Seafood Choices

  Since nowadays a large number of marine species are endangered, both effort from the government and effort from general public are required to sustain the reproduction of these species. Along with government’s regulation on fishing these species, we should make wise decision on what kind of seafood we are supposed to eat. The general rules for choosing ocean-friendly seafood are the following:

1)      We should choose those abundant species with a short maturation period. For example, saury and Antarctic krill are cheap, fresh, and delicious. They are both ocean-friendly species.

2)      We should choose filter-feeding or herbivorous marine species to eat. For example, oyster and clams are good choices.

3)      We should choose those farmed species with good management. We can also check whether a particular species is certified as sustainable and well managed to the Marine Stewardship Council’s environmental standard at http://www.msc.org.

4)      We should also consult those species’ clear background and make it clear: what kind of seafood is this, what is the place of origin, how it is fished, etc.

5)      We should not eat those fish with large size, or fish ore. Big fish are usually on high nutrition level. Their population size is small and their biological recovery rate is very slow. Eating those species such as sharks and blue-fin tuna will influence ocean’s ecological balance. Fish ore are technically immature fish, human should let it grow to make reproduction of fish possible. 

The Blue Ocean Institute (http://blueocean.org/) contains a very useful seafood choice guideline, which enables consumers to look up for information about many different kinds of seafood. The guideline classifies all the seafood choices into the following categories:

1)      Species has a combination of problems such as overfishing, high bycatch, and poor management.

2)      Some problems exist with this species' status or catch methods, or information is insufficient for evaluating.

3)      Species is relatively abundant, and fishing methods cause little damage to habitat and other wildlife.

4)      A fishery targeting this species has been certified as sustainable and well managed to the Marine Stewardship Council's environmental standard. Learn more at http://www.msc.org.

5)      These fish contain levels of mercury or PCBs that may pose a health risk to adults and children.

  It is always important for consumers to carefully choose what seafood to eat in order to effectively protect endangered marine species. With the information provided above, we will be able to choose seafood in an ocean-friendly manner and help protecting endangered species more effectively.

Works cited:

http://news.sohu.com/20070328/n249023792.shtml

http://www.aihuwai.net/html/shui/qs/5040.html

http://blueocean.org/seafoods/

http://worldwildlife.org/threats/overfishing

Endangered Species

  Overfishing seems to be a good strategy to maximize fisher’s profit, but it also has very serious consequences and irreversible impact on balance of marine life. Due to the increase in fishing efforts and the use of unsustainable fishing practices, there is an increasing number of marine species on the list of endangered marine species. In this section we will see several most endangered marine species and discuss the possible ways to prevent them from approaching to extinction.

  The Yangtze River dolphin, which is also known as  the lipotes vexillifer, used to live in downstream of the Yangtze River. It is a mammal in the whale family living in freshwater. Although the rare Yangtze River dolphins are not edible and they had been protected by the Chinese government for quite a long time, a large number of these dolphins are still killed by human activities, mainly overfishing. According to the statistics provided by Chinese Fishery Bureau, 48.8% of the accidental death of the lipotes vexillifers in the Yangtze River region, from 1973 to 1985, was caused by the use of fishing hooks and the collision with paddle of ship over the course of human’s fishing activities. After the inspection on the lipotes vexillifers conducted by scientists from the U.K., the U.S. and China in 2006, they sadly announced to the world that lipotes vexillifers have ‘functionally extinct’, which means that they have lost the ability to reproduce and all of them are possibly dead. Although the Chinese government has focused on protecting this species for almost half a century, the extinction of lipotes vexillifers still cannot be avoided.

  Another species which is facing the threat of extinction right now is blue-fin tuna, which is the biggest fish in the tuna family. The blue-fin tuna is the most popular choice for customers in Japanese market since it is delicious and nutritious. It has become one of the major food supplies in Japan over the past century due to its large size and nutritional value. However, after a century of unrestricted fishing, the population of blue-fin tuna has dramatically dropped and this species has entered the list of endangered marine species. In 1864, Italian fishermen in Favignana Island caught 14020 blue-fin tuna, with an average weight of 129 kilograms. In contrast, sadly, only about 100 blue-fin tuna were caught in 2009, with an average weight of only 29 kilograms. Nowadays the blue-fin tuna is incredibly expensive in Japanese market, which leads to seeking of this species by even more fishers. Therefore, the legislation on fishing blue-fin tuna becomes urgent in present society.                    

Works Cited:

http://www.baike.com/wiki/蓝鳍金枪鱼

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/esa/mammals.htm

http://www.baike.com/wiki/白暨豚&prd=button_doc_jinru

Sustainable Sushi

Sushi is a popular food around the world and have a long history for more than 600 years. It was originated in Southeast Asia but highly developed in Japan and introduced to the world.

Sushi is made of rice, ingredients and sauces. Ingredients are usually raw fish and seafood. In this case, Japan is the largest fish consumer in the world especially for those needed for sushi making. Due to such large command for fresh fish, the problem of overfishing rises and caused many species such as blunfin tuna becomes depleted. Not only in Japan, since introduced to the USA in 1970's, Sushi has become the most popular food around the country. Nowadays, it is really easy for you to find a sushi restaurant in the USA.

In this case, the movement called "Sustainable Sushi" appeared. This movement start in 2008 with the foundation of Tataki sushi bar. The movement suggests that people should eat those farmed or abundant fish instead of depleted one. Here is a TED talk by the founder of Tataki, Casson Trenor and a list of recommended food fish.

Sources:

"Casson Trenor at TEDxSF", TEDxTalks, Youtube. Web.Feb 25th, 2014. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9IQYyFh43M

"Japan admits to overfishing bluefin tuna by 25 percent", Taipei Time. Mar 03, 2013. Web. Feb 25th 2014. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/03/03/2003295497

Sustainablesushi.net. Web. Photograph. Feb 25th, 2014. http://www.sustainablesushi.net/

Supergreenlandmarket. Web. Photograph. Feb 25th, 2014. http://www.supergreenlandmarket.com/online/maru-japanese-sushi/

Environment compact

The overfishing will not only caused extinction of one specific species but will have a net effect on other marine species as well. To take an example, the blue-fin tuna, a valuable fish mentioned most by the environmentalists, is the main food of sharks. Due to the rapid decrease in the number of tuna, sharks have to find other source of energy to maintain life. Moreover, the population of small predator, which is the food for tuna will increase rapidly and make an imbalance in the ecosystem. 

Moreover, the modern fishery will have a bad effect on the habitat of many species. To make a example, the engine of modern fish boat will make noise in the sea water and caused a misdirection of dolphin or whale's communication. 

Bycatch is also a very serious problem as many sea mammal died every year due to bycatch. Not only fish, but sea mammals such as whales, dolphins and sea turtles as well. Here is some video about the bycatch effect on sea turtles. 

Sources:

"Bottlenose dolphin", Animal Globe, Web, Feb 25th, 2014, http://true-wildlife.blogspot.com/2011/02/bottlenose-dolphin.html

"Millions of turtle killed due to bycatch", Dicovery, Web, video, Feb 25th, 2014,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cH7PYXrbAs

Overfishing

Overview 

Ocean overfishing is simply due to catching wild fish at a much higher rate than that they reproduced. In the last few decades, the total amount of fisheries have increased a lot. Scientists dicovere that the population of many usual food fish has come to 10% of that in pre-industrial period. and that predicted that before 2050, most of the food fish will extinct including tuna, shark, cod. 

Overfishing not only have effects on those who were catch but also strongly affect the life of many other sea creatures. Bycatch, a word referring to those fish or marine animal caught by accident with the valuable fish is one of the important reason. Due to some research, the scientists discovered that "Every year, an estimated 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die entangled in fishing nets, along with thousands of critically-endangered sea turtles. Long-line fisheries also kill huge numbers of seabirds. Over 100,000 Albatrosses die this way every year, and many species are endangered as a result of bycatch."

Another big problem caused by the overfishing is the collapse of marine biological system. The loss of biodiversity will cause a collapse of marine environment.

Luckily, human being has awared that the fish population is depleted and many country have limited the time and amount of fishery. In addition, a movement called "Sustanable Sushi" is really popular. This movement start in 2008 in North American that suggest people not to eat those sushi made of endangered marine speices such as wild salmon or blue-fin tuna. Instead, we can eat those can be farmed or not effective in biological system. 

Endangered species 

Environmental compact

Sustanable Sushi

Seafood Choice

Sources: 
"Sustainable sushi", seachoice.org, Web, Feb 25th, 2014, http://www.seachoice.org/seafood-recommendations/sustainable-sushi/

Photo arena, Jul 14th, 2013, photograph, Feb 25th 2014,http://www.photosjunction.com/photo/7809.aspx#.Uw102fmSyps

"Overfishing-Plenty of fish in the sea? Not alwayss", National Geographic, Web, Feb 25th, 2014 http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-overfishing/  

event 3

I visited some famous museums in the eastern coast last spring break and found it really attracting. In this case, I went to Hammer Museum to take a look at the exhibition of James Welling, one professor in UCLA and find it really amazing and interesting last Friday.

Although Hammer is so close to our school, it is still the first time for me to visit it. For my first year in UCLA, I have had some chance to visit it, but because of some reason i did not. The Hammer Museum sits in the busy Westwood Blvd and is not that big. The structure of the museum is in modern style but not like those in New York or Washington DC.

As for the exhibition, I preferred Welling’s rather than those by Forrest Bess, another event exhibited that day, because Welling’s work are realistic and many of them are photograph. Bess’ works are abstract and hard to understand. As a science major student, I would like to have something straight rather than curving. The most interesting part of Welling’s exhibition, in my mind, is the part about the diary of his family. I think it would be pretty fun to look at them after you are old. In this case, I decide to start writing a diary from next quarter. Although the Bess’s work is hard to understand for me, there is still some part interested me. Pictographic characters is the earliest form of language and I study Classics 51A in winter quarter and find it is so amazing that ancient people can come up with the idea about the pictographic characters.  

event 2

Last Friday, I attended an interesting event, “what’s wrong with fat? Author-meet-critics”. Although I have not read the book, the topics the speaker discussed during the event attracted me a lot and make me think more about the condition of those who is fat.

During the event, professor Saguy talked a lot about the confusion and poor situation fat people meet in their life. For example, fat people may be laughed at by others and they have some disadvantages for social work due to high weight. He also claimed a point that surprised me that a little bit overweight is good for our health but not obesity.

Nowadays, people become more and more concerned about their weight, especially women. Thinness becomes one of the most important requirements for a beauty. However, these cause a big problem that the number of people who have Anorexia nervosa increases a lot. Many of these problems start with a restriction of food eating in order to lose weight. To take an example, a Brazilian model died due to nervosa because models should strictly control their weight. More than that, more and more people even chose to do plastic surgery to form a nice body. As we learned in lecture 4, plastic surgery is an artificial change of human body and more or less will cause damage to our body.

I have no idea why people are so crazy about those who should be called “boney” and despise those who is fat. Is thinness the real beauty? I do not think so. In my mind, the real beauty should be natural and comfortable. I think we should change our attitude toward fatness. Rather than laugh at them, we should try to help them lose weight and back to a normal condition.

Sources

Cassey Ho, “TOO SKINNY TO MODEL”, bloglates, Web, Dec 10 2013. http://blogilates.tumblr.com/post/19943032500/too-skinny-to-model-last-monday-a-new-law-passed

Event 1 Tiancheng Lin

Nov 8, 2013, a normal date for most people， become a disaster for many Philippines. A strong typhoon attacks the main land of Philippi and cause great damage to the people and their properties. After the typhoon, many people lost their house and family. Many kids become orphans. In this case, I joined an event organized by one of my peers in order to help and pray for those who suffered a lot in the disaster.

During the event, People make speech and sing songs in order to show their shock to the misfortune and their blessing to the suffering people. In addition, some of them donate their money and stuffs to support the refugees in Philippi and I was really moved by their action. Although this event does not have much relation with the art project, the kindness the performers showed is invaluable and made the event meaningful. I am an international student who is far away from my family and during this event, I have a strong sense to call my families and ask how they are recently.

Nowadays, the relationship between human beings become further and further. Even when we stay with your close friends, what we usually do is always concentrating on our smart phones and viewing facebook, instagram or twitter. In this case, a heated debate recently is that whether the invention of smart phones is good or not. One the one hand, it makes our life more convenient. One the other hand, it actually enlarge the distance between people. So is the technology itself. It is not easy to judge which side is right, but what we should do is definitely spend more time with our family and friends because the time of one is limited and you do not know when it will end. 

Finally, I hope everyone who suffered in the typhoon can have a bright future and get out of pain quickly. Fight, Philippi!

Desma9 Tiancheng Lin assignment9

In this week’s lecture, our topic comes to space and art. This is a topic having so much relationship with the former topics and should be counted as a good conclusion of the whole course. 

As I said in last blog, human beings have had the dream to fly in the sky or space for a long time. Although it is not until 1961, did people actually traveled in space, the imagination of traveling in space have existed for a long time. “A Trip to the Moon”, a famous French sci-fi movie produced in 1902, is maybe the earliest video that talked about the tour to the space. In the movie, the director showed us an adventure of six scientists in the moon and how they got back to earth with the threat of Selenites (an imaginary aliens living on the moon). It is amazing that people can come up with such an interesting story with only imaginations.   

Now, as the technology grows so fast, more and more people achieve the dream of traveling in space. Dennis Anthony Tito, a rich American merchant, became the first one who traveled the space as a tourist. Since then, six rich guys have had chance to view the earth in the space and amazingly their average age is 50! In this case, can we image that with some proper training everyone can have the chance to travel in space in the future? Moreover, can it be seen as a good start of space immigrant? This is all interesting questions needing time to answer.

Sources:

Mark Turner. “A Trip to the Moon - Georges Méliès, cinemas first special effects wizard.” Fantastic almanac. Aug 03 2011. Web. Dec 1 2013  http://fantasticalmanac.blogspot.com/2011/08/trip-to-moon-georges-melies-cinemas.html

“The 42 Best Sci-Fi Movies 1950 – 1965 in 67 Posters.” Cinemacom. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://www.cinemacom.com/50s-sci-fi-BEST.html

“World's first space tourist 10 years on: Dennis Tito”. BBC News. Apr 29 2011. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13208329

“Inside the mind of a space tycoon: Dennis Tito rises to the highest frontier- and hopes others will follow his trail”. NBCNEWS. May 6 2001. Web . Dec 1 2013. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3077967/#.UpvAtJJ6bWw

Kelly Hignett. “Celebrating Yuri Gagarin’s Historic Legacy”. The View East. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://thevieweast.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/celebrating-yuri-gagarins-historic-legacy/

In this week’s lecture, our topic comes to space and art. This is a topic having so much relationship with the former topics and should be counted as a good conclusion of the whole course.

As I said in last blog, human beings have had the dream to fly in the sky or space for a long time. Although it is not until 1961, did people actually traveled in space, the imagination of traveling in space have existed for a long time. “A Trip to the Moon”, a famous French sci-fi movie produced in 1902, is maybe the earliest video that talked about the tour to the space. In the movie, the director showed us an adventure of six scientists in the moon and how they got back to earth with the threat of Selenites (an imaginary aliens living on the moon). It is amazing that people can come up with such an interesting story with only imaginations.   

Now, as the technology grows so fast, more and more people achieve the dream of traveling in space. Dennis Anthony Tito, a rich American merchant, became the first one who traveled the space as a tourist. Since then, six rich guys have had chance to view the earth in the space and amazingly their average age is 50! In this case, can we image that with some proper training everyone can have the chance to travel in space in the future? Moreover, can it be seen as a good start of space immigrant? This is all interesting questions needing time to answer.

Sources:

Mark Turner. “A Trip to the Moon - Georges Méliès, cinemas first special effects wizard.” Fantastic almanac. Aug 03 2011. Web. Dec 1 2013  http://fantasticalmanac.blogspot.com/2011/08/trip-to-moon-georges-melies-cinemas.html

“The 42 Best Sci-Fi Movies 1950 – 1965 in 67 Posters.” Cinemacom. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://www.cinemacom.com/50s-sci-fi-BEST.html

“World's first space tourist 10 years on: Dennis Tito”. BBC News. Apr 29 2011. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13208329

“Inside the mind of a space tycoon: Dennis Tito rises to the highest frontier- and hopes others will follow his trail”. NBCNEWS. May 6 2001. Web . Dec 1 2013. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3077967/#.UpvAtJJ6bWw

Kelly Hignett. “Celebrating Yuri Gagarin’s Historic Legacy”. The View East. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://thevieweast.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/celebrating-yuri-gagarins-historic-legacy/

In this week’s lecture, our topic comes to space and art. This is a topic having so much relationship with the former topics and should be counted as a good conclusion of the whole course.

As I said in last blog, human beings have had the dream to fly in the sky or space for a long time. Although it is not until 1961, did people actually traveled in space, the imagination of traveling in space have existed for a long time. “A Trip to the Moon”, a famous French sci-fi movie produced in 1902, is maybe the earliest video that talked about the tour to the space. In the movie, the director showed us an adventure of six scientists in the moon and how they got back to earth with the threat of Selenites (an imaginary aliens living on the moon). It is amazing that people can come up with such an interesting story with only imaginations.   

Now, as the technology grows so fast, more and more people achieve the dream of traveling in space. Dennis Anthony Tito, a rich American merchant, became the first one who traveled the space as a tourist. Since then, six rich guys have had chance to view the earth in the space and amazingly their average age is 50! In this case, can we image that with some proper training everyone can have the chance to travel in space in the future? Moreover, can it be seen as a good start of space immigrant? This is all interesting questions needing time to answer.

Sources:

Mark Turner. “A Trip to the Moon - Georges Méliès, cinemas first special effects wizard.” Fantastic almanac. Aug 03 2011. Web. Dec 1 2013  http://fantasticalmanac.blogspot.com/2011/08/trip-to-moon-georges-melies-cinemas.html

“The 42 Best Sci-Fi Movies 1950 – 1965 in 67 Posters.” Cinemacom. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://www.cinemacom.com/50s-sci-fi-BEST.html

“World's first space tourist 10 years on: Dennis Tito”. BBC News. Apr 29 2011. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13208329

“Inside the mind of a space tycoon: Dennis Tito rises to the highest frontier- and hopes others will follow his trail”. NBCNEWS. May 6 2001. Web . Dec 1 2013. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3077967/#.UpvAtJJ6bWw

Kelly Hignett. “Celebrating Yuri Gagarin’s Historic Legacy”. The View East. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://thevieweast.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/celebrating-yuri-gagarins-historic-legacy/

  In this week’s lecture, our topic comes to space and art. This is a topic having so much relationship with the former topics and should be counted as a good conclusion of the whole course.

As I said in last blog, human beings have had the dream to fly in the sky or space for a long time. Although it is not until 1961, did people actually traveled in space, the imagination of traveling in space have existed for a long time. “A Trip to the Moon”, a famous French sci-fi movie produced in 1902, is maybe the earliest video that talked about the tour to the space. In the movie, the director showed us an adventure of six scientists in the moon and how they got back to earth with the threat of Selenites (an imaginary aliens living on the moon). It is amazing that people can come up with such an interesting story with only imaginations.   

Now, as the technology grows so fast, more and more people achieve the dream of traveling in space. Dennis Anthony Tito, a rich American merchant, became the first one who traveled the space as a tourist. Since then, six rich guys have had chance to view the earth in the space and amazingly their average age is 50! In this case, can we image that with some proper training everyone can have the chance to travel in space in the future? Moreover, can it be seen as a good start of space immigrant? This is all interesting questions needing time to answer.

Sources:

Mark Turner. “A Trip to the Moon - Georges Méliès, cinemas first special effects wizard.” Fantastic almanac. Aug 03 2011. Web. Dec 1 2013  http://fantasticalmanac.blogspot.com/2011/08/trip-to-moon-georges-melies-cinemas.html

“The 42 Best Sci-Fi Movies 1950 – 1965 in 67 Posters.” Cinemacom. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://www.cinemacom.com/50s-sci-fi-BEST.html

“World's first space tourist 10 years on: Dennis Tito”. BBC News. Apr 29 2011. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13208329

“Inside the mind of a space tycoon: Dennis Tito rises to the highest frontier- and hopes others will follow his trail”. NBCNEWS. May 6 2001. Web . Dec 1 2013. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3077967/#.UpvAtJJ6bWw

Kelly Hignett. “Celebrating Yuri Gagarin’s Historic Legacy”. The View East. Web. Dec 1 2013. http://thevieweast.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/celebrating-yuri-gagarins-historic-legacy/

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture 9, Space + Art. Desma 9 . Web. Dec 1 2013    

       

     

Desma9 assignment8 Tiancheng Lin 704203383

In this week’s lecture, professor Gimzewski talked about the relationship between nanotechnology and art. Nanotechnology is a word fresh and unfamiliar with most people. However, 70% of things used and seen in our life used the nanotechnology including vehicles, food and computer science field.

Nanotechnology is a newly uprising field, which only have a history of maybe 50 to 60 years. Although it did not appear until 1960’s, the influence of its invention greatly changed the world of science especially in the field of physics and chemistry. The nanotechnology gives scientists a chance to change their perspective of the world into a new and more specific scale. Moreover, with its appearance, the field of quantum mechanics and material science grew rapidly, which attribute to the improvement of aerospace industry. In this case, the dream of human beings finally came true. (Traveling in space)

Not only did, scientists benefited from the invention of nanotechnology, but artist did as well. With nanotechnology, artists can have a different view of the world and gave their more inspiration to create wonderful works. To give an example, Mr. Orfescu, an artist, said that “nanotechnology is simply invitation to let color and shape-shifting run wild.”

In addition, I am interested in the field of Molecular gastronomy, food science that seeks to investigate, explain and make practical use of the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur while cooking. This is a new food type which is not invented until 1988. Although I have not had a chance to try it, it looks nice in photography.

Resources

“What is Molecular Gastronomy?” Molecularrecipes.com. Web. Nov 24 2013 http://www.molecularrecipes.com/molecular-gastronomy/

“Gastronomie moléculaire – Concept” IdoDaVinci’s Blog. Oct 13 2013. Web. Nov 24 2013. http://idodavinci.com/gastronomie-moleculaire-concept/

Jingna Zhao “Turning to Nanotechnology for Pollution Control: Applications of Nanoparticles.” Dartmouth undergraduate journal of science. Feb 22 2009. Web. Nov 24 2013.  http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/winter-2009/turning-to-nanotechnology-for-pollution-control-applications-of-nanoparticles#.UpLYXpJ6bWw

BARNABY J. FEDER “The Art of Nanotech.” Bits. Jan 25 2008. Web. Nov 24 2013. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/25/the-art-of-nanotech/?_r=0

Gimzewski, Jim. Desma9 Lecture 8 “Nanotech and art.”

Tiancheng Lin Desma 9 Assignment 7

Neuroscience and art should definitely be related as all artists need creativity to finish their work and come up with beautiful ideas. Not like many other subjects, neuroscience is a newly developed field. It is not until 19^th century did people begin to be aware of the importance of the brain. Brain, an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals, actually controls all the behavior and thoughts of us. However, because of the limitation of technique and knowledge, we still know little about the brain.

For the study of neuroscience, the study of nerves is significant because they are basis of the brain and without them we can do nothing. In this week’s lecture, professor mentioned a newly technique called Brainbow, which separated nerves by different fluorescent proteins. The sketched picture looks so amazing that the research group win several scientific photography competitions.

Another part I am really interested in is that talks about LSD, a strong hallucinogen, which is discovered by Dr. Hoffman in 1938. I am from China, which is a country has strict laws for people who sell or produce drugs. Most of them were sentenced to death. In this case, it is quiet surprising for me that Leary from Harvard University encouraged his students to take the drugs. In my opinion, drug is something that really harms teenagers because they are in an age with strong curiosity. It is easy for them to be addicted to drug and will destroy their whole life.

Resources

Jeff Lichtman. “The Brain Unravelled an interdisciplinary exhibition where art, anthropology and neuroscience come together”. Fad. Aug 24 2009. Web. Nov 17 2013. http://www.fadwebsite.com/2009/08/24/the-brain-unravelled-an-interdisciplinary-exhibition-where-art-anthropology-and-neuroscience-come-together-private-view-7-september-2009-6-%E2%80%93-9pm/

Sheri L. Boyce “Nervous Systems”. Biology Reference. Web. Nov 17 2013 http://www.biologyreference.com/Mo-Nu/Nervous-Systems.html

“Drug Allergy: Overview, Definition, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Therapy, Course And Prevention.” Health on care. Oct 24 2012. Web. Nov 17 2013. http://www.healthyoncare.com/drug-allergy-overview-definition-causes-symptoms-diagnosis-therapy-course-and-prevention/.html

Hailey Keller. “Brain Fitness: Train Now, Regret Never.” Web. Nov 17 2013. http://brain-games-puzzle-stores-review.toptenreviews.com/brain-fitness-train-now-regret-never.html

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. Desma 9. Web. Nov 17. 2013.

Desma9 week 6 assignment

In this week's lecture, Professor talked about the relationship between biotech and art. Biotechnology is a newly developed area that may have a huge effect on the future of human beings because scientists believe that by some genetic processes we can cure some malignant diseases such as HIV or cancers. However, I do not think that life itself should be seen as a valid expressive medium because life is much valuable than a medium that medium can be reproduced but life cannot. In this case, I think there should definitely be more restriction for artists or scientists doing biotech experiments than those working in other fields.

To be more specific, we can first talk about the cloning, which is a hot topic in recent 20 years. Clone is a biotechnology that refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments, cells, or organisms. There is a famous movie call “The Island” released in 2005. In the movie, people in the future used cloning to reproduce themselves in order to increase their life. In my mind, this is a stupid and inhuman process because what or who we cloned is also a life and they should own the same right as us. For this ethnical reason, cloning with human cells is still prohibitive in the world and I think should last forever.

Moreover, we can talk about the transgenic technique. Because of the shortage of grain in the world, transgenic technique appeared as they are more productive and easy to survive. However, some people have claimed that these transgenic crops actually cause problems such as creating Superbugs and Superweeds, killing bees and butterflies and even contaminating regular crops by cross-pollination. Though, their effect on human body needs time to test, we should still be careful dealing with the transgenic crops.

In conclusion, transgenic technology may have its benefits but it has obvious disadvantages both ethnically and practically. In this case, we should still put limitation on those biotech processes until we can control them well.

Sources

S. GRANT. “10 Problems Genetically Modified Foods Are Already Causing.” Listverse. Jun 22, 2013. Web. Nov 10, 2013.

http://listverse.com/2013/06/22/10-problems-genetically-modified-foods-are-already-causing/

“What is gene”, B4FA.org. web. Photograph. Nov 10 2013 http://b4fa.org/biosciences-and-agriculture/introduction-genes-crops/what-is-a-gene/

“THE ISLAND: ½ STARS.” Richard Crouse. Web. Photograph. Nov 10 2013 http://www.richardcrouse.ca/the-island-%C2%BD-stars/

Paul Brown. “Attitudes to GM crops must change as the world warms.” Carbon strategy group. Jun 6 2013. Web. Nov 10 2013. http://www.carbonstrategygroup.com/carbon-market-news/attitudes-to-gm-crops-must-change-as-the-world-warms/

Vesna, Victoria. Lecture. DESMA9. Web. Nov 10. 2013

Desma9 Midterm assignment! Tiancheng Lin 704203383

Tiancheng_Lin_Desma9_Midterm

Desma9 assignment4 Medicine and Art

Before this week’s lecture, I will hardly relate medicine with art because they seem two things totally different and never should be related. However, after taking the lecture, I really have a new appreciation about the undivided relation between medical technique and art work.

Among all the topics discussed by Professor Vesna, plastic surgery seems most interesting to me. Nowadays, this word is more and more popular in the world because with the development of life, people pay more attention to their outlook than before. In this case, those people need a way to make them more beautiful or handsome and that is plastic surgery. However, with more and more beauties are “produced” under the scalpel, the conception of beauty seems changed and the discussion about that becomes more intense.

To give an example, the artist Orlan discussed in the lecture, did operation many times in order to tell people what is the real beauty. She got different face features from the famous artwork and made it her own body. However, in my opinion, what she did is meaningless because with the period changed, the conception of beauty actually changed. Moreover, those features may look nice separately on each painting, but when they get together it seems so wired and disharmony.

Another example would be the recent Korean beauty contest that all the participants all look the same! Some of friends talked to me about this event and they joked that they may come out of the same hospital.

I think it is no faults that people seek for beautiful. However, we should always follow a simple rule that “The natural one is the most beautiful one.” Plastic surgery, a technique rose during World War I, should still take an important role in medical word but not the work of art and beauty.

Sources

Orlan- Carnal Art (2001), documentary, Dir. Stéphan Oriach. Perf. Orlan. N.d. Film. YouTube.  Web.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=no_66MGu0Oo

Vesna, Victoria. “Medicine and art ” Lecture. Web.

Better2ask, “Aesthetic Plastic Surgeon in Israel, Dr. David L.”,web, November 15, 2012

http://www.better2ask.com/aesthetic-plastic-surgeon-in-israel-dr-david-leshem/3045

Listal, photography, web, http://www.listal.com/viewimage/3431813

Miss Korea 2013, photography, web, http://photogallery.navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/beauty-pageants/world-pageants/miss-korea-2013/articleshow/20535174.cms