Information Report

Did you know that excessive playing of computer or video games or Wii increases your exposure to radiation?
Although this is a very rare occurance in which only 1 out of 4000 people experience this, the 1 person out of 4000 will have sizures and blackouts caused by light flahes or patterns and occurs when they are playing computer games.
Computers emit a huge source of radiation. Radiation over a long period of time can cause burnt skin, dry and wrinkled skin and photo aging.This is similar to being exposed to the sun for a long period of time.
What can be done to prevent this? Well, here are the most important precautions to take.Firstly, make the switch from the old-fashioned CRT monitors to laptops and LCD ones. This is because although laptops and computers with LCD screens still emit readiation, it is much lesser than the radiation emitted from the CRT computer.
Secondly, make sure that when you are using the computer, sit as far away from the screen as possible and play in a well-lit room.Lastly, make sure that you remember to take an eye-break every 10-15min during the game and refrain from playing too much when you feel sleepy and tired.
Any suggestion? Comments? Please feel free to do so below. J

How Technology Can Be Bad For Our Health

Here is one of a computer user's opinion :

I work 10+ hours a day on a computer and my health has gone downhill. Everything you mentioned is accurate. It affects eyesight and sitting all day can lead to weight problems. I think mental health issues come into play with being isolated. At my work, everyone sits around and talks while I am busy on the computer.
Since I started working on the computer for a living, I have developed a vitamin D deficiency. That is from being indoors during daylight hours and could apply to things other than the computer. There are repetitve strains and if you sit incorrectly in front of a computer, you can damage your back as well. I know that magnetism/electronic fields used to be a problem back in the days of CRT monitors, but am not sure how prevalent it is now. Who knows what all the wireless transmissions could be doing to us? All in all, I don't think we know half of the ways that technology and computer specifically could be damaging us yet.

Source : http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090117143603AAMuqIT

Technology Helps Cancers

The cells lining the brain's blood vessels are tightly packed together—like a good defensive line, they keep bacteria and other blood-borne intruders from getting through, shielding the brain. But this protective layer, called the blood-brain barrier, also thwarts efforts to deliver drugs like chemotherapy agents to the brain, so scientists have long searched for ways to disrupt it selectively to allow treatments in. A startup company called Perfusion Technology is developing a technique to open this barrier by bathing the brain in ultrasound waves.

Ultrasound has been investigated for a decade as a tool for opening the blood-brain barrier. Most techniques, however, rely on specialized equipment to focus the ultrasound waves to a tiny point. They also require an injection with microbubbles to amplify the effect, and an MRI machine to guide the treatment. Al Kyle, president and CEO of Perfusion Technology, which is based in Andover, Massachusetts, says that the company's method is simpler and cheaper. Rather than opening the blood-brain barrier briefly at a single point, Perfusion uses a specially designed headset to expose the entire brain to low-intensity ultrasound waves for an hour-long treatment session.

The company is developing the treatment specifically for patients with brain tumors. A patient could receive the ultrasound during an outpatient session of intravenous chemotherapy, to open the blood-brain barrier and let the drugs into the brain. Kyle says it would be "a kinder and gentler way of delivering therapeutics to the brain" than current invasive methods, such as an infusion pump or a surgical implant. He also believes that his company's approach would be better than focused methods when it comes to treating tumors that have spread to multiple parts of the brain, because it reaches the entire brain at once.  

Although Perfusion is initially developing the technique to treat primary brain tumors, the majority of brain cancers originate elsewhere and metastasize to the brain; in these cases, the technique might help deliver drugs designed for other kinds of cancer into the brain, Kyle says. He further believes the method could someday help treat other kinds of neurological disorders.

Note to all groups members of techstars

Heyy Group Members of Techstars!!! Please try to write reports about your reflections on the 4 passages regarding technology in the notes Mrs Hon gave us:D

Has the Internet Changed our Lives for Better or Worse?

The internet is being used by people from all over the world and it cannot be denied that internet has changed our lifes for the better in one way or another.

Changed our lifes for the better?
-Internet provides us with plenty of information
-The internet is freely available
-Provides us with instant news, media & knowledge
-Faster Communication/ social network

Changed our lifes for the worst?
-Internet not used responsibly
-Quick tool for spreading misinformation, fears, lies & guesswork (passing them off as the total truth
-People use the internet to spread & collect their perversions (E.g. Immoral & illegal stuff such as pornography
-People may get addicted to some online games

I have listed 4 points each. Whether the internet has changed our lives for better or worst, it's for you to decide.

Online Assignments: Are They Really All That Helpful?

I believe that everyone has had some experience with online assignments that are assigned by teachers via E-Learning portals. Right?

Today, I will be blogging about whether online assignments are helpful to us or not and my opinions on that.

In my Primary school days (which was just last year, haha), we were assigned online assignments/quizzes via the online LEAD learning portal. These assignments were of the practices sort, just either for our extra knowledge or E-learning day (apart from the lessons already in the portal).

So, when I was doing my language practices, such as English or Chinese cloze passages, (the kind where you have to fill in the blank with a suitable word) I was quite confident of my answers before hitting the 'Submit' button. However, to my horror, I found out that my mark was only JUST enough to pass! What happened, you may ask. Well, if I'm not wrong, according to my teachers, they only uploaded ONE or TWO answers and so the rest were, you guessed it, unaccepted. But some of my incorrect answers were actually synonymous with the answers accepted.

I was furious and talked to my teacher about this. She too, said that those exercises were not very accurate in terms of accepting answers. So this brings me back to my point.

My argument is that teachers TEACHING (not hinting anything) and marking students' work would be more beneficial in our learning. This will teach us that many answers can be accepted and will not limit us to particular answers. We will have a bigger vocabulary and would be able to use a wider range of words, enabling us to learn from one another. For me, I am able to learn better if a teacher teaches me face to face. Sometimes, the "human approach" may be better than learning via technology. But perhaps, in the next 10 years down the road, computers may be even more advanced than it already is today. Technology may even be used to replace teachers! What would that be like? What do YOU think? :)

To Sum It Up...

This week, we learnt many things on the computer. Here's a re-cap. First, we discussed about whether technology is beneficial in learning and most people agreed that technology is indeed a pro and not a con as it is easier to access and is quicker. Next, we discussed the topic- Pros and Cons of Blogging. We learnt what precautions to take when blogging so we wouldn't atrract any unwanted attention and the advantages and disadvantages of maintaining a blog. After that, we learnt that in true fact social networking plays an important role in helping the environment. And we learnt more on the Xbox Kinect that actually allows you to be the controller to control it. Then, we dicussed if technology was dependable. Following that, we discussed whether work should be assigned on computers or not. To end the week, we discussed on cyber bullying and learnt how to overcome cyber bullying.
Here is to conclude the whole of this week. Please check out all the posts if you haven't and feel free to comment on them.