Artificial organ regrowth

Youtube, Artificial organ regrowth, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okJjWG__Cyw

Something what scientists

might not know

Chlorofluorocarbon ( ,
CFC)
In late 1920s, American chemist Thomas
Midgley, Jr. synthesized CFCs.
CFCs: non-toxic, non-flammable, and nonreactive with other chemical compounds;
Ideal for many applications - as coolants
for commercial and home refrigeration
units, electronic cleaning solvents, etc.
DuPont: trademark name Freon.
3

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT)
World

War II: successfully

controlled typhus ( ) in
Europe
Agricultural use of DDT since
1945
Worldwide malaria ( )
eradication program by WHO in
1955
4

Use of DDT as
insect spray

Asbestos( )

thermal insulation, electrical

insulation, sound absorption,
fireproofing, building materials, brake

In the 1950s,
academics forecast
that by the year 2000
we could have a
twenty-hour
workweek.

Instead of reducing the workweek, it is

found that American workers worked 160
hours longer each year in 1990 than
twenty years earlier.

A busy night in
Central

UGFN1000 In Dialogue with Nature

Rachel Carson
Silent Spring

Influence of Carson
o Campaign

to ban DDT in the

United States
o Public awareness to environmental
issues
o Concept of ecosystem balance
o Question authority and policies

10

Core Question:

What impacts does

manipulation of life
bring?

11

12

Text
Rachel

Carson, Silent Spring

Chapter

6: Earths Green Mantle

The Book-of-the-Month edition of

Silent Spring, from Wikipedia

13

ignorance!

arrogance!

15

Influence of
Darwin

16

17

Rachel Louise Carson

(from Wikipedia)

U.S. Bureau of Fisheries

aquatic biologist
Full time nature writer

Rachel Louise Carson (1907 1964)

18

Publications
Under the Sea Wind (1941)

Expansion of fisheries bureau brochure Undersea

Narrative of the ocean floor
excellent reviews but sold poorly
The Sea Around Us (1951)
Life history of the ocean
National Book Award 1952
New York Times Best Seller List for 86 weeks
Carson gave up her job to concentrate on writing
The Edge of the Sea (1955)
Coastal ecosystem
received highly favorable reviews
19

What to write next?

(1955 - 1956) planned to write a book on

evolution; but Julian Huxley: Evolution in

Action published
The turning point:

resulting from the

spraying of DDT to kill
mosquitoes

In a letter written in January 1958, Olga Owens Huckins

told me of her own bitter experience of a small world
made lifeless, and so brought my attention sharply back
to a problem with which I had long been concerned.

(1962) the four-year project

published

- Silent Spring
20

Silent Spring
Published 1962
Selected in:

Book-of-the-Month Club
Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century
Nonfiction (#5)
Discover Magazine: 25 Greatest Science
Books of All Time
The American Reader: Words That Moved a
Nation
21

Silent Spring
inspired widespread public
concerns with pesticides
and pollution of the
environment.
facilitated the ban of the
pesticide DDT in 1972 in
the United States.
22

DDT as a pesticide
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane

(DDT)
Colorless crystalline solid
First synthesized in 1874 by
Austrian chemist Othmar Zeidler
( )

23

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT)
In

Paul Hermann
Mller (1899
1965)

1939, Mller ( )
discovered DDT can be
used as an insecticide
Nobel Prize laureate in
Physiology or Medicine
(1948) "for his
discovery of the high
efficiency of DDT as a
contact poison against
several arthropods".
24

General beliefs about

pesticides
Kills

pests only
Harmless to humans
Protects crops and controls
disease-carrying pests
A solution to multiple problems

25

(1946) DDT is Harmless to Humans. http://youtu.be/nP3ZLNSJu5g

DDT Spraying on children. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf6KkjBCoVU

But something they have to

know
Ecological Disaster
Inter-relatedness of living organisms and their

environment
A food chain:
Plankton ( ) Fish Crabs Birds

27

28

Biomagnification
Bio-magnification:

concentration of
poison along the food chain to
lethal levels
A case in California
Pesticide Concentration (ppm)
Water
Plankton
Herbivore fish
Carnivore bird and fish

1/50
5
40 300
1600 and 2500 respectively

* ppm: parts per million. An expression of proportion.

1 ppm is about 1 drop of water diluted to 50 liters.
29

Health Hazards
Direct

poisoning

In animal tests:
3 ppm of DDT inhibits heart muscle
enzyme
5 ppm of DDT causes liver cell
necrosis ( )

In humans:
Nerve system damage (23 ppm of
DDT)

Carcinogenicity
Genetic

damage

30

Pesticides make it worse

Resistance

Natural selection
Pesticides eliminate the
weaker members of the pest
Create new pests

31

Any alternatives?
Pesticide

is not a good solution

Carsons Solutions: Biological
control
- Introduce natural enemies of the
pest/weed

32

Crabgrass ( )
http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Crabgrass

33

34

Silent Spring Impact

Silent Spring had a profound impact ... Indeed,
Rachel Carson was one of the reasons that I
became so conscious of the environment and
so involved with environmental issues ... Carson
has had as much or more effect on me than
any, and perhaps than all of them together.

Al Gore

35

Silent Spring Impact

Investigation into the issue by the Presidents

Science Advisory Committee

Campaign to ban DDT in the United States
Environmental movement
Presidential Medal of Freedom
(Environmentalism; 1980)

36

Silent Spring Criticism

If man were to follow the teachings of
Miss Carson, we would return to the
Dark Ages, and the insects and
diseases and vermin would once
again inherit the
earth.
- Dr.
Robert White-Stevens,
biochemist

37

Silent Spring Criticism

A one-sided case

Quotes only isolated cases of bad effects of

one or two pesticides, or pesticide misuse
Exaggerating the dangers of DDT
Repeated studies showed no evidence that
DDT increases cancer risk
Indirectly worsening malaria ( ) as people
avoid using DDT
38

Carsons Legacy
Public awareness to environmental issues
Concept of ecosystem balance
Question authority and policies

Biological
control is a
perfect solution
Really?

39

100 Worst Invasive Species

Definition of invasive species

 Transported by humans
 Overcoming ecosystems
Human activity has forced 869
species into extinction over past 500
years

 Successful establishment

Humans live on all continents except Antarcti

What is the 101st invasive species?

Homo sapiens sapiens

41

Ponder on
Will

avoiding chemical pollution

bring about another form of
pollution?
How can we be sure of all the
impacts/consequences of our
actions?
If we cannot predict (precisely)
what will happen, what and who
shall guide our actions and

42

Enjoy reading

43