Science+&+Technology

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1. During the Italian Renaissance many great thinkers were alive. This caused many inventions to come to life. Do you see people being creative and inventing things in Calgary? People are inventing things in Calgary and we see it. The space program, cell phones, smart board, etc. The computer is like the printing press of today, we use it to spread ideas.

Calgary has a vibrant innovation community in all industry sectors - oil & gas, biomedical, agricultural, geoscience, geomatics, air, water, soil and waste treatment (environmental), sports, telecommunications, nanotechnology, manufacturing 2. During the Renaissance Leanardo da Vinci and Andreas Vesalias dissected and drew many diagrams on the human body. While studying it they discovered many things about the human body. Do you see many medical advances and discoveries about the human body in Calgary?

Tara- In response to whether Calgary possess people advancing in medical technology and in discoveries about the human body to make it a Renaissance city, Mr. Robinson believes that Calgary is advancing in many ways in hospitals. Specifically he believes that the hospital is getting a to of new technology and evolving in many different treatments. He talks about imaging technology and the advancements that allow us to do surgery on a microscopic level. Many different imaging techniques have been formed so we can diagnose many people with things like breast cancer. In conclusion Calgary is advancing in medical technology. There are lots of new imaging techniques that have been developed in Calgary that allow the human body to be scanned at microscopic levels to help physicians make a diagnosis such as for breast cancer. University of Calgary/Foothills Hospital has many areas of discoveries including areas evolving in neuroscience, cancer therapies, bone and joint therapies. There is also a device that allows robotics to assist in surgery with the surgeon guiding from outside the surgery room. 3.During the Renaissance people were pushing the boundaries to question the world around them by going against the church and traditional ways of life. People encouraged them to keep trying and even though they did not succeed. Do you see people doing this in Calgary? Specifically are there people who are challenging our way of life and accepting failures? Tara- In response to whether Calgary possess people questioning our way of life and accepting failures to make a renaissance city, Mr. Robinson believes that people might not always see the failures that happen when technological advancements happen. Specifically he believes that when people are working on the same thing all over the world, so it’s just a matter of who finds it first. He states that it isn’t really a failure if a success came out of it. By this he means that when people are inventing things other advancements might come out of it. For example you might be trying to find a cure for diabetes but end up with a medicine that helps headaches instead, so it’s not really a failure. In conclusion people in Calgary are advancing in technology but they just don't always see the failures that happen.

We see the success in Calgary from the technology advancements. We don't see all the failures that people have. Sometimes when people are trying to make for example a cure for cancer, they might find a medicine that helps with diabetes instead. So a lot of the time it isn't really a failure because you got something out of it.

Technology development isn’t always about success. There are many times numerous hurdles. Sometimes people developing new technologies have a great innovation, but the marketplace won’t accept it because the cost to make it would be too high, or people just really like using what they have been using since it may take too much time, effort, equipment costs to switch to the new device. Another big hurdle that some of the innovators may face which leads to ultimate failure is some regulations or policy which is old that doesn’t fit their new advancement – so they ‘butt heads” with the process or system, and potential failure. 4.In the Renaissance, people spread ideas about science and technology by the Silk Road and trading. How do we spread ideas in Calgary with other cities? A few years ago the smart board was made in Calgary made from. The smart board is basically a large computer monitor. This is a way of communication to large groups. There are many other great inventions such as a virus called VCV that fights cancer and a BioSand water filter most importantly ginger beef. Although most of these items don’t start the communication most of these ideas were spread by ideas, now the smart board is all over Canada and same with VCV. Calgary does not have a specific “silk road” that other cities don’t have.