CLASS RESPONSE

The topic that we studied in class was the concept of predation. We went outside and acted as predators to various "prey" (toothpicks). Though predators are organisms that the prey must always fear as life-threatening enemies, nature has also given them forms of defense against predators. I found these forms of defense very interesting. For example some of the prey were camouflaged in the grass making them harder to spot. They had pointy tips that might harm the predators upon attack. Lastly, they were also very small compared to the predators making them hard to find.
Even though in class, the predators were many times larger than the prey, predators can also be much much smaller than their prey. For example, parasites are tiny bugs that use their prey as hosts, gaining food from what the host eats and shelter from the host's body. Parasitoidism is another type of predation where the bug "lives in or on the host and feeds directly upon it."(Wikipedia)
In my opinion, predation can be an ugly thing. However, it is necessary to maintain the balance in our ecosystems. Though we may feel bad for certain prey when they are consumed by their predators, we would all be worse off if our ecosystems were overrun with those prey. We must also realize that humans are one of the most powerful predators in the food chain. We are almost always at the very top of the food chain, right below decomposers. I found that the role of parasites and parasitoids as predators that can prey on even humans, was very interesting and kind of frightening. However, I am actually glad that we have such a high place on the food chain and do not have to go through the troubles that most prey have to deal with.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predation

SCIENCE CURRENT EVENT #2

Science is truly an amazing thing. Especially the creation of improvising robots that play music with humans. This happened in November 2009. The Takanishi Laboratory at Waseda University,created these robots. They made robots that play music before, but simply replaying a recorded piece wasn't enough. Now they have made a robot that mimics a human's instrument playing. They also plan to improve it over the years. The researchers created an algorithm that allows the robot to combine visual cues from its cameras with audio cues from its microphones to respond to a human musician.
I think that this is a spectacular achievement in the field of robotics. The "Jazzbot" seems like it would be extremely fun to play around with, or to play music with. However, I feel that the skill of robotics engineers could be better put to use by helping humans who need it. There are countless members of society that could better function if they were given the aid of certain types of robotics. For example, many people are handicapped, and could use the skill of robotics engineers to come up with new forms of prosthetics or machines to help them get around. There are also many projects going on to try and build robots that may be sent to other planets for exploration to further the knowledge of humans. I think advancements in robotics would be more useful in one of these situations rather than creating a robot for having fun.









http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/new-jazz-bot-jams-humans-really-swings

SCIENCE CURRENT EVENT#1

How Much Power Does The Human Brain Require To Operate? According to a group of computer scientists from Stanford University, the human brain's lowest energy requirement is just 20 watts, which is barely enough to run a dim light bulb. Compare this to a robot which needs 10 megawatts to operate like the human brain.
The computer scientists have come up with a theory that a neural supercomputer is the answer for low energy requirement. This is possible because scientists have managed to squeeze a million neurons onto the new supercomputer, compared to 45,000 silicon neurons on previous neural machines.
I think that the neural supercomputer will be very helpful and effective. With this low energy requirement, scientists would be able to efficiently use their resources to improve human life with many of their discoveries.


http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-11/neuron-computer-chips-could-overcome-power-limitations-digital