Here in Silicon Valley, there are many popular tech companies that hold a lot of personal information. They have been able to make their security very reliable, but there are a few people that are able to get to the info and steal it. One tiny flaw in their security system, and a person would have access to personal info, code, and ideas to steal. This is a problem that Mountain View needs to solve now. But to find a solution to this, we must first find a defense system that has no flaws. In a system called cell defense, there is a cell called the Beta or B cell. This cell spies on the invader, exposes them, and leaves them for the “special forces”. This idea in your body could be applied to companies in Mountain View if we were to find a way for them to be able to sense if they were being hacked into. A way so they’d be able to spy on you if you were invading them. This way, no one could get into their information without getting caught. In your body, there are also Neutrophils which slow down invaders. This idea of slowing invaders down can be applied to the companies if we were able to find a way to slow down hackers as they attempt to break into security. Using a system that has more reliability like cell defense will hopefully help companies improve their security system.
What causes cell differentiation? All multi-cellular organisms go through a process called Cell Differentiation. This occurs due to the fact that there are 200 different cells in the body that are needed for your different organs. Cell Differentiation is controlled by what exactly the body needs. For example, if your body is fighting an infection, your body could create more pathogen-fighter cells with Mitosis.These cells have different structure and jobs depending on the certain “instructions” that are turned off and left on during Mitosis. In order for this process to occur, some very special cells, called Stem Cells, are made in the body. They have the ability to do Cell Differentiation and help regrow limbs. One example of the Stem Cell in use is when a lizard’s tail falls off and regrows. What are the advantages and disadvantages to cities becoming differentiated or specialized? Cities tend to become specialized because of ideas started in an area, and based on all the industries in an area. For example, Silicon Valley is specialized in technology because the idea of computer chips was started here. Also, most of the industries in the area are technology industries. One advantage to this is that since we have access to many electronics and we have many jobs available at these industries. For instance, many people are getting jobs at Apple or Google. However, there are some drawbacks, including the fact that if people are being hired at the companies then they need housing. Since there are many people being hired, many people are moving here and needing a home. Because of this there is a demand for houses and the prices are being raised. One example of this is Madhav Shree, a software developer for Cisco. He is paying $1,300 a month for a single room. This problem is not new. According to the text, a latino family came to this community eight years ago and couldn’t find housing until eight years later. Finally, the plan to fix the problem of housing and jobs is not very promising. Mountain View would have to pay more money at lower income jobs. But, with such a popular community it would be almost impossible. What can a city learn from a cell about how to differentiate properly? It is clear that the city can learn from a cell how to be more efficient with building, and selling homes. Silicon Valley is becoming more and more popular because of it’s technology development. This is causing loads of people to move to Silicon Valley because with the more companies forming, the more job offers there are. This may sound good, but people need places to stay, and with so many people moving in more houses need to be built. Houses aren’t going up fast enough which is resulting in a lot of people being homeless until they have a place to stay. Also, since there are so many people moving in, there is less space to build houses. In cell differentiation, there are stem cells that can regrow almost every part of your body when you need it. If a city steadied these cells they could possibly come up with some solution to this problem. Another lesson from the cell is how to make sure almost everyone has a job in the city. Even though there are lot’s of job offers not everyone can get a job, specifically homeless who can’t afford housing. Homeless people usually cannot get a job because they tend to not have experience, a resume, or other proof that they’ve had a job in the past. In cell differentiation, every cell has a job that carries out special functions; there is not one cell who is not working. Therefore a city can also learn to be more flexible with jobs so there are less homeless people How Does a Cell Defend The Body? In the human immune system, there are several different cells with a specific job that fights the many pathogens that enter your body. This process begins when a Monocyte cell detects a pathogen entering your blood. When they detect the pathogen, leave the blood stream and transform into a Macrophage. They then “eat” the invader and display for other cells to go in action. Neutrophils sacrifice their ”lives” to slow down the pathogen and gather more information of it, like a roman legion soldier. B cells spy on the predators and figure out which “keys” they would need in order to get the doors open for the T cells. Once they know which “key” is needed, the B cells duplicate itself through Mitosis with the specific “key”. When B cells are introduced to new pathogens, they store this information and get quicker at recognizing every time they come in the presence of the pathogen. This is the adaptive system and come into place when you get vaccines. The Helper T cells sometimes recognize the pathogen and “report” to the B cells on what “keys” are needed. T cells are like a special forces team, they attach to invaders with unlocked doors and destroy. These are all leukocytes. NK cells, or Natural Killers cells, dispose of infected cells that were mutated in the process of Mitosis. After the pathogen is destroyed, some leukocytes stay around the infected area and clean up. Finally, the extra B or T cells self destruct so that all they don’t waste resources. How do Police Forces Defend Cities Cities police forces cannot be trusted at all times. We know this because they are being forced to carry cameras around that takes videos of everything they do. This reveals that police officers may have been doing things they aren’t supposed to be doing. They could have been making many mistakes during their duties without cameras. Another interesting fact about police forces in cities is that they commit needless violence. According to “Trigger Happy”, “Civilians—innocent or guilty—are far more likely to be shot by police in America than in any other rich country.” This means that police shoot a lot of innocent lives just in order to catch a criminal or go to a crime scene. In addition, most police officers are not being trained the right way. According to the article, “What is the Most Significant Challenge Facing Police Officers Today?”, “Too often in fact, overzealous detective work has led to investigate the wrong people based on eyewitness misidentification, sloppy Forensic Science collection, false confessions or false admissions, false informants or bad snitches.” This shows that innocent people can get thrown into jail or in big trouble for a little crime or no crime at all!; due to the police force being trained incorrectly. Finally, police forces are too big. This is bad for a city because they will have to pay more money to police forces and not spend it on more important things. What Can Cities Learn From Cells About How to Defend Property? It is clear that the city can learn from the cell about how to defend properly. According to “Trigger Happy in the United States”, citizens are much more likely to be shot by police in America than in any other wealthy country. This means that police are not as good at keeping their city safe without wasting lives and resources. Another flaw in the way we defend our cities is that our defense is not 100% trustworthy. Some of our police officers have to carry around a camera just so their boss knows they are not doing the wrong thing. Some police forces are also too big or too small which can turn into a problem based on the number of crimes in the city. On the other hand, our B cells, Helper T cells, T Cells, etc. are completely trustworthy because they have instructions jammed into their “brains” telling them exactly how, when, and where to do what they’re supposed to do to help eliminate the invasion of pathogens. This can be compared to breathing. You don’t have to learn to do it or to be trusted because breathing is just something that came with your instructions. If cities were to have that kind of way of defending itself; like with a machine that never stops, then we would be able to ensure that we would be safe 100% of the time. To sum it all up, cells stand as role models for cities in terms of defending properly. The cell creates new cells in a process called Mitosis. One important fact about this process is that there are six steps. The six steps are Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, and Cytokinesis. Another fact is that cell reproduction can be compared to copying papers, sorting them afterwards, and then stapling. This is like Mitosis because the chromosomes duplicate, come together, line up, and are divided. A chromosome is like a book of laws or directions for the cell. The daughter cells created are similar from the parent cells because they have the same amount of chromosomes. For example, if a parent cell has twenty chromosomes then the two daughter will also have twenty because each of the parent’s chromosomes divided into two so then there were forty. After that the forty chromosomes were divided into the two cells so they each have twenty. During the process errors are avoided by having three safety checkpoints in case a cell is not mature enough. When a cell is not ready, the cycle stops until the cell is more mature. Finally, the Mitosis process takes up to twenty-four hours for most human cells. Cities laws are usually all the same but depending on the population, they could have special laws. One interesting fact in support of this is in San Jose and Sunnyvale of California, grocery stores may not provide plastic bags because they create too much waste in their area. Another fact is when Mountain View’s growth rate spiked because of new industries, the traffic grew and caused more accidents in the city. This means that the amount of people living in the city affect the environment and the city’s laws. In contrast, the cell never has different laws. Only when there is a mutation of the cell is when it might cause a change in the cell’s laws. It is obvious that the cell is much better at growing, developing, and making duplicates of itself because it results in less problems. According to “Growing to Fast in China”, a city that grows too fast could result in problems with education. With such a fast growing city, Leiyang struggles to supply the whole city with water and electricity. Traffic jams are also a problem because of Leiyang’s tiny city with almost a million people. On the other hand, a cell always has the same number of chromosomes as its other duplicates, and there is usually never problems with supplying water and energy to the cell unless the animal or plant is not eating. In sum, resulting in less problems, the cell is much better at growing, developing, and making duplicates of itself. Cells get energy from a process called cell respiration. When you eat something, most of the nutrients will go through cell respiration, and will be converted into energy. Inside the cell, the Mitochondria, the "powerhouse of the cell" is converting all of the nutrients into Adenosine triphosphate or ATP. This ATP energy. Without ATP you wouldn't be able to do many things like sports. Photosynthesis is another process a plant cell uses to get sugar. It converts light energy or the sun into chemical energy. A product it produces is oxygen. The plant then burns the sugar the same way we burn sugar. Through the Mitochondria. Cities usually get energy from power plants, such as coal and wood power plants. These power plants do make a lot of energy, but they pollute the air while doing so, making many people sick. Some cities use more environmental friendly power plants such as wind and solar power plants. However these power plants also have faults, solar power doesn't work in cold areas and wind power doesn't work as well in places with low winds. Cities get the energy by burning coal/wood then having the fire heat water which causes steam, the steam then powers the generator which creates electricity. And that's just for coal/wood power plants! It is clear that cells get energy more efficiently. According to sources on the internet, cell respiration is about 40% efficiency whereas power plants are at about 34% efficiency. This shows that cells are slightly more efficient. They are only slightly more efficient because both sources of energy produce CO2 as a waste product when they burn nutrients. This means that cells and power plants produce the same waste products. Its just that cells are more efficient in terms of useful energy VS waste heat. Some Information found at http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/AlternativeEnergySources.php, http://www.explainthatstuff.com/powerplants.html |