavioral deficits, emotional deficiencies and lability, and overwhelmingly wasted lives and squandered potentials. Such patients do not, on the whole, find their personality traits or behavior objectionable, unacceptable, disagreeable, or alien to their selves.
There is a clear distinction between patients with personality-disorders and patients with psychoses (schizophrenia-paranoia and the like). As opposed to the latter, the former have no hallucinations, delusions or thought disorders. At the extreme, subjects who suffer from the Borderline Personality Disorder experience brief psychotic “microepisodes”, mostly during treatment. Patients with personality disorders are also fully oriented, with clear senses (sensorium), good memory and a satisfactory general fund of knowledge.
Sodium Vapour Lamp consists of a discharge tube made from a heat resistant glass, containing a small amount of metallic sodium, neon gas and two electrodes, Neon gas is added to start the discharge and to develop enough heat to vaporize the sodium. Because of law pressure inside the tube, a sufficiently long tube required to obtain more light. To reduce the overall dimension of the lamp, this tube is generally bent into U-shape.
The light produced by this lamp is yellowish which is produced at its optimum pressure of about 0.004mm of mercury. This pressure is obtained at a temperature of about 280
Have you heard the saying, “A Leopard Can’t Change Its Spots”?
What if I told you they were wrong? What if I told you that you can change and that your history is not the main factor in what you want to do, or become even at a biological level.
Advancements in biology and in how we think and function are catching up with people like Napoleon Hill or Maxwell Maltz of whom, told us that the way we think and feel, and that which we focus on will shape our world and the outcome of our lives. We literately become what we focus on most.
Scientists who are studying Stem Cell research challenged the notion that once a cell is programmed to become a particular thing, whether that is an arm, liver or heart, that it will always be that and will not and cannot change. It is in line with what we have been told about the leopard and our own nature and reaction to life.
However, the scientists have taken cells from a liver and introduced them into a heart.
They were thrilled to find out that the cells from the liver started to transform and take on the coding and function of the heart. The cells literately started communicating with other heart cells to work as one.
This has far reaching possibilities for our health and for people who were told that there is no hope for their health challenges.
So, if your cells can transform into something else than so can you. When I read this information, I came to the conclusion that for the cells and for us, one of the biggest factors in changing our lives or our spots as it were, is to submerse ourselves in the conditions that we want to become.
Using the cells as an example, it is hard not to be a liver cell when you are surrounded by other liver cells.
You copy that which you see are apart of. By intentionally choosing to be around other successful people in what ever area you want to be in, you start to take on the traits and habits of those people.
However, if you stay around people who would rather complain, bemoan their fate and blame the world for their challenges, that is the personality that you will take own. That is the energy that you will absorb.
So first decide, what it is you want to do, be and have. Then once you have a clear picture, start to be around those types of people, places and events. And know that you can change your life and alter the reality that you felt you had. If you want to be a marketer, chef, athlete, writer or entrepreneur, start
getting to know some. Find out what they do and get into a mastermind group. Submerse yourself around those skills and traits you wish to take on. And yes, that means leaving some people behind. Especially those who want you to remain the same.
Biotechnology is not a new advancement in the area of science. It actually has been utilized for years, but was not significantly described as biotechnology. In its simple form, biotechnology means utilizing living organisms or their products to revise or change human health or the environment, or to run a process. Biotechnology itself is the combination of biology and other sciences to create new, innovative products in the agricultural sector, industrial sector and environmental industries. The products include medicines, vaccines, growth hormones for plants and food additives.
There are nine major areas of this technology and its applications in the field of biotechnology. These nine major areas are bioprocessing technology, monoclonal antibodies, cell culture, recombinant DNA technology, cloning, protein engineering, biosensors, nanobiotechnology and microarrays.
Bioprocessing technology refers to use of living cells to produce preferred products. This method has been utilized for thousands of years without knowing the actual scientific implications of it, such as in beer brewing, winemaking and even for making bread and pickles! Microorganisms were first discovered in the mid-1800s, and people came to realize that their biochemical machinery was the substance for these useful products. In-depth research and further experiments have led us today to the production of amino acids, birth control pills, pesticides, antibiotics and also vitamins, just to name a few.
Monoclonal antibody technology uses the cells from the immune system to make antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are extremely useful to locate any pollutants found in the environment, detect microorganisms that may be harmful in food, differentiate between normal cells and cancer cells, and also diagnose in a more precise manner any infectious diseases that may be present in humans, animals or plants.
Cell culture simply means growing cells outside of a living organism. There are 3 areas in this study, which include plant cell culture, insect cell culture and mammalian cell culture. Recombinant DNA technology, in the plain sense of the word, means recombining 2 pieces of DNA from 2 different species. This is used to produce new medicines and vaccines, slow down the process of food spoilage, control viral diseases and hamper inflammation, just to name a few.
Cloning became well-known after the cloning of Dolly the sheep years back. Cloning technology actually allows for the generation of genetically identical molecules, plants, cells or animals. Protein engineering is a DNA recombinant technique that is meant to improve existing proteins to create new proteins that do not exist in nature. These proteins may then be used in food processing, drug development and industrial manufacturing.
Biosensors are a combination of biology and the advances in microelectronics. Biosensors are detecting devices that rely on the specificity of cells and molecules to identify and measure substances at extremely low concentrations, which is why they are highly used to measure the nutritional value, safety and freshness of food, detect explosives, toxins and bio-warfare agents, locate and measure pollutants, and also to provide emergency room physicians with bedside measurements of vital blood components.
Nano-biotechnology refers to the study, manipulation and manufacture of ultra-small structures and machines that can consist of only a single molecule. This field of study enables us to improve the specificity and timing of drug delivery, increase the speed and power of diagnosing diseases, and also encourage the development of green manufacturing practices.
Microarray is the study of gene structure and functions which enable us to analyze tens of thousands of samples simultaneously. This field allows us to monitor gene activity, identify genes that are important to crop productivity, and also to detect mutations in disease-related genes
Global warming over the next half-century could put more than a million species of plants and animals on the road to extinction, according to an international study
Thomas, lead author of the study published in the science journal Nature, said emissions from cars and factories could push temperatures up to levels not seen for 1 million to 30 million years by the end of the century, threatening many habitats. The sweeping new analysis, enlisting scientists from 14 laboratories around the globe, found that more than one-third of 1,103 native species they studied in six regions around the world could vanish or plunge to near extinction by 2050 as climate change turns plains into deserts or alters forests.
Global warming is widely blamed on rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere linked to emissions of gases from burning fossil fuels in cars, factories and power plants. We can cut global warming pollution by reducing pollution from vehicles and power plants.
We can increase our reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind, sun and geothermal. And we can manufacture more efficient appliances and conserve energy.
But all this will take time, instead we should think of alternatives which can be done immediately like doing ridesharing or carpool, using clean fuel like CNG. There is no reason to wait and hope that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will solve the problem in the future. Right away, we should put existing technologies for building cleaner cars and more modern electricity generators into widespread use.
If current trends continue Global warming will have catastrophic effects like:
• Melting glaciers, early snowmelt and severe droughts will cause more dramatic water shortages in the American West.
• Rising sea levels will lead to coastal flooding on the Eastern seaboard, in Florida, and in other areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico.
• Warmer sea surface temperatures will fuel more intense hurricanes in the south-eastern Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
• Forests, farms and cities will face troublesome new pests and more mosquito-borne diseases.
• Disruption of habitats such as coral reefs and alpine meadows could drive many plant and animal species to extinction.
Such alarming facts call for some serious action on each one’s part and we can contribute by sharing our vehicles and making carpools in our cities.
Electricity is a fundamental pillar to any modern society. Unfortunately, we need fuel to create electricity. This brings us to the subject of biomass as a new source of power.
Using Biomass Power for Our Electric Needs
Biomass is a term used to describe natural, biological materials that can be used as fuel to produce energy. Biomass is a broad term that includes many different types of fuels, from garbage to landfill gas to ethanol. The electricity biomass produces can be used to power many different things from industries to homes, and once properly researched and put into use, biomass will definitely cut down on the world’s use of fossil fuels and other harmful sources of energy.
The most common types of biomass can be grouped into one of three categories. Wood (and related) products are things like lawn clippings, wood chips, leftover wood scraps from lumber production, dead trees and leaves. Garbage products are items within garbage that people generate that can be used to burn as fuel, or landfill gases, which are produced when garbage rots (methane). Ethanol and biodiesel are both fossil fuel replacements made from either corn or other crops (ethanol) or vegetable oil and animal fat (biodiesel). All of these can result in biomass fuel to produce electricity.
The landfill gas, also known as biogas or methane, is often collected by landfill owners or farmers to be used as fuel. The burning of this fuel can either power a generator for electricity or be used to heat property. The vegetation or wood related products can be pressed into pellets, and then used as fuel for heat and electricity generation. Ethanol and biodiesel are of even more interest in the world climate these days, as they are both used to power cars and other vehicles. Ethanol and biodiesel are much cleaner burning than fossil fuels, and less expensive to produce since they come from waste which is easy to find in our modern world. Both types of fuel are also biodegradable, making them safer for the environment. While neither fuel can be used in all types of cars at present, car manufacturers are working to make more vehicles that will run on these alternative fuels. Any of these approaches can be used as electricity biomass platforms.
While the idea of using electricity biomass as a power platform may seem far-fetched at present, the resources are already in place to use biomass as fuel. What needs to be done right now is more research on how to use these biomass fuels efficiently, and without the stigma of “burning garbage”. Other fuels at present are much more user-friendly and easy to store, as they are concentrated and in familiar formats.
Once we learn to concentrate biomass and make it easily usable, it will be a great alternative to any of the other energy sources available today with the possible exception of nano-solar technology. Electricity biomass as an energy platform is definite a concept coming into its own.