Ms Goh's GP blog

Science & Technology: Summary Sheets

Broad Categories Areas of Concern
1. Communications Computers, Entertainment, Information Technology, Surveillance/Security, Information Revolution
2. Medicine Drugs, Pandemic Research, Surgery, Medical Facilities & Equipment, Alternative Medicine
3. Biotechnology Genetics & Gene Therapy, Stem Cell Research, GM Food
4. Energy Alternative Sources, Green Technology
5. Science & Society Science and Humanity, Euthanasia, Crime & Forensics, Personal Technology, Surrogacy
6. Business Development Business intelligence, Silicon Valley, Research & Investment
7. Innovation & Exploration Space Exploration, Nanotechnology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Transportation

Communications: Computers Computers are decreasing rapidly in size, but increasingly rapidly in their storage capacity. Intel's co-founder Gordon Moore predicted in 1965 that computing technology would increase in value, at the same time, it would decrease in cost through innovations in technology. Now, a new NASA-developed computing device allows machines to work much like the brain. This technology may allow fast-thinking machines to make decisions based on what they see. Networks of these brain cells, called neurons, allow humans to make instant decisions based on an observed image or scene. The new processor captures the same capability to process images in real time.

Singapore: In general, most businesses in Singapore have computerised systems to facilitate transactions. The larger the firm in general, the more sophisticated the equipment (eg. Citibank, BHP-Biliton). Of course, there are still a number of traditional businesses like provision shops and small bakeries which see no need to use computers. Schools have also jumped on the bandwagon with IT labs and computers and Internet access made available to students. This is under the IT Master Plan instituted by MOE.

Communications: Entertainment Electronic paper now exists in the form of portable wireless devices that allow you to download and read a newspaper or book. When not being used, large displays may roll-up or be neatly folded away. The creation of a virtual world is the next big thing in entertainment. It is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface. Virtual worlds have shared space, immediacy, interactivity, persistence (the world's existence continues regardless of whether individual users are logged in) and encourage socialisation. They are used often in commercial gaming which is increasingly becoming a social activity among friends and family. Virtual worlds can also serve to educate and facilitate political expression.

Singapore: Online gaming has taken off in Singapore, especially with Internet cafes sprouting up all over the island and free broad-band access in many places. IDA (Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore) has been supporting the annual World Cyber Games since it first started in Singapore in 2001. Another e-sports tournament, the Asia-Pacific REPLAY 2010 Dawn of War II Tournament was held in Singapore in Jan 2010. It featured competitors from Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

Blogging is also part of the online entertainment scene. Singaporeans tend to blog about food and everyday life. Noteworthy and/or well-known Singaporean bloggers include Xia Xue aka Wendy Koh (a frank and sometimes offensive but often humorous take on life in Singapore) and Wang of ‘Mr Wang Says So’ fame (social, political and economic issues).

Communications: Information Technology

Communications in the future could be quite different from what it is today. Recent advancements in 3D imaging and scanning technologies are making one’s "virtual presence" a real possibility. In the future, communications could include projecting yourself to another location, and methods of reassembling one’s virtual 3D self will likely take the form of 3D holographic displays or shape-shifting nano-bots.

Singapore: Video-conferencing and Skype are regularly used in business communications or even on a personal level. Most households have access to a personal computer, which facilitate these.

Communications: Surveillance/ Security


Virtual world technologies are used in military training by the U.S. military. Companies like Forterra Systems are working with military groups to develop training simulations. Other developments in military technology include GPS guided missiles, robotic military technology and more sophisticated and powerful weaponry. For surveillance, technology is used in video surveillance, GPS tracking, satellite surveillance. These can be adapted for commercial or home use to safeguard homes, offices and protected zones.

Singapore: Singapore's strategy to secure the infocomm environment is encapsulated in the two Infocomm Security Masterplans managed by IDA. The Infocomm Security Masterplan 2 (MP2), launched in 2008, is a five-year roadmap which aims to build upon the achievements of the first Masterplan by enhancing the tenacity of our economy against cyber attacks, thereby boosting the confidence of investors in choosing Singapore as a strategic and secure location for their investment. The Infocomm Security Masterplan (ISMP), launched in Feb 2005, was a three-year (FY2005 - FY2007) strategic roadmap that focuses on developing infocomm security capabilities to enhance Singapore's national level efforts to protect the country against external and internal cyber threats.

Singapore was among the first nations in South East Asia to establish the Singapore Computer Emergency Response Team. As part of IDA's effort in creating a conducive, innovative, and competitive infocomm environment that is both pro-consumer and pro-business, SingCERT is a one-stop centre for security incident response in Singapore. It was set up to facilitate the detection, resolution and prevention of security-related incidents on the Internet.

Communications: Information Revolution
The term information revolution describes current economic, social and technological trends beyond the Industrial Revolution. It includes the use of technology in areas such as e-commerce and building an information database for knowledge-based economies. The internet thus became an essential tool for this. The IR has enormous implications for employment (fewer highly-skilled workers are needed, as opposed to many lowly-skilled ones) and workplaces (working from home or anywhere where one has Internet access is now possible). It also has great psychological and social impact; computer skills are now more highly prized than ever and a generation gap between the young who are adept at it and the elderly who are not has developed.

Singapore: “Just as the Industrial Revolution transformed the world two centuries ago, the Information Revolution will transform our lives in the next millennium. The challenge for us in education is to exploit the exciting possibilities that Information Technology offers to prepare our people for this information revolution.” (RAdm (NS) Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Education, Singapore and SEAMEO Council President, 2000). Singapore has transformed itself in the education, business and military sectors through the use of the IR. Its youths are mostly computer-literate, through emphasis on IT in schools, and many adults are, too. This has positioned Singapore to be an IT and business hub, attracting foreign investments with its high-tech infrastructure and computer-savvy workforce.

Medicine:
General
Information
Future medical technological breakthroughs will build from the incredible progress made in nanotechnology, biotechnology, computers, the information learned from deciphering the human genome and other scientific and technical areas.

Singapore: Singapore built two state-of-the-art biomedical research parks. The Biopolis, a biomedical research complex of seven buildings that houses 2,000 scientists, opened in September 2003. The first tenants were the Genome Institute of Singapore and the Bioinformatics Institute. Buildings named Centros, Genome, Matrix, Nanos, and Proteos hold biomedical research institutes of the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), which oversees scientific efforts under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Two other buildings, named Chromos and Helios, contain private life science companies, including ES Cell International, Vanda Pharmaceuticals, and Johns Hopkins Singapore. The Biopolis tenants share high-quality technical services, such as DNA sequencing, proteomics, NMR, and FACS (flow activated cell sorting) facilities. The JTC Corporation built the Biopolis, as well as Tuas Biomedical Park, which is designed for bulk pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and medical-device manufacturing. Among the global companies based in the Tuas Biomedical Park are CIBA Vision, Novartis Singapore Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, and MDS Sciex. The Biomedical Sciences group of Singapore's Economic Development Board, Bio*One Capital, and A*STAR work in close partnership to develop, fund, and build life science companies and facilities.
Medicine:
Drugs There have been many biomedical breakthroughs in this area. Personalised medicine comes in the form of pharmacogenomics, which is the study of how an individual's genetic inheritance affects the body's response to drugs. Drugs might one day be tailor-made for individuals and adapted to each person's own genetic makeup. There is also research into the accurate delivery of precise amounts of drugs, e.g., targeting cancer cells without damaging nearby healthy cells. Other trends include drugs being specially developed for children. This raises issues such as lower dosage, smaller size for easy consumption and the ethics of clinical trials.

Singapore: Many major pharmaceutical companies have set up their regional headquarters and manufacturing plants in Singapore, attracted by the excellent physical and regulatory infrastructure, global connectivity and skilled manpower available here. These include leading global pharmaceutical companies such as Abbott, GlaxoSmithKline, Lonza, Merck & Co, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis and Schering-Plough. These companies operate multi-purpose plants with the capability to manufacture a wide range of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), biologics and nutritionals. Eg. Novartis announced in 2007 that it will be building its largest manufacturing plant in Singapore. This S$1.02 billion plant will produce cutting-edge drugs made from living cells. Eg. GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) investments include a development facility with a S$100 million extension manufacturing some of its latest respiratory products, a S$50 million drug technology centre and a new S$115 million R&D pilot plant to cater to its extensive pipeline of new chemical entities. Singapore is also flexing muscles in cancer research seemingly all out of proportion to its size. The country has carved a niche for itself by focusing research on select cancers, as well as offering patients of advanced cancer the possibility of targeted therapies.

Medicine:
Pandemic Research
Influenza vaccination is the most effective method of preventing influenza virus infection and its potentially severe complications. In the event of exposure to a pandemic influenza virus, seasonal flu vaccines may offer some protection against both the H5N1-type (avian influenza) infection and the 2009 flu pandemic (the H1N1 "swine flu”).The economic costs of a flu pandemic in the U.S. alone have been estimated at over $80 billion.

Influenza research includes molecular virology, molecular evolution, pathogenesis, host immune responses, genomics, and epidemiology. These help in developing influenza countermeasures such as vaccines, therapies and diagnostic tools. The Influenza Genome Sequencing Project is creating a library of influenza sequences that will help us understand what makes one strain more lethal than another, what genetic determinants most affect immunogenicity, and how the virus evolves over time.

The rapid development, production, and distribution of pandemic influenza vaccines could potentially save millions of lives during an influenza pandemic. Due to the short time frame between identification of a pandemic strain and need for vaccination, researchers are looking at novel technologies for vaccine production that could provide better "real-time" access and be produced more affordably, thereby increasing access for people living in low- and moderate-income countries, where an influenza pandemic may likely originate.

Singapore: Veredus first launched VereFlu for research and surveillance purposes in 2008. The test allows researchers to detect, differentiate, and identify Influenza A H1, H3, H5, H7, H9 with subtype ID’s of H1N1, H3N2, H5N1 and H9N2 and Influenza B, according to the firm. Now, in 2010, the company has achieved a CE-IVD mark, which enables it to market the test for clinical use. Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) and Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) successfully developed a miniaturized device that can be used to detect the highly pathogenic avian flu (H5N1) virus in 2007.

Medicine:
Surgery There has been the invention of new surgical techniques. Medibots are known as the world’s smallest surgeons and microbots can swim in human arteries. Other methods include keyhole surgery, one-incision surgery (or minimally invasive surgery) and robotic surgery. The downside has been the relatively higher cost, but recovery is faster and there is less pain involved.

The popularity of plastic surgery has also skyrocketed in recent years with growing affluence and emphasis on appearances. It is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. It includes aesthetic surgery and many types of reconstructive surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery, and the treatment of burns.
Singapore: The National Heart Centre Singapore is currently the only Asian site to have started in the CARE II Study which evaluates the use of the CardioMind SparrowTM Drug-Eluting Coronary Stent System (Sparrow Stent), an improved version of the current stents in the market. Other breakthroughs in surgical techniques for Singapore include a new orthopedic technique to tackle the high failure rates associated with conventional methods of mending Acromioclavicular Joint (ACJ) dislocations and sophisticated keyhole surgery with just one strategic cut and no visible scarring. Singapore has also emerged as a top regional eye specialist centre for advanced corneal transplant and implant procedures. With success rates topping 90%, the country also serves as a training hub for eye surgeons worldwide.

Medicine:
Medical Facilities & Equipment Recent inventions include nanotubes which can sniff out cancer agents in cells and nanosensors which can ‘smell’ cancer. Children with autism can use alternative keyboards to communicate with their families and the world. Other technologies that already exist, are under development or are predicted by experts include biosensors, home/ self-monitoring devices, virtual medicine, computer-aided diagnosis and neural stimulation.

The future holds the possibility of a chip, strategically placed in the brain that could prevent epileptic seizures or allow someone who has lost a limb to control an artificial arm just by thinking about it. Also, for the future of human reproduction, scientists at Cornell University have grown mice embryos in man-made, bubble shaped wombs, which are artificial wombs (mechanisms that are used to grow an embryo outside of the body of a female).

Singapore: Medical Facilities in Singapore are well-established and easily accessible by one and all. Singapore has private as well as public hospitals and specialist centres for the benefit of its residents and citizens. Singapore is also a centre to attend to and treat medical problems with traditional Chinese medicine too.

The specialist centers for providing specialized treatment related to blood diseases, dental problems, skin care, cancer, cardiac disease, neurosurgery, eye diseases and mental disorders are available. Some of the public specialist centers are National Skin Centre, National Cancer Centre, National Heart Centre, National Neuroscience Institute and Kandang Kerbau Women's and Children's Hospital. Well-established and top market private hospitals in Singapore include Gleneagles Hospital and Camden Medical Centre. The Johns Hopkins Singapore International Medical Centre offers highly specialised oncology treatment.

Singapore also houses many rehabilitation centres and nursing homes for the aged and senior citizens who require treatment and post illness care. Some of them include the Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre and Saint Andrew's Community Hospital. The Ren Ci Hospital endeavours to provide medical care and assistance to the needy and old aged people irrespective of religion and race.

Medicine:
Alternative Medicine

Complementary and alternative medicine refers to medical products and practices that are not part of standard care. Standard care is what medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy and allied health professionals, such as registered nurses and physical therapists, practice. Alternative medicine means treatments that you use instead of standard ones. Complementary medicine means nonstandard treatments that you use along with standard ones. It encompasses therapies with a historical or cultural, rather than a scientific, basis. Some therapies include homeopathy & naturopathy, acupuncture, hypnotherapy, detoxification, reflexology, TCM, bone-setting, jamu and Ayurveda.

Singapore: Singapore, being an Asian country, is home to numerous traditional healing practices. The question arises whether these are considered ‘alternative’ as opposed to ‘traditional’, given our cultural and historical heritage. However, it must be noted that ‘Western’ medicine is considered the norm in Singapore as employers and schools generally only accept medical certificates or claims from clinics which practice Western medicine. Still, traditional medicine has always been fairly popular with Singaporeans. Reputable TCM clinics include those under the Eu Yan Sang and Ma Kuang brands.

Biotechnology: General Information
Biotechnology, broadly defined, is using living organisms to solve problems or to make products. From this definition, one could say that biotechnology has been practiced by human society for a long time, in such activities as baking bread, brewing, breeding crops or animals.
Today, it is still biotechnology, but scientists have a better understanding of cells, biological molecules, proteins, DNA and other building blocks of life. Scientists are now using nanotechnology to manipulate life at the atomic level.
Some of the current and predicted capabilities of biotechnology include ending world hunger, creating foods that are better for you and last longer and disease and pest-resistant crops, slowing of aging, biological fabrication of clothing, plastics, and building materials and ultra-strong, lightweight materials.

Biotechnology: Genetics &
Gene therapy
The Human Genome Project refers to the international effort to discover all the human genes and make them accessible for further biological study. Many consider this project to be the most significant scientific undertaking of our time. The ultimate goal is to improve human health. Genetic manipulation refers to altering the genes of cells and organisms and genetic engineering means creating new genes, proteins and organisms.

Gene therapy is an experimental technique that uses genes to treat or prevent disease. In the future, this technique may allow doctors to treat a disorder by inserting a gene into a patient’s cells instead of using drugs or surgery. Researchers are testing several approaches to gene therapy, including replacing a mutated gene that causes disease with a healthy copy of the gene, inactivating, or “knocking out” a mutated gene that is functioning improperly and introducing a new gene into the body to help fight a disease. Although gene therapy is a promising treatment option for a number of diseases (including inherited disorders, some types of cancer, and certain viral infections), the technique remains risky and is still under study to make sure that it will be safe and effective. Gene therapy is currently only being tested for the treatment of diseases that have no other cures.

Singapore: The Bioethics Advisory Committee (BAC) was established by the Singapore Cabinet to “examine the legal, ethical and social issues arising from research on human biology and behaviour and its applications” and to “develop and recommend policies ...on legal, ethical and social issues, with the aim to protect the rights and welfare of individuals, while allowing the Life Sciences to develop and realize their full potential for the benefit of mankind.” The Human Genetics Subcommittee is under its umbrella.

Some breakthroughs include the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) scientists making the groundbreaking discovery of genes that increase the likelihood of causing a form of inflammatory bowel disease and Singapore scientists discovering new concoction to reprogramme cells into pluripotent stem cells. The GIS focuses on areas of research such as cancer biology and pharmacology, stem cell and developmental biology, infectious diseases and human genetics. Its mission is to use genomic sciences to improve public health and public prosperity. The GIS will pursue the integration of technology, genetics and biology towards the goal of individualised medicine.

Biotechnology: Stem Cell Research Because of their combined abilities of unlimited expansion and pluripotency, embryonic stem cells remain a theoretically potential source for regenerative medicine, designer organs and tissue replacement after injury or disease. Cures could be for diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease, stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, spinal cord injury, Sickle Cell Anemia, congestive heart failure, liver regeneration, hepatitis and skin diseases.

Singapore: Singapore allows stem cells to be taken from aborted fetuses or discarded embryos, and these embryos can be cloned and kept for as long as 14 days to produce stem cells. Players in the industry include the Singapore Cord Blood Bank and S* Bio. For the latter, cancer research involving stem cells is done. Local business, ES Cell International, claimed to be the first company to produce human embryonic stem cell lines commercially in a way that made them suitable for clinical tests. The GIS attempts to identify and manipulate stem cells to create cures for diseases in various projects under its stem cell research portfolio.

Biotechnology:
GM Food The term GM foods or GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) commonly refers to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content.

Benefits include pest resistance, herbicide tolerance, disease, cold tolerance, drought tolerance/salinity, higher nutritional value, being engineered to transmit medicinal value and phytoremediation (eg. plants such as poplar trees have been genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal pollution from contaminated soil). Problems include unintended harm to other organisms, reduced effectiveness of pesticides, gene transfer to non-target species, allergic reactions in humans and unknown effects on human health. Note that on the whole, with the exception of possible allergenicity, scientists believe that GM foods do not present a risk to human health.

Singapore: The official regulatory agency for GM foods is the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA). GM foods commercially available in Singapore have undergone various lines of scrutiny for safety. Laboratories have been set up by the AVA to test such food items and make sure they do not pose any health risks for people here. About half of the soya and a third of the corn sold here is genetically modified, but they have all been tested stringently before hitting the shelves. There are currently no legislations and guidelines for the labelling of GM foods in Singapore.

Energy:
General Information The use of energy in an increasingly industrialized world has led to a severe strain on the environment. Problems include waste management, pollution, depletion of resources and a host of environmental problems such as acid rain and global warming. The gradual increase in city life and move away from traditional lifestyles have also put pressure on energy sources as the consumption of energy used in city-life is far higher than in the countryside.

Energy:
Alternative Sources
Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources — such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat — which are renewable (naturally replenished). Most renewable energy comes either directly or indirectly from the sun. Solar energy can be used directly for heating and lighting, for generating electricity and a variety of commercial and industrial uses. The sun's heat also drives the winds, whose energy is captured with wind turbines. Rain or snow flowing downhill into rivers or streams can be captured using hydropower.
The organic matter that makes up plants is known as biomass. Biomass can be used to produce electricity, transportation fuels, or chemicals. The use of biomass for any of these purposes is called biomass energy.

Hydrogen also can be found in many organic compounds, as well as water. Once separated from another element, hydrogen can be burned as a fuel or converted into electricity. Geothermal energy taps the Earth's internal heat for a variety of uses. And tidal energy, or the energy of the ocean's tides, comes from the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun upon the Earth.

Energy:
Green Technology

In the near future, hydrogen fuel cells promise to change our lives. These fuel cells will power our vehicles, homes and offices more efficiently and will be less harmful to the environment than traditional energy sources. Fuel cells using pure hydrogen do not emit any air pollutants or greenhouse gases. The long-lasting, environmentally-friendly fuel cell is one of the most hotly pursued technologies of the decade, one in which the world's largest companies — from auto giants to computer makers — are investing heavily. If successful, fuel cells could not only hasten a shift in our energy infrastructure but also power mobile computers all day on a single charge.

Science & Society:
Science and Humanity Creationism vs Darwinism
Creationism is the religious belief that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe are the creation of a supernatural agency. Creationists believe that evolution cannot adequately account for the history, diversity, and complexity of life on Earth. Strict creationists of the Jewish and Christian faiths usually base their belief on a literal reading of the Genesis creation myth. Even when other religions have different deity-led creation myths, they centre on a literalist interpretation of the Genesis creation myth and likewise oppose the idea of human evolution. Darwinism is a set of movements and concepts related to ideas of transmutation of species or evolution. In Darwin’s 1859 book On the Origin of Species, he posited the concept that natural selection was the sole mechanism of evolution, promoting scientific naturalism over theology.

The apparent discrepancies between science and religion were amplified in "cultural warfare" over whether science or religion could provide the most authentic creation story. Some theists took the general view that, instead of faith being in opposition to biological evolution, some or all classical religious teachings about Christian God and creation are compatible with some or all of modern scientific theory, including specifically evolution; it is also known as "evolutionary creation".

Science vs Religion
The tension between Science and Religion can be balanced on the spectrum of Reason vs Revelation, Logic vs Conscience, Scientific Enquiry vs Divine Revelation. Scientific pursuits seek to provide rational and logical explanations of natural phenomena. Humans are curious creatures who seek empirical answers. In an increasing globalized, modernized world, when they can’t find sound answers in religion, they turn to logic, facts and Science for more valid responses. Today, scientific endeavour is progressing unabated and asking serious questions about religion and its underpinnings.

However, Science is powerless to answer questions on meaning and purposes of the way the natural world works. Science, being amoral, cannot and will not tell us how to choose or what to choose. Only religion provides man with roadmaps to navigate the seas of decision-making by delineating clear demarcation of right and wrong. Faiths can transform and humanize the impersonal forces of globalization, and shape the values of the changing set of economic and power relationships of the 21st Century. Religious faith could be used to bolster, to promote, to intensify the very clash of civilizations we seek to avoid. Faith answers to the basic, irrepressible, irresistible human wish for spiritual betterment, to do good, to think and act beyond the limitations of selfish human desires.

Future of Humanity
Researchers at the Future of Humanity Institute (in the US) are looking at big-picture challenges for mankind. These include global catastrophic risks that might lead to the extinction of the human race, and enhancement technologies that might lead to fundamental changes in human nature. The Institute also looks at the methodological issues that arise in the study of these challenges. The Institute's goal in all these projects is to make it possible for people to think more rationally about humanity's future. For eg, the human family tree may be in for a dramatic rewrite: DNA collected from a fossilized finger bone from X-Woman in Siberia shows it belonged to a mysterious ancient hominid – perhaps a new species. Such spectacular discoveries have shed light on a possible new way of understanding human history.

Science & Society: Euthanasia A Matter of Life and Death
We are not completely certain what "being dead" means: defining death is much more complicated than it appears, and it's getting harder to define. In 2008, a gathering of several hundred neurologists and philosophers for the 5th International Symposium on the Definition of Death shows this only too well. As technology extends our lifespans, the distinction between life and death is becoming increasingly fuzzy. Different parts of the body and mind can die at different times, and as we acquire the ability to revive and rebuild brains, the definition of death itself is starting to slip from our grasp.

From an ethical point of view, two scenarios offer themselves in connection with the future of death. One relates to a situation in which the average human lifespan grows ever longer, but without major solutions to ageing and its many attendant diseases and disabilities. The other relates to the simultaneous conquering both of death and the current downsides of ageing, so that people live healthy, well-functioning lives for 150 or 200 years or even beyond.
In the first case, there will have to be a debate about the moral legitimacy and manner of elective death - both suicide and euthanasia - and the medical provision for them. In the latter case there will have to be questions about restricting conception, pregnancy and birth, to avoid a global population catastrophe. Either way humanity will face much tougher moral dilemmas than already vex us about almost everything related to birth and death.

3 Case Studies on Euthanasia
The Terri Schiavo case was a 7-year long successful legal effort by Michael Schiavo to have his wife, Terri — already diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) for several years — disconnected from her life-sustaining feeding tube, which subsequently resulted in her death by dehydration. The case is viewed as an important case in clinical ethics. Some deplore it as a case that went against decades of progress that has enabled individuals the freedom to control and limit medical interventions performed on them.

Ramón Sampedro became a quadriplegic in a diving accident at 25 and fought for his right to an assisted suicide for the next 29 years in Spain. His argument hinged on the fact that he was sure of his decision to die. However, owing to his paralysis, he was physically unable to commit suicide without help. He argued that suicide was a right that he was being denied, and he sought legal advice concerning his right to receive assistance to end his life. Eventually, his fight became known worldwide. He finally died in 1998 with the assistance of a friend who provided him with a cyanide-laced drink and a straw.

Italian woman Eluana Englaro entered the persistent vegetative state in 1992 following a car accident, and subsequently became the focus of a court battle between supporters and opponents of euthanasia. Shortly after Englaro had been maintained on artificial life support, her father requested to have her feeding tube removed and to allow her to die naturally. The authorities initially refused his request, but this decision was later reversed in 2009 after the woman lived in vegetative state for seventeen years.

Exit International
Exit International, a pro-euthanasia group founded by Dr Philip Nitschke in Australia, is a Voluntary Euthanasia and end-of-life choices, information and advocacy organization. Exit has an active network of more than 50 volunteers around the world. Exit members, whose average age is 75 years, are mostly well, yet elderly, and believe in a person's right to make informed decisions about when and how they may die. In 2009, Exit announced that it will hold a talk on the issue of choice (in death) in Singapore, but the Health Minister and some letters to the forum have raised objections and the talk was subsequently canceled.

Science & Society:
Crime & Forensics Forensic science has become a hot subject due to US television shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Law and Order. but forensic scientists do invaluable work linking evidence from crime scenes - such as fingerprints, injuries, weapons, DNA, computer data, drugs and counterfeit goods - to criminals themselves. Forensic scientists also help solve crimes by reconstructing faces from skulls, and sometimes animating or virtually ageing them, or studying corpses to pinpoint the cause and time of death.

Applications to society
Not only do forensic scientists ascertain injuries sustained by the dead, they can even examine the long dead, such as 5000-year-old Ötzi the ice man, discovered in the Alps in 1991. New animated methods to create 3D reconstructions are helping to make such studies less subjective and more accurate. Crime scene investigators also have other tools at their disposal, such as UV ray guns, X-ray fluorescence scanner and pocket-sized labs.

DNA fingerprinting, or profiling, is now superseding traditional fingerprint matching as a more rigorous method. One day, these databases may hold profiles for the entire population, raising privacy issues and stirring controversy. Virtual autopsies will become an alternative to opening the bodies of people who die in suspicious circumstances. By combining surface scans of the body with CT and MRI scans, it is possible to work out what happened to a person without cutting them open. Such permanent 3D records will also become less subjective as the data can be reinterpreted by independent pathologists. DNA can also be extracted from fragments of bone or tooth, so that badly damaged victims of war or shipwrecks can be identified.

The American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) is yielding new methods for detecting mass graves from the air. The technique, which searches for signs of chemical changes in the vegetation growing on grave sites, could ultimately help police and human rights investigators locate human remains years after the bodies have been disposed of. Known as hyperspectral imaging, the technique analyzes a range of visible and infrared wavelengths as it scans terrain from the air. This could prove useful to investigators looking for victims of war or genocide who have been buried in mass graves.


Science & Society: Personal Technology Smart Homes
 the computer informs when appliances need maintenance, can request repair dispatch
 television, computer and phone merge into one device
 interactive mirrors display the latest news, weather and traffic information
 monitor and control home appliances, computer, security from the internet
 biometric screening devices for secure entry

4G Wireless Technology
Verizon announces launch of Long Term Evolution (LTE), the next wireless network technology that could link up cars, home appliances, and more. People can use this 4G wireless network for cars, computers, TVs, and other home appliances, as well as regular cell phones. Among other devices, the company has tested wall sockets and power strips that include 4G wireless capabilities. This could enable new forms of home-monitoring and energy management. However, these devices must still be tested and certified to ensure they run safely on the network.

E-Book Technology
The new generation of e-book reading gadgets will transform the book, magazine, and newspaper industries. Amazon's Kindle 2, Barnes and Noble's Nook, and Sony's Daily Edition are electronic reading devices and handy portals to hundreds of thousands of trade books, textbooks, public-domain works, and best-sellers, all of which can be wirelessly downloaded at a moment's notice. They're also giving authors and publishers new ways to organize and market their creations. A California startup called Vook, for example, has begun to package cookbooks, workout manuals, and even novels with illustrative video clips, and it's selling these hybrids of video and text to iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch owners through Apple's iTunes Store.

Science & Society: Surrogacy Surrogacy is a method of reproduction whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant and deliver a child for a contracted party. She may be the child's genetic mother (traditional form), or she may, as a gestational carrier, carry the pregnancy to delivery after having been implanted with an embryo, the latter being an illegal medical procedure in some jurisdictions.
In the US, the issue of surrogacy was widely publicized in the case of Baby M, in which the surrogate and biological mother of Melissa Stern ("Baby M"), born in 1986, refused to cede custody of Melissa to the couple with whom she had made the surrogacy agreement. The courts of New Jersey found that Mary Beth Whitehead was the child's legal mother and declared contracts for surrogate motherhood illegal and invalid. However, the court found it in the best interests of the infant to award custody of Melissa to her biological father William Stern and his wife Elizabeth Stern, rather than to the surrogate mother Mary Beth Whitehead.
The legal aspects surrounding surrogacy are very complex and mostly unsettled. There is a default legal assumption in most countries that the woman giving birth to a child is that child's legal mother. In some jurisdictions the possibility of surrogacy has been allowed and the intended parents may be recognized as the legal parents from birth. Many states now issue pre-birth orders through the courts placing the name(s) of the intended parent(s) on the birth certificate from the start. In others the possibility of surrogacy is either not recognized (all contracts specifying different legal parents are void), or is prohibited.
Commercial surrogacy has been legal in India since 2002, as it is in many other countries, including the US. But India is the leader in making it a viable industry. “Wombs for Rent” have been successful due to a wide labour pool working for relatively low rates. Critics say the intended parents are exploiting poor women by hiring them at a cut-rate cost to undergo the hardship, pain and risks of labour.

Business Development: Business Intelligence Business Intelligence (BI) refers to computer-based techniques used in spotting, digging-out, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products or departments or associated costs and incomes. BI technologies provide historical, current, and predictive views of business operations. Common functions of BI technologies are reporting, online analytical processing, analytics, data mining, business performance management, benchmarking, text mining, and predictive analytics. BI often aims to support better business decision-making. Thus a BI system can be called a decision support system (DSS).

A 2009 Gartner paper predicted these developments in the business intelligence market:
 Because of lack of information, processes, and tools, through 2012, more than 35% of the top 5,000 global companies will fail to make insightful decisions about significant changes in their business and markets
 By 2012, business units will control at least 40% of the total budget for business intelligence
 By 2010, 20% of organizations will have an industry-specific analytic application delivered via software as a service as a standard component of their business intelligence portfolio
 In 2009, collaborative decision making will emerge as a new product category that combines social software with business intelligence platform capabilities

Business Development: Silicon Valley & Venture Capital Silicon Valley
The term originally referred to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually came to refer to all the high-tech businesses in the area; it is now generally used as a metonym for the high-tech sector. Despite the development of other high-tech economic centers throughout the US, Silicon Valley continues to be the leading high-tech hub because of its large number of cutting-edge entrepreneurs, engineers and venture capitalists. Silicon Valley has its roots in radio and military technology.

Venture Capital Firms
Venture capital is a type of private equity capital typically provided for early-stage, high-potential, growth companies in the interest of generating a return through an eventual realization event such as an IPO or trade sale of the company. Venture capital investments are generally made as cash in exchange for shares in the invested company. It is typical for venture capital investors to identify and back companies in high-tech industries such as biotechnology and ICT. Venture capital firms typically comprise small teams with technology backgrounds (scientists, researchers) or those with business training or deep industry experience. Thousands of high-tech companies are headquartered in Silicon Valley eg. Adobe Systems, Apple Inc., eBay, Google, Intel, Oracle Corporation, Yahoo!

Business Development: Research & Investment US Federal Investment
In Sep 2008, Obama unveiled a comprehensive Science and Technology Policy. In it, he promised to lead a new era of scientific innovation in America. This would be achieved by doubling the federal investment in research and by addressing the "grand challenges" of the 21st century: healthcare, stem cell and space exploration.

Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider is the world's most powerful particle accelerator. Straddling the border between France and Switzerland at the CERN laboratory, the LHC is designed to answer some of the most profound questions about the universe: What is the origin of mass? Why are we made of matter and not anti-matter? What is dark matter made of? It could also provide important new clues about conditions in the very early universe, when the four forces of nature were rolled into one giant superforce. To date, over 6,000 scientists have worked on the LHC and its experiments, which cost $10b. In addition to the exorbitant costs, many people are worried by theorists' predictions (including world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking) that the LHC could create microscopic black holes that could inflate and swallow the Earth.

General Electric in China
GE is starting to let its R&D organizations in China take the lead on research projects, rather than just playing a supporting role to its global research headquarters in New York. The 10-year-old center in Shanghai is one of GE's 4 global research centers and home to 1,300 researchers and engineers. GE says this is essential for competing in China, where many companies are able to offer low-priced goods and create new products for emerging markets such as China and India, as well as richer countries.
The increased competition for GE from local companies in China is due in part to a massive push by the Chinese government to promote clean energy and R&D. In recent years, it has rolled out a range of renewable energy targets and financial incentives, including significant tax breaks for companies that invest in research related to energy. One product is a portable ultrasound machine originally created for use in rural areas which is now being adopted by doctors in countries such as the US. The GE research center has also been key to the development of wind-power technology, including power electronics hardware and software.

Panasonic R&D in Singapore
Panasonic Electronic Devices, a unit of Japan’s Panasonic, will invest $20m in the expansion of its Singapore R&D centre. The facility will include electronic devices for medical, environmental and energy-management applications. Panasonic said it was attracted by the nation’s sound infrastructure and incentives for hi-tech industries. It will collaborate with A*Star research institutes and research labs in NTU and NUS on 6 bio-electronics and green electronics projects.

Business Development:
A Case Study – Fusionopolis “Future. Singapore. A country brimming with innovation”
On October 17, 2008, Fusionopolis officially opened its doors to the public. The opening marks the first step of a 30-hectare experiment to bring diverse ideas, talent, expertise and businesses together in one compact environment to create new innovations. It houses 800 scientists, engineers and game developers from laboratories of A*Star and corporations in the infocomm technology, media, physical sciences and engineering industries. By 2012, that number will reach 2,400. Companies such as Ubisoft, Linden Labs, Asian Food Channel, Panasonic, and Vestas are among the 14 corporations that have set up laboratories and workspaces in Fusionopolis. Government agencies tasked to grow the economy such as EDB, MDA, and SPRING Singapore, will also have offices there. Fusionopolis is part of a larger development called one-north, which is the icon of Singapore’s knowledge economy. The 200-hectare development is being built in phases over 15 to 20 years to be a focal point for R&D and technopreneurial activities in Singapore.

Some new and dazzling innovations:
 Interactive digital media: avatars that resemble anime figures; creating a world that bridge social networking sites.
 Life sciences, health and wellness: Biopolis set up in 2003 featuring biomedical research institutes. Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, together with Genome Institute of Singapore, developed a testing kit for avian influenza that was released commercially in 2005. The World Health Organization deemed the kit the most accurate and reliable.
 Lifestyle and urban solutions: audio-based system that tracks the movements of the elderly in their homes; Fish Activity Monitoring System to check water quality by observing fish activities in specially designed tanks that receive inflow of water from the reservoirs.

Singapore: A World-class Destination
The rapid growth of S&T in Singapore has attracted an increasing number of scientific conferences; this is in line with the nation’s MICE (meetings, incentive travel, conventions, and exhibitions) initiative. These include digital media, biomedical sciences, transport and logistics, and environment and water technology. For eg, riding on its high international standing in water technologies, the country hosted the inaugural Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) in June 2008. Some key upcoming events in 2010 include Carbon Forum Asia, Enviro Asia, Cityscape Asia, and the World Dental Congress.

Innovation & Exploration:
Space Exploration Space Exploration
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft. Some milestones:
 the USSR's Sputnik 1 in 1957
 the first human spaceflight (Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1) in 1961
 the first Moon landing by the American Apollo 11 craft in 1969
The US has committed to return to the Moon by 2018 and later Mars. China, Russia, Japan, and India have also indicated manned missions to the Moon while the European Union has advocated manned missions to both the Moon and Mars sometime this century.
International Space Station (ISS)
The ISS is a joint project of several space agencies: the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). On-orbit construction of the station began in 1998 and is scheduled for completion by 2011. The ISS serves as a research laboratory that has a microgravity environment in which crews conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy and meteorology. As a multinational project, the legal and financial aspects are complex. Issues of concern include the ownership of modules, station utilization by participant nations, and responsibilities for station resupply. The cost estimates for the ISS range from US$35 to $160b.

Space Tourism
Space tourism is the phenomenon of tourists paying for flights into space. As of 2009, orbital space tourism opportunities are limited and expensive, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport. The price for a flight brokered by Space Adventures to the ISS is US$20–35 million. Virgin Galactic, owned by Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson, unveiled SpaceShipTwo (SS2), the world’s first manned commercial spaceship in July 2009. SS2 and its mothership VMS Eve (WhiteKnightTwo) herald a new era in commercial space flight with daily space tourism flights set to commence from Spaceport America in New Mexico. SS2 has been designed to take private astronauts into space after test programming and all required US government licensing has been completed. This marks another milestone in Virgin Galactic’s quest to develop the world’s first commercial space line providing private sector access to space using an environmentally benign launch system for people, payload and science. You can now book your ticket online for a cool price of US$200,000!

Obama Charts New Course for NASA
US President Barack Obama has expressed his plans for humans to explore the solar system by 2025. "By 2025, we expect new spacecraft designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first-ever crewed missions beyond the moon into deep space," he said, starting with a mission to a near-Earth asteroid. "By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow.”

Innovation & Exploration: Nanotechnology Nanotechnology is science and engineering at the scale of atoms and molecules. It is the manipulation and use of materials and devices so tiny that nothing can be built any smaller. Nanotechnology is found everywhere today in products ranging from nanometre-thick films on "self-cleaning" windows to pigments in sunscreens and lipsticks. Other products include tiny transistors, nanosensors, supercapacitors, nanoscale elevators, a DNA nanowalking robot, nanothermometers, nano containers, nano weighing scales, a nano abacus, a nano guitar.

The greatest advances through nanotechnology will come in the form of novel medical devices and processes, new catalysts for industry and smaller components for computers. In medicine, we are already seeing research on: New ways to deliver drugs with contact lenses; the directing of drugs to tumours with tiny "smart bombs"; gold "nano-bullets" that seek-and-destroy tumours; starving cancer with nanoparticles; diagnosing diseases such as Alzheimer's, monitoring health and fighting sickness with tiny probes; and growing new organs from scratch. And biochemists are hoping to deploy viruses as "nanocameras" to get a clearer picture of what is going on inside cells.

In computing, nanoscience may lead to smaller or more powerful microchips with increased capacity and dramatic reductions in the size of hard discs. In military technology, governments are splashing cash on developing new, lightweight equipment and weapons, bullet-proof battle-suits that can morph to provide camouflage or even stiffen to provide splints for broken limbs, and nanosensors that might detect chemical or biological perils.

Innovation & Exploration: Robotics Robots and Robotics
Robotics is the engineering science and technology of robots, and their design, manufacture, application, and structural disposition. The first digitally operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Today, commercial and industrial robots are in widespread use performing jobs more cheaply or more accurately and reliably than humans. They are also employed in jobs which are too dirty, dangerous, or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing, assembly, and packing; transport; earth and space exploration; surgery; weaponry; laboratory research; safety; and mass production of goods.

Some examples: Rovio, developed by WowWee®, is a WiFi enabled robotic webcam that can be accessed and controlled from anywhere in the world using a web enabled pc or cell phone. All Terrain Robots (ATRs) will function as a team by sharing their locations, discoveries, search patterns and more. This is highly effective for search and rescue operations.

Human-robot interaction
If robots are to work effectively in homes (eg. cleaning, personal and pet robots) and other non-industrial environments, the way they are instructed to perform their jobs will be of critical importance. The people who interact with them may have little or no training in robotics, and so any interface will need to be extremely intuitive. Science fiction authors also typically assume that robots will eventually be capable of communicating with humans through speech, gestures, and facial expressions, rather than a command-line interface.

In May 2009, a team at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) invented a touch-sensing “skin” designed for their humanoid robot, the iCub. The skin contains flexible pressure sensors that aim to put robots in touch with the world. One goal of making robots in a humanoid form is to let them interact closely with people. The skin is made up of triangular, flexible printed circuit boards which act as sensors, and it covers much of iCub’s body. This fleshy covering is more than mere aesthetics; it could be essential to making them socially acceptable.

Innovation & Exploration: Artificial Intelligence (AI) According to the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence – AI is "the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines". It is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. It often raises philosophical issues about the nature of the mind and limits of scientific hubris, issues which have been addressed by myth, fiction and philosophy since antiquity. For AI to become a reality, much will need to be learned in the areas of psychology, neuroscience, cognitive and computer sciences, as scientists concede that the human brain is just too complex. "Intelligent machines might help us reach the stars – or else they might eclipse us, and render our humanity irrelevant."

Some examples: SILVIA is an artificial intelligence platform designed to let call centers, computers, cell phones, toys, and other gadgets carry on realistic conversations with people. A chatbot is a computer program that is designed to simulate an intelligent conversation with humans. Many chatbots use AI to interpret speech or text input and before providing a response.
Deep Blue vs Garry Kasparov: In 1996, IBM’s Deep Blue became the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion. “Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov” became a pair of famous human-computer chess matches played between the supercomputer and the chess grandmaster. The first match was won by Kasparov, but the machine won the rematch in 1997. So, are machines more intelligent than humans?

Innovation & Exploration: Transportation Future Vehicles
Fuel efficient, zero emission vehicles will use hi-tech electronics to assist drivers in a variety of ways. Vehicles will communicate with each other, with the road and with traffic signals. Autos and trucks of the future will use vision enhancement devices to help navigate through bad weather and warn of a possible collision with a pedestrian or animal. They will also alert the driver if he is getting drowsy or straying from his lane. Other initiatives include The Driver-less Future of Transportation, Automated Transportation with Laserguided Vehicles, vehicles travelling at warp speed, underground highways, flying cars (anti-gravity vehicles), solar powered cars and unmanned vehicles.

Another advance is the Magnetic Levitation Transport, or maglev, a form of transportation that moves vehicles via electro-magnetic force. Maglev trains can reach speeds comparable to jet aircraft, without polluting the atmosphere. Also, the Aerobus is a self-propelled vehicle that speeds silently through the sky moving people or cargo. Riding above congested freeways or gliding over rivers and other impassable barriers, the Aerobus system is environmentally friendly and pollution-free.

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