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W5H of Science

Introduction
Technology performs miracles. It brings to life things that we often imagine in our dreams. Technology could involve making devices or finding methods of doing something as opposed to natural processes.

Technology is Miraculous

Thus, technology is the art of developing tools to help us succeed in our natural environment. This includes tools such as a hammer, which could help build a home, or garments such as coats, which keep people warm in winter, or instruments such as a telephone that helps to communicate with distant people. Nowadays, when people use the word technology, they are usually referring to modern, complex inventions like computers, satellites, or an artificial heart. But technology can also refer to simple everyday items like can-openers, paperclips, and tables.

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There are many different kinds of technologies. Information and communication technology enables us to communicate information while biotechnology enables us to modify the characteristics of biological organisms. Similarly there is food technology, transportation technology, space technology and so on.

Information and communication technology

Information Technology (IT) is a broad subject concerned with technology for managing and processing information, especially in large organizations. In particular, IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect process, transmit, and retrieve information. IT encompasses all forms of technology used to create, store, exchange, and use information in its various forms (data, voice conversations, still images, motion pictures, multimedia presentations, and other forms, including those not yet conceived). It is a convenient term that could include both telephony and computer technology. This technology has been made possible through networking of computers. It is driving what has often been called the information revolution. Communication technology helps us to exchange information. It is the knowledge, tools, machines, and skills that go into exchanging ideas and information. It includes technology to produce various kinds of writing instruments, printing, telephones, television, radios, newspapers etc. Telecommunication is an important component of communication technology. Telecommunication allows us to communicate with people farther away from us by exchanging messages without the help of wires. It is also called, wireless communication. Information technology and communication technology are today fast converging towards a single Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

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Biotechnology
If you break the word biotechnology into its root words you have: bio; the use of biological processes; and technology: to solve problems or make useful products. Using biological processes is hardly new. We began growing crops and raising animals 10,000 years ago to provide a stable supply of food and clothing. We have been using the biological processes of micro organisms for 6,000 years to make useful food products, such as bread and cheese, and to preserve dairy products. Then why is biotechnology suddenly so much in news? Biotechnology today often uses natural processes to solve problems or make useful products. It is a collection of technologies that capitalize on the attributes of cells, such as their manufacturing capabilities, and put biological molecules, such as DNA and proteins, to work for us. For example, biotechnology helps to produce genetically modified (GM) foods. Again it is only with the help of biotechnology that it is possible today to produce insulin, a substance that is the cure for diabetes, without killing sheep (the conventional method).

Food technology
Food technology is the application of knowledge of basic sciences for selection, preservation, processing; packaging and distribution of food material to make it safe for human consumption and nutritious.

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Cooking is perhaps the oldest form of food technology. Food technologists study the physical, microbiological, and chemical makeup of food. They also develop ways to process, preserve, package, or store food. We seldom think of the vast array of foods and the research and development that has resulted in the means to deliver tasty, nutritious, safe, and convenient foods. In some schools, food technology is part of the curriculum and teaches, alongside how to cook, nutrition and the food manufacturing process.

Medical technology
Medical Technology is clinical laboratory science that combines the basic sciences of biolog y and chemistry with medicine to help doctors heal patients. Medical technologists (also known as clinical laboratory scientists) investigate and determine the causes of diseases. They use sophisticated biomedical instrumentation, computers and molecular diagnostic techniques to perform tests on blood and other body fluids. These laboratory data aid in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, as well as in disease monitoring and prevention. Medical laboratory professionals play a vital role in healthcare 70 to 75% of all medical diagnoses are based on laboratory test results. Magnetic Resonance Imaging is an example of biomedical instrumentation. It is useful for obtaining detailed pictures, or images, of internal body structures without the use of radiation or

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W5H of Science

radioactive substances of any kind. This is accomplished by placing the patient in a magnetic field while harmless radio waves are turned on and off. This causes the body to emit its own weak radio signals which vary according to tissue characteristics. These signals are picked up by a sensitive antenna and fed to a computer which produces detailed images of the body for interpretation by our staff of board certified radiologists and then reported to your physician.

Transportation technology
Transportation is the movement of people and goods in one or more of four environments . . . . . land, water, air, and space. Often the travel is related to commerce (trucking, cargo ships, taxi service, etc.). Sometimes the sole purpose is recreation. The need to move about freely is important in a global society. The transportation technology involves designing, producing and maintaining vehicles and systems. People and cargo travel in vehicles, and then the vehicles travel via systems (such as interstate highways, international airways or on ships through canals and lock systems). The operations of a freight yard or harbor would also be considered a system in transportation. Vehicles themselves also have technical sub-systems, for example, structure, which gives the vehicle its shape and protects the cargo or people; propulsion that powers the vehicle; suspension that supports the vehicle on its pathway (air, land, water); guidance that provides information necessary to operate / control the vehicle.

Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the most recent branch of technology. It enables us to make very tiny machines; so tiny that one may not be see them with unaided eyes. It is almost a dream of the technologists, the projected ability

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to build things using techniques and tools being developed today to make complete, highly advanced products. Nanotechnology is often referred to as a general-purpose technology. Thats because in its mature form it will have significant impact on almost all industries and all areas of society. It will better built, longer lasting, cleaner, safer, and smarter products for home, for communication, for medicine, for transportation, for agriculture, and for industry. Not only will it allow making many high-quality products at very low cost, it will also allow making new nanofactories. This unique (outside of biology that is) ability to reproduce its own means of production is why nanotech is said to be an exponential technology. It represents a manufacturing system that will be able to make more manufacturing systems factories that can build factories rapidly, cheaply, and cleanly. The means of production will be able to reproduce exponentially, so in just a few weeks a few nanofactories conceivably could become billions. Although it is envisioned to be very powerful, it could be very dangerous also.

About some substances and their discoveries