Well, this blog might be the last one for this semester. I learned a lot from SCIENCE 200, and this class is really interesting. In the end of this period, I would like to talk about Tu Youyou, one of the 2015 Nobel Prize winner. I was born in Taiwan and grew up in China, and when I knew this news, I felt proud.

Tu Youyou, a Chinese female scientist, won the 2015 Nobel Prize of physiology or medicine was reporting. She spent 40 years of her life to research in anti-Malaria. Inspirited by the traditional Chinese medicine, She found an effective compound called Artemisia annua in the Chinese herb and an effective extraction method. It is so excited for Chinese cause she is the first female who win the Nobel Prize in science field in China. Moreover, she is also called “three noes” scientist in China because she has no medical degree, no experience aboard or no title of academician in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Though there are many people who critic the evaluation system of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it is the honor for the hardworking medical scientists. People should salute to the real scientists and the contribution they made for the human.

Malware affects millions of people every day, and with so many individuals on the internet, anyone can become a victim of malware at any moment. Today I’d like to inform individuals about the dangers of malware and its presence in society, as well as ways to prevent and eliminate it. Malware is short for malicious software, meaning software that can be used to compromise computer functions, steal data, bypass access controls, or otherwise cause harm to the host computer. Since the very beginning of personal computers, malware has affected users. In its early days, malware was primarily viruses, but nowadays it has evolved into newer and sophisticated programs and software that can be used to steal an individual’s information without them even knowing. Many of the early forms of malware were simply used as a means to prank individuals, like displaying graffiti on their homescreens or on popular websites. For example, the “Creeper System” which originally was developed for ARPANET, displayed “I am the creeper, catch me if you can” on the screens of those affected. However, hackers have realized that they can use malware for more devious purposes than just corrupt a website’s home screen. Such was the case for Yahoo in late July 2015 when hackers used Flash to infect Yahoo’s websites and lure in unexpected users through false advertisements. The individuals affected were unable to access their computers unless they paid a ransom to the hackers. Worse yet was the Target data breach in 2013, where hackers stole 40 million credit card numbers from Target customers. Malware attacks are increasing every year, and they are showing no signs of slowing down. According to the Kaspersky Security Bulletin, a total of 6,167,233,068 threats were detected and neutralized in 2014 alone. As you can see, malware has become a major threat for not only individuals who do not have the knowledge to properly protect themselves, but also major companies who risk losing valuable data and intellectual property.

Most Common Types of Malware

Viruses
Inserts itself into a program without knowledge of the user
Severity ranges from minor annoyances to damage of data and software
Can lie dormant until activated by the user through its host program
Spread when software is shared from one computer to anothera

Worms
1. Similar to viruses, in that, they duplicate themselves and cause similar damage
2. Do not require a host program to be activated
3. Can exploit a weakness in a security system or trick the user into executing the malicious program
4. Enters a system through a vulnerability and makes use of file or info transport features to travel without the help of a host program

Trojan Horses (“Trojans”)Looks like a legitimate file, tricking the user into installing the file onto their computer
1. Once executed, countless types of attacks can me made, ranging from pop-up ads to damaging files and activating other types of malware
2. Create back doors to allow outside access to the system
3. Do not self-replicate; Must be spread through user interaction (downloading files and opening attachments)

Bots
1. Can be used for beneficial or malicious intent
2. Designed to infect a host and report back to a command server/servers (botnet), where the bot can be controlled
3. Through a botnet, attackers can initiate flooding attacks on the target
4. Attacks such as keylogging, phishing, and DoS (Denial of Service) as well as opening back doors for attackers
5. Act similar to worms, but can be more versatile
6. More difficult to notice than worms and viruses

Sources

Howe, Jared. “How Hackers Used Malware to Steal 40 Million Credit Card Numbers from
Target.” Private WiFi. N.p., 20 Dec. 2013. Web.

Lord, Nate. “Common Malware Types: Cybersecurity 101.” Veracode. Veracode, 12 Oct. 2012.
Web.

Phelps, Justin. “How to Avoid Malware.” PCWorld. PCWorld, 16 Nov. 2010. Web.

“Rampant Technology.” What Is the Purpose of Malware? N.p., n.d. Web.

“Security and Risk Analysis (SRA) | College of Information Sciences and Technology.” College
of Information Sciences and Technology. N.p., 15 June 2015. Web.

Smith, Chris. “Hackers Exploit Flash in One of the Largest Malware Attacks in Recent History.”
Fox News. FOX News Network, 04 Aug. 2015. Web.

“What Is the Difference: Viruses, Worms, Trojans, and Bots?” Cisco. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov.
2015.

http://New malware found hidden inside Dropbox account | ITProPortal.com http://www.itproportal.com/2015/12/03/new-malware-found-hidden-inside-dropbox-account/

As we start realizing the detrimental effects that our conventional energy choices have on the environment, we feel it urgent to replace these dirty energy suppliers with some cleaner substitutes. These substitutes are what we call green energy, which is also called renewable energy. According to International Energy Agency (IEA), renewable energy is “energy derived from natural processes (e.g. sunlight and wind) that are replenished at a faster rate than they are consumed. Solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, and some forms of biomass are common sources of renewable energy.”  Renewable energy is essential for a secure and sustainable energy system for mainly two reasons: first, if we continue heavily relying on conventional fuels such as coals and oil, they will be depleted one day; second, renewable energy is more environmentally friendly- sun, wind, and water do not emit greenhouse gases or pollutant to the environment. However, even though many forms of renewable energy do little, if any, harm to the environment, the ways we use them may still have negative impacts on our planet.

Solar power and wind power are two forms of renewable energy that we give great expectation and will thus continue growing in the future. One of the major uses of them is electricity generation. Mainly three types of devices are currently widely utilized to generate electricity: first, wind turbines, which transform kinetic energy of wind into electricity (“About Wind”), second, solar photovoltaic systems, which “directly convert solar energy into electricity (“About Solar”),” third, concentrating solar power devices, which transform the heat gained by concentrating energy from sun’s rays into electricity (“About Concentrating”). Although electricity generated by these technologies shared less than 5 percent of global electricity generation in 2012 (IEA, “Key” 24), it is possible that, by 2050, it will comprise more than 40 percent of global electricity generation, with wind energy 15 to 18 percent (IEA, “Wind” 52), solar thermal electricity about 11 percent (IEA, “Solar Thermal” 42), solar photovoltaic energy about 16 percent (IEA, “Solar Photovoltaic” 51). With the predicted amount of electricity powered by sun and wind such great, we cannot simply ignore some defects of these green energy choices that seem to be trivial today.

One of the major flaw of using solar power and wind power to generate electricity is that this way costs more copper than using conventional fuels does in terms of tons of copper per unit of installed power. As measured in pounds needed per megawatt of new capacity, the consumption of copper of nuclear or fossil fuel power plant has an estimated range from 2,000 to 3,000 pounds per megawatt (BBF). However, the copper required for solar- or wind-based generation are much more than this number: about 5,600 to 14,900 pounds per megawatt for land-based wind farm, an average of 21,076 pounds per megawatt for offshore wind farm, and around 5,400 to 15,432 pounds per megawatt for solar photovoltaic (BBF). This means that if we replace a traditional power plant with generating capacity (meaning the amount of electricity that can be generated per unit of time) equal to one megawatt with a solar- or wind-based power plant, we will use at least about 3,000 pounds more copper.

Some discriptions of the cost of green energyhttp://www.renewable-energysources.com/

Recently, I am reading the book “The Upcycle”, written by Michael Braungart. In chapter five, the center point, which impresses me a lot, is that we can always be thinking not only how we can design for a healthy present but also how we can return our common property, our common inheritance.

We need to concern about future generation. Michael Braungart listed several instances to support his point. Because of the gusto of people, sturgeon, which provides the caviar was listed as an endangered species; because of too many grazing cows which led a deficit of green grass, the cow owner in medieval Europe destroyed everyone else’s potential benefit including his own; because of the great amount of oyster, the ocean acidification of certain area increased.

Since long time ago, in order to achieve more sophisticated technology, higher level civilization, human beings consumed huge amount of non-renewable energy. ”A non-renewable resource (also called a finite resource) is a resource that does not renew itself at a sufficient rate for sustainable economic extraction in meaningful human time-frames. An example is carbon-based, organically-derived fuel. The original organic material, with the aid of heat and pressure, becomes a fuel such as oil or gas. Earth minerals and metal ores, fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, natural gas) and groundwater in certain aquifers are all non-renewable resources.”(from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-renewable_resource). Michael Braungart, the author of this book regard non-renewable as present from our home planet and inheritance of human. The more we consume, the less our future generation own. We need and we have to upcycle, in order to reach sustainable development ( something like reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources, increasing the application of renewable energy cause “their localized replenishment can occur within timeframes meaningful to human”—Wikipedia)

Here’s an idea of upcycle~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTbvudQX920

As technology continues to advance, the availability of apps that provide services has seen astounding growth. Traditionally citizens were accustomed to buying goods and services that were only provided at specific stores, but over time the methods of obtaining these goods and services has greatly expanded. With the invention of the telephone people were able to purchase services such as deliveries and pick-ups, and with the computer and internet came the introduction of online shopping. The next trend, as described by Jason Tanz in an article in Wired Magazine, appears to be the presence of services provided by other citizens (Tanz). Tanz described this as a “shared economy” and used apps such as Airbnb, Lyft, and Uber as examples to explain the concept. This type of application allows the user to hire a service directly from an app on his or her phone and the provider of the service is another citizen that has the means to fulfill that service. For example, Uber drivers serve as taxi drivers and are readily available to users with the app. This makes it easier and faster to find transportation and gives other citizens to use their personal vehicle as a means of providing a service without committing to a full time job (Tanz). He compares these services to eBay, saying that eBay requires no trust now due to a centralized method of guaranteeing buyer satisfaction. Are these new services provided by this newly created shared economy as fool-proof as we seem, or are there inherent risks that users should be aware of?

Sharing economy is when people are connected to resources through redistribution mainly through the means of technology. Its when a participant shares access to a good rather than individually owning it. Collaborative consumption is another word that often comes up when talking about sharing economy, meaning multi usage of one product by many people. Going back to the beginning the term “shared economy” first started appearing in the mid 2000’s (Tanz). The term collaborative consumption on the hand was coined in 1978 in the American Behavioral Scientist by Marcus Felson and Joe L. Spaeth. Since then shared economy has been described using various terms such as: exchanging, swapping, renting, micro-financing, crowdfunding, and many other names and terms. As described from the website “The People Who Share” there are 10 building blocks that make up sharing economy, they consist of people, production, value and systems of exchange, distribution, planet, power, shared law, communications, culture and future (Matofska). Companies typically have a rating system for both sides of the deal, it lets others know if the main owner of the product is trustworthy, it also lets other owners know if that buyer is trustworthy as well. It all circulates through trust.

Here’s a PDF that talking about sharing economy.

http://www.mayorsinnovation.org/images/uploads/pdf/3.The_Sharing_Economy_Just_Got_Real.pdf