Right-Brained Medicine

Anthony Atala knows a lot about our body and how it works. He also knows how we can regenerate our organs just like a salamander. Atala shows that the technology in medicine has advanced to the level that we are able to regenerate organs in our own body.

Atala’s TED talk on growing new organs exemplified some different styles. He begins by discussing about the first organ transplant (kidney) that was performed in Harvard Medical College. Next, after comparing the transplants from today to 1954 he gives a quote, “Every 30 seconds a patient dies from diseases that could be treated with tissue transplant.” This reinforces that we need more people employed in medicine to treat patients and reduce death. Atala is one of the first TED speakers to present a video which showed how cells expand. Videos and animations enhance his presentation because people can relate to what he is saying. One important visual he presented was a salamander regenerating a limb that had been cutoff; he then explained how the limb regenerated with the scar. This was an important effect because the audience could see the objective of this technology. He also showed an animation of the procedure used to engineer the first organ, the bladder.  It was effective because the animation showed the time process, about 6-8 weeks, which lets people realize that this is slow process and the regeneration won’t happen overnight. To end his TED talk, Atala shows a cartoon called “How to Stop a Runaway Stage,” because he said it represents the time and amount of people it takes develop these technologies in medicine.

If Atala said that every 30 seconds a patient dies, then the rate of people dying is too high. But with the technology to regenerate organs, less people will die. That means more people will be treated in the hospitals, which will increase the need for medical employment.  Additionally in 2011, the first people of the baby boom, those born in 1946, will be 65 and probably require medical treatment. The country will need an increase for the next 18+ years as the youngest baby boomers are still only 47. Many will have kidney failures so this technology will be beneficial in the near future. Atala also described other unusual methods for organ regeneration; the doctors used a normal desktop printer to help regenerate a heart. They printed it out normally, but obviously took a bit longer than a piece of paper (40 minutes). Technology is very advanced in medicine; we can get cells from almost every organ in our body except the liver, heart, pancreas, and nerves, which can only be regenerated with stem cells. Even though the technology is strong the process still takes a very long time. Atala said that to regenerate some of these organs it took 700 researchers and 20 years to be able to get where we are today.

What matters…medicine requires more right-brained thinking then we realize. The 700 researchers had to be creative and use out of the box thinking in order to solve the equations for regenerating organs. The researchers used some of the methods that Daniel Pink described in A Whole New Mind, such as symphony, by using two disparate objects (heart and printer) to find a way to regenerate cells in a heart. As the baby boomers slowly find themselves in a hospital, more people from my generation will need to be employed in the medical field, why which will enable me to become a physician. However, to excel in right-brained medicine, education systems should incorporate right-brained thinking. So far at Arapahoe, I haven’t crossed that path. Some of the labs involve a little bit and creativity and perspective, but I don’t have lab every day. In our lecture class for the past couple of weeks we have followed the same basic, left-brained process in learning about the body systems. We follow the same process, take notes, read an article and take a quiz. The knowledge of science is very left-brained; applying it requires the other side of the brain. Many countries in the world are using right-brained thinking to develop new kinds of medicine. In the past year the Swine Flu virus broke out, so many countries have been developing vaccines. China has developed one, as well as pharmacists in Switzerland, while Germans produce the vaccine. These countries had to use right-brained thinking to develop the vaccine which contains squalene or other oil in water adjuvants. The United States is competing with many other countries in medicine, which will lead to a rapid increase in medical technology throughout the world, which will benefit everyone.

Ushahidi: The Collaborative Program Changing Society

Cognitive surplus is the free time that people have on their hands to engage in collaborative activities. In his TED talk, Clay Shirky tells his audience that there are two types of cognitive surplus, communal and civic. While communal benefits the viewer and gives them information, civic cognitive surplus brings ideas together that benefits a large group of people…and that is changing society.

Shirky showcased some effective ways to broadcast his information. He started his TED talk by talking about the election crisis of Kenya in December of 2007. He told a story about the lawyer Ory Okolloh and how she had to find a way to keep her blog updated after the media blackout. This sets the tone, because people now want to listen in are thinking about how this relates to the topic. He talks about Ushahidi, the site that two programmers helped Okolloh create, and talked about its use in the world. Shirky said that it’s a crisis map and described how it’s used in Mexico, Washington D.C. and Haiti after the Earthquake. After his story he used his sly humor to show the other side of cognitive surplus; big cute cats with captions, known as lolcats. This part of his presentation was effective because he uses diversity by describing a serious site like Ushahidi, which helps society, and then shows a site with humorous cats. It also produced some laughs, which a speaker needs to keep the audience interested in his topic. Next he displayed a graph that showed data from a daycare centers in Israel and explained how it showed the deterrence theory, which states that if you want somebody to less of something, add a punishment and they’ll do less of it. It was interesting how the daycare center added a fine for the parents picking up their kids late; however, after the fines were removed, the parents still picked their children up late the same amount of time they did when the fees were installed. It really showed how human behavior works. He ended the presentation by nicely summarizing the two types of cognitive surplus; that lolcats are communal, by giving pleasure to the viewer, and Ushahidi is civic, because it improves society by bringing ideas together. He ended with a quote from Dean Keman, “Free cultures get what they celebrate." We've got a choice before us. We've got this trillion hours a year. We can use it to crack each other up, and we're going to do that. That, we get for free. But we can also celebrate and support and reward the people trying to use cognitive surplus to create civic value. And to the degree we're going to do that, to the degree we're able to do that, we'll be able to change society.”

In the world today we need more civic ideas that reflect and elaborate upon the idea of Ushahidi. One example of civic cognitive surplus is Wikipedia, an open data-warehouse that allows people to distribute their knowledge around the world. People use Wikipedia for free and can get the information they are looking for all on one site. Globally, technology has shifted how information is presented, to sites like Wikipedia that eliminate numerous sets of encyclopedias. Even though many people may argue about the accuracy of Wikipedia, it is continuously updated to remain current. If an encyclopedia is being produced, the minute it is published, it is behind the information that Wikipedia share. In another example of civic surplus, Ushahidi provides a strong connection to the book Little Brother by Cory Doctorow; when Marcus becomes involved in exposing the DHS, he uses the Xnet to share his ideas. In this example of civic cognitive surplus, he can set up riots and protests, so everyone will know. When he started his Vampire mob, he set it up through the Xnet; and then, when he showed up the next morning to start it, thousands of people were by his side. The Xnet can be set up in a way that is similar to Ushahidi, when Marcus uses it to call to the people of San Francisco to help him take down the DHS.

Both types of cognitive thinking are important, but Shirky said that civic cognitive thinking is changing society. With our trillion hours a year, we can use them by watching videos and looking at pictures, or we can use them to create information for websites like Ushahidi, that will make a difference. For example, after I graduate from college, I hope to become a physician and specialize in medical research; I want to help people fight conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. My dad has rheumatoid arthritis and it has prevented him from doing a lot of things he loves; he used to be a big runner in his twenties, but because of his arthritis, it now hurts him to run. To help my dad, and the rest of the 40 million people with arthritis in the United States, Ushahidi or a similar program would be very beneficial. With Ushahidi I could publish all the research to a crisis map and show which city has the most people with arthritis, and which city has the most consistent weather, because arthritis pain increases when the weather changes more. Down the road, I could be diagnosed with arthritis - as it is in my genes - so the research would help in treating it. Another example is in states like Colorado - or anywhere in the Midwest - where school is at risk of closure in the winter, Ushahidi would help sort all the information. By showing which districts are closed, lengthy lists would be eliminated in searching for one district closure. It could also help buses find a better route if their usual route consists of more traffic or snow, once on the main roads. That way, kids will have a better chance of getting to school on time and it will eliminate snow day commotion. Currently, Ushahidi could be helping the world keep up with the tsunami/earthquake in Japan instead of hunting for information on Yahoo. By clicking on the map of Japan, you can get all the feeds and updates. Since the only way we can see the whole world is on a map, then crisis mapping is a great way to find information based on location. Because access to this information is free, this allows us to collaborate more easily, which is changing the way we get our information now, and in the future, and ultimately this is changing the world for the better.    

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Motivation, the act of going in a certain direction to achieve something; it occurs everywhere, in school, in the work world and even at home. Rewards keep us motivated, such as mowing the lawn means more allowance at home and doing an extra 15 question on the math homework results in ten extra credit points. Dan Pink’s TED talk defines the science of motivation and how we respond to different levels of rewards. You are probably thinking, the higher the reward the more it motivates people. It seems logical, but the world is just too complicated to confirm that logic.

In Dan Pink’s TED talk he follows the incentive, “There’s a mismatch in what science knows and business does.” To determine how we respond to the amount of reward, he used a series of experiments.  The first one he described was the candle problem; the objective is to find a way to get the candle on the wall without leaking wax on the table below by using thumbtacks and matches. Pink acknowledged the results in how the experiment was set up; if the thumb tacks were in the box, people trying to fix the problem would use critical thinking, that didn’t work. Many people tried to thumbtack the candles to the wall or use a match to melt some of the wax off, which would allow the candle to stick to the wall…both didn’t work. But when the setup of the experiment was modified, with the thumbtacks moved outside the box, the problem solvers immediately thumb-tacked the box to the wall and set the lit candle inside. It is interesting how the solution of this problem sounds so simple, but the power of the right side of our brain tends to glance over that solution. The experiment was setup left-brained because it shows only one solution. The second part of this experiment is when rewards come in to play; Pink said that when a reward coincides with the candle problem, people solved it three and half minutes slower. This didn’t quite make sense, but when I thought about it a little more and came up with a solution. If someone was writing a blog post for fun or for a contest (with a reward) which blog post would be better? The blog post done for fun is better because we have several perspectives and more motivation. Writing for fun also feels more relaxing, especially when you enjoy it. Writing for a contest keeps your mind glued to the thought of the reward, the piece might still be good, but it won’t be better because the brain still has one motivation, to win.

Dan Pink’s TED talk was very entertaining and included some strong, valid points. He started off his presentation with a joke that produced some laughs. He talked about how his biggest mistake was going to law school; he also made a comment that 90% were better at law than him. It got the crowd settled in and interested in what was coming up. Another comedic remark was, “I’m an American, I don’t believe in philosophy!” He then described the candle problem and the results behind it to show the positives and negatives of motivation and problem solving. This showed how different setups of the experiment produced different final products. The next experiment he presented consisted of students from MIT facing different challenges; it was effective because the results were very unpredictable. Pink said, “In eight of the nine tasks that we examined across the three experiments, higher incentives led to worse performances.” His voice was very strong throughout his TED talk, especially when he thought some information was very important or something he disagreed with. Pink’s visual background was useful because he presented the facts on the screen and wanted that information to stick in peoples’ mind. The end of his speech was the most effective part because he started his last three to four minutes explaining the three words autonomy, mastery and purpose. He showed how the words apply in the work world and gave examples of companies that apply them. He also said that incentive thinking and using the three words leads to better results among employees. He ended with the powerful words, “...we can change the world.”

Motivation is important, but in the way it is performed is what matters. With autonomy, mastery and purpose companies such as Google, Atlasian are starting to use the process of ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment). ROWE is more flexible and follows the status quo, “It doesn’t matter where, when or how long you work, as long as you get the work done.” This has been a big success; a software company called Atlasian in Australia has a 24-hour period where the employees are allowed to work on whatever they want. This may seem like a goof off time, but this is where the great ideas are created. Google also uses a similar process called 20 percent time; products like Gmail and Google News were developed in 20 percent time.

 When I think of this process in a school environment for myself, it sounds like homeschooling. Homeschooling is basically doing your work whenever, wherever and however as long as you meet the deadline. For me this does applies with my homework because I can do it whenever, wherever, but it doesn’t apply to however because I have to follow the left-brained system. Although the HOWE does apply to my dad. My dad works in IT and his office in Colorado Springs, but he can work at home because all of the people he works with live in Phoenix or San Francisco. His schedule is very flexible as long as he gets his work done. If this was installed in education then it would eliminate the state of public schooling. It wouldn’t work in school because you need lecture classes to teach and guide you in the subject. Also, a big part of public school is the social aspect; being with your friends, learning with your friends. If someone was home schooled, then they miss out socially unless they were involved in a lot of activities. In the world for businesses this is important to follow ROWE; it will raise the motivation of employees, it increases job loyalty and gets the work done. Pink says businesses need to do this, if every company has a 20 percent time, then the world would be filled with Gmail size ideas every day, the economy would be better and it would change the world.

There's More Than Duck and Cover

Nuclear bombs are demons of demolition and many countries around the world have followed the path of the United States in developing them. Only two have been dropped, but at this point in history the bombs have more detonation, so there is no chance of survival. Or is there? Are Bert the Turtle’s actions of duck and cover enough, or will we have to go further to protect ourselves from the deadly blast and the radiation that follows? A TED talk by Irwin Redlener, explains the status of nuclear bombs throughout history and today, and what can be done to survive one today.

This video makes you worried about the capabilities of an atomic bomb, but I am more worried that the wacko communists and terrorist might detonate a bomb that could end the human race. There have always been speculations of a World War III, but we can’t have it happen. Redlener says, “These weapons can destroy the Earth over and over again.” Even though our role in the Middle East has gotten old, we need to keep an eye on them so their blueprints don’t have the two words “nuclear” and “bomb” on them.  It is scary enough that our enemies have thousands of atomic bombs, but the fact that ANYONE with access to a computer can find directions to create an atomic bomb. Although a true American citizen hopefully wouldn’t build an atomic bomb and detonate it, there might be someone in another country that will.  Although the tension of nuclear war has decreased, there is still a slight worry in peoples’ minds of the possibility of a fatal nuclear war. As Redlener says, “We survived an apocalypse during the Cold War,” but I don’t think we can survive another one. The tension might not seem as great as it did during the fourteen days of October in the Sixties, but one blast is all it takes to set the world on fire.
Irwin Redlener had an effective style, it wasn’t as humorous as Sir Ken Robinson’s, but he kept it clean and stayed to the facts. Redlener used a PowerPoint to deliver his presentation because he probably wanted people to see and read the important information. The visual concepts were useful because more right-brained people tend to comprehend this type of information more effectively. He also showed “Duck and Cover” which was a video produced in the fifties, showing children how to protect themselves from a nuclear explosion. Since I watched the video in history class, I predicted that Redlener would have included it in his presentation because you just can’t have a topic about atomic bombs and not include it. “Duck and Cover” couldn’t elude a few laughs from the crowd because of how ridiculous it sounds when explaining how a student’s desk will protect them from a nuclear blast. To demonstrate the sizes and differences between the two bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Redlener used a cabbage and a pack of Coke. This was a very important because many people have only seen pictures of the bomb. He also showed a simulation and process of how New York could be attacked by a ten kiloton nuclear bomb (slightly smaller than the one dropped on Hiroshima). Someone could build a bomb using the internet or even a book, and rent a truck and easily drive it to the city. If they detonated the bomb it would destroy almost all of New York and the rest that wasn’t affected, could be at risk of radiation. This was important because we need to be aware of threat and power nuclear bombs pose.

Redlener describes how powerful these bombs are but there are ways to survive the blast. The temperature inside the center of the blast is tens of millions of degrees and people right near the bomb would be instantly vaporized. Also if a person looks at the blast when they are within a close distance they will be blinded temporarily or permanently. From one-half to eight miles from the blast there is a chance of dying. If you are far enough away from the bomb you only need to evacuate one mile away. The best way to survive is to evacuate to a shelter, it is suggested that you need to stay for 48-72 hours minimum or wait until you are called to exit. After reading Hiroshima, I have an idea of the pain and horror a nuclear bomb brings. I don’t want to go through the pain that the people of Japan did. I don’t think they would want anyone to go through the pain they did. Even if I survived a nuclear bomb the trauma behind it all would never leave me. My friends and family could have turned the wrong corner and I would never see them again. In a time during the Cold War when a detonation seemed likely, it was best that they told children to duck and cover because it made them feel safe, it took some of the thought of nuclear bombs off their minds. Today I think it is best that adults and teenager know the truth about bombs and the ways we can protect ourselves. Children should be isolated from the horrifying descriptions, but educated through games or activities how to protect themselves. Then, once they are old enough to deal with the scare, they should be told the truth. In today’s world, nuclear bombs are a threat; even in 1985 there were 65,000 nuclear warheads. That might not seem like a lot, but when that’s compared to the number of nuclear bombs dropped, it is astronomical. Today the number of bombs is 70,000, but it could only take one to end the world. The biggest fears are North Korea and the terrorists, since the terrorist’s have attacked our country, it wouldn’t be a surprise if they did it at another time with an even bigger impact. North Korea has threatened us with a nuclear bomb, even though they are significantly smaller, they are very dogmatic and they might be serious. In case war does break out, always remember…duck and cover!

The Knight Combats the Education System

In 2006, Monterrey, California Sir Ken Robinson gave a TED talk that challenged creativity in education, he stated that schools squander children’s creativity. Robinson had many humorous stories, but the story about Julian Lynn is by far the most influential. This happened in the 1930’s, she wasn’t responsible in school and had a short attention span. Her mother took her to a doctor and described Julian’s problems. The doctor then took the mother out of the room and flipped on a radio; when the door shut Julian started dancing. The doctor and her mother watched, the doctor commented that she is not sick, she is a dancer and suggested enrolling Julian in dance school. Today the doctor would have told Julian that she had ADHD and she would be on medication. Thankfully, Julian’s parents took the doctor’s orders and she became both a successful dancer and a multi-millionaire.

In Sir Robinson’s TED talk, he said that in education systems today a student’s academic performance determines who they are. Schools are quashing students dreams before even starting them. Like Picaso said, “All children are born artists,” but schools don’t seem to see it that way. Robinson mentions that we have a great capacity for creativity and we need to use it in the future because the most successful people will have right-brained jobs and use right-brained thinking. Schools teachers and administrators need to be closer to the students, if students are having problems then administrators should be able to solve their problem. Sir Robinson also said the educational system is taking away dreams from students that don’t perform well academically. If a student can’t sit still in class or is disinterested in a subject, it doesn’t mean they have ADHD, all people have ADHD in one topic or another. One student might love history, but can’t sit still in math while another might be the opposite. Students should have a passion and it doesn’t have to be through education, they need something that will motivate them to succeed and enable them to succeed.

Sir Ken Robinson, a humorous British guy, approached the audience with jokes and humorous stories, but educated the audience about some enlightening truths. His speech was so unpredictable; it was difficult to choose which emotion to respond with. He either made you freeze in shock or made you fall out of your seat with a laugh attack. In less than 30 seconds after he came on stage, he had the crowd laughing. His process was simple, but very effective. He started each point with a joke or a story; then after the crowd stopped laughing he would shift to his intellectual ideas and soon receive a round of applause.  His best story was about Julian Lynn, and how with a simple change of schools and subjects, instantly changed her. The speech was very inspiring, it left me -and probably many other viewers – thinking there are better alternatives then medicating students.

What matters is…there is a flaw in our educational system and it is imperative that we fix it. To do that, we need to have classes that focus on right-brained thinking so students can show their creative potential. For example, a movie I saw called Big shows what it would be like to have a children’s creativity inside an adult’s brain. The boy wants to be big, so a fortune he receives from a machine makes him big by the next morning, however he remains a child inside. Because he’s retained his creativity, he interviews for a job at a toy company and through his right-brained thinking, the business becomes very successful. If schools would teach in a more right-brained approach, then students could become more creative as adults. I can relate to this as Ms. Smith’s English Honors class was the first creative academic class I’ve experienced. I’ve always been a creative thinker, but English this year has developed my thinking to a higher level. I wish that schools provided a more creative education starting in Kindergarten, then we would all be prepared for the future with the ability to develop the next cutting edge product. After all, if technology is our future, then schools need to implement technology at a young age and a creative approach to learning, and students will be motivated to learn and develop solutions for the future. For the world, this is a big step since I have only experienced education in America; but Sir Robinson said, “Every education has the same hierarchy of subjects.” He also said that no countries will have dance class the same amount of time they would have math class. Many countries have a more dogmatic approach to education, but the world needs creativity and technology because it is a big part of our future. Sir Ken Robinson said, “Creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status.”