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SCTS 1013 Module 8 WK 15 16
SCTS 1013 Module 8 WK 15 16
Tuguegarao City
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O God, wellspring of goodness and blessings, we give you thanks and praise as one Louisian community. The
graces You incessantly grant upon us and Your divine providence have sustained our beloved University
throughout the years of mission and excellence.
Having been founded by the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we pray that You keep us committed
and dedicated to our mission and identity to serve the Church and the society as we become living witnesses to the
Gospel values proclaimed by Jesus. For if we are steadfast in our good and beautiful mission, our works will bring
success not only to ourselves but also to those whom we are bound to love and serve.
Inspired by St. Louis our Patron Saint, who was filled with a noble spirit that stirred him to love You above all things,
may we also live believing that we are born for a greater purpose and mission as we dwell in Your presence all the
days of our life.
Learning Outcomes: At the end of this module, you are expected to:
1. Discuss the major impacts (both potential and realized} of nanotechnology on society
2. Analyze the issue through the conceptual STS lenses
3. Critique the issue on its costs and benefits to society
4. Describe gene therapy and its various forms
5. Assess the issue’s potential benefits and detriments to global health
LEARNING CONTENT
Introduction:
From the steam engines of the First Industrial Revolution, we had found ways to make all of those
technological advancements more efficient and more portable. Electrical sources have been greatly shrunk to
our familiar triple A- batteries. This undertaking of the technological age from the beginning, catalyzed by the
World Wars and the Space Race, has moved into making technological devices portable yet multi-tasking.
Communication, health and medicine, industry, and others benefitted from these improvements. In that sense,
tube-powered computers of the first part of the 20 th century quickly evolved into our mobile phones and
watches that can do things beyond our imagination. But, technology seems to be unsatisfied yet with this
concentration. With that said, scientists and engineers delved into the world of nanotechnology. With this
branch of applied science, humankind reached a new height capacitating itself to make wonders smaller than
cells themselves. With all of these said, we are going to journey in the Nano World in this topic.
As with health, we all know we have been through a lot to get to the health care of today. Many
diseases are now perceived to be treatable and preventable at the very least. Yet, the deadliest of these
diseases source deeply from our very own fundamental instruction book, the DNA and other genetic materials.
But with the continuous research of our biotechnologists and geneticists, it seems a solution is at hand and
that is gene therapy. Yet, ethical concerns are raised especially of the development of the infamous Human
Genome Project. What are the ethical and moral issues that must be settled in this debate?
SCTS 1013 - Science, Technology and Society | 3
Lesson Proper:
The prefix “nano-” has been ingrained in our minds to mean something diminutive. But can we imagine
how tiny a nanometer is? According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative (2020), to imagine the size of a
nanometer here are some examples.
A sheet of paper is about 100,000
nanometers thick
A strand of human DNA is 2.5 nanometers in
diameter
There are 25,400,000 nanometers in one inch
A human hair is approximately 80,000-
100,000 nanometers wide
A single gold atom is about a third of a
nanometer in diameter
On a comparative scale, if the diameter of a
marble was one nanometer, the diameter of
the Earth would be about one meter
One nanometer is about as long as your
fingernail grows in one second
To introduce the topic of Nanotechnology, we
must first define nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology is manipulation of matter
with at least one dimension sized from 1 to
100 nanometers (National Nanotechnology
Initiative, n.d.).
https://www.nano.gov/sites/default/files/nanoscale7_0.jpg
https://thumbnails-visually.netdna-ssl.com/15-usages-of-nanotechnology-
in-medicine_56b18834c405a_w900_h800.png
The application of nanotechnology to medicine is called nanomedicine (Freitas,1999). The medical field
has been intrusive to one’s body but nanotechnology is changing the game of medicine. Nanomaterials called
nanoparticles are being used to deliver medicine and RNA vaccine to fundamental parts of the body. These
same nanoparticles are being utilized to diagnose diseases that require extensive examination and they can
even be used in surgery where the standard procedures will be deemed too dangerous. Yet the use for
nanomedicine has not yet peaked.
Many potential ailments are being looked into to be treated like brain tumors (Lalatsa et.al., 2018).
These innovations in medicine have moved the area of nanomedicine to the forefront for the new generation of
practice. The increasing funding and interest in this method have opened a new dilemma, are there any bad
consequences of the use of nanotechnology in the body?
https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/3-s2.0-B978012813351400050X-f48-01-9780128133514.jpg
The environment has been one of the main points of the international agreements in the past few years.
The world is beginning to capacitate itself with the dream of using nanotechnology to fix the problem they have
started. More sustainable energy sources and utilization has been developed and continuously improved upon
which lessens the production of air pollutants and to a greater extent, greenhouse gases. Substances that
toxify our rivers and oceans can be remediated now with new nanomaterials. But are all these sustainable to
heal our ailing world?
C. Industry
https://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/fsm/assets/Image/2317NanotechnologyFig1.jpg
Nanotechnology is seen as a major driving force to the upgrade of industry. Foods, textiles, cosmetics,
sports, aerospace and vehicle manufacturers, construction, and even the military are starting to look into
nanotechnology as its source of a new and improved market. But do all of these benefits enable only good
things to the society, or darker sides of the technology loom ahead?
https://nanotechinfuture.weebly.com/uploads/5/4/1/5/54154865/2360035_orig.png
Suitable for diseases such as cancer that can be treated by destroying certain groups of cells. The aim is to
insert DNA into a diseased cell that causes that cell to die. This can be achieved in one of two ways:first, the
inserted DNA contains a “suicide” gene that produces a highly toxic product that kills the diseased cell.
Second, the inserted DNA causes the expression of a protein that marks the cells so that the diseased cells
are attacked by the body’s natural immune system. And lastly, It is essential with this method that the inserted
DNA is targeted appropriately to avoid the death of cells that are functioning normally.
https://www.yourgenome.org/facts/what-is-gene-therapy
Finally cure deadliest of diseases Blurry line between good and bad
like cancer gene editing
REFERENCES
Textbooks
Aldea, K, Caronan H.P, and Candido, M.B. (2018). Science, Technology and Society (OBE Ready).
Mandaluyong City, Philippines: Book Atbp. Publishing Corp.
Serafica, J.P., Pawilen, G., Caslib Jr., B.N., and Alata, E.J. (2018). Science, Technology and Society. Quezon
City, Philippines: Rex Book Store, Inc. (RBSI)
Quinto, E.J. and Nieva, A. (2019). Science, Technology and Society. Quezon City, Philippines: C & E
Publishing, Inc.
Online Resources
Robert A. Freitas Jr., Nanomedicine, Volume I: Basic Capabilities, Landes Bioscience, Georgetown, TX,
1999; http://www.nanomedicine.com/NMI.htm
Learning Materials
Worksheets (teacher-made)
1. What are some ethical questions or concerns raised in the trend of development of Nanotechnology?
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2. What is the impact of Nanotechnology to the society? What are some industries/fields of study that can be
benefitted or that can be advanced by the nanotechnology?
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3. What are your views on the ethical complications of Gene Therapy? Should the society embrace this
advancement?
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4. How does gene therapy work? What are the different techniques of gene therapy?
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