Semi-finals STS

• Information Age


  • Historic period in the 21st century
  • Also called computer age, digital and the new media age
  • Marked by a very fast growth in communication and information technology
  • Holds a significant influence as educators and learners
  • Began around 1970s and still going on today
  • An era in which people could access information and knowledge easily
• Periods of the Information Age

  • Pre-Mechanical – 3,000 1450 AD
  • Mechanical – 1450-1840
  • Electro-Mechanical – 1840-1940
  • Electronic/Information – 1840-present
• Pioneers of the Information Age

  • Blaire Pascal
  • Alexander Graham Bell
  • Steven Wozmak
  • Steven Jobs
  • Bill Gates
• Personal computers had become widespread by the end of the 1980s. Can be connected to local or national networks through a device called the modern.
• Internet was developed during the 1970s. Was used mainly by scientists to communicate with other scientists. At this time, internet users problem was speed. The development of the fiber-optic hastened the rate of sending message.
• In 1990s, the worldwide web was developed mainly for commercial purposes. New services were created to sell products.
• Colleges and universities would post research data on the internet so students could find valuable information without leaving their homes.
• Claude Shannon is regarded as the Father of the Information Age.
• Components of Information Technology

  • Computer
  • Networks
  • Mobile and wireless devices
  • Satellite communications
  • Robotics
  • Videotext
  • Cable television
  • Electronic mail (e-mail)
  • Electronic gadget
  • Automated office equipment
• Advantages of Information Technology

  • Globalization – brought the world closer together; led to sharing information more quickly and efficiently and enabled countries to share ideas and information with each other
  • Communication – it has made communication cheaper, quicker and more efficient. The use of the internet opened face-to-face communication from different parts of the world
  • Cost effectiveness – it has led to computerization of business processes and increased productivity that gave more profits, better pay and working conditions
  • Creation of new jobs – it has led to the opening up of opportunity for computer programmers, system analysts, hardware and software developers and web designers
• Changes introduced by the Information Age

  • Emergence of online companies
  • Creation of economically and stimulating businesses
  • More mature and educated people
  • Reshaping governments with new technologies
• Penetrance


  A measure of how often a disease genotype correlates to the disease phenotype
• Organisms inherit genetic information in a variety of ways that result in continuity of structure and function between parents and offspring.
• Genetic analysis techniques


  • PCR
  • Southern blotting
  • RFLP mapping
  • DNA sequencing
• Cases of prenatal or perinatal diagnosis of a birth defect or an enzyme deficiency is one situation where DNA diagnosis could be of immediate beneficial use.
• Attempts to remedy human disease by somatic gene therapy also don't appear to pose ethical dilemmas. But the introduction of genes into the human germ line does.
• Gene therapy


  Altering the genes inside your body's cells in an effort to treat or stop the disease
• Gene therapy process


  1. Removal of a desirable gene from a cell

  2. Adding it to the gene structure of a bacterial cell

  3. Replacing the recombinant DNA into the bacterial cell
• The bacteria then have the capability to produce the protein produced by the original animal or plant cell.
• Heredity


  The passing on of traits from parents to their offspring, either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction
• The heredity information is contained or within the genes, located in the chromosomes of each cell.
• An inherited trait can be determined by one or by many genes and a single gene can influence more than one trait.
• A human cell contains many thousands of different genes in the nucleus.
• Loci


  Discrete portions of chromosomes where genes are located
• Alleles


  Pairs of genes that exercise parallel control over the same traits, which can be dominant or recessive
• Common genetic disorders


  • Down syndrome
  • Sickle cell disease
  • Phenyl ketoneeria (PKU)
  • Hemophilia
• Each of our gene codes contains unique protein and each protein has a separate and distinct function to perform in the cell.
• Effect of light on chlorophyll production

  Most plants have the genetic ability to produce chlorophyll, they will do this only in the presence of light. Without light, these plants produce only a light-yellow pigment and therefore appear pale and sickly until they are exposed to sunlight. After a few days of exposure to sunlight, the chlorophyll production mechanism is enabled and green color returns.
• The genetic information stored in DNA is used to direct the synthesis of the thousands of proteins that each cell requires.
• Each strand of DNA in the chromosome has the potential to provide the complete chemical code for the manufacture of at least one complete protein.
• These proteins are highly specific and they result in the expression of some specific trait or portion of a trait in the living cell and, consequently, in the organism of which they are part.
• Gene mutation


  Any alteration of the DNA sequence
• An individual cell's altered gene will be passed on to every cell that develops from it.
• Gene mutation


  Any changes in the nitrogenous base sequence of a molecule DNA. When the base sequence of DNA is altered, the amino acid sequence of the polypeptide for which it codes will likewise be altered.
• Such an alteration may affect the operation of the resulting enzyme, preventing it from properly catalysing its reaction and thus preventing a trait from being expressed by
• Chromosome


  A structure in the cell's nucleus that contains the genetic material (DNA)
• DNA strand


  Potential to provide the complete chemical code for the manufacture of at least one complete protein
• Proteins


  Highly specific, result in the expression of some specific trait or portion of a trait in the living cell and, consequently, in the organism
• Gene mutations


  Any alteration of the DNA sequence
• Gene mutations


  1. Altered gene passed on to every cell that develops from it

  2. Alteration of DNA base sequence changes amino acid sequence of polypeptide

  3. Altered enzyme operation prevents trait expression

  4. Majority are harmful, impairing cell function

  5. Can be lethal, producing toxic substances or failing to produce vital proteins