Category Archives: Manufacturing

Human Augmentation: Salvation or Destruction?

Posted on November 17, 2018 by | 1 comment

With the emergence of technologies such as gene therapy, neural implants and brain-computer interfaces; one can only imagine, how far can we push the human body?

DNA. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

According to a report done by The National Intelligence Council, exoskeletons offer improved functionality over human limbs; allowing workers to carry increased loads without physical burden. Future neural implants could possibly link human brains to computers leading to enhanced “superhuman” abilities (think permanent photographic memory!)

However, not everyone believes in augmentation…

A movement called Bioconservatism challenges the idea of radical technological advancement in the basis that it destroys human dignity. According to them, should these augmentations come to fruition, they bring a problem that could change human society forever. This quote shows a Bioconservative sharing his testimony:

“It undermines our self – conception as free, thoughtful, responsible beings, worthy of respect because we alone among the animals have minds and hearts that aim far higher than the mere perpetuation of our genes.” – Leon Kass

Anti-Transhumanism. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The National Intelligence Council predicts that only the rich could purchase these augmentations due to their enormous costs. Which may create a divide between enhanced and non-enhanced individuals leading to a two-tiered society.

In fact, our daily lives would definitely change! Individuals with hearing or sight augmentations could invade our privacy and use our information for their own benefit. I guess annoying phone calls from telemarketers would stop (that’s great!), but instead they could just access your mind! (not so great!)

Our current technology prevents us from venturing further into human augmentation, as it cannot support these futuristic designs. For example, the battery life in exoskeletons doesn’t last long enough for practical use in work settings. Not to mention, malicious individuals could easily hack augmentations as this technology still remains in its infancy stage.

US Army Exoskeleton Prototype. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

While Bioconservatives disapprove of human augmentation, another movement called Transhumanism supports the change and believes that humans can evolve beyond our current physical and scientific limitations. A quote from a famous body artist states his opinion:

“The question is not whether a society will allow freedom to express yourself, but whether the human species will allow you to break the bonds of your genetic parameters” – Stelarc

Beyond philosophical ideas, the military sees human augmentation as the future of warfare. Researchers seek to develop retinal implants that offer night vision, neural implants that give improved cognitive ability (such as increased concentration) and augmented reality devices that enhance situational awareness of soldiers in battle.

In the future, we might see a real life Captain America or even an actual Terminator! (Excited?… maybe not)

In this day and age, if someone wants to change their physical appearance, services such as plastic surgery already exist. In my opinion, the individual should have the choice if they want to augment themselves.

I wouldn’t mind getting a bionic arm actually…

 

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Why Graphene hasn’t Taken Over the World… Yet

Posted on November 12, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Fourteen years ago, Nobel prize winners Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov created one of the strongest materials in the world using just some graphite and scotch tape. Graphene is one of the thinnest materials ever made, but is still hundreds of times stronger than steel. It is as pliable as rubber and an excellent electrical conductor. When news about graphene first came out, scientists proposed myriad uses of the material from creating electronics to developing new water purification technologies. But graphene hasn’t lived up to the hype it initially created. This raises an important question: Why is graphene not ubiquitous in today’s world?

A visual representation of the structure of graphene. Image Source: SketchPort by User magicalhobo (2014)

Graphene has a unique structure that gives it many desirable characteristics. It is composed of only a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in interlocking hexagons, much like chicken wire. Scientists from Northwestern University have exploited this property in an atypical application – Using graphene as a hair dye alternative. Graphene is mixed with chitosan, a sugar from crustacean shells, and applied onto the hair. Graphene wraps around the hair follicles and the chitosan glues it into place, allowing the dye to stay on even after 30 washes. The findings are significant because the treatment does not cause any hair damage, unlike typical hair dyes which use chemical reactions to change hair colour.

A vintage advertisement for a chemical hair dye proclaiming to preserve natural hair colour. Image Source: Flickr by User Classic Film (2015)

In a more radical application, graphene could be used to make artificial heart valves. Heart valves are attractive sites for clot formation after surgery. These clots can block blood vessels, eventually resulting in death. Patients thus need to take anticoagulant drugs for life to prevent such clots from forming. Instead, scientists from two U.S. universities suggest coating the heart valve itself with a catalyst that produces the needed anticoagulant. Graphene could be used as a durable scaffold for this catalyst, eliminating the need for a lifetime course of medication.

Visual representation of a blood clot. The thrombus/blood clot obstructs the flow of blood through the vessel. Image Source: Wikipedia by User Persian Poet Gal (2006)

However, graphene yet has to overcome many obstacles before it can be put to practical use. The biggest hurdle remains how we make graphene on a large scale. It is difficult to control the structure of graphene when it is manufactured as large sheets. This problem arises from the structure of the material itself – Because graphene is very thin, it is difficult to handle in large volumes. Even if this problem is solved, we must consider the overall cost of producing graphene. At present, graphene production requires the use of extreme reaction conditions such as high temperatures and low vacuum environments. Graphene is simply not cost effective for its proposed uses.

In the long run, it is also important to consider some of the health and environmental concerns of using graphene. These influences are difficult to predict for a material that is only starting to come into use, but several studies have already begun to focus on the potential toxicity of graphene. A study published in 2016 revealed that inhaling high doses of graphene oxide could result in lung damage in humans. The findings are particularly significant when considering the applications of graphene in products such as hair dyes. Accidentally inhaling or ingesting a hair dye could result in significant health concerns. It is then also important to investigate the effects of graphene on other flora and fauna. The results from such studies could influence how we dispose of graphene in the environment.

From my viewpoint, these predicaments are not unusual for many innovative technologies. The process of translating scientific discoveries from the lab bench-top into a commercially viable product is often difficult and suffers from a significant lag time. While it would be nice for these potential applications to materialize, we should act in a prudent manner. The long-term impacts of graphene on human health and the environment are important to consider before we start to use graphene more widely. My two cents would be to consider the problem one layer at a time.

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Advertising Space: Is The Privatization of Space Exploration Good?

Posted on November 11, 2018 by | 3 comments

SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and Lockheed Martin, if you are a space fan, then you’ve probably heard these names. After a long hiatus on space exploration since the Apollo missions, new leaders have emerged, but this time is not just NASA. In recent years, multiple new private space companies have popped up and taken the space sector by surprise. But we have to ask ourselves, is space privatization good?

United Launch Alliance’s ATLAS V rocket carrying NASA’s Curiosity Rover- picture by NASA

Private space companies operate on a for-profit platform, which can lead to exploitation of space. Due to lack of regulations, these space companies have lots of freedom when it comes to their operations in space. This allows them for the exploitation and monopolization of resources in space.

These companies are also very secretive of their inside functions. New innovations from these companies are confidential and isn’t publicly available. Consider this, NASA’s Hubble space telescope imaging system is publicly available, and has found use in early breast cancer imaging. Imagine if such intellectual property was not publicly available and kept as a company secret. The secretiveness of these companies could severely impede the advancement of science.

Privatization of space also comes with lots of benefits. Some of these benefits are the re-spark in popularity of space exploration and the plummeting cost of transport.

As NASA shifted focus away from space exploration, it has pawned off majority of its responsibilities to the private aerospace sector. These private companies are incredibly efficient compared to NASA. Government agencies such as NASA require funding from taxpayers, their budget and goals are constantly changing every new election cycle.

Rendering of NASA’s mars rocket, Ares V, which was cancelled by the US government in 2011- photo by NASA

Private companies can set long term goals and also have a stable source of funding. This and the profit driven nature of companies, has allowed them to excel in the industry and significantly drive the cost down. The cost of transporting supplies into low earth orbit costed around $20,000 per kilogram in the 1970s (around $100,000 today) and today the cost is only around $2,000 per kilogram.

SpaceX’s reusable rockets have dramatically decreased the cost of rocket launches- photo by SpaceX

Along with decrease in launch prices, the public interest in space has also been growing. Recently space is becoming more popular likely due to the emergence of these companies. For example, SpaceX’s ambitious goals to reach mars by 2022 has led popularity in space to an all time high since the Apollo missions. This increase in excitement for space can potentially also influence government into allocating more resources for space exploration.

I am okay with the privatization of space, as long as humanity becomes a multi planetary society. New regulations should be placed on these companies so they are held accountable for their operations in space. If all works out, hopefully one day I can pack up my bags and take a vacation to mars.

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Guardians of the Upper Realm: Characteristics of Fighter Pilots

Posted on October 28, 2018 by | 1 comment

Let’s go back in time and reminisce about the 80’s: when kids watched Top Gun and dreamed of becoming fighter pilots. Honestly, Tom Cruise looked so cool in his jumpsuit and aviators (he really did..)

My 16 year old Dad decided he too would become a fighter pilot because of that movie. He studied aeronautical engineering and entered fighter pilot school in the Philippines. Although, he never finished because he decided to marry my Mom (another love story on its own). Nowadays, he designs and repairs planes, but no longer flies.

It made me think… what does it take to become a fighter pilot? How does the Air Force decide who gets to fly a multibillion dollar jet armed with weapons capable of thermonuclear destruction?

In fact, I don’t know how my Dad passed selection! As a teenager, he loved getting into fights and craved reckless activities. Why would you put someone like that in a fighter jet? I don’t think someone like that should operate such an advanced piece of military hardware!

An F-16 Fighting Falcon flies a mission in the skies near Iraq.(U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Cherie A. Thurlby)

Military leaders and flight surgeons check for specific cognitive abilities that would help students with flying in a high-stress environment.  Therefore, personality tests serve an essential role in assessing pilot candidates.

To my surprise, a study shows that many fighter pilots exhibit extraverted, conscientious and open-minded behaviour.

Yeah… that sounds exactly like my Dad, he can’t stop talking!

The researchers determined that this behaviour actually helps pilots with their challenging and high risk occupation.

Graph illustrates NEO-PI-R scores of USAF pilots vs. General population. Figure by Roj Lising. Data source: https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:180418/datastream/PDF/view

NEO-PI-R serves as a psychological test that identifies an individual’s Big Five personality traits (openness to new experiences, conscientiousness, extraversion,  agreeableness and neuroticism). Data from the graph shows that fighter pilots when compared to the general public, display more extroverted, open-minded and conscientious (achievement striving) behaviour! However, fighter pilots exhibit less neurotic (anxious) and agreeable behaviour ( hard-headed).

In summary, fighter pilots get along with others, but still enjoy heated conversations (friendly, of course). They seek a thrilling, dangerous and fast-paced life (they fly jets that go faster than the speed of sound). They tolerate stress better than the general population (having a nervous breakdown shouldn’t happen) and have a high opinion of themselves (a must).

I guess my Dad really did embody a great candidate. His laid-back attitude would have certainly helped during tense moments (WARNING, missile lock!). His aggressiveness would have definitely given him an edge in dog fights (aerial battles between pilots).

Would my Mom let me become a fighter pilot?

Probably not.

 

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Intentionally Bendable Phones?

Everyone remembers the huge backlash that Apple received back in September of 2014 with the release of their iPhone 6 Plus because of it’s ability to bend quite easily. With the amount of backlash that they got, surely no one in their right mind would purposely create a bendable phone right?

Well, according to a recently published article in Science Daily, engineers from The Austrian National University (ANU) have created a semiconductor material that can be used to make mobile phones bendable because of its thin and flexible properties. It is made up of both organic and inorganic materials; not to be confused with the ‘organic’ in ‘organic foods’, but meaning that it is carbon-based (and non-carbon based for inorganic).

The Inside of a Semiconductor Phone. (Image from Technology24)

And there’s more. This material is biodegradable and is easily recyclable, which would drastically reduce the amount of electronic waste created from electronic devices.

From 2014 – 2016 , only 3-4% of all E-waste around the world was recycled each year. Graph by Keanson Phanvan, data from The Global E-waste Monitor – 2017, United Nations University (UNU)

Surely this must provide some sort of trade-off: sacrificing computing power for environmentally friendly material in the phone. But it doesn’t. According to Dr. Sharma of the ANU Research School of Engineering,

“We have the potential with this semiconductor to make mobile phones as powerful as today’s supercomputers.”

We live in a world where we could potentially have a phone that is capable of bending whilst at the same time is able to run as fast as a computer. It is innovative, but do we really want our mobile phones to bend?

Personally, I would rather have my screens kept flat. I don’t see the advantages a bendable phone provides when it comes to texting, calling, scrolling, and watching movies, etc. I wouldn’t mind if you were able to bend it back into a completely flat shape, but if its like any kind of metal, that is not possible. As a perfectionist, even just a little curve in my phone would be enough to bother me tremendously.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for making alternatives to help our environment by reducing electronic waste, but I’m sure in the future there are going to be other alternatives that do exactly that without causing my mobile phone to bend. It doesn’t matter if the phone would hypothetically cost $1, the price of a bending phone is too much to pay.

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Posted on October 21, 2018 by in Manufacturing, News

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Automated Chemical Synthesis Machine: Reaction Optimization Has Never Been Easier!

Posted on October 1, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Researchers in Massachusetts Institute of technology have developed an automated machine that can perform several chemical reactions in a short time to determine the most efficient route for synthesizing complex organic molecules such as various drugs and artificially synthesized natural products such as proteins and vitamins.

Researchers in the field of organic synthesis, spend weeks or months trying to come up with a synthetic route for a new complex organic molecule such as a new drug. These routes often are not efficient, so they spend even more time, trying to optimize the route so that the target molecule can be synthesized with high yields in large scales in industry. This new system can test and optimize a new synthetic route in about a day.

Synthesis of useful but complex organic molecules is a time-consuming process. Image from Pixabay

According to Timothy F. Jamison, head of MIT’s Department of Chemistry, in an interview with MIT News“our goal was to create an easy to use system that would allow scientist to come up with the best conditions for making their molecules of interest”. This would allow chemists to have more time to come up with new ideas that can be easily and efficiently tested.

This machine uses a continuous flow systemco-designed by Jamison a few years ago. In this system, chemical reagents flow through a series of tubes and at different points, new chemicals are added to the reaction. So, the machine performs a multi-step synthetic process continuously without the need to manually transfer the products of a reaction to be used as the starting materials of the next reaction.

So, the chemist comes up with a new synthetic route for a desired molecule and programs the machine with the reaction conditions. Then the machine uses an optimization program to explore different conditions and determines the reaction conditions that result in the highest yield.

This new system can test and improve a synthetic route for a complex organic molecule like a pharmaceutical in a day. Image from shutterstock

In my opinion, innovations like this can easily and rapidly improve synthetic organic chemistry so many useful natural organic molecules can be efficiently synthetized in industry. This means more reasonable prices for many drugs and important supplements.

The researchers have patented this new technology and published the results of the research as a journal article in Science.

 

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Bioterrorism: An Impending Global Threat

Posted on September 30, 2018 by | 1 comment

Since antiquity, biological warfare decimated the opposition.  The Assyrians developed fungus that poisoned enemy forces while the Mongols threw fallen soldiers over city walls to spread disease. However, present day treaties and protocols have banned biological weaponry for military use.

Unfortunately, the modern age introduced a new threat: Bioterrorism.

Members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s Special Weapons Protection Unit (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Tyler S. Giguere/Released)

Security agencies around the world struggle to detect biochemical agents. Terrorists can easily create anthrax and smallpox to inflict mass hysteria in enclosed areas such as airports or schools.

Anthrax acts as a potent nerve agent (destroys the body’s nervous system), while smallpox can infect millions of people, killing 30% of those afflicted. Thus, governments have responded by creating defence organizations tasked with combating this emerging threat.

“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.” – Nietzsche

To me, this quote best describes the proper way of fighting back. I believe using destructive weaponry to annihilate terrorists does not make us any better than them. A fine line must exist, that separates us from becoming the very monsters, we fear ourselves.

So far, military research has focused more on prevention over elimination of the enemy. Particularly, in the field of spectroscopy which studies how light interacts with physical objects.

A study done in 2011 by researchers from the Defense Science & Technology Laboratory United Kingdom developed PD-SORS (Point Detection – Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy), a new technique that can detect traces of urine hidden in containers from distances of up to 20 cm away. Very similar to the Tricorder from Star Trek (a portable scanning sensor).

SORS works like this: a laser beam fires from a box and hits an object (encased by a barrier) which then scatters around its container before returning back to the box for analysis. A variety of barriers were tested: ranging from paper envelopes, jiffy bags and complex chemical compounds. To great effect, the detector picked up urine traces in all different types of containers!

Raman spectra of drugs. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Raman spectra of drugs. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

SORS serves a crucial role in defence because traditional Raman spectroscopy excels in transparent and open-air settings. However, most threats hide from the public eye. Terrorists will place dirty bombs in suitcases, jackets and even coffee cups!

The ability to detect sub-surface threats proves invaluable in thwarting potential terrorist attacks. This practical application will allow airport security to improve their efficiency and accuracy when screening for potential threats at checkpoints.

Fighting headstrong may have worked in ancient times, but bioterrorism will require a different strategy. The key lies in prevention, where the greatest victory requires no battle.

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