The Legacy

Science and Technology GP Example List

By Raymond Yeh at www.password-thesystem.blogspot.com
V1.0
 A tribute to my wonderful GP tutor,
Jack Kie

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 Disclaimer

© Raymond Yeh 2010, Some Rights Reserved

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Index
Disclaimer ........................................................................................................................... 3
Index ................................................................................................................................... 4
Contributors of the legacy................................................................................................... 5
Practice Questions............................................................................................................... 6
Social................................................................................................................................... 7
GM Food......................................................................................................................... 7
Piracy .............................................................................................................................. 7
Privacy ............................................................................................................................ 7
Crime............................................................................................................................... 8
Behavioral ....................................................................................................................... 8
Economic ............................................................................................................................ 9
Singapore ........................................................................................................................ 9
Behavioral ....................................................................................................................... 9
Education .......................................................................................................................... 10
Scientific Researches .................................................................................................... 10
Medical ............................................................................................................................. 11
Xenotransplantation ...................................................................................................... 11
Laparoscopic surgery .................................................................................................... 11
Stem Cell Research ....................................................................................................... 11
Gene Therapy................................................................................................................ 12
Traditional Cures .......................................................................................................... 12
Prostatic limbs............................................................................................................... 12
Cancer ........................................................................................................................... 12
Ethics................................................................................................................................. 13
Embryonic stem cell ..................................................................................................... 13
War................................................................................................................................ 13
Security ......................................................................................................................... 13
Environment...................................................................................................................... 14
Carbon........................................................................................................................... 14
Water............................................................................................................................. 14
Energy ........................................................................................................................... 15

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Contributors of the legacy
Tiffany
Priya
Queenie
Xinjuan
Wauren
Elvina
Wanqing
Ashwini

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Practice Questions
1. Is science our master or servant?
2. Is the possibility of controlling out children’s genes a good or bad thing?
3. In this scientific age, is the world still a place of wonder?
4. The advancements of science and technology have both empowered and
weakened man. Discuss.
5. Has man gained anything from space exploration?
6. The scientist should enjoy total freedom in research for science to advance. Do
you agree?
7. Too much knowledge is a dangerous thing. Is this applicable to the world of
science today?
8. How far should we depend on science to solve the world’s problem?
9. Discuss the view that science is now man’s religion.
10. Too much faith is placed in science. Discuss.
11. The application of knowledge gained by research is something beyond our control.
Do you agree?
12. The best to assess a country’s progress is through its scientific accomplishments.
Do you agree?
13. Can the transplanting of animal organs into human being ever be justified?
14. Examine the advantage and disadvantage of satellite technology.
15. Science should always seek to prolong life. Discuss.
16. “With great power comes great responsibility.” Discuss with reference to
scientific development.
17. “It has become appalling obvious that our technology has exceeded humanity.”
How far would you agree with this view?
18. Would you agree that the only importance and value of science lies in its power to
improve and save lives?
19. “Science generates irresponsible dreams.” Is this statement valid?
20. “Along with great power comes great responsibility.” Discuss the relevance of
this observation to the roles of and responsibilities of scientists today.
21. As science advances, man regresses. Do you agree?
22. Has science become a new religion?

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Social

GM Food
• GM food refers to crop plants created for consumption using molecular biology
techniques.
• Traits such as resistance to herbicides, nutrition content and drought and pest
resistance are improved in GM foods.
• Golden rice, developed in the Green Revolution, has high vitamin A. It can
address problems related to vitamin A deficiency associated with the death of
millions of children in Africa and Asia. According to WHO, this deficiency is the
single most important cause of blindness in about half a million children annually.
• Bt corn, a genetically modified corn, is pest resistant to common borer species.
• Farmers may be subjected to high prices of seeds as these GM varieties are
patented.
• European Union has placed a ban on most GM food.
• GM foods are tested for 9 years before it is made available to the public in US.
• The Department of Agriculture of Philippines estimate that 800 000 tones of padi
rice is lost due to El Nino.
• Farmers may become dependent on large scale seed producers like Monsanto,
which have patent protection and hence monopoly on the seed. However, private
corporations only undertake about half the agricultural research, whether genetic
engineering or not. The other half is done by public research system using public
funds. Thus results from such research would not be subjected to private-sector
monopoly power.

Piracy
• UK film industry claimed that with internet, they lost roughly 235 million pounds
in 2008 due to piracy.

Privacy
• Installation of tracking devices in every car in London allows officials to track
drivers in Europe.
• Romanian diplomat in the hit and run car accident which killed one was arrested
and prosecuted as he was caught on cameras.
• EU says it may force resistant member states to use the full-body scanners being
pushed by Obama administration.
• US authorities have the ability to tap communications made from Blackberry
devices, the same surveillance that The UAE and Saudi Arabia are requesting.
Producers of Blackberry fear that UAE officials could abuse user data if given
access.
• Firms like [x+1] taps into vast databases of people’s online behavior, mainly
gathered by tracking technologies that have become ubiquitous on websites across

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 the internet. Through cross referencing and statistical analysis, these websites can
make assumptions about the natural inclination of individuals.

Crime
• Cyber frauds in US have increased by 33% last year. 74% are done through
emails and 29% are on websites.
• Cyber bullying has caused the life of Megan Meier. She was humiliated by the
parents of her friend and was told that the world will be a better place without her.
• Tyier Clementi, 18, a freshman at Rutgers University, killed himself last month
after a clandestinely taped video of his dormitory room sexual encounter with
another man was put on the internet by two other students.
• According to National Crime Prevention Center, over 40% of all teenagers with
internet access reported being bullied online during the past year.
• Only 15% of parents know of their children’s social networking habit.
• A recent survey found that 10% of 770 young people surveyed were threatened,
embarrassed or made uncomfortable by photo taken of them using cell-phone
cameras.
• While fans of social media like to broadcast every move, police said it can have a
highly detrimental effect as it leaves their homes at the mercy of criminals.
• Police in the American state of New Hampshire said that they have smashed a
burglary ring targeting users who imparted their location on their Facebook status,
and effectively advertising the fact they are not at home. The gang broke into 50
homes, stealing around £60,000 worth of goods.
• After snatching an iPhone from a woman on the street, Horatio Toure was nabbed
by San Francisco police officers who found out where he is through a GPS
tracking device inside the phone.

Behavioral
• Three youths, aged 17 to 18, were arrested in 2010 under the Sedation Act over
Facebook remarks.
• Two other people were also arrested in 2005 for posting racist remarks.
• There are 24 million web addicts in China, and 1 in 7 are young addicts.
• In 2006, a study on political websites shows that 4/5 websites link only to
websites that shared the same political slant.
• When people interact with others who share the same view, they become more
extreme, in other words polarized.
• The internet made it possible to interact only with people who share, reaffirm and
enlarge your ideas rather than challenge them as it is easier to find people who
share he same idea and interact with them with greater frequency.

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Economic
Singapore
• In 2000, Singapore declared biotechnology as the fourth pillar of it economy.
• Singapore has pumped in $2.3billion in investments, grants and incentives.

Behavioral
• Scientist says that juggling emails, phone calls, and other incoming information
can change how people think and behave. Our ability to focus is undermined by
bursts of information.
• Computer users at work change windows or check email or other program nearly
37 times and hour.
• A study at University of California found that people interrupted by email
reported significantly higher stress compared to those left to focus.
• Technology can help multitasker achieve greater reaction, better visual acuity and
efficiency at finding information, however, it also fractures thinking and inhibit
the ability to focus.

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Education
• The Indian government is behind a new initiative to bring extremely affordable
tablet computers to market. Like MIT’s $100 computer project (One Laptop Per
Child), the project could produce $35 tablets, which could cost students as little as
$20 if subsidized by the government. If these tablets are manufactured, they will
have a dramatic impact on education and communication worldwide.

Scientific Researches
• The latest generations of supercomputers can perform more than a quadrillion
operations per second, and that remarkable capability will revolutionize the way
scientist do researches. It allows them to identify meaningful pattern in
unfathomably large mounds of data, and perform simulations with unprecedented
accuracy. Then, meteorologists can predict the weather pattern better and
neuroscientists can simulate a simple brain.

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Medical
Xenotransplantation
• Xenotransplantation: An operation in which an organ or tissue is transferred from
one animal to another of a different species.
• 60% of patients needing new organs die on the waiting list.
• Xenozoonosis: An infectious disease transmitted from animal to human by
transplantation of an animal tissue or organ into human body.

Laparoscopic surgery
• Laparoscopic surgery also known as keyhole surgery or minimally invasive
surgery (MIS) is a surgical technique.
• It can be used for different procedures including gallbladder removal, esophageal
surgery, colon surgery, and surgery of stomach and spleen.
• It uses 2 to 5 cuts of 5 to 15mm each to perform surgical procedure as compared
to a 20cm incision in traditional surgeries.
• It produces less pain compared to traditional surgeries.
• It is 4 times more expensive than traditional open surgeries.
• Surgeons are usually required to undergo training to learn different hand-eye
coordination skills to manipulate the equipment for surgery.
• New technology like the ultrasound scalpel, bipolar diathermy (which cuts and
seal blood vessels), and three chip camera system have made laparoscopic surgery
much easier than 10 years ago. (Source: Journal of Singapore Medical
Association)

Stem Cell Research

• Stem cell research, also known as regenerative medicine, has the potential to
change the face of human disease by being used to repair specific tissues or to
grow organs.
• It has the potential to treat cancer, spinal injuries, heart diseases, and Parkinson’s
disease.
• There are multiple ethical issues regarding the use of human embryos. (Refer to
Ethics)
• Adult stem
• In 2001 in Japan, the government approved guidelines for stem cell research. The
guideline states that embryonic cells used in research would be taken only from
those made for fertility treatment that would otherwise be discarded.
• In 2007 scientists learned how to program skin cells into stem cells, without
cloning or destroying embryos. However, such cells has great tendency to become
cancerous. In 2008, several research groups figured out what went wrong and
resolved the problem.

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Gene Therapy
• Gene therapy is the technique for correcting defective genes in a person’s DNA
sequence that causes development of diseases.
• Over 15 million Americans suffer from moderate to severe genetic diseases.
• Genetic disorders are estimated to account for more than one third of acute care
hospitalization in children under 18 years old in US.
• Researchers at National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institute of Health,
successfully reengineered immune cells to target and attack cancer cells in
patients with advanced metastatic melanoma.
• Experimental gene therapy trials have improved the vision of four people
suffering from hereditary blindness. (2008)
• The first attempt to treat Parkinson’s disease with gene therapy reduced
symptoms by as much as 70%. (newscientist.com)
• Gene therapy is short lived, thus patient may have to undergo multiple rounds of
costly therapies.
• Inactive viruses are used as carriers of genes. There is a possibility that the virus
may regain its ability to cause disease once inside the patient’s body.

Traditional Cures
• Diarrhea kills about 1.6million children under 5 years old annually according to
WHO.
• 60% of world’s funding for research for major epidermis went to AIDS and
malaria, only 4% of US funding went to diarrhea.
• $680 000 from American Idol 2007 was spent to distribute zinc tablets to villagers
in South Africa to cure diarrhea.

Prostatic limbs
• Cyberdyne Corporation in Japan invented Hybrid Assistive Limb to help people
with physical disabilities, such as stroke-induced paralysis or spinal cord injuries,
carry out a variety of everyday tasks, including standing up, walking, climbing
and lifting heavy objects.
• Paris researchers have engineered electronic skin (e-skin) that can sense touch
which is a major step towards next-generation robotics and prostatic limbs.

Cancer
• Researchers from the Israel Institute of Technology have developed a sensor that
has the ability to detect cancer. It checks for organic chemicals emitted by
cancerous cells by using gold nanoparticles.

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Ethics
Embryonic stem cell
• Jews and Muslims do not consider a fertilized embryo to have full human status.
• Buddhists believe that a leap in science is a path to enlightenment. However, the
Eightfold Path forbids harm to any sentient beings.
• Muslims mostly believe that scientist would not have discovered cloning is Allah
had not willed it.
• Roman Catholics were told that cloning was considered contrary to moral laws as
it is opposition to the dignity of both human procreation and conjugal union.

War
• US Airforce’s F-117 took out 60% of weapons guarding Irag’s airspace in the
first days of war.
• US CIA has used unmanned drone aircrafts against Al-Qaeda and Taliban. These
drones are deployed by President George W Bush and stepped up by Barrack
Obama. They are capable of delivering deadly fire and are controlled by operators
in the other side of the world- Creech Air Force Base. Pakistani officials claimed
that the majority of the strikes have missed the target and killed innocent civilians.
• Drone strikes have killed at least 9 out of 20 high valued Al-Qaeda targets. It also
killed 687 civilians and only 14 Al-Qaeda leaders in the recent 60 strikes.

Security
• Refer to Social (Privacy)

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Environment
Carbon
• Almost 70% of the 30 billion tones of carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere
annually is energy related.
• Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the process of removing carbon dioxide
from fossil fuel before or after combustion and burying deep underground.
• Leading energy companies agreed to invest in the giant Gorgon liquefied natural
gas project, the world largest carbon capture and burial plant. 120 million tones of
carbon dioxide are expected to be buried throughout the lifespan of the plant.
• 4 smaller CCS equipped plants are already in operation us Norway, Algeria, and
US.
• By 2015, the cost of CCS will be no more than the price of carbon dioxide
emission under carbon dioxide emission scheme.
• International Food and Agriculture Development (IFAD), a UN agency, is helping
Guangxi villagers build simple yet effective biogas digesters that capture expelled
methane to be used for cooking, lighting and heating.
• 3 million biogas tanks are in operation in China.
• 8 million tones of coal and 13 million tones of firewood are saved from burning
each year due to the biogas tanks.
• Not burning methane can be 22 times more damaging to the environment.
• There is an estimate of 1000 to 10000 billion tones of methane hydrates around
the world, twice the known reserves of conventional fossil fuel.
• Chinese officials announced that there is an estimate of methane hydrates
equivalent to 35 billion tons of oil in permafrost areas of Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.
These are enough to supply the country for 90 years.
• Japan has spent more than US$260million since 2001 on research into methane
hydrates and plans to start trial deep sea drilling in 2012 to try extract gas from
offshore deposit.
• There is yet to have a way of extraction that is continuous and cost effective in the
extraction of methane hydrates.

Water
• Thailand predicted a decline of 15% in rice harvest to 27 million tones in October
2009 due to the dry spell.
• In November 2005, a chemical plant in Jilin, China spilled massive amount of the
toxic benzene creating a 50 miles noxious slicks in the Songhua River. As the
slick passed the border to Russia, it becomes an international incident between
two powerful nations with history of bad blood.
• In April 2005, over 30 000 villagers in the Zhejiang Province clashed with the
police over water pollution from a local chemical plant.
• NEWater plant in Changi will provide 30% of Singapore’s water by 2010.

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 • Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize, is a prestigious international award to recognize
outstanding contributions on solving global water crisis.
• Professor Gatze Lettinga (A recipient of the prize) from Netherland used micro-
organism in anaerobic environment to purify water cost effectively and producing
renewable energy and fertilizer at the same time.
• A new water design in UK, Pure, can sterilize water in juts 2 minutes.
• A portable water purifier, Lifestraw, can filter water to minimize the risk of
diarrhea and waterborne diseases.
• Diarrhea kills more children than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined.
• Approximately 43% of the global population is deprived of household safe piped
water.
• The waterless washing machine, developed in UK, uses nylon beads to pull stain
off fabric and only require a cup of water to save water and energy.
• The Waterpebble seeks to reduce water usage through behavioral modification.
When first installed it records how much water is used on your first shower. On
subsequent uses, it glow in series of changing colors, advising you how much
water you have used relative to your last shower.

Energy
• Swiss researcher, Thomas Hinderling, proposed to build solar islands several
miles across to produce hundreds of megawatts of inexpensive power.
• Nanosolar has developed and commercialized a low-cost printable solar cell
manufacturing process and is planning to sell them at $1 per watt, one-fifth the
price of silicon cells.
• Tata Motor developed Nano, a safe and road-worthy car which cost only
US$2000.
• GENeco has developed Bio-Bug, a vehicle powered by methane. Average waste
produced by 70 homes in a year can power the car for 10 000miles.

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