Remote sensing

The chosen artefact of remote sensing is another widely used method of transferring data through satellite, but it is more applicable in scientific research areas, such as geophysics and planetary science, as well as for military purposes.

 

Referring to the definition of remote sensing written on the CSIRO website, remote sensing can provide detail and up-to-date geographic information via satellite communication. Traditionally, geographical information can only be achieved through field measurement, which is a difficult and time consuming task.

 

Although remote sensing was a research artefact, it also gets into people’s daily life. For example, Google map and Google Earth use data gathered through remote sensing technology and display the data in more comprehensive images.

Brain Cell Communication

The human brain is world’s most complex communication system in the world. Billions of brain cells are communicating at any given moment, and if a single part has encountered any “communication error”, it would lead to a serious condition such as Parkinson’s disease and brain disorder (ScienceDaily, 2010).

 

Although the brain cell communication was mainly studied for medical and biological purposes, it can be greatly applicable in the world of modern communication. The April issue of FHM magazine in 2010 published an article about the “age of naked brain”, which is about applying brain cell communication technology in personal communication; in other words, to read people’s mind.

“Our findings reveal fundamental properties of synapses that enable them to trigger the changes in neurons that underlie learning and memory,” says Karel Svoboda, a scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Such properties can be tracked by mapping the blood flow pattern in the brain to illustrate what people are thinking about. Currently theCarnegieMellonUniversityis working on collecting and processing the patterns using MRI.

 

So, people might be able to read what others are thinking about in the future. Is it pretty cool? Or is it really going to make you naked? Just wait and see.

Mobile Network

The mobile network is definitely one of the most important artefacts created by people in the modern world. It has created a fast and convenient world of communication. Mobile network is now one major part of life for people living in the modern society.

The mobile network has a short but rapid evolution, form the analogue phone in the early 90s, to the third-generation (3G) mobile technology. In 2002, the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) is accounted for 66 percent of the world’s total market (De Vriendt et al., 2002).

 

However, how the mobile network is going to evolute in the future. Of course it is going to be faster and wider covered, but it will get more multi-functional with greater usability, together with the fast development of smartphones. Currently, the 4G mobile network is under development. According to Paul Steinburg, chief architect of wireless infrastructure at Motorola, the “4G should give [operators] a five to 10x cost per bit improvement”.