Now feel free to ignore this thread because I know I hate doing someone else's homework.
I'm writing an essay on what I believe to be the invention of the last 50 years that has made the most impact on the world and why.
Now, I've at least narrowed my topic down to medical. (Makes since, I work in Oncology). I want to think of something creative, something not so overused like, Penicillin.
I can think of the why if I could just get my brainstorming into gear.
Can anyone help me?
[ May 17, 2005, 01:18 AM: Message edited by: Valentine014 ]
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
How about the cochlear implant? I'm not sure if I spelled that right.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Hmm....my mom is a sign language interpreter. That is a possibility.
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
From what I read, it completely bypasses the damaged part of the ear and sends signals directly to the auditory nerve.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Microscope. Hands down. Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Light or Electron?
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
Here's a link to the cochlear implant page at the National Institutes of Health web site. cochlear implants Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I woudn't use that, as it has only been out for a few years, and not everyone likes it or will use it because ut is so limited.
I would use computers in the medical field, perhaps, because of the major differences they have made not only in hospitals but in creating new treatments.
Keeping teh focus on the medical field will help narrow it down too. Take a look at some of the new targeted gene threapies....none of those would have been possible without computer tech to decode the human genome.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Valentine014: Light or Electron?
Light. Electron is very cool, but has not revolutionized medicine in the same way.
You mentioned penicillin. Does that mean discoveries are also ok? If so, I vote for salicylic acid.
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
Going with the computer theme, how about computerized imaging like cat scans?
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
I forgot to mention something. The invention must have been made in the past 50 years. Sorry, I forgot about that.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Derrell, that sounds like a really good one, espeically since we use those on a daily basis in our office.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Post-it notes.
And I'm only sort of kidding.
Other contenders: Velcro. Artificial insulin and/or the recently developed insulin pump. Fiber optics, especially cameras.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
This is the exact question:
quote:In the last 50 years, what invention do you think has made the most impact on the world and why?
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
I would say microsoft windows. Why? Because it brought computers to the masses. I think making computers easy to use, and common in households has completely changed our way of life. Even those who don't use computers in their own houses benifit from them (ie: public services like banks, libraries, hospitals frequently use windows).
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
I think it's hard to make a case for something not computer-related...the internet, the microprocesser, PCs, software, whatever. Is there anything developed in the past 50 years that has affected life in so many different ways? If you want, you could use as one of your examples the medical field... for instance, the huge amount of health information availble to the masses on the web.
You don't have to think computers are the greatest thing in the world... but they have had the largest impact. The cochlear implant, while important to those with hearing loss, certainly doesn't affect as many people as computers do.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Artificial skin. Oh, wait! CPAP machines. Er, um, nope. That's all I got.
Yeah, gotta go with computers. Sorry.
Posted by Katarain (Member # 6659) on :
Cell Phones... they've affected the world in both bad and good ways.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Contacts.
Posted by Stray (Member # 4056) on :
Organ transplants? Limb reimplantation? Blood transfusions? Chemotherapy? (dunno about the dates of invention/discovery on those, just tossing out ideas)
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
This Chronology of Science and Tech site may help in finding out what the big inventions/discoveries were... Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
A lot of people don't like the implants because they don't mirror true hearing...there are a majority of sounds that can't be reproduced with them. It may improve in the future, but as of right now I don't think it qualifies.
I would do an overview of computers in the medical field...think of all the devices we now use to monitor patients. All of them depend on computers to work. CAT scans, MRI's, Digital Radiography, cameras that allow doctors to see inside a patient without cutting them wide open (that would be fiber optics, although the cameras are sometimes coordinated with computers)...
Not to mention gene replacement therapies, targeted treatments for cancer (developed with computer models), the first treatments that allow Parkinson Disease to be slowed rather than just masking the symptoms....
The list goes on and on....
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
How about Xerox? Didn't they pioneer windows? I am not sure how accurate Pirates of Silicon Valley is, but I remember a contention that Gates stole Windows from Xerox. I think that would be fun to research and present.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
They came up with the first true GUI...but it was Steve Jobs that took their idea, not Gates, and ran with it. Xerox didn't care...they had had the idea pitched to them several times, and their attitude was "Who cares, it wouldn't really be good for anything..."...
To be honest, the people who invented it didn't really have a grasp of what it was for, or what the true ramifications if it were. No one did, really, it was too far ahead of it's time. They envisioned a computer using a GUI to run a kitchen, or other household appliances, and that is how they pitched it.
Still, as far as dropping the ball goes in the computer world goes, the only thing that even begins to compete with Xeroxes stupidity is the guys who sold Gates DOS...
Medical uses, imaging, fiberoptics, data storgage, entertainment...
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
Heart-lung machines, pacemakers, chemotherapy (already mentioned), synthetic insulin . . . there are so many I can't even list them all right now.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
A lot of those use computers to control them, so without computer chips they would be useless....
Although Lasers would be a great one too....more and more types of lasers are being used for so many different types of applications.
Posted by Traveler (Member # 3615) on :
How about the Internet?
Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :
Then again, you might go for something that not every other student is going to use. I'm not sure how old some of these technologies are, like lasers. :googles: Invented in 1955: MICR (and with that I would put credit cards, esp. electronic processing of credit cards- I had a job at the tail end of doing credit cards by paper- at the register you had to look in a booklet to see if the number was bad. If it was not in the book you wrote the page number that you did NOT find it on on the slip. The manager mailed in the slips, I think).
Satellites were 1957. Firmly in the 50 years, unquestioningly a global impact.
Tiddly winks.
Hmm, you miss oral contraceptives by one year. Likewise non-stick cookware, kidney transplants, and the solar cell.
TV remote control was 55. And the microwave.
1956 you got your scotchguard, liquid paper, and VCR technology.
'57: Fortran, Velcro, and AAs.
Ah, '58 is the laser, modem, and the hudswinger/hoopsucker depending on your preference.
'59 has the pacemaker and snowmobile. The original "ski-dog" was accidentally patented as "ski-doo".
Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :
I know you picked medical, but I would go with the invention of the integrated ciruit (IC) also called computer chips or just chips. It was a very fundamental invention that paved the way for many future applications.
This page says 1958, other sources say 1957.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
That other, previous page was UFOMIND, not my idea of a reliable source. Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Darn it! I thought I almost had one: the atomic bomb. However, a quick google revealved the patent for it was awarded in 1934, quite a few years past the 50 years ago mark.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Errr . . . Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 1945 . . . just sayin'.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
I don't follow you, rivka.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I could not have told you that the atomic bomb was patented in the 30s. But it was used in 1945 -- 60 years ago.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
That is 10 years past the cut-off date for my essay.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Exactly.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
birth control
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
mothertree mentioned oral contraceptives but that I had missed it by 1 year. That would have been a great one.
Funny you said that mack, a coworker and I were just praising technology for that invention.
Kwea: those are great pages, I have a lot to look through.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Oral contraceptives might be doable; it depends what you consider the invention. Norethindrone (and norethynodrel) were invented before 1955. However, it was after 1955 that the Pill became commercially available. FDA approval came in 1960 (after an application the year prior).
So I think the case could be made that it falls within the 50-year cutoff.
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