Fiber Optics by Zaharina Velazquez

FIBER-OPTIC WIRE

Who and When:
Researchers from Corning Glass Works, Rober Maurer, Donald Keck, and Peter Schultz invented fiver-optic wire in the summer of 1970.

What is it:
Fiber-optic wire is a strand of fused silica that has a high melting point capable of carrying 65,000 times more information than copper wire. This information is carried by patterns of light waves which can be decoded from distances of even thousands of miles away.

Outcomes:
Thanks to the invention of fiver-optic wire, fiver-optic communication came to be. In 1977, General Telephone and Electronics developed the first live telephone traffic through the wire in Long Beach, California. Later that year, Bell installed a 1.5 mile optical telephone communication system in Chicago. Today, fiber-optics traffic more than 80% of the worlds long distance voice and data information. They are also used in medical and mechanic imaging.

Effects and Significance:
Fiber-optics allowed telecommunications (TV/phone/internet) become less expensive because it is cheaper to make. Because of its tiny size, things that use them are also allowed to be made smaller. This also means more phone lines can go into a cable allowing for more channels and faster internet. Fiber-optics have less of a chance of losing or interfering with other signals and they use less power. Plus they are light weight, flexible and non-flammable.
This discovery is so important because without it we would never have made the advances we have made up to today. The reason this project is done online is because of how simple and fast of a process it is. Without fiber-optics it would never have been a possibility as the internet wouldn't be as popular and as attainable as it is. This invention also helped us move foward in voice communication with cheaper phone lines and calling through computers. This invention definately help shape our modern lives.

Recombinant DNA by Jerilyn Nick

• Recombinant DNA


• Scientists involved: Proposed by graduate student Peter Lobban and A. Dale Kaiser at Stanford University Department of Biochemistry. Later realized by Stanley Norman Cohen, Herbert Boyer, Daniel Nathans, Hamilton Smith, Werner Arber, etc.




• Discovered: 1972-74
  
• Where: Proposed at Stanford University Department of Biochemistry


• Recombinant DNA is the process in which two portions of DNA are combined to create a new strand of DNA. The process is usually done within a host cell, commonly bacteria such as E. Coli. Rings of DNA inside bacteria are called vectors. Pieces of DNA from a donor cell are inserted into the vector in order to change the sequence of nitrogen bases that act as instructions on what proteins the cell should make. The new vector containing the DNA of both the host and the donor is called a "chimera". The chimera is then left in the host cell and allowed time for the new instructions the DNA codes for to take place. This makes the host cell produce proteins that it normally would not make if left in it's unaltered state.


• Awards: Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1978 by Hamilton Smith, Daniel Nathans, and Werner Arber.
  
• As stated in the previous paragraph, the process of creating Recombinant DNA allows host cells to produce proteins that it normally would not make. A well known example of that is when scientists use the method to breed bacteria containing insulin. The insulin is then harvested and used for human purposes, such as for people with diabeties. The discovery of Recombinant DNA has allowed medicine to create treatments an vaccines for medical conditions like that.

In addition, the process could also be used to alter the way organisms react to certain things or environments. Hybrid or super crops are an efficiant example, for now there are kinds of crops and other plants that are altered. Seedless crops or plants that produce their own pesticides are the result of Recombinant DNA. Crops that are more able to survive in droughts or heat than normal are also results of the process. Through Recombinant DNA, science is able to produce or genetically modify things that will benefit humans.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombinant_DNA

http://rpi.edu/dept/chem-eng/Biotech-Environ/Projects00/rdna/rdna.html