Proton Ion Sequencer: What's (very) cool

Proton Ion Sequencer on Prezi

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The Proton Ion sequencer is a revolutionary new biological technology. It uses semi-conductor sequencing, a seemingly complicated method which codes AT/CG using the charge of each respective base, to quickly and inexpensively sequence any DNA. This technology is particularly impressive because it cuts time and costs involved with coding: what previously took weeks or longer can now be done in literally 24 hours, and what previously cost $10,000 now only costs $1,000 for one sequence. What is particularly amazing is the cost of the machine itself, as it only costs $149,000 to purchase a Proton Ion Sequencer. While that may seem steep, that is comparatively free when faced with the half-million it costs to purchase a different technology for sequencing. This lowered cost allows for a broader consumer base, letting more and more researchers and physicians purchase the device and investigate the seemingly limitless bounds of genetic codes. In fact, LSU owns a Proton Ion Sequencer, so groundbreaking, inexpensive, and fast research is being done on our very own campus every day.

            The types of things that can be discovered through quick and inexpensive DNA sequencing are boundless. First, it can be used for early detection and prevention of diseases. It has been said that genetics load the gun, but environment pulls the trigger, so knowledge of genetic predispositions is invaluable. Newborns can be screened (i.e., their DNA is processed and checked for known signs) for diseases like cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia, PKU, and hypothyroidism and treatments can be instituted immediately. In the book, “The Language of Life” by Francis S. Collins, he discusses the benefits of such screens: “While hypothyroidism is generally not due to a single genetic cause, early detection is critical. If your child has hypothyroidism, it is essential to replace thyroid hormone immediately to allow normal brain development” (pg. 42-43). So, even for illnesses which are not caused by any single genetic trigger, we can quickly find genetic vulnerabilities and fend off full expressions of disease. This is also true for mental illnesses, as disorders such as schizophrenia and alcoholism have very strong genetic bases and can be prevented against.  Learning disorders such as ADHD and math or reading disabilities can be found at birth, and teaching techniques can be personalized to ensure the best learning environment for all students.

            Another benefit to cheap and readily available genetic screenings is personalized medical care. At some point in the (possibly near) future, private physicians could have access to their patients’ genetic code standard alongside any other medical history, allowing them to optimize treatment. If a patient has a predisposition of a heightened sensitivity to a specific medication, the doctor would write a much lower dosage or even use a different prescription. This method could save countless lives with allergic reactions or accidental overdoses. Similarly, many illnesses are mysterious in their expression, and doctors sometimes toil away for weeks or months looking for the cause of seemingly inexplicable symptoms.  If that particular disease has a genetic basis, a quick DNA sequencing could easily answer any question and allow the patient to be treated properly.

Finally, the potentials for research which come from the Ion Sequencer are endless. As shown in this article, http://www.gizmag.com/ion-proton-sequencer-decodes-dna/21092/, and an e. coli outbreak was solved in just hours since this technology could easily code the virulent strain so it could be isolated and destroyed. Along the same lines, any bacteria, virus, or cancer with a genetic code can be understood and eventually solved using this method. Finally, our genetic code holds the mystery of evolution: all modern life has evolved from a prior form, and comparing modern DNA to discovered fossil DNA can reveal phylogenies and explain the Earth’s past.

Obviously, the technology of the Proton Ion Sequencer is a very exciting one, filled with chances to understand life on an atomic level.

SmartCap

Description:

What's Cool (Anna)

The most important use of the SmartCap is to promote safety.  The creator of the SmartCap was involved in the mining industry, where employees use heavy machinery and work long hours.  These two conditions could result in an accident, but with the SmartCap, the accident could be averted.  The SmartCap screen device located inside the machine's cab will beep if it is determined that the cap's wearer is too fatigued.  Not only does the information go to the in-cab device, but it can also be monitored by employers.  Employers can review this information to decide who should and who should not be operating heavy machinery.  It can also be used to determine work schedules.  Employers can look over results from the SmartCap to see who is able to work long hours, and who tires too easily to handle heavy machinery for long periods of time.

The SmartCap is practical.  While it will not function properly of thoroughly soaked, it can withstand sweat.  It can also be washed.  The producers of the SmartCap recommend that users hand wash the cap for best results.  Along with the baseball cap design, this technology is available in headbands and visors.  The technology's producers are working on implementing it in hard hats as well.

On page 73 of Alone Together, Sherry Turkle discusses how new technologies are being invented to do jobs that humans once held.  If enough accidents occurred in a certain field of work, it could be decided that it would be safer to invent some sort of technology to work in that field.  The SmartCap is a technology that can be used with people to help complete a job, instead of replacing people.

Lynda.com

What's Cool

- Nikki

What's Not Cool

Lynda.com's interface limits its adaptability to new learning opportunities that may have otherwise been seized in a classroom. Rosen writes, "Technology cannot and never should replace curriculum or content. The curriculum should drive the technology use, rather than allowing the technology to dictate the curriculum" (Rosen 214). Lynda.com's technology definitely limits it's effectiveness to learn material quickly and completely. The training videos are numbered into consecutive chapters. Also, videos by nature are linear forms of communication. This linear sequence of administering information can put a hold on spontaneous questions that will arrise about other facets of the particular software one was learning. (For instance, you may not know why you are unable to select something by simply clicking on it.) When questions do arrise, finding the solution soon is key to connecting the material for memory. I suppose someone could search for their answers by simply glancing the various chapter titles, but in many events, the user will not know what what the particular keywords are for their specific troubleshoot. Rosen continues to write that, "Learning environments should allow for teachers to interrupt students, for students to interrupt other students, even for students to interrups teachers when appropriate."

You cannot merely watch the videos to learn the material. Nicholas Carr draws on Eric Kandel, a Nobel Prize winning neuropsychiatrist, for insight into the process of memory. "For memory to persist, ... the incoming information must be thouroughly and deeply processed. This is accomplished by attending to the information and associating its meaning fully and systematically with knowledge already in well established memory." (Carr 193) Therefore, you cannot expect to retain the software tools learned from Lynda.com in your memory, unless you are able to connect it with previous experience and are able to understand its applications.

The videos are very long, and many users do feel very bored while watching multiple videos that each could be as lengthy as ten minutes. Rosen writes "[Online courses] are too static of an environment for an entire course" because of the lack of socialization and the lack of multiple learning modalities (Rosen 220). Being trapped in headphones and listening to a monotonous voice speak for extended periods of time can be very uninteresting. Distractions (especially social ones that this technology isolates us from) will creep in and cause for interrupted learning. Perhaps Lynda could use more immediate positive reinforcement and interaction, like that of playing a video game. In the books, Rewired and Rethinking Education, both agree that online courses could have a lot to learn from video games (Rosen 49) (Collins & Halverson 84) . While Lynda.com does allow you to download exercise files to work along the training video, this service comes at an additional cost. Even if you use the exercise files, being forced to stop what you are thinking to repause and replay the videos over and over again is not the ideal way operate a web browser which will inhibit the seamless learning workflow that educational environments strive for.

- Steven

The Cloud: Pros and Cons

Check out our class presentation on the Cloud....

Here's what's cool...

Summing up, the cloud allows for a simpler experience for the user. Its convenience presents users with the ability to upload their emails, pictures, and other important files onto the cloud. Cloud computing is cost-effective for both users and companies. Users need only buy a simple computer terminal, as a sophisticated look and hard drive are unnecessary; the cloud provides a standard level of performance to everyone. Therefore, social competition and materialism are reduced among people. Cloud computing is also cost-effective for companies because they can easily save all of their files in a safe location and do not have to worry about paying for hardware for every new computer. The streamlined hardware that the cloud provides runs better and has fewer problems, allowing the computers, their users, and ultimately the company to work more efficiently.

The idea of reduced materialism, along with easy usage, provides mental relief for users. This mental relief can reduce stress and allow for unabated mental growth and development. The wealth of information provided by the cloud makes us more efficient thinkers and data miners. Information floating around in our brains no longer bogs us down; we can resource the cloud whenever data is needed.

And what's not cool...

In summary, the Cloud comes with about as many negatives as it does positives. Because of it's appeal for being user friendly, many of it's users are those who do not know as much about technology. Due to that, safety and privacy can become an issue. By putting all of one's important information, pictures, and private things on to a backup site, he or she is running the risk of having that information hacked or exposed to the public. Furthermore, even tech-savvy users are not safe from hackers. Secondly, as the world turns paperless, especially with help from the Cloud, businesses such as libraries and IT labs will suffer from hurt business. Third, Cloud makes people's lives much less private. The Cloud is just the stepladder to make the world more dependent on technology. People will have the tendency to re-route their days to stay connected to in the internet to back-up their latest pictures and documents to their Cloud.

Regarding human development, the Cloud will hurt children's recognition of property owning. If data and pictures are always saved to a cloud and not tangibly owned, children will have a hard time understanding ownership as their brain's develop. Secondly, as society become more reliant on digital means to back up their information and lives, the necessity for memory will not be as strong. Since our brains have plasticity, we need to keep our brains adapting and growing in a more analytical, stronger way. The Cloud will digress that growth by aiding users in memory loss and reliance on technology.

Here's the link to follow along with our Prezi!

The Cloud on Prezi

Human Development: The Peel

Please see our presentation on The Peel in the video below.

Text Material, explained:

The Good

"Perhaps the most ubiquitous technology in children's lives today are mobile devices--tools such as cell phones . . . Research has shown convincingly that students thrive when curricula incorporate mobile learning devices"
- Larry D. Rosen, Ph.D. from Rewired, Chapter 9: Rewiring Education

According to Rosen, children understand mobile technology very well. Depending on the age of a child, most children do not understand the concept of numbers very well. It is much easier for a child to recognize a picture of their favorite TV series, than to try to remember the number of the channel and how it corresponds to the show he or she wants to watch. So by using a cell phone coupled with The Peel's technology, children could more easily watch what they want to watch, with their parent's consent.
 - Jared

The Bad

"Young children often respond to the unrealistic quality of television in very real ways."
- Rosen,  Rewired, Chapter 7: Media Literacy among 21st Century Kids

Research has shown that children think that what they see on television is an accurate representation of reality. For example, children who watch Batman probably think that they can have Batman's abilities, which can be dangerous on the playground. Due to The Peel's ability to pull up different shows and visually consolidate them into one app makes it easier for children to discover shows that their parents may not approve of, especially violent shows.
- Dieu

cellCONTROL- Not Cool

To view our overall Prezi presentation on cellCONTROL, please follow this link: http://prezi.com/w84jljyvlk03/copy-of-cell.

Scosche's cellCONTROL is expensive ($130), likely to be ineffective, and only increases our reliance on technology. If we turn to this technology to solve our problem of using technology while driving, what message are we sending to our posterity? As Nicholas Carr discusses in his book, The Shallows, children and teenagers are already growing up with a nagging compulsion to check email, texts, and other cell phone notifications. When we turn to new technology to curb our technology use, it shows our lack of self-control. Do we not have the capacity to put down our cell phones for a fifteen minute drive to the office or school? And if we can't trust ourselves, then how can we expect to trust children or teenagers not to do the same thing? We should think of a better solution than to put our trust in yet another technology. We should put down the cell phone. Yes, it may take some work and retraining our brains, but it is worth it to drive safely. Let's put down the cell phone without this expensive, unnecessary technology.

Proton Ion Sequencer- Not Cool

The Proton Ion Sequencer is a machine that uses new semi conductor technology to turn genetic sequencing from a process that was expensive and took weeks into one that is cheap and takes less than day to do. It can sequence the genome of any organism and has already been extensively used. It sounds great but is it really?

The first problem is that there are hidden costs associated with it. It does cost $1000 for the initial sequencing but should something worrisome show up you then have to pay for a specialist or genetic counseling, of which the latter may cost around $150 per hour. Other cost may include treatment for whatever is found.

Another problem is privacy. One's genetic code is a large amount of personal data that has been made easier to access. s of now, there aren't any real problems. But seeing as it is so personal and virtually unchangeable, genetic codes may become an identification system in the future and thus this opens up a way for identity theft. It also allows for someone to infer your medical history and future if they have the right additional information. For anyone other than a doctor, this may not be a good thing.

The next point is one that has followed society through each major science and social achievement, discrimination. The first think you think is old fashion racism and that is an issue. With this technology becoming cheaper, more people will be able to use it. Some will use minor variations to perpetuate ideals of superiority. Imagine if this technology appeared amidst the Holocaust, what Nazi propaganda would hit the streets about genetic and racial superiority?
Another discrimination is a more professional types and could come from two places. The first is the insurance company. When this technology began rolling out many states had to pass laws specifying how insurance companies can use it. Those laws vary state to state and some still offer loop holes. The Proton Ion sequencer may require for more unified standards and practices from insurance companies regarding coverage and predisposition to diseases. The second place you'll find it is at work. Some jobs require certain skills, as we all know. Skills you can gain, earn and control. If you are denied a job then you likely need to gain the skills or experience and very well can. However, what if you got turned away for a job for something you cannot control, something your born with? A easily accessed genetic code will allow for employers to turn you away if you have a predisposition for something that may hinder your work or cause them to need to pay more if they hired you. One's genes do no always mean one is destined for something, the environment plays a big part too. The genetics just say what can or is likely to happen, not what will. So you'd basically be turned down on a "what if?" scenario.

The last point is plain ignorance to the technology. Many people don't understand it yet and have to have it explained to them (hence the genetic counseling). Some doctors aren't qualified to explain it themselves, leaving room for misinterpretations. If a woman finds out she does not genetically have a predisposition to get breast cancer then she may fore go mammograms when in actuality her chances of getting  breast cancer only dropped by about 10-15%. Before this becomes widely available, professionals and the public in general should be educated to interpret the results correctly or else the Proton Ion Sequencer may do more harm than good.