Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Individual Reflection Day 1 (Keith Ong)

1- Importance of Water

  • We cannot take water for granted as it is a limited resource.
  • In Olden Singapore (dating back 50 years ago), the Singapore River contained lots of harmful microbes such as cholera, Typhoid fever etc.
  • But some microbes are good and can be cultivated to combat bad bacteria in water (examples: Granulation, SNPDR)
  • So how bad is the water situation now? 1.1 billion have no access to drinking water, 2.4 billion has inadequate sanitation facilities, 3.4 million died from waterborne diseases and 2 billion at risk from water diseases.
  • So, what should we do? We should actually start conserving water so that more people can use it. We should reuse water such as water that is used to wash vegetables, we could use that water to water our own plants. Other than that, we could go to other places that have no drinkable water and help them sanitize their area, letting them have access to clean, drinking water. We must start helping or not, we cannot do anything.
2-Revolution of Microelectronics

- The key understanding is that, as hinted by the speaker, unless you do electronic engineering, you will never know your limits.
- This has been created due to the transformation of Singapore’s Electronic Industry, due to the Supply chain moving to Asia and also due to proliferation
- Electronics are pervasive and enables entertainment, medicine etc.
- There are 9 very important O’s. Bio, Radio, Auto, Info, Nano, Water=H2O, Audio, Video, Energy=mc^two(Take all the first letters and it spells brainwave)
- Now Electronics and Biology are converging together into the nanoscale(BioNanoElectronics)
- Most importantly, keep trying to see where your dreams come to, so how about trying to get into Microelectronics then?

3- Innovative breakthroughs in Nano-Science and Nano-Technology

  • There are two major techs:
  • Nano Tech:
  • Using the surface area theory, “Smaller size for a fixed volume is equal to a larger surface area.”
  • Nano-particles, are used to act like doctors, they would enter the human body and attack viruses.
- Defense Tech:
  • Defense Technology is like kevlar or bulletproof vests, using nano-materials to stop the bullet from intensively damaging the body system.
  • Nano-materials can also be used to deceive the eyes of the enemy through pixelated clothes, to trick the human into seeing that the person wearing the clothes is not there.
- In total, Nano-science will take the world to the next level through stealth attacks.

4- IT for Animation

  • Animation is one of the main things that entices people, such as 2D animations like Lion King, or 3D animations like Toy Story.
  • There are lesser 2D movies than 3D movies as 2D movies are more labour intensive and more people are required to make the movies, plus the budget is way bigger. 3D movies are easier to choreograph as it is more open and up-moving.

5- Disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels, and why gravity is even more important than you think

  • These studies are all conducted by a geodesist. Geodesists measure the shape and size of the Earth, gravity field and etc.
  • But now with space-based technology, we can measure the space and the Earth with very great detail
  • Now, using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), we can know about Earth’s “bulges” due to heat expansion and cold contraction.
The Speech that left a very deep impression on me is the microelectronic speech. He was so engrossed in his speech, and was talking about how we could make a difference. Then, his speech is also captivating.