Week 6: BioTech and Art

BioTech can involve injections to change the genetic compositions.






Biotechnology is a relatively new science and looks at the junction between life and technology. In previous weeks I have learned how other types of technology are related to art; this type is similar to MedTech in how it relates to the human body. The human body itself is a work of art and as the Anthony Atala TED talk showed, BioTech is allowing us to grow human body parts. One of the first successes in this was through skin replacement because "its function is easier to mimic than that of more complex organs such as the heart or liver" said Robert Langer, a professor at MIT. Now scientists are taking it further and trying to replicate things like organs or tissue. They can do this by taking out a small piece of an organ scientists can grow different cell types then use a scaffold shaped into the desired organ and with the newly grown cells added to it the cells begin working how they would in a body.


A scaffold for a human kidney. 

BioTech can also be very controversial. Some believe that the ability to recreate body parts and even save lives through this is playing the role of God, something that will come to haunt us in the future. We've seen countless movies where scientists go a little too far and end up creating something that causes lots of damage and death. Jurassic park is a prime example of this because the scientists tried to recreate life and control nature, but as Dr. Ichiro Serizawa from the Godzilla movie said "the arrogance of men is thinking nature is in our control and not the other way around".



Sources:

Atala, Anthony. "Growing new organs." Anthony Atala: Growing new organs | TED Talk | TED.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2017.

 Crichton, Michael. Jurassic Park. New York: Ballantine Books, 1990.

"Godzilla (2014)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 15 May 2017.

 Trafton, Anne. "Tissue engineering: Growing new organs, and more." MIT News. N.p., 14 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 May 2017.

 Miller, Henry. "Book Review: Policy Controversy in Biotechnology: An Insider's View, by Henry I. Miller." The Independent Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2017.

 Pictures:

http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/557092aa71ca1b86158b45e6-480/jurassic-park-t-rex.jpg

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1374816.1371483211!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/organs18n-2-web.jpg

https://mvideos.stanford.edu/Images/DestinyImages/Graduate%20Certificate%20Images/460X259/Biotechnology_Main.jpg




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 1: Two Cultures

Image
There is an existence of two cultures, a scientific one and a intellectual literary one that in its history has usually been separated from one another but with the uprise of technology the mixing of these cultures has become more prevalent. As Snow described it the two groups "psychological climate" were so different it was like he had crossed an ocean to a different culture. However this was back in the mid twentieth century where technology is no where near what it is today. Today we have MacBooks, iPhones and many other avenues that make it quite easy for us to acquire information. This allows for the different sides to have an easier access to information of the others ideas. Me, being a more math/science geared student with little knowledge or interest in subjects like art, through the use of technology is able to take a class like this; something I normally would not of taken. Not only has technology created an easier to way to access information it creat
Read more

Week 3: Robotics + Art

Image
Art is a process. It takes a creative mind and the ability to take this creativeness from an idea and put it in material form. There's also something about doing it by hand as well because a part of the art that makes it unique and special is the imperfections that come with it. Without the use of technology every detail can be nit-picked and made into perfection, which although can be aesthetically pleasing, it's like taking a short cut and to me isn't as special. In the past art was a more private pleasure, usually enjoyed by the owner but as it's popularity grew and demand for art grew, technology was there to reproduce them as needed As Walter Benjamin says in his essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"  “even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: Its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.” Surplus stores like Walmart or Target that sell wall art
Read more