Information age (Gutenberg to Social Media)

Imagine a morning breakfast with your family, a black coffee likely to be your father’s
resemblance and a chocolate drink for your innocence as a four-year-old kiddo. Then there is
your mother coming from outside, getting the newspapers giving it to your father, so you sit right
beside him reading the news together, scanning the politics, and browsing the section for any job
titles.
Now, as a teenager, compare it to the way you ate your breakfast with your family earlier
this morning. Is there any difference at all? Well, I am pretty sure that there were not anymore a
newspaper at your father’s hands instead a mobile phone that is easier to use and to access.
Why this is all happening?
Welcome to the age of information.
The future is here.
1. The Gutenberg Revolution
It begun with the introduction of printing, specifically the movable printing press, by
Gutenberg. His principle existed in such a way that information could be passed on to every
individual, but the access was expensive. Books printed in the Gutenberg era were called
incunabula (meaning cradle or birthplace). This technology eventually diffused from Mainz to
Subiaco in Italy, Paris and then London.
Simply put, the Gutenberg principle can be expressed as the fact that mass distribution of
information is possible, but expensive. The effect of the Gutenberg principle was the rise of
institutionalized and mediated channels to create the efficiencies and scale necessary to manage
the interaction between people with information and needs on the one hand, and the people who
wanted that information or could satisfy those needs.
2. The Post- Gutenberg Era
This era can be described as the emergence of the internet and the world wide web. This
paved the way to the possible uploading and downloading of all forms of media instruments such
as video, audio, and images. It enabled people to publish or spread the information.
This changed with two developments. First, the spread of broadband internet access made it
possible to easily both upload and download all forms of media: video, images and audio
Second, tools emerged which made it simple for people to publish or spread information.
Blogging was the first example, followed by social networking and distribution and sharing sites
like YouTube and Flickr.
3. The Rise of Digital Age
With the advent of modern technologies, printing press are not the only tools used in
spreading information. Nowadays, information is readily available to pass form on individual to
another from here to even faraway places. Here are some examples that are popularly and usually
used by people:
A. Computers
Charles Babbage (1791-1871), computer pioneer, designed the first automatic computing
engines. Computer has become very important nowadays because it is very much accurate, fast
and can accomplish many tasks easily. Otherwise to complete those tasks manually much more
time is required. It can do very big calculations in just a fraction of a second. Moreover, it can
store huge amount of data in it. We also get information on different aspects using internet on
our computer.
B. The Internet
Nowadays, internet allows people to improve the quality of their life. It opens access to
the previously inaccessible things, with almost three million of users, internet has been emerging
as one of the most important tools of communication.
C. Facebook
On February 4, 2004, a Harvard sophomore named Mark Zuckerberg launches The
Facebook, a social media website he had built in order to connect Harvard students with one
another. Now known simply as Facebook, the site quickly ballooned into one of the most
significant social media companies in history.
D. TikTok
Zhang Yiming is a 36-year-old Chinese internet entrepreneur who is behind successful
internet based programmes - though most notably TikTok.
TikTok is great to see what your friends, celebrities and totally random people are getting
up to during this quarantine. This can give you ideas for stuff to do at home and also just be a fun
way to unwind and have a good laugh.
The social media platforms mentioned earlier are the most commonly used by people but
there are still other social media platforms which are the following:
 Instagram- a photo and video sharing social media app
 Twitter- social media sites for news, politics, and rumors.
And many other applications.

Biodiversity and the Healthy Society

Earth contains a variety of living organisms. From microscopic ones to the colossal ones.
From bacteria, plants, humans, animals, each plays a distinct role, but everybody links to one
another creating a relationship. This relationship builds up biodiversity with this humans and
other biotic and abiotic organisms lived in harmony. Today, we will discuss about biodiversity
and the healthy society.
First let us define what Ecosystem is, Ecosystem is a geographic area where living and
non-living organisms interact together to form life. In an ecosystem there is biodiversity which is
the giver of life. Villaggio Globale said, “Biodiversity is the source of the essential goods and
ecological services that constitute the source of life for all and it has direct consumptive value in
food, agriculture, medicine, and in industry. (Villaggio Globale, 2009)
Therefore, we, the natives of ecosystems, must conserve and preserve the biodiversity of
all organisms. Cause as we depend on the biodiversity for our life and everyday living, we must
also protect their life and everyday living. Thus, if we fail to do so, it will be our loss and it will
be our lives who are at risk.
Significance of BIODIVERSITY
 Biodiversity support food and security, dietary health, livelihood sustainability.
 Biodiversity provides important resources for medical research
 Biodiversity provides important resources for traditional and modern medicine
 Biodiversity plays a role in the regulation and control of infectious diseases
Critical decrease in biodiversity has direct human effect when environment in its inadequacy
can no longer give the physical and social need of human beings.
Threats to Biodiversity identified by United Nations’ Environment Program (WHO, n.d.)
 Habitat loss and destruction
 Over-exploitation
 Pollution and contamination
 Global climate change
These threats can cause several illnesses to human beings such as:
 Environmental hazards increase the risk of cancer, heart disease, asthma.
 Unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation and hygiene can lead to infectious diseases,
such as diarrhea, cholera.
Environment-Related Illnesses
 Parkinson’s disease
 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
 occupational injuries
To end this topic, I believe that there’s go saying
“Earth can live without humans, but humans cannot live without Earth”
Also means that, we humans cannot live without our home so it is a must to love and protect
it at all cost.
The Nano World

The term 'nano' refers to a unit meaning one billionth or ten raised to negative nine. For
example, our human hair is approximately equal to 80,000 to 100,000 nanometer wide, a sheet of
paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick. Can you imagine how tiny a nanometer is?

Next, let's talk about nanoscience and nano technology. When we say nanoscience, it
refers to the study of exceptionally small things that can be used across all the other field of
science, such as biology, chemistry, physics, material science and engineering. While
nanotechnology is the application of nanoscience, it leads to the use of nanomaterials and nano-
size components. Nanotechnology deals with science, technology and engineering accompanied
at the nanoscale which is about 1 to 100 nanometers. One example of nanotechnology is the
medieval stained-glass window that is built during the pre-modern era.

Nanotechnology helps to enhance the following qualities.

• Biomaterials – include living tissue and other artificial materials use for the repair,
replacement and stimulation of biological systems. Nanotechnology involves in
the development and use of technologies that operate on the nanometer length
scale around the size of a large bio molecule. Nano biomaterials are being used in
health care such as imaging tools as bioengineering to detect diseases, monitoring,
prevention and treatment of several diseases.

• Ceramics – a good example of this is the nanoceramics paint coating. It is used as

a car paint coating to provide strong protection and shield that keeps the paint of
the car to look shiny and brand new.

• Metals – tennis and badminton rackets are a good example of this. It increases the
strength of the metal 200 times by rolling up the sheets of carbon atoms.

• Polymers – it is used to enhance and strengthen computer chips, especially its

design.

We have here commercial applications of nano materials

• Sunscreen – it provides protection from harmful UV rays of solar radiation. This
have been possible through the use of nano-size zinc oxide that reflect and absorb
UV rays and made it ultraviolet resistant.

• Self-cleaning windows – it breaks down the dirt and stain repellant fibers that can
be washed away by rain.

Nanotechnology also contributed in the field of Engineering.

• It provided the nano-sensors. It is 10 raised to negative nine to 10 raised to
negative five in dimension. It could be embedded into the structure during the
construction process. It has been applied to monitor early age concrete properties.
 • Another is in coating. The coatings incorporating certain nanoparticles or
nanolayers have been developed for certain purpose. It is one of the major
applications of nanotechnology in construction. For example, Titanium dioxide is
used to coat glazing because of its sterilizing and anti-fouling properties. The
Titanium dioxide will break down and disintegrate organic dirt through powerful
catalytic reaction.

Gene therapy
We are currently in the 21st Century, where technologies are becoming more advanced,
hence, proves that science and technology continues to develop. Almost everything, if not all, in
the world we are living today are making it easier for us to do our everyday tasks. From the
transportations we ride to the gadgets we use, these are all thanks to science and technology.
Since we are talking about science, we should not forget how the medical field evolved and
became more effective for treatments. From medicinal herbs to chemotherapy… and now the
gene therapy.
Gene therapy was discovered by William French Anderson and his colleagues on
September 14, 1990. This was first used on a four-year old girl born with Severe Combined
Immunodeficiency or the SCID.
To test its effectivity and safety, researchers are continuously studying how and when to
use this therapy, with that being said, it is only used as a clinical trial by some countries
including Italy, China, South Korea, Finland and many more for the time being. Hopefully, this
method/therapy will be used to treat diseases and disorders other than giving drugs and/or
performing surgery to the patients. As it name suggests(?), it obviously uses genes to treat and
prevent diseases, especially those diseases that has no other cures.
The following are several approaches to gene therapy performed/tested by the
researchers:
1. Replacing a mutated gene that causes disease with a healthy copy of the gene.
2. Inactivating, or “knocking out,” a mutated gene that is functioning
improperly.
3. Introducing a new gene into the body to help fight a disease.
How do this therapy work?
Our genes mutate all the time due to the chemical processes that is happening in our cell
or external influences like the ultraviolet light and through inheritance. If the mutated gene
causes a problem, a faulty or missing necessary protein for instance, gene therapy might be
helpful in introducing a normal copy of the gene to produce or restore the function of the protein.
However, professionals cannot directly insert a gene to a cell because it does not work or
function well. Now, to be able to perform the said therapy, a carrier called a vector is genetically
engineered in order to deliver the gene. But what are these vectors? These are viruses, like
retroviruses and adenoviruses which integrates their genetic material, including the new gene,
into a chromosome in the human cell and introduces their DNA into the nucleus of the cell, but
the DNA is not integrated into a chromosome, respectively. Other kinds of viruses used are
adeno-associated virus (AAV) and lentivirus. The infectious part of the virus is removed so it
can be injected in the person without him getting sick.
The two Kinds of gene therapy are In Vivo and the Ex Vivo. In In Vivo, the genes are
introduced directly to the cells of the patient while the cells are still in his body. On the other
hand, Ex Vivo gene therapy requires the removal of the cells on the person’s body then, the
genes will be added in the lab, after that, it will be injected back to the body of the patient. These
kinds of gene therapy can be applied depending on the disease of the patient and the tissues that
were affected.
This kind of therapy though, needs thorough studying and research to be able to work
properly.

Climate Change, Energy Crisis and Environmental awareness

Climate change is one of the environmental issues that we face today. This is due to the
excessive amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that has been emitted in our
atmosphere. As we all know man’s action has greatly contribute to the drastic change in our
climate.

What are the main causes of climate change?

 Open burning
Burning of unwanted material in the open air where some and toxic fumes are released
in the atmosphere directly.
 Emission of fossil fuel
Fossil fuels produce large quantities of carbon dioxide when burned
 Emission of gas from vehicles
A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year
 CFC gas
It warms the lower atmosphere of the earth, changing global climate.

Environmental awareness is an integral part of the movement’s success. By teaching our

friends and family that the physical environment is fragile and indispensable, we can begin
fixing the problems that threaten it.
 Before you can begin promoting environmental awareness in your community, you must
first make sure that you have a thorough understanding of environmental issues.
Here are several cause-and-effect problems that harm our environment:
Oil Drilling- Our dependence on fossil fuel is a global addiction that affects every aspect
of the world. Oil spills and offshore drilling poison marine life, oil drilling (on land) suffocates
the earth, and the combustion of fossil fuels add to the increased atmospheric CO₂, which in
turns causes the progression of global warming and ocean acidification.
Deforestation- Millions of acres of forest are cut down for industrial benefit, such as
large-scale farming, oil mining, and the production of paper goods. Deforestation causes wildlife
and biodiversity extinction because the loss of habitat threatens many species’ existence.
Production of Plastic Goods- Currently our society creates a great deal of waste and
much of that waste consists of plastic. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
in 2010 alone 31 million tons of plastic waste was created.
Due to this several cause-and-effect problems that harm our environment, forty-six
nations and 2.6 billion people are now at risk of being overwhelmed by armed conflict and war
related to climate change. The world must reduce annual carbon emissions from today’s 8 billion
tons down to 2 billion tons to balance the assimilation capacity of the world’s carbon sinks (such
as oceans, forests, and another biomass).
However, all the issues regarding energy crisis can be reduced by creating a Carbon
Capture and Storage or CCS to all the industrial process emitting carbon dioxide. The CCS helps
the carbon dioxide being captured and permanently keeping out of the atmosphere. Next is
solution is to change the use of fossil fuels by transporting with the plug-in hybrid. The plug-in
hybrid helps a vehicle to emit greenhouse gas than conventional vehicles and it uses 30% to 60%
less petroleum. Since electricity is produced mostly from domestic resources, plug-in hybrids
reduce oil dependence.

Environmental awareness

OIL DRILLING

DEFORESTATION

PRODUCTION OF PLASTIC GOODS

CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE