Increase of concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has raised the concerns over climate change. However, precise understanding of the flow of carbon dioxide has not yet achieved. It is essential to forecast climate changes in earth.
The information of geographic distribution of CO2 does not exist. There are only a few Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centers in United States and that is not enough to give essential data to the climate modelers. The flow of CO2 is not clearly known. Although there are theories suggesting the flow, the full understanding cannot be achieved without more data.
NASA introduced a new satellite, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), scheduled in 2009. The mission of OCO is log in detail the exact flow of CO2. This gives more detail of the effect of the human activities to CO2. OCO will be able to observe most of the earth’s surface at least once every sixteen week. It can also compare its obtained data with other earth-observing satellites. The data obtained from OCO is highly accurate measured. However, some challenges have to be tackled for example the randomness of the flight of the OCO in high atmosphere.
OCO is meaningful in climate change research. It is the concern of all the people. OCO will be able to give us the answer.
Reference:
The world will soon know more about carbon dioxide: Retrieved Nov, 7th, 2008 from http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=7933604&story_id=12343919
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Unethical Abuses of Mapping The Brain
Technology nowadays is advancing so rapidly that scientists can now create a computer that can “read” our minds. This sounds unbelievable but it is definitely an exciting truth. However, this ability of mapping the brain and reading our minds has also brought some inevitable ethical issues.
The first thing is that when such mind reading technology becomes common, our privacy will be easily violated as we cannot even “think silently”. The technology might become so advanced that with a single “scanner”, every single pedestrian’s mind are exposed upon passing over it. People with malicious purpose might use the technology to retrieve important information such as one’s bank account information. Although some of these situations are just pure imagination by now, it is not totally impossible.
Besides, using the technology could violate natural rules. There might be a future when parents try to give their children a brain test. By using the testing results, they determine how they are going to raise their children. What if a brain test tells that a child is very stupid? Are the parents going to give up on him? This is unfair to the children. Their lives might be determined by a single brain test. The parents will lose the invaluable natural experience of raising their children up.
As a result, restrictions must be set up for the use of the brain mapping technology. Only highly authorized institute such as those concerned with national security and research can use the technology. Public should not have access to the technology as they should have no proper purpose to use such sensitive technology. Human right should be taken as the first consideration when using the technology. However, standard becomes unclear especially for a situation that involves interest of two nations instead of benefits of people.
In fact, brain mapping technology should not directly be used to really read people’s mind. Instead, it should be served as a powerful tool to aid research in several fields, such as medical research. With a better understanding of the brain by using the technology, therapy for fatal brain diseases might be possible in the future. A new generation of computer based on our brain could become a reality too.
In conclusion, a new cross-age technology is always very likely to face ethical issues. The same thing happens to genetic engineering too. The final effect of the technology does not depend on how good it is, but on how are the people going to manipulate it.
The first thing is that when such mind reading technology becomes common, our privacy will be easily violated as we cannot even “think silently”. The technology might become so advanced that with a single “scanner”, every single pedestrian’s mind are exposed upon passing over it. People with malicious purpose might use the technology to retrieve important information such as one’s bank account information. Although some of these situations are just pure imagination by now, it is not totally impossible.
Besides, using the technology could violate natural rules. There might be a future when parents try to give their children a brain test. By using the testing results, they determine how they are going to raise their children. What if a brain test tells that a child is very stupid? Are the parents going to give up on him? This is unfair to the children. Their lives might be determined by a single brain test. The parents will lose the invaluable natural experience of raising their children up.
As a result, restrictions must be set up for the use of the brain mapping technology. Only highly authorized institute such as those concerned with national security and research can use the technology. Public should not have access to the technology as they should have no proper purpose to use such sensitive technology. Human right should be taken as the first consideration when using the technology. However, standard becomes unclear especially for a situation that involves interest of two nations instead of benefits of people.
In fact, brain mapping technology should not directly be used to really read people’s mind. Instead, it should be served as a powerful tool to aid research in several fields, such as medical research. With a better understanding of the brain by using the technology, therapy for fatal brain diseases might be possible in the future. A new generation of computer based on our brain could become a reality too.
In conclusion, a new cross-age technology is always very likely to face ethical issues. The same thing happens to genetic engineering too. The final effect of the technology does not depend on how good it is, but on how are the people going to manipulate it.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Portfolio Item 4: Difficulties in Writing
Academic writing is an essential part of engineering education. In this module EG1471, I had the chance to do academic writing before I can really do so. I found that my writing style is not really good enough for writing a good academic essay. In short, the writing style of this form is serious and critical.
Sometimes, I find that my writing style is not as “professional” as I hope. One of the reasons is that I tend to use vague words or phrases. For example, I wrote this sentence in my draft of writing assignment 2: This give buffer for the scientists and researchers to invent more ways to protect the environment before they can be applied in the developing countries. The problem lays on the pronoun “they”. What does “they” refers to? Is it the scientists, the new technology, or the CCS which is mentioned before? Although this looks trivial it does affect the style.
I also feel that my essay is not enough convincing. The main problem is that I do not include necessary details and information in my essay. I think this is because what I did before for writing English essays is just practicing for exams. It is alright for essays in the exams for having no citation and some statistical facts as we have no access to the resources in the exam hall. However, a good academic essay must have strong and convincing facts, details, and preferably some citations from the reputable sources. This makes the essay to have more impact on the readers. I will try to improve my writing skill from these aspects.
Besides, I realize that a lack of vocabulary has become a major problem when I’m trying to write academically. The words I used sometimes are too unspecific, which eventually lead to a vague style of writing. This can and can only be improved by reading more.
I am trying to read more articles in English not only for improving vocabulary, but also my reading speed. I have to read faster so that I can skim through something long winded and extract useful information. This definitely helps my writing too.
Hope that my effort will make writing academically an ease for me in a short future.
Sometimes, I find that my writing style is not as “professional” as I hope. One of the reasons is that I tend to use vague words or phrases. For example, I wrote this sentence in my draft of writing assignment 2: This give buffer for the scientists and researchers to invent more ways to protect the environment before they can be applied in the developing countries. The problem lays on the pronoun “they”. What does “they” refers to? Is it the scientists, the new technology, or the CCS which is mentioned before? Although this looks trivial it does affect the style.
I also feel that my essay is not enough convincing. The main problem is that I do not include necessary details and information in my essay. I think this is because what I did before for writing English essays is just practicing for exams. It is alright for essays in the exams for having no citation and some statistical facts as we have no access to the resources in the exam hall. However, a good academic essay must have strong and convincing facts, details, and preferably some citations from the reputable sources. This makes the essay to have more impact on the readers. I will try to improve my writing skill from these aspects.
Besides, I realize that a lack of vocabulary has become a major problem when I’m trying to write academically. The words I used sometimes are too unspecific, which eventually lead to a vague style of writing. This can and can only be improved by reading more.
I am trying to read more articles in English not only for improving vocabulary, but also my reading speed. I have to read faster so that I can skim through something long winded and extract useful information. This definitely helps my writing too.
Hope that my effort will make writing academically an ease for me in a short future.
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