Welcome to The Digital Environment! The Internet has changed our world dramatically, and not always for the better. Here you can learn about environmental issues related to computers and the Internet and what you can do to minimize your environmental impact.
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Trey
Cyber Defender &
Message Center Supervisor
As an environmental activist, Trey believes that technology has the potential to improve our world, but only if it is used and created responsibly. He encourages people to become aware of their actions and to make simple changes in their lives that will have a big impact on the environment.
A recent graduate of the Academy (class of '07), Trey runs the Message Center in Cyberspace. He loves communicating via email because it is quick, easy, and reduces paper waste.
Favorite Quote:
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
- John Muir
Vegetable Curry
Interests:Ultimate frisbee, Gardening, Recycling trash into treasure
May 21, 2010
Being Green: Biocomputers
This month’s topic seems like it belongs in a science fiction novel. Thanks to nanotechnology, scientists are starting to figure out how to use things like DNA (the genetic stuff that tells your body how to make cells) to make computers! Why is this so cool? Well, for three big reasons.
Firstly, DNA molecules are extremely small AND can hold an amazing amount of information. This means that computers could store a lot more data in a lot less space, making them more efficient and smaller. Secondly, since the cells already know how to make DNA, it would be really cheap and easy to make more DNA-based computers. Thirdly, the tiny little biocomputers could be used for medicine! For example, many medicines today have some pretty nasty side effects. With a biocomputer-based medicine, the disease could be targeted more easily because the medicine would know the difference between healthy cells and sick sells, which would mean less harmful side effects!
Let’s hope this futuristic technology isn’t too far away. Computing can’t get more back-to-nature this!