According to Donate Life NY, “more than 114,000 people are waiting for organ transplants in the United States, and of these, more than 92,000 await kidneys, more than 16,000 need livers; and more than 3,000 need hearts”. Moreover, “in 2011, a total of 6,669 patients died while waiting for organ transplants, and on average 18 people died each day because of the shortage of donated organs”. Now wouldn’t it be awesome if there were a way to fulfill this demand for organ transplants so that the amount of deaths per year could decrease? Well, Surgeon Anthony Atala has been in... Continue reading

Due to the many advances in science and technology there are becoming even more advances in medicine. From medical scans that can produce thousands of images and terabytes of data for a patient in little time, to virtual MRI’s, these advances have a tremendous impact on our medical future. In a TEDTalk entitled “Anders Ynnerman: Visualizing The Medical Data Explosion”, Swedish scientific visualization expert, Anders Ynnerman spoke about the effect visual graphics have on the medical field. According to TED, “Ynnerman studies the fundamental aspects of computer graphics and visualization, in particular large scale and complex data sets with a... Continue reading

As we all know, technology within the medical field has greatly developed compared to about 20 years ago. At most doctor’s offices today, the doctors are no longer checking off their appointments with their clipboard and bulky sheets of paper, they are using a laptop or iPad to organize all of their appointments and patient’s information. Those methods are definitely a way of the future, but technology within the medical field is bound to get even more sophisticated as time continues. In a TEDTalk entitled "Daniel Kraft: Medicine's future? There's an app for that", physician, scientist, inventor, and innovator, Daniel... Continue reading

Being that I am an extreme lover of the arts, I am infatuated with the various creative visions and messages that are given off from different works of art. Aside from traditional forms of art such as paintings and sculptures, the digital revolution has contributed to the creation of films and other forms of art that are able to reach broader audiences. In a TED Talk entitled “Shirin Neshat: Art in Exile”, a Persian artist named Shirin Neshat spoke about how she has lived in the United States, in a self-imposed exile from her native country, Iran. In the video... Continue reading

For centuries various forms of art have been around to express ones creativity, interests, antiquity, and ideologies. Since the beginning of time every culture has had their own form of art, and from sculptures to paintings, each work of art has a meaning behind it. Today, art has deeply broadened, and due to the many technological advanced that are available, artists are now able to convey that message on a larger scale. From advertising their artwork through films and documentaries to the Internet, it is now easier for an artist to share their art and message on a larger scale.... Continue reading

Although the Square application has received a great deal of recognition and popularity throughout the few years that it has been out, there are other companies that have come out with a concept similar to the Square application. An example of this is Intuit’s GoPayment credit card reader, which provides its customer with the same benefits as Square because it allows its users to get paid while on the go. However, according to The Business Insider, “there’s no credit check or sign up fee with Square, but you still have to pay 2.75% plus $0.15 for each transaction. On the... Continue reading

The emergences of various digital and networked technologies have dramatically changed the ways in which we do business today. An example of this is the “Square” application for Android's, iPhone's, and iPad’s. According to USA Today, Square is a company that has an application, and a mobile credit and debit card reader that plugs into the audio jack of an Andriod, iPhone, or iPad, and allows merchants to swipe customer credit cards. With each swipe or transaction, square charges 2.75% for American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa cards, and then the money is deposited right into your account. Users can... Continue reading

SuperBetter, released in March 2012, is an online, "social game designed to help one build their personal resilience". It was created by Jane McGonigal, developed by SuperBetter Labs, and shaped with the guidance of various doctors, psychologists, scientists, and medical researchers. Now when you hear about a game named “SuperBetter” you wonder, how is this game going to really make me feel? Well, the purpose of this game is to really make you feel super better, building up your physical, emotional, mental, and social strengths. All in all, this game builds resilience. Jane McGonigal is notorious for contributing to the... Continue reading

For years now there have been many arguments made about how damaging gaming can be to ones mind, but gaming has many positive attributes to it as well. Nowadays, there’s a game for almost anyone and anything, including employee training, general education, combating obesity, managing chronic diseases, and military preparedness and recruiting. World-renowned game designer Jane McGonigal, author of New York Times bestselling book “Reality is Broken: Why Games make Us Better and How They Can Change the World”, is someone who has written and spoken a lot about alternate reality games, and multiplayer online gaming. In a 2007 Salon.com... Continue reading

In the United States, we are given a great amount of freedom to express our ideologies on and offline, but of coarse we still must censor what we say to a certain degree because depending on what is said, there may be severe repercussions. Recently on Twitter a North Carolina user, Donte Jamar Sims, 21, partook in a series of messages threatening to kill President Barack Obama. In one message he wrote “The Secret Service is gonna be defenseless once I aim the Assault Rifle at Barack’s Forehead”, as reported on CNN News. Websites like Twitter are especially oriented towards... Continue reading

Overtime the expression of ones opinion and ideologies have revolutionized dramatically with the use of the comment feature at the bottom of most online articles. Numerous websites in the United States include this comment feature so that readers could intellectually engage in different types of informative conversations, but in other areas like China, readers do not receive that same privilege. An example of this is expressed in a New York Times article entitled “Freedom Rock? Not In China”. In the article, writer Mark McDonald mentioned that in China “Government censors are notorious for the erasing of objectionable political comments online... Continue reading

When having an online relationship, one is forced to depend on the virtual forms of communication, but how is ones body language expressed and read if one is not relying on face-to-face communication? Artist and computer programmer, Jeffrey Ventrella is the author of a book entitled “Virtual Body Language”, and in the second chapter of this book he spoke about the change in being able to express ones body language online by using avatar animation features. Although avatars have came a long way in regards to realism and properly capturing ones emotions, these advances in online communication only help one... Continue reading

Can relationships that are built through social networks have the same connection as physical relationships? Since the emergence of Myspace in 2003, social networks have grown rapidly, allowing individuals to network and socialize with others from various locations. Websites like LinkedIn, Myspace, and Facebook allow its users to network, chat, and build relationships with old and new friends, but are these cyber relationships equivalent to relationships built in person? From body language to comprehending ones delivery of speech, we are very limited to doing certain things in cyberspace that are often important when building friendships and intimate relationships. Programs such... Continue reading