MODULE 8: INFORMATION SOCIETY
THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE
➢ In the human quest for understanding the natural world, the ability to name and classify objects
found in nature was seen as the first step in knowing
➢ How is it possible that human beings can communicate through words and thus form a
community?
➢ Does the power of communicated words come from the speaker, who is the thinker and the source,
or from the listener who is the recipient of the communication?
➢ Science “scire” (to know) is one kind of knowledge the Greeks wanted to understand.
➢ Greek's principle of everyday language: Words can function across space and time without
reducing their meaning.
➢ For the ancient Greeks, language was an object worthy of admiration; for words have power.
★ PLATO
- Greek Philosopher
- Born: 428 BCE or 427 BCE; Died: 348 BCE or 347 BCE
- Student of Socrates; Teacher of Aristotle.
- Founder of the Academy, an academic program that many consider to be the first Western
university.
- Philosophical texts—at least 25.
- He dedicated his life to learning and teaching and is hailed as one of the founders of
Western philosophy.
➔ Plato's Principle of "One and the Many"
- Refers to the underlying unity among diverse beings in the natural world.
- For Plato, there is a common intrinsic nature shared by different objects.
- For Plato, there is a common intrinsic nature shared by different objects,
which determines their real sense.
Biologists devised a way to illustrate this principle using a system differentiating between genus
and species.
MATHEMATICS AS THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE
➢ Technology in the modern world is the fruit of science
➢ Control nature with technology
★ ISAAC NEWTON
- English Mathematician
- Born: January 4, 1643
- Died: March 31, 1727
- Since people have discovered the laws and language of nature, they can develop
technology that uses these laws and language for their benefit.
★ EUGENE WIGNER
- Theoretical Physicist
- Born: November 17, 1902
- Died: January 1, 1995
- Nobel Prize Awardee in Physics
- contributed to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles.
Through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles.
- Nature can be understood because it speaks in the language of mathematics and the human
brain, to a certain extent, can comprehend this language (Wigner, 1960).
- Unfortunately, this fact is not always appreciated.
TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD
➢ The ability to think & conceptually comprehend nature and principles it follows eventually leads
to science.
➢ Western thinkers harnessed the forces of nature after understanding them better.
★ HERON OF ALEXANDRIA (HERO)
- Greek Mathematician and Engineer
- Born: 10 AD
- Active in his native city of Alexandria, a part of the Roman Empire. His work is
representative of Hellenistic-era science.
- One of his most famous inventions was an experiment done as part of the earliest instance
of harnessing wind energy on land.
➔ Engine powered by steam - PRIMITIVE STEAM ENGINE (1ST CENTURY)
➔ VENDING MACHINE
- The world’s first vending machine dispensed holy water. Temple visitors
would insert a coin into Heron’s machine that would fall onto a lever which
would open a valve and let water flow out.
➔ AUTOMATIC DOOR
- An automatic door opening device which used heat and pneumatics to
“magically” open temple doors.
➔ WIND-POWERED ORGAN
- A musical instrument that used a small wind wheel to power a piston and
force air through organ pipes, creating sounds and tweets, like the sound of a
flute. This device is believed to be the first wind-powered machine.
➔ AUTOMATA
- A musical instrument that used a small wind wheel to power a piston and
force air through organ pipes, creating sounds and tweets, like the sound of a
flute. This device is believed to be the first wind-powered machine.
➔ HERON’S FORMULA
- Heron is a distinguished mathematician who came up with a novel method of
computing the area of a triangle, now called Heron’s formula, and his
contributions to engineering and technology are nothing short of
jaw-dropping.
THE PRINTING PRESS AND BEYOND
➢ The ancient fascination with language gave rise to the preservation of the words of earlier people
at the same time when the West weakened itself due to internecine warfare and conflicts.
➢ The importance of word⏤the power to be informed as human being⏤led to the transmission of
ideas through hand-copying.
➢ Using the printing press, people on different sides of the world could share their thoughts and
ideas with each other, forming communities of thinkers across space and time - Connel, 1958
EVOLUTION OF MEDIA TIMELINE
Digital world is a direct offspring of the progressing world of technology built upon the many
advances in science - Toffler, 1984
THE WORLD WIDE WEB
★ SIR TIM BERNERS-LEE
- Computer Scientist
- He invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989, while working at CERN.
- Objective: To meet the demand for automated information-sharing between
scientists in universities and institutes around the world.
- The first website went live in 1991 and went public in 1993.
- The Internet came before the world wide web.
★ ROBERT CAILLIAU
- Informatics Engineer and Computer Scientist
- He is most well known for the proposal, developed with Tim Berners-Lee, of a hypertext
system for accessing documentation, which eventually led to the creation of the World
Wide Web.
- In 1992, Cailliau produced the first Web browser for the Apple Macintosh.
➢ With the ease of sharing information at present, its reliability becomes compromised.
➢ Social media also encourages building a community of like-minded people.
➢ Worse, these communities can be tapped by people in power who may take advantage of these
mechanisms-controlling the public opinion and harassing those who present opposing views-for
their own advantage.
The web does not connect machines, it connects people. - Sir Tim Berners-Lee
NOTE: Easy access to personal information makes one susceptible to online predation, identity
theft, and scamming, among others. We must be responsible in utilizing technologies to avoid
harming others and ourselves.
When we have all data online it will be great for humanity. It is a prerequisite to solving many
problems that humankind faces. - Robert Cailliau
KEY POINTS
- We have numerous means to access information in our society, like radio, television,
smartphone, and sophisticated social media.
- Social media is a complex interaction of people in which they can create, share and
exchange information and ideas in virtual communities.
- Social media has numerous forms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
- Social media has a positive and negative impact.
MODULE 9 : BIODIVERSITY
The Philippines hosts a staggering 25,000 km2 of coral reefs around its coasts.
Several coastal marine environments are hugely important, particularly the seagrass beds and
mangrove forests.
★ WEST VISAYAN BIG 5
- The West Visayan Big 5 are a collection of species endemic to the West Visayan Faunal
Region which includes the islands of Negros, Panay, Masbate, Guimaras, Ticao and Cebu.
★ 2010 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF BIODIVERSITY
- In 2010 the 2010 Biodiversity expires and a new international commitment will be agreed by
world leaders; 2010 is also the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity, the
greatest opportunity ever for biodiversity to get its steady place on the international
agenda.
★ What are the ways by which humans introduced alien species into the environment?
- Human colonization in new areas
- Horticulture and agriculture
- Accidental transport
- Genetic engineering (Biotechnology)
★ BIOTECHNOLOGY
- Uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify
products or processes for a specific use.
★ GENETIC ENGINEERING
- Uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify
products or processes for a specific use.
★ GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS
- GMOs are living beings that have had their genetic code tweaked in some way.
- What happens? A gene is inserted into the DNA of a single cell. As the cell divides, that gene
will be in every cell
- GM technology isn’t only for crops. Use on microorganisms, such as bacteria, has created
medicines (like insulin) and vaccines.
- Humans have cross-bred plants for centuries. Developing genetically modified organisms
(GMOs) is a more targeted process.
★ 6 VEGETABLES THAT ARE THE SAME PLANT
- Over hundreds of years, farmers have been breeding one plant – called Brassica oleracea –
into dozens of different varieties.
★ FLAVR SAVR TOMATO
- The first commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a license for
human consumption.
★ GLOW IN THE DARK MICE
- Mice that have been genetically engineered to glow in the dark.
★ CARTAGENA PROTOCOL ON BIOSAFETY
- an international agreement which aims to ensure the safe handling, transport and use of
living modified organisms (LMOs).
MODULE 10: THE NANO WORLD AND COVID-19
★ RICHARD FEYNMAN
- Introduced the concept of Nanotechnology and nano-science started in December 29, 1959.
- Discussed the method in which scientist can direct and control individual atom and
molecules.
★ NANO
- Nanotechnology is science, engineering, and
technology conducted at the nanoscale (about 1 to
100 nanometers)
- Also, manipulation of matter on an atomic and
subatomic scale.
- Nano can refer to technologies, materials, particles,
objects – we are focusing on nanomaterial as these
are already being used in workplaces more widely.
- A sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick; a human hair is around 80,000- 100,000
nanometers wide.
★ NANOMATERIALS
- Materials used to make nanotechnology.
- Can occur naturally, produced or product of
human activity.
- On purpose (engineered).
APPROACHES TO VIEW NANOMATERIALS
★ ELECTRON MICROSCOPE
- Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll built Electron Microscope 1930.
- Used particle beam to light up.
- Magnify million times.
- 2 types of Electron Microscope
1. Scanning EM (SEM)
2. Transmission EM (TEM)
★ ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPE
- First developed in 1986.
- By Greg Binig, Calvin Quate, and Christoph Gerber.
- It has a mechanical probe that used to gather information from the surface of a materials.
★ SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE
- A special type of microscope enables scientist to view and manipulate nano particles,
atom, and small molecules.
- Gerd Binig and Heinrich Rohver won Noble Prize in physics 1986.
★ BOTTOM-UP
- The bottom-up approach to nanomanufacturing creates products by building them up from
atomic and molecular scale components
★ NANO-MANUFACTURING
- It refers to the scaled-up, reliable, and cost-effective manufacturing of nanoscale materials,
devices, and system.
- Also involves research, improvement, and incorporation.
★ BOTTOM-UP NANOMANUFACTURING
- The process of building products from molecular components
★ TOP-DOWN NANOMANUFACTURING
- The process of developing products from whole pieces of material
★ NANO-WORLD AND COVID-19
- The Nano World is not in our ordinary vocabulary and consciousness
- That is, until the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, which made us made more aware of
these microscopic particles that spread through the air and cause infection
The unseen world became part of us since December 31, 2019, when Chinese authorities first
reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) pneumonia cases with unknown cause in
Wuhan, City, Hubei Province, China.
Eventually, we learned that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV2) caused
the outbreak of pneumonia cases.
COVID-19 is the disease caused by SARS-COV2 that triggers respiratory tract infection. The
severity ranges from mild to deadly.
January 30, 2020, WHO declared the outbreak as a public health emergency of international
concern.
It was more than 118,000 cases and nearly 4,300 deaths in 114 countries that WHO Director General
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the COVID-19 Pandemic on March 11, 2020.
Pandemic refers to the global spread of a new disease.
By March 10, 2021, this pandemic has spread to 223 countries with over 117 million confirmed
cases and over 2.6 million deaths.
This pandemic highlights how the microscopically-visible nanoworld dramatically changes our
lives. Through electron microscopy, it has been found that the diameter of SARS-COV2 ranges
from 50nm to 140nm.
Note that this tiny thing can cause so much destructive power.
MODULE 11: GENE THERAPY
★ GENE THERAPHY
- Many diseases are caused by genetic deformities or irregularities. In order to treat these
diseases, gene therapy was developed.
- Gene therapy is a medical process that uses genes to prevent a disease.
- In other words, it is the introduction, removal or change in the genetic material of an
individual to prevent or treat a disease.
HOW DOES GENE THERAPY WORK?
- There are three main approaches to do gene therapy:
1. Replacement of a mutated gene that causes the disease
- a new functional and healthy gene will be inserted
- Viral vectors are used to carry a healthy gene to the site of mutation
- The mutated or non-functional gene will be cut away
- The healthy gene will be inserted
2. Gene silencing or deactivating of a mutated gene
- In gene silencing, the mutated gene will be turned off to prevent it from producing
proteins which may cause a disease.
- Gene silencing can be done in three ways:
1. Editing the gene making it impossible to produce protein
2. Changing the structure of the DNA of the mutated gene to prevent protein
synthesis
3. RNA Interference or the use of RNA sequences to cause the prevention of
protein production
3. Killing of specific cells
- Usually done in cancer cells.
- It can be done in two ways:
1. A DNA containing a suicide gene will be inserted to the diseased cell causing
its death.
2. A DNA will be inserted to the target cell to produce a protein that will mark
the cell for attack by the body’s
natural immune system.
TWO TYPES OF GENE THERAPHY
1. SOMATIC GENE THERAPHY
- The target cells are the somatic cells.
- The effect will not be passes on to the next
generation.
2. GERMLINE GENE THERAPY
- The target cells are the sex cells.
- The effect will be passed on to the next
generation.
HOW IS DNA TRANSFER DONE?
- A section of DNA/gene containing instructions for
making a useful protein is packaged within a vector
(virus, bacterium or plasmid).
- DNA/gene is expressed by the cell’s normal machinery
- production of the therapeutic protein and treatment of the patient’s disease
CHALLENGES OF GENE THERAPHY
1. Delivering the gene to the right place and switching it on
2. Avoiding the immune response by using vectors that are less likely to trigger an immune response
3. Making sure the new gene does not disrupt the function of other genes
4. The cost of gene therapy may be very expensive
★ STEM CELL THERAPHY
- Stem cells are the body's raw materials
- Studies on stem cell increase our understanding of how diseases occur; regenerative
medicine; test new drugs for safety and effectiveness
- Embryonic and Adult stem cells
- Regenerative medicine
WHY DO PEOPLE UNDERGO STEM CELL THERAPHY?
➢ Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases
➢ Helps heal incisions and wounds
➢ Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases
➢ Autoimmune Diseases
➢ Orthopedic Conditions
PROS AND CONS OF USING EMBYRONIC STEM CELLS
PROS CONS
● Stem cells can potentially develop into all ● Require the killing of an embryo
cell types ● Difficult to develop and maintain
● Unstable and mutate in culture
● Pure embryonic stem cells cultures are
difficult to obtain.
MODULE 12: CLIMATE CHANGE
CLIMATE AND WEATHER ARE THEY THE SAME?
★ WEATHER
- Short-term state of the atmosphere
- Cna change within minutes or hours
★ CLIMATE
- Long-term pattern of weather
- Average weather over many years in one specific place
FORECASTING WEATHER AND PREDICTING CLIMATE
➢ Based on models (air pressure, temperature, humidity and winds)
➢ Depended on both the model and forecaster's skill
➢ Short-term weather forecasts are accurate (a week)
➢ Long-term forecast use statistical relationships between large-scale climate signals
➢ El Niño (extreme drought) and La Niña (extreme rain)
★ CLIMATE CHANGE
- Is one of the most controversial issues of the time. It is a long-term change in the average
weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional, and global climates.
Human activities since the industrial revolution have contributed much to this phenomenon that
without control may bring the Earth to the point of no return.
EVIDENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
- How do we know that the climate of the world is changing?
CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
- NATURAL CAUSES
➢ Solar Variation
➢ Volcanic Eruption
➢ Axial Tilt
➢ Precession
➢ Eccentricity
➢ Continental Drift
➢ Ocean Current
➢ Natural Forest Fire
➢ Greenhouse Gas
➢ Deforestation
➢ Greenhouse Effect
➢ Destruction of Marine Ecosystem
➢ Population Increase
IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
1. The temperature will continue to rise
2. The growing season will lengthen
3. Changes in precipitation patterns
4. More droughts and heatwaves
5. Cyclone (typhoon and hurricanes) will become stronger
6. Sea level will rise by 1-8 feet in 2100
7. The Arctic likely to become ice-free
8. Coral bleaching
9. Degradation of ecosystems
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT
1. The cost of adapting coastal areas to rising sea levels
2. Loss of the capacity to work due to heat
3. More wars to gain access to limited resources
4. Fresh water will be in short supply in some areas
5. Relocation of whole towns
6. Shrinking productivity of harvests
7. Prices of basic foodstuffs and consumer goods will rise
8. Extreme meteorological phenomena will cause widespread poverty
9. Diseases will spread due to higher temperature
IMPACTS IN AGRICULTURE
1. Increased Salinization
2. Increased Flooding
3. Rising Seas
4. Increased Droughts
5. Increased Desertification
6. Increased Temperatures
7. Increased CO2
8. Increased Storm Intensity
9. Erratic Rainfall
IMPACTS ON AGRICULTURE
1. Increased Disease Severity
2. Lower Fields
3. Lower Nutritive Quality
IMPACTS TO BIODIVERSITY
1. Land and Sea use Change
- Including habitat loss and degredation
2. Pollution
- Make the environment unsuitable for survival directly and indirectly
3. Species Overexploitation
- Example: Overfishing which may decimate global fish populations by 2050
4. Climate Change
- Forcing the animal to shift range or confounding the signals that trigger seasonal events
and more
5. Invasive Species and Disease
- Compete with native species for space, food and other resources; sometimes spread disease
that native species have no immunity of.
Climate change is a primary driver of biodiversity loss. And climate change depends on
biodiversity as part of the solution. So clearly the two are linked, and cannot be separated.
IMPACTS TO ECOLOGY
1. Changing rain and snow patterns
2. Stronger storms
3. Damaged corals
4. Rising sea levels
5. Warmer oceans
6. Changes in plant life cycles
7. Thawing permafrost
8. More droughts and wildfires
9. Higher temperatures and more heat waves
10. Less snow and ice
11. Changes in animal migration and life cycles
★ RANGE SHIFTS
- Species are relocating to areas with more tolerable climate conditions.
- Range shifts particularly threaten species that:
➢ cannot move fast enough
➢ depend on conditions that are becoming more rare (like sea ice)
★ TIMING OF BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY
- Some seasonal biological activities are happening 15 -20 days earlier than several decades
ago:
➢ Trees blooming earlier
➢ Migrating birds arriving earlier
➢ Butterflies emerging earlier
- Changes in timing differ from species to species, so ecological interactions are disrupted.
IMPACTS IN THE PACIFIC COASTLINE
1. Climate change affects managed ecosystems like vineyards and farms just as it affects natural
ecosystems
2. Future warming unlikely to help wine growers in California’s premium wine regions: some areas
projected to become “marginal” by 2100
IMPACTS IN ALASKA AND THE ARCTIC
- EFFECTS ON ICE-DEPENDENT ANIMALS
1. Year-round sea ice shrinking: walruses and other animals challenged to find platforms for
nursing and resting
2. Polar bears facing difficult hunting conditions: seals now surfacing in open ocean instead
of holes in ice
- FEEDBACK LOOPS: ARCTIC WARMING FASTER
1. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet
➢ As sea ice and seasonal snow cover melts, previously reflective white surfaces
converted to darker surfaces (to ocean water or vegetation)
➢ Thawing permafrost releases carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere,
increasing greenhouse gases
IMPACTS IN THE SOUTHEAST
- SEA-LEVEL RISE
➢ Fragments barrier islands, reconfigures shorelines
➢ May leave certain ecosystems struggling to adapt—in particular those adapted to the
conditions between land and sea
➢ Landward movement of mangroves and marshes may be inhibited by human development
IMPACTS IN WESTERN MOUNTAINS
- WILDFIRE, DROUGHT, AND INSECTS: COMPLEX INTERACTIONS
➢ Climate change increases the risk of fire in areas where decades of total fire suppression
have resulted in buildup of dead fuels.
➢ Wildfire increasing in frequency, size, season length:
- Longer, more intense summer droughts stressing trees
- Stressed trees are more susceptible to attacking beetles, which leave standing dead
fuels in their wake
- EFFECTS ON THE AMERICAN PIKA
➢ Climbing to higher elevations in response to warming
➢ Many populations now isolated on “mountaintop islands”
- CHANGES IN TROUT HABITAT
➢ Earlier springs, warmer summers reducing stream flows as mountain snow melts off earlier
in the season
➢ Some streams reaching temperatures lethal to trout
IMPACTS IN THE SOUTHEAST
- CORAL REEFS: MULTIPLE CHANGES
➢ Climate change is compounding other factors affecting reefs (coastal development,
pollution, overfishing)
➢ Heat stress causes coral bleaching: corals expel symbiotic algae, leaving white “bones”
behind (deadly to coral if long-lasting)
➢ Ocean acidification affects marine organisms’ ability to build shells and skeletons: likely to
slow or stop the growth of coral by 2100
IMPACTS IN THE NORTHEAST
- FISHERIES
➢ Cod: affected by water temperature – Habitat may become restricted to cooler pockets
(<54F̊ for adults, <46F̊ for young)
➢ Lobsters: affected by oxygen levels – Warmer water holds less oxygen: oxygen becomes
insufficient for lobsters >79F̊ – In north, warming may improve lobster habitat
➢ Oysters: Deadly parasite Perkinsus marinus moving northward – Range expanded from
Chesapeake Bay to Maine: shift linked to above-average winter temperatures
CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE PHILIPPINES
➢ Philippines is the third most vulnerable country to climate change according to the 2017 world
risk report. Impacts of climate change in the Philippines are immense, including: annual losses in
GDP, changes in rainfall patterns and distribution, droughts, threats to biodiversity and food
security, sea level rise, public health risks, and endangerment of vulnerable groups such as women
and indigenous people.
➢ Mean temperatures in all areas in the Philippines are expected to rise by 0.9 C to 1.1 C in 2020 and
by 1.8 C to 2.2 C in 2050. Likewise, all seasonal mean temperatures will also have increases in these
time slices; and these increases during the four seasons are quite consistent in all parts of the
country
➢ Solidum said that before El Niño arrives, the country may still expects stronger rains on its
western side due to the southwest monsoon. “Overall, there will be decrease in rainfall in various
parts of the Philippines. We should conserve water, hopefully, conserve electricity because
scarcity in water affects our beverage and power,” he added
THREATS TO NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS
1. Coral Loss
2. Declining rice yields
3. More intense droughts
4. Higher sea level rise
5. Water scarcity
6. More public health emergencies
HOW CAN WE HELP?
➢ On a personal level, one can engage in the following activities that reduce carbon footprint:
compost organic garbage, avoid plastics, participate in sharing economy (share a ride, share tools
for brief usage, share your unused clothes and things instead of throwing them), shrink your
digital footprint (download rather stream videos and music playlist).
UN SD GOALS 13
- Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Humans can take action
➢ Improving the Outlook
- Changes in activities at the personal, community, and national levels can affect the
rate of future climate change and species’ abilities to adapt.
- Some of the areas where changes in human activities could help species adapt
include:
- Approaches to agriculture
- Water management practices
- Energy sources and use
- Transportation
- Pollution remediation
- Biological conservation
- …and much more
There’s no plan B!
KEY POINTS:
➢ There is a global consensus on the occurrence of climate change as evidenced by global
temperature increase, warming oceans, melting ice sheets, decreasing snow cover, sea level rise,
glacial retreat, extreme events, and ocean acidification.
➢ The major causes of climate change are greenhouse gases, the production of which was hastened
by human activity.
➢ Climate change has widespread impacts on human and natural systems.
➢ There are many ways by which we can reduce our carbon footprint and contribute to climate
change mitigation