WHATSAPP POLICIES : REALITY OR A MYSTERY

A Few days back, the most talked topic was WhatsApp’s new privacy policy which stated that all the data and contacts shared on WhatsApp will be shared on its conglomerate app Facebook. No sooner did the feature circulated on everybodys’ mobile, than a lot of discontentment and anger vented off by the WhatsApp users. Memes, abuses, tweets, and panel discussions started to take around on social media and news channels. Now let us get into the nitty-gritty of what the policy was.

As stated above, the data that includes numbers, pictures, important documents, and other details we share randomly and heedlessly with one another, was at the risk of a breach. But what was so intriguing about the policy that it got condemned on such a high level. In February 2014, Facebook, a multi-national and widely popular social networking site bought Whatsapp. It was bound to happen that Facebook would meddle with Whatsapp policies.

Now the question that arises what Facebook did on its part was whether fair or unfair? Soon Whatsapp came in the open to apologize and justify itself as an app that condensed the consumer’s rage to an extent. Now WhatsApp has delayed the introduction of the new privacy policy announced earlier this month after confusion and user backlash forced the messaging service to better explain what data it collects and how it shares that information with parent company, Facebook Inc.

“We’ve heard from so many people how much confusion there is around our recent update,” the company wrote  in a blog post. “There’s been a lot of misinformation  on causing concern and we want to help everyone understand our principles and the facts.”- a source added.

WhatsApp had asked users to agree to the new policy by Feb. 8, but has pushed that deadline to May 15 while it further explains the changes.

WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted, meaning only a message’s sender and recipient can read it, and those messages are not stored on Facebook servers. But WhatsApp is also pushing aggressively into messaging for businesses. The updated privacy policy was intended to alert users that some businesses would soon be using Facebook-owned servers to store messages with consumers. Facebook has said that it will not access those messages for any type of ad targeting but the language used  in the updated terms of service concerned many users who worried that Facebook would suddenly see their private messages. These were some of the details shared by the company.

As a consumer, when we think about a data breach, we become offensive and insecure. But if you give a different perspective, when we install applications or download files from the internet, do we not allow the same permission to breach data to Google? When we sync our contacts and photos with our google account, won’t that be considered an invasion of privacy? Many Indian-owned alternative companies crept up to grab the opportunity to divert the customers to their applications. But even if one customer replaces Whatsapp with another communication app, what guarantee does it provide that all his networks and contacts switch to the same app for their convenience?

The mastermind behind this tossing of information is Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI as we know has full access to your search history on Google Chrome. Using this, it advertises those contents on the web . If we do not restrict ourselves to Whatsapp and see the internet as a whole, then we may conclude that our privacy is not entirely safe.

The Future of Nanotechnology

The term “Nanotechnology” was first defined by Norio Taniguchi of the Tokyo Science University in 1974. Nanotechnology shortened to “Nanotech”, is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale

Generally nanotechnology deals with structures sized between 1 to 100 nm and involves developing materials or devices within that size. Nanotechnology has the capacity to improve our ability to prevent, detect, and remove environmental contaminants in air, water, and soil in a cost effective and environmentally friendly manner. Nanoscience and nanotechnologies are revolutionizing our understanding of matter and are likely to have profound implications for all sectors4-6 of the economy, including agriculture and food, energy production and efficiency, the automotive industry, cosmetics, medical appliances, household appliances, computers, and weapons.  The ability to construct tiny objects atom- by-atom or molecule- by- molecule forms one of the exciting prospects of the research field in nano science. It shows great promise for providing us in the near future with many breakthroughs that will change the direction of nanotechnology advances in a wide range of applications.

Nanotechnology tools & techniques

There are several important modern developments. The atomic force microscope (AFM) and the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) are two early versions of ee scanning probes that launched M “y nanotechnology. There are other types of scanning probe microscopy. Although  conceptually  similar to the scanning confocal, a microscope developed by Marvin Minsky in  canner1961 and the scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) developed by Calvin Quate and coworkers in the1970s. The  newer scanning probe microscopes have much higher resolution as  they are not limited by the wavelength of sound or light. Various techniques of nanolithography such as optical lithography, X-ray lithography, dip pen nanolithography, electron beam lithography or nanoimprint lithography were also developed. The top-down approach anticipates nanodevices that must be built piece by piece in stages  as similar to the  manufactured items which are made. In contrast the bottom-up techniques build or grow larger structures atom by atom or molecule by molecule. These techniques include chemical synthesis, self-assembly and positional assembly.

Ways Nanotechnology is securing our future

Doctors inside  your body: Wearable fitness technology means we can monitor our health by strapping gadgets to ourselves. There are even prototype electronic tattoos that can sense our vital signs. But by scaling down this technology, we could go further by implanting or injecting tiny sensors inside our bodies. This would capture much more detailed information with less hassle to the patient, enabling doctors to personalise their treatment.

Sensors and Sensors everywhere: These sensors rely on newly-invented nanomaterials and

manufacturing techniques in order to make them smaller, more complex and more energy efficient. For example, sensors with very fine features can now be printed in large quantities on flexible rolls of plastic at low cost. This opens up the possibility of placing sensors at lots of points over critical infrastructure to constantly check that everything is running correctly. Bridges, aircraft and even nuclear power plants could benefit.

Making big data possible: All these sensors will produce more information than we’ve ever had to deal with before .So we’ll need the technology to process it and spot the patterns that will alert us to problems. The same will be true if we want to use the “big data” from traffic sensors to help manage congestion, prevent accidents and crimes by using statistics to more effectively allocate police resources.Here,nanotechnology is helping to create ultra-dense memory that will allow us to store this wealth of data. But it’s also providing the inspiration for ultra-efficient algorithms for processing, encrypting and communicating data without compromising its reliability. Nature has several examples of big-data processes efficiently being sarformed  in real- time by tiny structures, such as the parts of the eye and ear that turn external signals into information for the brain.

As an energy resources: The most advanced nanotechnology projects related to energy are: storage, conversion, manufacturing improvements by reducing materials ,process rates, energy saving  and enhanced renewable energy sources. Today’s best solar cells have layers of several different semiconductors stacked together to absorb light at different energies but they still only manage to use 40 percent of the Sun’s energy. Commercially available solar cells have much lower efficiencies (15-20%). Nanotechnology could help increase the efficiency of light conversion by using nanostructures.

Tackling climate change: The fight against climate change means we need new ways to

generate and use electricity therefore nanotechnology is already playing a great role. It has helped us to  create the  batteries that can store more energy for electric cars and has enabled solar panels to convert more sunlight into electricity. The common trick in both applications is to use nanotexturing or nanomaterials  that turn a flat surface into a three dimensional one with a much greater surface area. This means that there is more space for the reactions that enable energy storage or generation to take place, so the devices operate more efficiently

Conclusion

Nanotechnology is already transforming our lives with new technologies and products. It exploits the novel phenomenon and properties of matter at nano scale and may offer new solutions to  millions of people who are living in the developing countries that generally lack access to  basic services such as safe water, renewable energy, health care and education. In todays world we can see there is a steep rise in global funding for nanoscience and technology . It  is the  need of an our  to raise the level  of awareness as well as the  knowledge of the opportunities and challenges in this emerging field .We are confident that this article would serve its objectives of igniting many more potential minds into this path of nanoscience and technology. We believe that in the future many more nanoproducts will be developed which will simplify time consuming conventional procedures.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence – Widespread Job Losses

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a thing of science fiction, it exists in the world all around us, automating simple tasks and dramatically improving our lives. But as AI becomes increasingly capable, how will this alternative labor source affect your future workforce?What will happen if it would replace humans and more specifically the mundane jobs that we do. Any task that is repetitive and predictable can be automated. Banking systems employ incredibly simple, near to mindless, repetitive tasks, like debit & credit transaction processes, tabulation and interest calculations. As little as 60 years ago these tasks were performed by hundreds of people in thousands of bank branches throughout the world. Thousands of people around the world were employed in providing support services, like the manufacture of chairs, desks and filing cabinets, paper, ink, pens & pencils etc, Thousands of people around the world were employed in sales, warehousing and transport getting consumables from the manufacturer to the customer.

Here are a few jobs that are likely to disappear due to AI:

Drivers : Let me put it this way: if your job consists of driving any type of machinery, automobile or vehicle, you’re going to be out of a job soon. Given how Amazon and Google are working on driverless cars and with Google’s Waymo being a ground breaking innovation, it can change future as we know it. Maybe even get few people out of jobs.

Cashier : There are many super markets where self checkout is available. A few years down the lane maybe this would be the reality everywhere.

Travel agents : We can plan the whole trip ourselves. Book tickets online, book hotels online and even get itinerary’s online so what’s the point of having a Travel Agent? You can also tell Siri to book it for you.

MANUFACTURING WORKERS : When the Industrial Revolution hit, all the people working the fields moved to work in factories. Handcrafting the machines that would make our lives easier. In the process and with the advancement in technology, these same people were put in charge of building machines that build other machines that would eliminate the need for humans. Ironically, they built the machines which put them out of job.

Bartending : Remember the time when you just want to sit down, have the food arrive at your table as soon as possible, enjoy a particular mix of alcoholic beverages and then leave without having to interact with people. These all can be successfully replaced by a carefully planned algorithm and an iPad. Many restaurants are also jumping in on this trend all around the world.

Accountants & Tax Preparers : AI loves to go through your raw data and organize it and this exactly what accountants and tax preparers do. So no matter how expensive this software would be, it is bound to pay back for itself in a very short term. So companies are looking to invest in this.

Construction Workers : Developers now need more machines and a slightly more specialize workforce to use the machines to build. As technology progresses, we can see that construction workers will follow the same path as those who used to work in the farming industry in the past. Unless you’re the owner of the enterprise or one of those specialized employees who are further down the line of automation, the future doesn’t seem like a welcoming place for you.

Is this overly optimistic? I don’t think so. Either way, there’s no question that the impact of artificial intelligence will be great and it’s critical that we invest in the education and infrastructure needed to support people as many current jobs are eliminated and we transition to this new future.

Artificial intelligence has a sole purpose of automating the various technologies and making things easier for people. There have been a numerous number of products launched by the various start-up businesses around the world to demonstrate the power associated with AI, latest being the ‘self-driven cars’.

Well It would be interesting to watch how technology takes over humanity in a jobless society where the currency is machine-generated and to see if intelligent machines will replace our existence.

DNA Computing

The computing power of today is based on increasingly teeny tiny bits of Silicon which conducts electricity, transistors. What happens when we cant make them any smaller? And then cant make the CPU in our computers any faster?  Here we will dive into how DNA computing works, why is it on the mind of researchers and why Microsoft and IBM are investing large sums of cash in making the technology a reality. 

Its no surprise that the amount of data we are producing in the world is exploding. Where do we store it though? How do we process it? Quantum Computing is one way,but there are many problems to solve with quantum. For one, quantum computing requires an extremely cold operating  environment, so cold that atoms are at an almost complete stop, below 1 k which is -272 degree Celsius. This requires an immense amount of energy and space- age tech to make it happen. Transistors in computers are passing electrical signals.  A lot of signals.The transistors in the latest CPU are getting incredibly tiny, just a few nanometers. If the transistors get any smaller than they are currently, the electrical current flowing through the transistor easily leaks out into other components nearby or deforms the transistors due to heat which leads to messy currents which doesn’t calculate anything. Innovation in computing could come to a halt. What we need is another way to keep improving the performances of computing. One very promising approach is to use the bio-compatible computing device,Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA. No, its not about finding fossilized mosquitoes in pieces of amber. DNA computing uses DNA , biochemistry and molecular biology hardware. In fact, we all own a DNA computing device. In DNA, genetic coding is represented by four different molecules called A,T ,C and G These four bits when chained together can hold an incredible amount of data. After all the human genome is encoded in something that can be packed into a single nucleus of a cell.

DNA Computing isn’t a new concept as such. In 1964, Russian physicist Mikhail Samoilovich Neiman,”expressed original ideas and principal considerations of radical miniaturization on elements for recording, storing and retrieving of digital information to the molecular-atomic level”

It wasn’t until the 1990s that actual work started with storing data on strands of DNA. When Leonard Adelman presented the first prototype of a DNA computer it was called the TT-100 and was basically a test tube. Now what does a DNA computer look like? The actual computing takes place when DNA is mixed and matched in a test tube. Will you need test tubes in your laptop then? We will get to this shortly.

DNA cloud

The data we produce every second of every hour of every day has to go somewhere, Currently a lot of it ends up in the cloud. Cloud hosted storage is pretty cheap and it is estimated by 2025,  half of the zettabytes of data produced will be stored in the cloud.

Microsoft is also concerned about having to store all of these cat gifs and meme generators. So they’re investing in DNA computing technology . In 2019 researchers from Microsoft and the University of Washington demonstrated the first fully automated system to store and retrieve data in

 Manufactured data. They wrote, “hello”. Not as impressive as the literary works of Shakespeare, but it was done with snippets of fabricated DNA. The end goal is to reduce warehouse sized data centers into something much smaller. Now the cool thing is that the end consumer will never know, storage will just continue to be storage. The researchers at Washington University have so far managed to store one gigabyte in DNA, and yes, they did store funny cat photos.

Where can I buy one?

So when can you buy your own DNA computer and fill it with all of the internet. Probably not anytime soon, if ever. The future of computing is not about extremely powerful device in your pocket but rather super fast connection to the cloud and other services. DNA computers will be doing huge calculations and store enormous amounts of data but in a fixed location.the current cost of storing and encoding one megabyte of data is one million dollars.

one area that will benefit hugely is data security. DNA based security sounds like a terrible plot in a cheap sci-fi movie but it is real. It will be in DNA cryptography which works largely like classical geography with their private and public key., but it is incredibly fast and the keys can be massive.

DNA computing has the promise of cheap huge accessible data storage and an exponential increase in computing power and speed. There are huge challenges though not least the cost of creating the DNA, but we are past the proof of concept phase and real money is being spent to create real commercial solutions.               

Online software Testing

Online classes have been slowly rising in the last decade but the pandemic and ensuing lockdown have made them a necessity. As a result, we have seen a rise in the number of online courses as well as online platforms providing the same.

Some of the prominent platforms are MS Teams, Google Meet, Zoom etc. These platforms have few special benefits that is specific to them and have their own sets of disadvantages. Some of the common disadvantages of online classes are network problems, communication gap etc.

We have therefore, come up with an idea of developing a software that can improve the workings of online classes by collaborating with the existing teaching softwares while including some of its own unique features.

Hereby, we have listed some of the common problems faced while using these platforms and a few solutions appertaining to them.

1)Feedback System:-

The user sometimes suffer from having a teacher whom they can’t understand well enough or who has a very bad internet connection. 

Solution:-

At the end of every week, students would receive a form in which they can give their reviews or personal opinions anonymously.

In addition to this, there would an automated software to check if teacher’s mic is on, internet connection is strong, camera is on etc.

This would result in more productive classes as no time would be wasted cause of internet issues, mic issues etc.

2)Time Utilization:

According to the data, 20% of class time is wasted waiting for teacher and students.

Solution:-

To save the time random questions (MCQ) by software would be given of the previous lecture to give quick recap of the previous lecture until the Teacher comes.

The AI will also be used to bring previous year questions as daily assignment.

For solving each question particular number of points would be given and students scoring highest point at the end of a chapter would be rewarded.

3)Keeping an eye on the teacher:

When it comes to teacher feedback, a true feedback is rarely given, be it offline or online.

Solution:-

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used in the software to improve the overall experience . 

AI will monitor the whole lecture checking whether teachers are teaching in a rude way using wrong words or behaving impolitely, whether the students understand them properly, whether the syllabus is moving at par to the given timeline etc.

After assessing a month’s data base, the institute will be able to summarize the teacher’s way of teaching and whether the students are grasping the concepts efficiently from them or not, as well as keep a track on syllabus covered.

4)Doubt channel –

A number of students have the same doubt and usually it’s a ruckus with everyone asking their question at the beginning of the class simultaneously. Also, some students are too shy to ask out loud and this becomes a problem for them.

Solution:- 

A live chat bot can be used for conveying the doubts to the faculty. 

 Whenever one has a question, they can go to the doubt section, select the topic (if the topic is a large one then the student must select the subtopic) and ask their question. The bot will collect all the question according to the topics and using AI it can detect how many questions are same or how many students have the same kind of doubt. At the starting of the next class the faculty would get a notification about the doubts that are there  and then it could be discussed in the class.

After the class, the faculty would again get a notification asking whether the doubt is discussed or not. If not discussed then before next class, the faculty would be reminded of the same.

5)Proctoring students:

While the teachers are delivering the lecture, the students are more often than not busy with some other work. So, its required to check if the students are paying attention or not.

Solution:-

 One way is using AI which requires video of that student. 

Keeping the connectivity issues on mind neither the teacher nor the student would see each other’s video till they switch it on themselves but it will be AI proctored at student end. The students will also not be allowed to change the tabs during class and the teacher will get a notification if they do so. 

Another way may be manual way in which student will be given questions in between the class where they have to give the answers. A simple interface will be used to do this so as this will be easier for the teachers also to operate.

6)Network Connection Issue:

The most prevalent problem of online classes is network issue 

Solution:-

The system checks the internet connection on the user end. After a collecting a week of data it can predict who has a weak network every day and for whom it is a one-day issue and will present the same information to the user.

For those who face this issue every day, the idea is that the end user must select the connection status if the connection status is selected to be poor than then the video will load first and then it will be shown. That particular user will be seeing the class going on 2-3 min late and they won’t be able to ask their doubt in class but video will play smooth.

These are some ideas that we feel if inculcated to the present software then we will have a much more efficient online classes making the whole process more worthwhile.

The Rise Of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin has been one of the major buzzwords that has come to rise in 2020. With investors telling you to invest in bitcoin and people going insane over losing bitcoins they’ve forgotten passwords to, the question arises..

What exactly is bitcoin and Why is it trending in 2020?

To understand what bitcoin is, we first need to get a basic understanding of what is money and currency. In simple terms, money is something which has value to it which is usually assigned by us humans to make transactions easier. Throughout history we have used many things as money ranging from cowrie shells during the barter system to metals like gold and silver. However, overtime it became cumbersome to use valuable belongings as money since these were difficult to carry at leisure and tough to spend with ease.  

Then, what next?

In the initial system we traded our gold to the government in exchange for a record of the value which could be used for daily transactions. Eventually, the link between gold and paper eroded and the government took responsibility for assigning a value to a paper and hence paper money was born. Also known as “fiat” money (fiat is Latin for “by decree’ meaning something that has value because the government orders it to”) saw a fundamental shift from trusting the value of something to trusting the value of someone.

With the progression of technology, paper money converted to digital money through debit, credit cards and online banking. But how does online banking work at this point when you can easily duplicate files?  We need to trust the bank. However pressure on banks turn out duplicating and forging user accounts. When power is concentrated in a central authority, it leads to corruption and abuse of power in hand, more importantly, the government now has complete control over the money of an individual. They could freeze your bank accounts at will or could stop accepting certain notes as seen during demonetization in our country

Is there a solution?

A solution to the problems caused due to fiat currency seemed impossible before

2008 when a document was published online under the publisher name of Satoshi Nakamoto which suggested a way of creating a system of decentralized currency called bitcoin. This proposed a system which solved the problems of fiat money without the need for a central authority. Bitcoin is a decentralized system of cryptocurrency that is pseudo anonymous, meaning that the transactions of bitcoins are transparent for everyone to see but the identity of the accounts holders participating in the transaction is unknown. The decentralized system ensures no accumulation of power , hence no misuse of authority is possible. Every transaction inside a blockchain gets mentioned by a block. If the block manages to get successfully selected by miners through consensus and thus gets added to the main consensus chain, then the transaction stands valid. Since this happens through a consensus no bias in results is possible and hence the translation is verified and guaranteed. To make safe and secure transactions the system uses digital signatures to identify sender and receiver of the coins. Since bitcoin and its value is ultimately regulated by the blockchain of interconnected computers across the globe, it is nearly impossible to take down.

Effects of bitcoin

The coming of Bitcoin and its effect on currency is analogous to the coming of the internet and its effect on the spread of information. With the arrival of the internet, anyone could access information making information more freely available to anyone. Bitcoin in addition to the numerous advantages already mentioned has the additional advantage of being accessible by anyone. Anyone can open a bitcoin wallet. Nowadays anyone with a valid ID, mobile phone and internet connection can easily start trading on bitcoin.

Cryptocurrency and bitcoin have had  a tumultuous past in India with the Reserve Bank banning any regulated financial institution from dealing or selling cryptocurrencies in April 2018. However now that cryptocurrency is legal in India, it is quite easy to get started and buy and sell bitcoins in India. All you need is a valid proof of ID. There are services you can use to trade in bitcoin in India. 

A Conclusion

Conclusively, it can be said a major factor leading to the rise of bitcoin users is no third party involvement, which leaves no room for corruption and financial authority being lost to a government body. Another contributing factor is the ease of transfer, a person can exchange bitcoins just by scanning a given QR Code or by clicking a button on their client application. The cycle of bitcoin is maintained through the famous demand and supply cycle in economics, and hence the market is unstoppable. When the demand increases and the supply is less the rates are high hence the demand drops. Now , when the supply becomes higher than the demand the rates go low so as to raise the demand itself. And so the cycle goes on maintaining a dynamic equilibrium in the system.

A NEW BEGINNING ON MARS – THRILLING OR TERRIFYING?

This world’s a treasure, but it’s been telling us to leave for a while now”

The above saying from the movie Interstellar has become a reality. Calamities in the year 2020 such as the Australian Bushfire, Hurricane, Flash Floods, and the Covid-19 Pandemic perhaps are the signs that the Earth is trying to provide saying it is time for us to explore and live beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. Where will we go after leaving Earth? Which place can support life other than the blue planet? Space is a boundless 3D domain that has caught the eyes of humans for a very long time.  There are two trillion galaxies in the observable universe and (10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) planets and counting found orbiting the stars in the cosmos.

Is it possible for the earthlings to visit another galaxy? It’s not feasible to visit the foreign star system and is not necessary to do so because our solar system itself provides us with another home that is at a distance of 164.43 million km away from earth. Any guesses about the planet? It is none other than the red rock, Mars.Why is it possible to live only on Mars and not on any other sibling of the Earth? What makes Mars exceptional that we can call it our second abode? Certain life-supporting elements make Mars a suitable planet for living like water, oxygen, sunlight. The soil on the red planet is believed to contain a humungous amount of water in the form of ice at the polar caps that can be extracted with advanced technologies. We know that oxygen is a life-supporting gas and the atmosphere of Mars consists of 96% of carbon dioxide which raises the question of the survival of humans on Mars. Well, the solution to this will be an oxygen generator called MOXIE, designed to convert carbon dioxide to breathable oxygen that will be sent to Mars by NASA in a rover. As we are aware that sunlight is the pre-requisite for growing plants which are the food source and there is a decent amount of light available on Mars which in return can be used to grow plants. The day length on Mars which is 24hrs 37 min is a conducive condition that can help humans to continue their daily routine normally as on Earth.

As we got to know that the Earth’s neighbor is capable to be called our next home, what are the advancements for the settlement on Mars? There are many spaces Agencies like NASA, ISRO, ESA that are working day and night to explore Mars cautiously so that they can move in the right direction to colonize Mars. Exploring space is not a mission of a particular group but a dream of millions to go beyond the stars. Among them, we have a headstrong company SpaceX which is working vigorously to fulfill the dream of fellow humans. So, what makes SpaceX notable? SpaceX is an American Aerospace Manufacturer and space transportation service company founded by Elon Musk. It has many goals and one among them is to transport humans, cargo to and from Mars using its starships as well as super-heavy rockets. Achievements like the first relaunch and landing of a used orbital rocket’s first stage in addition to the first re-flight of a commercial cargo spacecraft and many more make SpaceX capable of bringing the dream to reality.  As it is said by Elon Musk, “You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great – and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”

So, are there no challenges faced for colonizing Mars? Have we accomplished everything to settle there? As we know Earth has a layer of blankets in its atmosphere that protects us from harmful UV radiations, maintains pressure and temperature that is ideal for the habitation. But Mars has a thinner blanket when compared to Earth resulting in a lower surface temperature, capable of leading to hypothermia in humans. It doesn’t have an ozone layer which makes us vulnerable to UV rays and other kinds of radiation coming from the sun. Its gravity is 38% in comparison to Earth’s gravitational force which in turn is challenging for humans to colonize as long exposure to zero gravity causes deterioration of bones and muscles. Spacesuits that are made of materials that can absorb a greater number of radiations, equipment that can help us to stay healthy in low gravity and there is a need for advanced technologies to tackle other challenges otherwise it would be difficult for us to survive on a new planet.

As it is said in the movie Interstellar, “We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible. And we count these moments. These moments when we dare to aim higher, to break barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known. We count these moments as our proudest achievements. But we lost all that.

Or perhaps we’ve just forgotten that we are still pioneers. And we’ve barely begun. And that our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, because our destiny lies above us.”

So now we leave it on our readers to ponder upon, “A new beginning on Mars, thrilling or terrifying?”

Internet Privacy

In the age of technology privacy is a myth. Have you ever heard this? If not, understanding this is reality is important. What do u think people were desperately trying to attain in the past and of course in the present? Money? fame? Respect? And why not all of these? Yes, Its Political powers. But do you know that even these highly strong political officials are nothing Infront of something that took a huge form in the recent years. And now the powers are with them who owns technology.  Why? How? These are the keywords that we neglected before, but now, to know this is a need of the hour.

Our lives are now embedded with technology, people are so highly dependent on internet that even a 5 min shut down of an all-rounder search engine like google disrupted 40-percent of the netizens. This impact is profiting for the developers but simultaneously dangerous for the users. I know these words won’t satisfy you until proven facts are visible. World order has changed, there is nothing free in this world and how do you think we are able to access millions of websites, apps, blogs with some mere money spend just for data cards which are nothing more than permissions to enter the internet life. Think about it. If I have to put it simply, knowledge is power, or knowledge about us is their power. In fact, it’s a brilliant strategy, only in this internet world the product and the consumers are exactly same. Information about us is collected and it is sold to various other firms who makes use of that information to improve our online experience.
So far so good, there is nothing dangerous until now. The real concern starts now, these things did not start now, these started decades back. Now these computers know more about us than we ourselves know and it is locked up in their servers, and their masters has the key. Imagine what If they wish to misuse or if someone evil gets hold of that key. Within days the netizen population would dance to his tunes. This is a kind of fear that we must acknowledge. Knowledge about adverse possibilities is what inculcates that fear. And we have solutions for that and that’s what is important to understand. We have the power to control how much knowledge should the internet know about us and how much should the internet use that knowledge to enhance our online experience. And we named it internet privacy.
Now its time to go technical and know deeper about this. Internet privacy refers to the vast range of technologies, laws and ideas related to giving users or other third parties more privacy protections in their use of the Internet.
Internet privacy takes many forms, now its mandatory to include privacy statements on websites, taking permissions for data sharing and transparency in data usage. Internet privacy and anonymity are now a right of users, especially as e-commerce continues to gain traction. Privacy violations and threat risks are standard consideration for any website.           
Internet privacy is also known as online privacy.
One of the important things that people raise when they discuss Internet privacy is the regulation of handling user data.
A most commonly cited example is the General Data Protection Rule or GDPR, which is a European standard recently adopted to protect the data of European netizens. Ostensibly, the act governs data belonging to EU citizens, but not desirable for the companies that deals with the data of the European users. A multinational company utilizing the global Internet may have any number of European users as members, subscribers or customers. Since the introduction of this rules the company having the data set are required to follow the prescribed protocol, if not are answerable to EU government.
Many countries and states around the world have come up with their own data privacy laws. Many started with the main intention to close the doors that were already open due to lack of regulation by the world wide web itself. Unfortunately, internet bloomed late in India so does our awareness about cybersecurity. Being one of the countries with large internet market of more than 500 million netizens our country ranks low in internet security. Hopefully learning from the best, we could also develop something like that but its highly dependent on you who reads this.
The way we see and use internet is changing rapidly these days as the issues of internet privacy came to light.
Already, major technology companies have put in place stricter rules and protocols to increase user privacy to all of their users. At the same time, many privacy advocates are demanding for more transparency in how third-party data is used. Also, some experts have suggested that the users should have full control over their data and the third parties should pay to buy the data from the users so the transparency of the process is clearly monitored. The use of blockchain has been explored as a means of building this new type of privacy protocols. In general, having data sets on a blockchain allows companies for a more diverse  capabilities related to manipulating and evaluating that data or keeping track of who has access or where the data is stored.
The conversation around Internet privacy continues to evolve. The rising talented engineers and analysts are working on new ideas and strategies for handling online privacy as internet grows and cloud systems port even more sophisticated data sets through global Internet trajectories.
But this is not a concern that can be contained just with implementing strict laws and order. You should understand the importance about this and accordingly use it. Surely there are ways we could restrict the use of internet and information that we ourselves share.
 
 
The above diagram shows some of the methods that we could follow. We usually don’t take precautions hoping good for everything, but having a positive attitude involves having awareness about the field we are stepping into. Make sure to follow that. Its always wise to understand about things that we are fully dependant in our lives. Like I mentioned earlier, in the age of technology internet privacy is a myth but never just a myth.
 
 
Continue reading “Internet Privacy”

Design and the Science

In the last few decades, people have undergone major changes in some of the most fundamental aspects of human life: time, space, matter and independence. Working in long-distance locations, easy navigation between satellite maps and nanoscale images, immersive immersion in information, quick fixes to keep your leisure time moving forward, people are experiencing daily changes in scales. Minds align and acquire sufficient strength to combine such quantities. One of the basic tasks of designing is to stand between change and life, and to help people deal with change.

The designers actually plan for the present and the near future. Sometimes they also plan for the distant future when they work with scientists and do more speculative work. Built on the concept of architecture is a sense of future, of progressive flexibility. This is especially true of modern construction, which is concerned with ‘progress’. Designers have the ability to recognize vast changes in technology, science, and social structures and to transform them into things and ideas that people can understand and apply. With the exception of the designers, instead of the visible city of home pages with windows, doors, buttons, and links, the Internet will continue to be a series of obscure cords, all cars would look technically updated Model Ts, and the machines would be reduced to proper bones. Without the interpretation of visual design, many basic concepts – such as the extent of human genetics or comparisons with other puppies may remain inexplicable to many. Designers give life and voice to things, and along the way they express our ideas and aspirations for the future, even those we do not know we have.

Each era of technology brings its own disease, a sense of migration that is inevitable and inevitable — which is why new things often become disruptive. Like the Germans of the East after the fall of the Berlin Wall, some feel the need for comfort, even less so.

historically, composition has come closer to fine art than science.

But things are not that simple. While aesthetics existed, and still do, an important area of   creativity – science and engineering have always played an important role in the history of design. Scientific discoveries have led to new technologies, innovations and new social spaces. But engineering and design make these new technologies accessible and affordable to the wider community.

 One could therefore argue that design makes scientific advancement visible and practical. ISOTYPE is one of the most important historical figures in the history of painting. The great success of ISOTYPE was the communication of complex mathematical details in a formal design language that enabled viewers to quickly understand the relationship of symbols and data. In the seminal book International Picture Language, Neurath argues that visual languages   cannot replace spoken languages   – but also demonstrates the power of symbols and images when it comes to explaining complex processes or transmitting mathematical information. ISOTYPE is therefore one of the first attempts to use the structure to convey scientific details – in this case especially social and historical science. Design – and especially design collaborations – has many features, techniques and approaches that can make significant contributions to the advancement of science. This statement is perhaps surprising – if not annoying – to many people as “make-up” is still associated with such things as marketing, advertising, high-tech, luxury and trade. While this organization is completely flawless, it completely ignores the most important design elements in science: innovation, user focus, great beauty, problem solving, contextual awareness.

Bio Chips

A biochip is a bio-microarray device that has been extensively developed and studied for enabling a large -scale analysis of genetics and proteomic and functional genomic experiments. 

They refer to a set of diminished microarrays which are placed on a substrate. This substrate allows various experiments to be executed at the same time. Biochips are devices that contains millions of sensors and sensor elements.

The greatest advantage of DNA arrays is its high speed, throughput and the fact that they are useful in various genomic applications such as nucleotide polymorphism analysis (SNP), disease classification, gene expression studies, prediction of function, development of new drugs, clinical diagnosis, toxicological studies etc.

Like other methods of detection which are molecular – based, such as PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), microarrays also target genes which are specific to pathogens for detection. They allow large – scale screening of multiple targets because of their high speed and throughput power.

Digital biochips have become one of the most powerful and promising technologies in many fields of biomedicine. In a digital biochip, a group of cells which are adjacent to each other in a microfluidic array can be configured in order to work as storage and functional operations as well as for transporting fluid droplets in a dynamic form.

These biochips are not same as microchips. Microchips are electronic devices, but biochips are not electronic. These biochips can be considered as a microreactor which can detect enzymes, proteins, DNA and antibodies.

The primary function of biochips is performing many biological reactions in less time.  

The steps of working of biochips are:

  1. A low power electromagnetic field is generated through radio signals by the operator.
  2. The biochip turns on. The fixed biochip gets turn on
  3. The identification code is transmitted by the activated chip. It is transmitted reverse to the operator by radio signals
  4.  The received code is strengthened by the reader in order to change it into a digital form and finally to exhibit it on LCD.

Biochips have two components:

1)TRANSPONDER: Transponder can be of two types which are active and passive transponder. Passive transponders have no charge on its own whereas active transponders have charge when the operator activates it by giving a low electrical charge. Transponders have 4 parts which are antenna coil, glass capsule, tuning capacitor and computer chip.

2)READER: The reader consists a coil called an “exciter”. Through radio signals, this coil forms an electromagnetic field. It provides the energy that is needed to activate the biochip. The receiving coil is carried by the reader in order to receive the ID number or the code which was transmitted and was sent back from the excited or activated biochip.

TYPES OF BIOCHIPS:

There are 3 types of biochips:

  1. DNA Microarray:

DNA microarray is a set of small spots of DNA that are fixed to a strong surface. 

  1. Microfluidic Chip:

These are a choice to usual biochemical labs and are transforming several applications like DNA analysis, proteomics and molecular biology procedures which are known as the study of proteins and diseases that are diagnosable. 

  1. Protein microarray:

The method of protein microarray is used for following the actions as well as the connections between proteins. Along with this they are used to find out the functions of the proteins on a large scale. The main advantage of these chips is the fact that a large number of proteins can be tracked parallelly.

.

ADVANTAGES OF BIOCHIPS:

1)They are small in size, faster and powerful.

2)Bio chips can be used for identifying people individually.

3)Bio chips are useful in finding people who are lost.

4)Bio chips have the ability for performing several thousands of reactions in a few seconds.

DISADVANTAGES OF BIOCHIPS:

1)Bio chips are very expensive.

2)They can raise problems of individual privacy.

3)These chips can be fixed into human bodies without any interference from them.

4)There is a chance of turning every individual into a controlled individual. 

APPLICATIONS OF BIOCHIPS:

There are a wide range of applications using biochips:

1)A bio chip leads to e-commerce systems that are safe.

2)These chips can be used for locating or tracing a person or animal anywhere in the world.

3)Biochips are very effective in restoring the records related to cash, passports, medical files etc.

5)They are used for storing and updating the information of a person such as demographics, financials, medical etc.

6)They can be used in the medical field in the form of BP sensors, oxygen sensors, glucose detectors etc.